gallstones

yeah, so, last friday, after fighting for some sort of diagnosis that would cause the endless nausea, too full feeling, breathlessness, abdominal pain, etc etc, for about 8 months now, i finally got a real diagnosis. i have gallstones. i've noticed things have been getting worse for months, after every test known to man (ok not quite but the list is pretty extensive: EKG, ECG, endoscopy, colonoscopy, chest x-rays, another EKG, endless blood tests from complete metabolic panels to one that finally showed some inflammation somewhere).

a couple points for those with CML. apparently the weight loss that many CML patients experience (i was losing about 5 pounds a week right before i was diagnosed--i dropped a full pant size in a week near the end there) can cause gallstones http://win.niddk.nih.gov/publications/gallstones.htm. additionally, CML patients are rather more likely to develop gallstones: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19349718 so, keep an eye out for the symptoms.

my symptoms were pretty straight forward and now, looking back, probably anyone should have looked for gallstones after they eliminated ulcer.

high upper abdominal pain (mine was right in the middle, but sometimes it's on the right)
shoulder blade pain
endless belching
pain grew worse in the evening
pain that grew worse when laying down, and leaning back.
pain behind my sternum
feelings of panic
heart pain
breathlessness
undigested looking food coming out the other end
feeling of fullness that wouldn't go away
lump in my throat

i complained of these issues at various times. probably my oncologist should not be expected to catch an unrelated disease issue, and i'm not mad at her particularly, altho given that CML patients are more likely to get gallstones than average, she should perhaps have considered it. but my GP should unquestionably have suspected this. gallbladder removal is one of the most common surgeries done in the US. http://medicalcenter.osu.edu/patientcare/healthcare_services/surgery/intraoperative_care/common_surgical_procedures/Pages/index.aspx
when it became obvious after endoscopy and EKG that it was neither my stomach, nor my heart, more tests should have been done. good grief, the doctor that finally caught it, first knew something was wrong because he did a fairly simple blood test: http://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/crp/tab/test . she should certainly have done basic blood tests, x-rays and such before attributing it to "stress" or "being overweight" or not getting enough exercise. all of which she suggested. while i like her bedside manner, i'm not fond of her stick-to-it-iveness. not at all. when it wasn't an ulcer, she jumped very quickly to, "you've gained lots of weight since getting diagnosed with cancer so it must be related to those things".

i'm so glad that i finally headed for an urgent care and insisted that something was really wrong and they needed to figure out what was causing the pain involved. sometimes it's hard to trust yourself, but if you are in pain, find someone who will listen, and tell everyone it takes to get them to listen, and do the tests. no one deserves to live in pain.