Who would you see for this? Gallbladder problems and possible anxiety

[babygrant]

I have to choose carefully because I don't have a lot of money. I am suffering from gallbladder problems caused by stones which I believe is made worse from anxiety.

I have gone to see a regular GP but I'm not satisfied. Surgery is scheduled for November 30th. I've expressed my concerns about anxiety and I was told that we won't look into that until after the surgery. GP and surgery is covered by medical so no cost to me. 80% of my money I get back for perscription medications.

There's a naturopath in town who is supposed to be great. I get 80% of my money back up to a maximum of $200.00 a year. Consultation is $110.00.

Accupuncture is covered 80% by medical up to $200 a year. My only concern is that the treatment lasts about 1/2 hour and I have a hard time laying in one position for more than a minute or two because of the nausea and discomfort.

I went to the health food store to buy some Braggs today and the guy who was helping me was really helpful. I was a bit uncomfortable around him BUT I am a bit uncomfortable around men my age (not sure why). He seemed to know what he was talking about. He is a certified nutritional practitioner, registered nutritional consulting practitioner, Rei Ki Master/Teacher, Holistic Iridologist, and consciousness calibration. This would not be covered by medical. Initial consult is $85.00 and every appointment after is $65.00.

I could also do massage which would be covered 80%, but not sure if that would do any good.

Any suggestions? Even if it's something I didn't list, I could see if it was covered.

[neetling]

I guess I'm wondering if they would do the surgery as an emergent surgery if you just showed up at the ER in great pain. I was miserable when I was misdiagnosed. This has been going on too long.

[BellinghamCrunchie]

Having done both, I would go with acupuncture. I found with acupuncture that usually (not always, but usually) even though I didn't think I'd be able to lay still, once the needles were in, 4-5 minutes later I was much more comfortable, and could lay still, and in fact, zone out very nicely. In fact, after a while, the place I felt best was during those sessions. Initially I did prop myself up on pillows so that I wasn't laying flat when being needled. That seemed to help, I think. After a few sessions though I was fine laying flat.

The naturopath I really liked, but everything he gave me to take made me sick, so I couldn't really take any of his supplements, and there wasn't much else he had to offer that the acupuncturist wasn't already helping me with.

Edited to add: After I got to know the DoOM, she showed me how to needle myself on some easy points, and gave me a few needles to take home.

[babygrant]

Originally Posted by neetling

I guess I'm wondering if they would do the surgery as an emergent surgery if you just showed up at the ER in great pain. I was miserable when I was misdiagnosed. This has been going on too long.

Not possible. Unless my gallbladder gets infected. If the pain gets worse than it is, they will give me morphine. Seriously....that's what they said. Surgery is November 30th, no ifs ands or buts.

[Panserbjorne]

of those options, I'd go for acupuncture. once the gallbladder is really sick it's difficult (though not impossible) to get great results with nutritional changes, and supplements can be challenging for a variety of reasons. Acupuncture consistently seems to do really well in terms of balancing (don't love that word...but you know what I mean) the body which is the most helpful thing I could think of to do at this point. But, that's just me!

[babygrant]

Originally Posted by BellinghamCrunchie

Having done both, I would go with acupuncture. I found with acupuncture that usually (not always, but usually) even though I didn't think I'd be able to lay still, once the needles were in, 4-5 minutes later I was much more comfortable, and could lay still, and in fact, zone out very nicely.

Originally Posted by Panserbjørne

of those options, I'd go for acupuncture. once the gallbladder is really sick it's difficult (though not impossible) to get great results with nutritional changes, and supplements can be challenging for a variety of reasons. Acupuncture consistently seems to do really well in terms of balancing (don't love that word...but you know what I mean) the body which is the most helpful thing I could think of to do at this point. But, that's just me!

I booked an appointment for monday with the naturopath, and will call tommorow morning and schedule some accupuncture.

Since I'm really not sure if my gallbladder is causing the anxiety or if the anxiety is causing the gallbladder problems, is it possible for them to use accupuncture points that help anxiety AND gallbladder at the same time? If that makes sense.

[Panserbjorne]

I think I'm missing pieces of this story. What is the actual state of your gallbladder? Have you had testing?

