Has anyone heard of the condition SPHINCTER OF ODDI perhaps someone in the medical proffession. I know I shouldn't but as I am getting no where with my dr's or consultants etc & thought I ought to search the net with my symptoms.
The above condition has turned up.
Before this I haven't heard, seen even on the net anyone with my symptoms. Some do have my symptoms but tests show they have certain conditions, mine doesn't.
I am at a loss & don't know where to turn & fear what might happen.
HELP...........

You really, really, really shouldn't self-diagnose via the Net. This is a muscle that controls the flow of chemicals from the pancreas and gall bladder in to teh duodenum (the part of the digestive tract immediately after the stomach) and the small intestine.

A sphincter muscle is just a name for a ring of muscle that, in this case, acts like a one way valve or a tap controlling the flow of these fluids in to the gut. The chemicals from the gall bladder and pancreas all help digestion.

If the muscle gets troublesome, it can fail to let stuff through.

It's something, though, that you really should talk to your consultant about. If your GP hasn't been able to help, get a referral to a specialist, and try not to stress in the meantime. Most problems with the gut don't take well to being stressed, so try and chill.

If you're determined, then http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=sphincter+of+oddi&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

But realistically, get professional input and don't worry about what you read.

Hey the proffesionals are ****
After 15 months of severe pain after eating, losing 3 stone in 3 months I eventually had my gallbladder taken out & was discharged from hospital being told that they were 100% sure all my troubles were to do with my gallstones. It was a bag of pus when they took it away & I had a very large stone removed from my bile duct. This was 2 weeks ago.
I still have the bowel problems, severe pain after eating (not all the time) & I have an extra pain on my left side where I had some pain before. But I am now discharged, supposedly gotta go back through my GP (I don't think so) I originally told the consultant it wasn't nothing to do with my gallstones. I feel like I've been banging my head on a brick wall. Why do dr's not listen to their patients?
Where do I go from here, bearing in mind the time I have already had off work & am at risk of losing my job?
So yes I have been committing the ultimate sin of self diagnosis but no-one else will diagnose. And after all it was a dr who said I didn't have gallstones till I convinced them to scan me.

I see where you're coming from but unfortunately unless you plan going in with a stanley knife, you're going to have to use these people. :(

I would think that as you've just had surgery you should be able to get back to see someone on the surgical side - 2 weeks is very little time and the first thing must be to see whether any of the pain you're suffering could just be due to the surgery itself.

If you're still in pain and not getting any joy, you could try turning up at A&E and explaining that you've had an operation, but you're now in pain and are concerned that you may have an infection - basically just to get them to take a look again.

As JoeP says, diagnosing yourself on the net, although sometimes helpful, isn't always. Be sceptical about everything you read. Here is some info on the condition with more if you follow the links http://www.diseasesdatabase.com/ddb12297.htm . Hope you feel better soon and do keep pestering the health professionals.:thumbsup:

From reading what you've posted, it seems that you've self-diagnosed by reading up on your symptoms on the internet. Those symptoms may have several other diagnoses. You have seen a GP and a specialist, but they won't give you the diagnosis you want to hear.

Don't you think that these specialists know what they're doing? I'd imagine that you have been tested for all sorts of things, including Sphincter of Oddi, and those tests have come up negative.

Two weeks after the sort of op you've had is no time. You will be very bruised inside, and things will take time to settle down. Give it another 4-6 weeks, and if you are still having the same problems (not that you think you are having problems), then go back to your GP and ask to be re-referred to the consultant.

"Sphincter Of Oddi" are a great Scandinavian death metal band - I won several of their albums.

I understand you all have my best interest at heart but what you have to understand is I have had 12 months of tests that have drawn a blank apart from the gallstones which has now supposedly been remedied.
I have met & read on net about loads of people who have had gallstones & problems before & after surgery, however I have never met or heard anyone with same problems as me. I have been told & had test both in hospital & by myself for caeliacs, crohns, ulcerative colitis & many more.
You have to understand I have quite a vast amount of medical knowledge & am on the verge of losing my job, home & sanity due to the problem so if I sound a little negative perhaps you can understand why.
After accidentally falling on the symptoms of sphincter d oddi dsyfunction I was amazed, it was the first time I have come across anything that matched my symptoms.
I eat, half hour later to the minute I am violently ill with pains to the point hwre ambulances are called for (not every time I eat but very adhoc) I sometimes have severe diarrhea & vomiting with this but its mainly the pain that is excrutiating. I have tried every diet even a totally exclusion diet to no avail.
My consultant told me that it was the lack of bile in my bowels that was causing the problems due to the gallstones & blockages. When it was removed a had a large stone blocking my bile duct & a gallbladder full of pus, apparently I was hours away from my gallbladder rupturing. My consultant was so convinced that I was discharged on leaving the hospital after surgery. A week later (on my 40th birthday I might add) I had the bowel pain. I also now have a pain on my left side that is constant but am able to cope with it (I do have a high pain thresh hold). I wonder all though they flushed my ducts whether they left a stone behind or damaged something when they took out the large stone that was blocking my duct & the continuing bowel trouble is because there is still a stone or damage there.
Sorry to go on but I am at the end of my tether & don't know where t turn but thanks for the replies & support!

<snip> You have to understand I have quite a vast amount of medical knowledge <snip>

Are you a qualified medic?

If the pain is on the left hand side, it's hardly likely to have anything to do with the gallbladder. Is the pain high, just underneath the rib cage, or lower, below the navel?

If you're having the symptoms you describe, then you need to get yourself back to your GP and ask for a re-referral to the specialist.

Stop self-diagnosing. If it turns out that a lot of these symptoms are only there because you've read about them on the internet, then you're going to feel really silly.

