No Stones, Still Sick: Biliary Dyskinesia Stories

Inside this volume

Fifty first-person accounts describe biliary dyskinesia, a gallbladder with no stones that still causes pain after meals. Many writers were first told it was stress, gastritis, an ulcer, a kidney stone, their heart, their womb or panic attacks. They include a long-haul truck driver, a baker in São Paulo who could no longer face butter, a night-shift midwife in Enugu, a physiotherapist who blamed her back, a flight attendant based in Dubai, a sixteen-year-old who missed half of tenth grade, and the parents of a nine-year-old and a twelve-year-old, from Leeds to Lagos and Saskatchewan to Singapore. Writers describe HIDA scans, an insurance refusal, an eleven-month waiting list, explaining pain in a second language, second opinions, food diaries and the decision about surgery. A widow of seventy-one chose not to operate, and a retired teacher in Cork chose to live with it through changes in the kitchen. Others write about slow recovery on the sofa, shoulder pain, diarrhoea after the operation, cooking for a family in a new way and learning to trust their bodies again. Not every story resolves: one young woman's scan came back normal and she still hurts, and some writers were still in pain after surgery or only partly better.

Who it's for

For anyone told their scan looks fine while the pain under the ribs carries on, and for the parents, partners and health workers who sit beside them through tests and decisions about surgery.

Format · Instant download · PDF & EPUB · Fifty first-person accounts · PDF: 233 pages

A collection of personal testimony, offered as companion reading — not medical advice.

• 50 single-author testimonies from real people
• A short, plain-language introduction to the topic
• Editor's note, contents page, and curated resource list
• Professional interior typesetting and an original cover

Every purchase includes a print-quality PDF (best for desktop, tablet, and printing) and a reflowable EPUB (best for Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, and phones). Files are DRM-free. You can download both instantly from the order-confirmation screen, and we email them to your inbox as well, so your books are always within reach.