Can any issue be helped by managing anxiety? Of course! That doesn't necessarily mean it can be healed once a certain level of pathology is reached, but I do believe it can certainly be positively impacted. You can try a number of things for that. Acupuncture, diet, supplements, energy work, flower essences, cell salts, herbs etc. All can be helpful.

[deditus]

If I had a limited amount time/money and needed pain relief now, and I were not up to researching my treatment options myself, I would consult with the PP, Panserbjørne, who is a very gifted healer and has helped me on my own path to health more than she will ever know.

[babygrant]

Originally Posted by Panserbjørne

I think I'm missing pieces of this story. What is the actual state of your gallbladder? Have you had testing?

Can any issue be helped by managing anxiety? Of course! That doesn't necessarily mean it can be healed once a certain level of pathology is reached, but I do believe it can certainly be positively impacted. You can try a number of things for that. Acupuncture, diet, supplements, energy work, flower essences, cell salts, herbs etc. All can be helpful.

Actual state of the gallbladder is that it has stones. No mention of inflammation. I haven't had a blood test for about 2 months but have had no fever, just pain in the upper right quadrant which is sometimes mild and sometimes severe, and nausea every single day for 2 months.

For the diet it's tough. I've finally found one meal that seems to keep the symptoms mild to moderate. For breakfast I've been drinking a strawberry banana smoothie. I'd much rather NOT eat because of the nausea, but the smoothie is easy on the tummy. Lunch and dinner I have a mixture of white turkey meat, red potatoes, baby corn, peas, water chestnuts, carrots, brocolli, cauliflower, with a little bit of braggs. Very rarely I'm hungry enough to have a snack but if I do it's fruit or raw veggies. I've tried adding a very small amount of olive oil into my diet and it resulted in a really bad GB attack. ( I tried taking a fish oil capsule and same thing, GB attack.

I'm not 100% sure if I am having an actual anxiety attack. I'm actually pretty sure it's a GB attack that is topped off with some anxiety. I get the pain and then I get scared. I get the nausea and then I get scared.

[Panserbjorne]

wow, thank you for that lovely compliment!

Babygrant, I would personally start with flower essences. I had one person that had excellent luck using them for gall bladder pain and related anxiety. I'll see if I can get her to come to this thread. I have found them to be very effective for things like this.

[Valerie.Qc]

I'll share my story with FE's from Panserbjørne.

My problem is kidney's stones, not gallbladder, but since FE's work on energy, I beleive it would work for other situation.


I got an Intuitive Blend from Panserbjørne when she started offering them. I was to try the blend and give feedback about what I could notice. I had no idea what were the essences in this mix and didn't have any expectation.

So, one day, I had that pain in my back/side and could feel my kidney swelling... I still had painkillers from my last attack so I took them for 24h before noticing the bottle on my shelf and trying the FE's. My hope was that I would be calmer and cope better with the pain. (I was trying to avoid a trip to the ER during the week-end) The pain went away and stayed that way even though I stopped the painkiller and my kidney got back to it's normal size in just a few hours. In the next few days, I kept taking the FE's everytime I felt a twinge and it worked everytime!

A few weeks later, I felt a twinge again... I didn't have my FE's with me and the pain was full on when I got to them. I ONLY took the FE's, no painkiller, and the pain went away!

I know the stones are still there but I'm able to avoid a crisis, a trip/stay at the ER and dose of morphine. I'm working on seeing the specialist and to make a plan to really know what kind of stones I make (there's 4 and they aren't prevented the same way) so I can prevent new stones to grow. (and it gives me time to work on the emotional/energetical side of the illness)


I wouldn't have thought FE's could help with physical stuff like that but I can only testify of what I'm experiencing and that is total relief from the pain AND swelling.

[Liquesce]

I experienced a great deal of anxiety related to increasingly symptomatic gallstones ... just not knowing when or how bad the next attack would be was really taking a serious psychological toll on me. In your shoes I approached the issue with my PCP on those terms ... as a matter of the gallbladder disease causing situational anxiety, not really as a matter of anxiety causing gallbladder symptoms ... and sought out a prescription treatment through that lens.