I am not a medic & I would be the 1st person to say don't read medical books or on the net but when you are suffering constant pain, losing a stone a month in weight & dr's have said it is because of the gallbladder & you know & can now prove it isn't I am at a loss of what to do.
If I go to my GP to be rereferred I will have to wait months again to be seen by consultant & why should I when they have discharged me when they shouldn't. I have never looked up my symtoms on the net only looked up the conditions the dr said I had until this past week when I am left with no where else to turn.

Ann: I had gallstones & when my gallbladder was removed it was badly infected & a large stone blocking my bile duct. I had suffered the typical gallstone symptoms, excrutiating pain under right rib going across my chest to my right shoulder. This was fine I knew what it was & what was being done to solve the problem but in addition to this I had the bowel troubles mentioned. Dr's in A & E knew something was amiss because my blood pressure was sky high & the pains were blatantly obvious. This problem can happen as much as daily or the longest pain gap I've had has been 3 weeks.
A week before my gallbladder was removed I started with the gallbladder pain but it wasn't severe, it felt different & was there constantly. The pain was also mirrorred on my right side, I knew something wasn't right but didn't worry too much as the end of my probs was near, this explains the state my gallbladder was in. My gallbladder was removed, I had to stay in hospital for 5 days rather than 1 because blood & pus leaked around my liver causing me to need loads of morphine. Since then I have had 1 bowel problem attack & the pain on my right side is a constant sharp pain (doesn't feel like my bowels). It is 2 - 3 inches below my left rib cage, I could point to the pain with one finger & it worsens on eating. The more I eat the more it hurts.
I apologise if I seem neurotic (I'm not) but I have had enough.

If you're not prepared to go back to your GP to be re-referred, then there's not much anyone can do for you. You could always go private, but you would still need a referral from your GP.

As I said before, two weeks is no time to get over an op such as yours, and you are probably suffering with a lot of bruising. You need to wait another four to six weeks to let things settle down.

dynamicdebz

Have tried to PM you with some information but your mailbox is full so it won't accept any more until you remove some.

Will try again tomorrow.

Ann: I am prepared to go to my GP but I shouldn't have to, I shouldn't have been discharged.
I am free from pain around all the 4 incisions, all bruising & stitches gone & as good as healed as its now 3 weeks ago. The pain I am having is nowhere near the incisions or where my gallbladder once was but I know it is related because of previous pains I had when having gallbladder attacks. I am prepared to wait the 4 - 6 weeks of course but when I get violently ill after eating in the most awkward of places like work, town centre absolutely anywhere I need to know where to turn. In actual fact I have discussed the problem with the ward I was on & I have recieved an appointment to see the consultant again but this is not for 4 weeks.
The problem now is when I had the pains just before the op, I was at my worst then & my gallbladder could have ruptured at anytime, however the pain wasn't all that bad, apparently this is what happens when things are so badly infected. The pain I am experiencing is identical on the left side, but it's on the left side & its kinda constant but not that bad. I just know something isn't right. I have decided that if the pain becomes really bad I will go to A & E, but perhaps like my gallbladder it is beyond severe pain now & I am at a further risk.
I also put off surgery to my ankle that I have been waiting 3 years for because I needed to sort my tummy out first. As my gallbladder has now been removed I went for the pre-op on Monday. They say due to the pain I am still in & blood pressure due to the pain the op scheduled for next Thursday may have to be cancelled yet again.
My 8 y o daughter is so worried about me because I so often have to say Sorry I can't take you to school, or suddenly crying in pain in front of her because I dared to have breakfast. I am quite a positive person with a high pain thresh hold. I never get depressed & always stay focused but I am reaching the end of my tether, all I need are answers but you see that many different consultants within the same clinic that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

LaceCurtains: I have emptied my inbox!!!

LaceCurtains: I have emptied my inbox!!!

Have replied in 5 parts! :)

Wow 6 in total!
Aren't I popular.
PM sent!

BTW Ann please invite me to become a member of your forum!
I am a classic example of being too honest for my own good, only today this was discussed with my employees.
Oh & I promise to be totally honest in everything I say or post even if it may offend!

Ann*: "If the pain is on the left hand side, it's hardly likely to have anything to do with the gallbladder."

That is incorrect. Patients with gallbladder problems often get 'referred pain' on the left-hand side.

BTW Ann please invite me to become a member of your forum!
I am a classic example of being too honest for my own good, only today this was discussed with my employees.
Oh & I promise to be totally honest in everything I say or post even if it may offend!

I've put it before the rest of the members to let them decide. Let you know in a few days.

The gallbladder pain can be reffered but also left sided pain can also be pancreas or liver problems due to blocked or damaged ducts from the gallstones.

dynamicdebz - if I've understood things correctly and you've only had the surgery within the last 2/3 weeks and you've got this pain, then getting an outpatient appointment with the surgeon/consultant shouldnt be that much of a trouble - you may even be able to phone his/her secretary to get in ASAP.
Hope it gets sorted soon for you!

Managed to get an appointment for 24 April but by then I will (if they let the surgery go ahead) have a pot on my leg. If the surgery doesn't go ahead then I then have to explain to my boss why all the time I have had off isn't going to stop yet after all. All the disruptions I have caused for other employees by becoming violently ill at work on a weekly basis will be carrying on.

Best thing to do is call your consultants secretary, explain that you've just had surgery, still in pain, need something for your employers and anything else worrying you. If there's something she can't sort out she'll get back to you. You can even change appointments through her. Once your under a consultant you shouldn't have to go back to your GP, only no one mentions this. If you don't have her phone no. call out-patients and ask them to put you through to her extension. There very helpful. Good Luck.