Old school gallbladder surgery?

ProCoffeenator

So I know many of you have had their gallbladder removed. I had mine out but at the time I was 28 weeks pregnant and they had to do a large incision just at my rib line.

Now that I am really hitting my exercise level I'm concerned about my ab routine. If I stretch the wrong way or sometimes just laugh too hard I get a cramp at my incision scar which I can only compare to a Charley Horse. Incredibly painful.
I've been trying to avoid sit ups and crunches fearing I'll trigger one of these cramps! I've been focused more on yoga positions and planks. This morning I'm feeling the post workout fatigue and its centered right in that area! Ugh!

So I'm wondering if there is anyone else that's got the same issue? Is this a normal post surgery pain? Or is it because I was pregnant and muscles were displaced? I had this done over 4 years ago. I clearly remember the hospital being very cautious yet excited about my surgery as it had been years since they had done gallbladder surgery like this and I was their first pregnant patient

KetoLady86

I got mine removed when I was pregnant also, but they made a few small holes in my abdomen and belly button. ..I know that didnt help you at all...But I have never met anyone else who had it removed while pregnant ⭐

ProCoffeenator

KetoLady86 wrote: »

I got mine removed when I was pregnant also, but they made a few small holes in my abdomen and belly button. ..I know that didnt help you at all...But I have never met anyone else who had it removed while pregnant ⭐

Wow! I'm not the only one!!
It was an awful experience! One week in hospital with a light liquid diet (mostly IV drips). Then the decided they had to remove it. Another week of post op recovery on top of that. The first nurse came in and was hassling me about getting up and moving the next morning I was in tears then she saw the incision and was all apologies after that. She didn't know it was taken with such a large incision.

NonnaTurtle

@ProCoffeeanator - not while pregnant, but otherwise the same experience. Ugly 6" incision and 7 days in hospital on a drip. This was many years ago, but I also had those sharp unexpected pains when doing anything strenuous (sometimes just twisting the wrong way would double me over) for a few years. The good news is... Eventually the pain goes away, completely. Good luck! Hope your pain start to ease up, soon

KnitOrMiss

I would find a good doctor on this and ask about specific PT you can do to strengthen and rebuild that muscle (maybe an OB/GYN with a Physical Therapist on site??)? I would imagine there are resources to improve that muscle's function and minimize long term healing. My only huge concern would be on the tugging and such feelings, as I know my mother, when she got her tubes tied, they inadvertently did it in a way that created a connect between her tubes, her uterus, her stomach, all the way to just under her belly skin (don't know if a wrongly place stitch or just odd healing), but when she had her hysterectomy, they ended up removing an 18 pound "tumor" of scar tissue that had been a major contributing factor in the need for the surgery!!! So just be aware that if something doesn't feel right for a long while to get it checked out. This was 15 or so years after her tubal that she had the hysterectomy...

ProCoffeenator

I'm going to grit my teeth and slowly ease in with my ab exercises. If I keep getting muscle cramps I'll check in with my doctor. It was 4 years ago that the surgery was done, but also 4 years of no exercise.

ladipoet

Perhaps try an ab exercise that doesn't put you on your back yet still allows you to work your abs. For example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgCbxLSV_kA

genmon00

Have you tried a standing ab workout?'I do one that's pretty great from Fitness blender and there's more free ones available on YouTube. Maybe a switch from being flat on your back will help

Zenwenner

You could try a Pallof Press...this is a great ab exercise!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g921oqINXFQ

KarlaYP

The pain is possibly from adhesions (scar tissues that forms due to the surgery) that can entrap a muscle, or pull (causing pain) with certain movements. The old, open type, surgeries always carried this risk. Sometimes they can get worse, instead of better, requiring surgery to fix it (see the viscious cycle?). Don't ignore the pain if it doesn't go away! Good luck!

ominousdusk

Its most likely adheadsions from the surgery. You can try getting a mayan or abdominal massage someone who can break them up for you. Thats the only thing you can do really other than another surgery. I had aheasions from my csection that thankfully broke up when i got pregnant again, i didnt have another csection so they didnt come back.

castlerobber

I started having gallbladder issues while pregnant with my second child. No severe attacks, just abdominal discomfort with referred back pain. Ultrasound showed a 2 cm gallstone. They wouldn't operate while I was pregnant, wouldn't consider taking the gallbladder while I was having my tubes tied. "Call us 6 weeks after delivery and we'll schedule the surgery." Yeah, right...let me get nursing well established, start the older kid in preschool, and then disrupt it all...

Sixteen years later, I still have my gallbladder. The symptoms ended with the pregnancy, so since it was no longer broke, I didn't fix it.