I mean obviously if you'd prefer try alternative treatments that's fine; I just mention it because it sounded as though you initially had hoped to receive anxiety help through your general practitioner, and it occurred to me that how the issue is framed might affect the priority it is given.

[babygrant]

Originally Posted by Liquesce

I experienced a great deal of anxiety related to increasingly symptomatic gallstones ... just not knowing when or how bad the next attack would be was really taking a serious psychological toll on me. In your shoes I approached the issue with my PCP on those terms ... as a matter of the gallbladder disease causing situational anxiety, not really as a matter of anxiety causing gallbladder symptoms ... and sought out a prescription treatment through that lens.

I mean obviously if you'd prefer try alternative treatments that's fine; I just mention it because it sounded as though you initially had hoped to receive anxiety help through your general practitioner, and it occurred to me that how the issue is framed might affect the priority it is given.

Yes, I feel a lot of anxiety AFTER 8 pm or when I am away from home. Our hospital only has a 12 hour urgent care clinic so after 8 pm if I need to go to emergency we have to drive 25 minutes two towns away. And I get anxious if I'm driving by myself because I don't want to get stranded not able to get home if a GB attack strikes.

I'm not really sure what you mean though. Are you saying that you understand why the GP didn't address the anxiety issue because then my gallbladder problems may not have been taken seriously?

My whole thing with my concern about the anxiety is that I am afraid that taking out the GB will do NOTHING, so I'll be left with the exact same symptoms but missing an organ. But I don't want to take anxiety medications if my anxiety is being caused by the gallbladder. So it's kind of a catch 22.

[Liquesce]

What I meant was that your doctor might be thinking of them as separate issues to be best dealt with one at a time, and that directly asking for medication because the gallbladder issues are the cause of anxiety might help. However since you say you'd not want to take medication if the cause of anxiety proved to be entirely gallbladder related that's all rather moot.

Best of luck with your surgery. If you're anything like me you've probably googled it to death and are aware of all of the horror stories floating around the web. Hair-raising, isn't it? It was helpful to me to realize that people tend to be a lot more inclined to tell their stories when things go wrong ... when things go right there's just not a lot to say, kwim? And that can leave an anecdotal impression of there being more risk of a negative outcome than there really is. (FWIW, I had mine out in January ... I felt better literally the moment I started coming out of the anesthesia, and by the next day I was eating spicy stromboli again. More to the point, no complications, not even the much-dreaded post-surgical diarrhea. I'm not unique with that ... a lot of times it really does go right and really does fix the nausea and pain. And the already high odds of it repairing the problem go up even higher when the issue is symptomatic stones and not simply gallbladder disease or "sludge" or what have you.)

[BellinghamCrunchie]

Originally Posted by babygrant

Yes, I feel a lot of anxiety AFTER 8 pm or when I am away from home.

As you know, I had my gallbladder out four weeks ago, and was also having a great deal of anxiety in the 6-9 months before having the gallbladder out. I also promised that I would let you know if removing my gallbladder resolved the anxiety issue, because, like you, I thought maybe there was a connection.

Well, I hate to say it, but the anxiety is still there. Like you, its worse in the evenings. I would say it has definitely gotten better (probably because now I don't have as much fear about nausea or pain) but I still think I have some anxiety issues.

I think that what typically goes along with gallbladder issues (the four F's - particularly, being forty and female and "fertile" - still having periods) also goes along with an increase in anxiety that is related to hormones. I think its looking like the anxiety is more related to perimenopause than to the gallbladder.

If you are able to manage the anxiety right now without medication and are willing to continue until after surgery to see if that helps, great. But if you wanted to take medication now, I don't think you really have to wait until after the surgery. The medication might help you sleep better, preparing your body better for the upcoming surgery, and a few weeks after the surgery (or maybe a few months) there is no reason you cannot taper the anxiety medication and see how it goes.

[Liquesce]

BC, I would just like to point out that while I felt physically back to normal almost immediately it did take several months for me to start feeling even close to fully back to normal psychologically. The residual effects of long-term illness don't necessarily just evaporate when the physical symptoms go away.

I'm definitely not trying to be dismissive of your self-assessment. Just to say that at four weeks it is entirely reasonable to also still be feeling the effects of having your life painfully compromised for months upon months, and that you may find with time the anxiety still does dissipate.

