“Doctor, why is my reflux or gastritis pain getting worse?”

I do see a large number of patients with abdominal pain in the clinic. Many of these patients have recurrent episodes of pain for a number of years. Patients often tell me it is their gastritis or reflux pain.

The nerve supply of the stomach, liver, gallbladder and pancreas all comes from the same spinal roots. In other words, the nerve supply to these organs are the same. The pain that we experience from these organs can be similar and sometimes quite difficult to differentiate.

There are a large number of patients whom I see tells me that their gastritis pain is playing up. After assessing them carefully, many of these patients actually have pain from their gallstones. Gallstones can easily be diagnosed with an abdominal ultrasound. Ultrasound uses sound waves and it is totally harmless.

Symptoms of gallstones can be pain or bloatedness. Complications of gallstones include infection of the gallbladder, blockage of the bile duct (patients turning jaundice) and pancreatitis.

The gold standard of treatment for symptomatic gallstones is laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Meaning via keyhole surgery, the whole gallbladder is removed. We take out the whole gallbladder and not just the stones because if we leave the gallbladder behind, the stones can recur.

In the group of patients mentioned above, after their laparoscopic cholecystectomy, their recurrent pain disappears completely and they can even stop taking their “reflux or gastritis” medications.

If you have any queries, please feel free to send us a text or give us a call.

Attached is a picture of a gallbladder.

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