I believe it was back in May 2011 that I went to the hospital because I was in severe pain. While there, x-rays and a sonogram were taken. It was discovered that I have gallstones and was experiencing a gallstone "attack". I was given a prescription for pain medicine and told to follow up with a consultation with a surgeon. Surgery to remove the gallbladder is a common remedy to the problem of gallstones. My situation wasn't considered dire enough that I needed emergency surgery right then. Since then I've been able to have another doctor look at my x-rays and sonogram. She also thought surgery was the only option. Looking up information on my own, I've found that if you have reoccurring attacks, surgery is recommended to stop these. That being said, where the surgery is fairly common, it certainly is not without risks. (No surgery is.) With the help and encouragement of my parents, I was able to try a natural remedy. It consisted of taking pills every day for a number of weeks as well as drinking a special tea. Unfortunately, this didn't work as I have continued to have attacks after finishing it off.
I still haven't had surgery because:
1. I'm scared of the surgery and possible complications.
2. I'd still like to find and try a natural remedy. (You can live without a gallbladder but you can still have unpleasant side effects from not having one. =/)
3. I have no health insurance.
They are all important reasons to me. Even if I feel I've exhausted all possible natural remedies and I can get over my fear, reason number 3 seems like a big issue. Not only am I unemployed and don't have health insurance but I worry that I won't be able to change this any time soon. I may be wrong but finding a part time job where I can handle the type of work I will be doing, work no more then 15 hours a week and have health insurance seems like a tall order to fill.
I've been dealing with attacks since it was discovered I had gallstones. The pain is intense and lasts on average 2-4 hours. The earlier I catch on that I'm getting ready to have an attack and take pain medicine, the better. They tend to happen early in the morning and along with the pain, I'm often nauseated and sometimes vomiting. A lot of information I've read say you can avoid attacks by not eating too much of certain foods. Where I've learned from experience that certain combinations of food cause me problems, I've also had attacks that seem completely unprovoked. =/
The Pain Medicine dilemma: The pain medicine that the doctor at the hospital prescribed does help with the pain but it can take up to an hour to start working. (Hence the importance of catching on early that I'm starting an attack.) Some of the problems with the pain medicine are that it makes me dizzy, nauseous and sleepy. The other problem is that the prescription was for only about 15 pills or so. I've gone through all those pills. Fortunately, I had the same prescription given to me when I had my wisdom teeth surgically removed and I didn't use all the pills up from that. So now I'm using up those when I have an attack. Soon though, I will be out of prescription pain medicine. (I've tried other pain medicines when I'm having an attack but none are strong enough.) When I'm out of pain medicine, I will have no option but to go to the hospital again when I have an attack.
All these things worry me and I'm not sure what to do. I'm sorry for the long post. If you read it and made it to the end, thanks. :)