[neetling]

I had my gallbladder out 5 years ago and get tinges of panic when I have bad heartburn, I'm afraid it's another attack.

[Liquesce]

Originally Posted by neetling

I had my gallbladder out 5 years ago and get tinges of panic when I have bad heartburn, I'm afraid it's another attack.

Oh god yes. The first time I had heartburn after surgery, a couple of months out, I went and laid down just waiting for it to get worse ... I swear I laid there for something like twenty minutes before the little drill sergeant in my head kicked in to say, "You don't have a gallbladder. It's not your gallbladder. Go drink some water and chew a Tums for heaven's sake."

[babygrant]

Originally Posted by Liquesce

What I meant was that your doctor might be thinking of them as separate issues to be best dealt with one at a time, and that directly asking for medication because the gallbladder issues are the cause of anxiety might help. However since you say you'd not want to take medication if the cause of anxiety proved to be entirely gallbladder related that's all rather moot.

Best of luck with your surgery. If you're anything like me you've probably googled it to death and are aware of all of the horror stories floating around the web. Hair-raising, isn't it?

I'm not opposed to medications. If I knew my anxiety was unrelated to the gallbladder I would go on it for sure. The nurse practitioner I saw thought that my anxiety was caused by my gallbladder. Surgeon doesn't think so. My GP said she wasn't sure. lol. I'm going to the naturopath on Monday so we'll see what he says. And yes I've googled and googled and googled. Saw all of the horror stories but then DH pointed out that MOST people don't log back onto a forum to say how wonderful they are feeling. They only log back in to report problems.

Originally Posted by BellinghamCrunchie

Well, I hate to say it, but the anxiety is still there. Like you, its worse in the evenings. I would say it has definitely gotten better (probably because now I don't have as much fear about nausea or pain) but I still think I have some anxiety issues.

I think that what typically goes along with gallbladder issues (the four F's - particularly, being forty and female and "fertile" - still having periods) also goes along with an increase in anxiety that is related to hormones. I think its looking like the anxiety is more related to perimenopause than to the gallbladder.

I thank you for being honest! I am going to ask the naturopath about estrogen dominance because I actually have quite a few symptoms of it. Oddly enough I know I'm in the clear with my anxiety for the next couple of weeks because of the wave of anxiety that comes right before my period.

Originally Posted by Liquesce

BC, I would just like to point out that while I felt physically back to normal almost immediately it did take several months for me to start feeling even close to fully back to normal psychologically. The residual effects of long-term illness don't necessarily just evaporate when the physical symptoms go away.

I'm definitely not trying to be dismissive of your self-assessment. Just to say that at four weeks it is entirely reasonable to also still be feeling the effects of having your life painfully compromised for months upon months, and that you may find with time the anxiety still does dissipate.

I get that. The more days that go on the bigger hole I feel like I'm digging. Feels like it's going to be harder and harder to get out. But DH always asks questions about my mental wellbeing and it helps to talk about it with him. He's great.

[BellinghamCrunchie]

Originally Posted by Liquesce

BC, I would just like to point out that while I felt physically back to normal almost immediately it did take several months for me to start feeling even close to fully back to normal psychologically. The residual effects of long-term illness don't necessarily just evaporate when the physical symptoms go away.

I'm definitely not trying to be dismissive of your self-assessment. Just to say that at four weeks it is entirely reasonable to also still be feeling the effects of having your life painfully compromised for months upon months, and that you may find with time the anxiety still does dissipate.

Thank you for this.

I'd never had surgery before, and although everything went absolutely fine, just as it should and everything, I think I have a kind of PTSD from the experience that I'm sure will fade with time. And you are right - 5 months of pain/nausea, many nights of getting by moment by moment not knowing when I would sleep again, wishing I could be unconscious... takes a while to recover from emotionally! I'm almost afraid to trust. Every twinge I automatically think, "oh how much worse is it going to get this time?" even though - surprise! - it very often doesn't get the least bit worse and actually goes away on its own.

Babygrant has had surgery before, so I think she will recover emotionally much faster that I am. I'm hoping all she feels is RELIEF!!!