Cholecystitis

lauren3101

Hi all

My husband has been laid up in hospital for the last 2 days and has just been diagnosed with cholecystitis, or basically, a gallstone has become trapped in his duct. It's extremely painful and he's been told to follow a low fat diet, which is easy enough.

However, when I've tried to look up things he needs to avoid, the information is very varied and often conflicting. Some I expected, like fatty meats, pies and cakes, but others I didn't, like eggs, nuts, tuna, salmon, gravy, mince (even extra lean).

Yet some websites say healthy fats are OK, or that regularly eating nuts and drinking small amounts of alcohol helps prevent them from reoccurring.

The doctors have also been varied, one said to just be mindful of how much fat he eats, another quite literally told him to starve himself on carrot sticks!

Just wondering if anyone has experienced this and could give me some pointers on how to manage it? He's now on the waiting list for his gallbladder to be removed thankfully, but it will be around 6 months away.

crackpotbaby

As the nurse for some ideas. They may have a pamphlet or be able to get the hospital dietician to have a word.

People with cholecystitis tend to learn very quickly what foods are too high fat for them as they get discomfort and nausea and so forth. The advice is generally 'low fat' but it's also a bit trial and error.

I hope your husband recovers quickly.

lauren3101

lizery wrote: »

As the nurse for some ideas. They may have a pamphlet or be able to get the hospital dietician to have a word.

People with cholecystitis tend to learn very quickly what foods are too high fat for them as they get discomfort and nausea and so forth. The advice is generally 'low fat' but it's also a bit trial and error.

I hope your husband recovers quickly.

Thank you.

Tbh this is the problem - it's where the confusion started! Every doctor or nurse seems to have a different idea.

I guess a lot of it will be trial and error, I just don't ever want to see him like this again.

lauren3101

This is an example of why I find it confusing:

We currently drink whole milk, not loads, but in our coffees. One doctor said to switch to skimmed as it has less fat. Another doctor said you should stick with whole as skimmed milk contains much more sugar which in turn produces insulin which is turned to fat. So confused...

comptonelizabeth

lauren3101 wrote: »

This is an example of why I find it confusing:

We currently drink whole milk, not loads, but in our coffees. One doctor said to switch to skimmed as it has less fat. Another doctor said you should stick with whole as skimmed milk contains much more sugar which in turn produces insulin which is turned to fat. So confused...

I'm not sure about that! It's true that skimmed milk contains more lactose- you could try lactose free skimmed milk?
When I had gallstones and had to go very low fat before my surgery , I switched to skimmed milk. I found I had to avoid most meat apart from very lean chicken or fish. I basically lived on chicken and rice/mashed potato !

Edit: salmon and tuna are oily fish which is probably why he should avoid them. And mince - even lean mince- typically contains a lot of fat. With eggs you could try just egg whites though personally I find that unappetising. Nuts are also oily.

Spiderpug

I had this, no real advice given or a number to stay under but I stuck to 25-30g as on MFP and avoided processed foods as usually high in fat cals. Wasn't the most exciting period in my life but it meant I didn't get any flare ups (mine was mainly caused by eating pizza!)
Had the op 18mths ago and can eat most fatty things as before (unfortunately!) apart from loads of pizza/melted cheese but can still have it, in moderation.

comptonelizabeth

Spiderpug wrote: »

I had this, no real advice given or a number to stay under but I stuck to 25-30g as on MFP and avoided processed foods as usually high in fat cals. Wasn't the most exciting period in my life but it meant I didn't get any flare ups (mine was mainly caused by eating pizza!)
Had the op 18mths ago and can eat most fatty things as before (unfortunately!) apart from loads of pizza/melted cheese but can still have it, in moderation.

Yup,melted cheese = instant diarrhoea!

Macy9336

My husband was in similar situation. Had to go to hospital via ambulance...found a gall stone. Released, surgery scheduled two weeks later. Gall bladder removed last Monday..the gallstone was the size of a walnut. During the interim he had to avoid fat and sweets and eat small meals. We don't eat very much processed food anyway so that was not an issue. But no eating out, no fast food, no take away. Just stick to eating as healthy as possible at home and no more second helpings. We ate off our small plates too instead of dinner plates to ensure the meals were small portions. He's now in recovery and back to work this coming Monday...basically has to avoid fatty and gas producing foods (surprisingly stir fry veg is a gas producing food..) as well as cut down on meal sizes. He's using MFP to lose weight as well so he's pretty excited in a way because now he can say no to Office cakes and donuts and their Friday fry up breakfasts by blaming his lack of a gallbladder and not get called a wuss by coworkers.

GottaBurnEmAll

lauren3101 wrote: »

This is an example of why I find it confusing:

We currently drink whole milk, not loads, but in our coffees. One doctor said to switch to skimmed as it has less fat. Another doctor said you should stick with whole as skimmed milk contains much more sugar which in turn produces insulin which is turned to fat. So confused...

Sigh. Sadly, doctors have very little in the way of nutrition education. Skim milk doesn't have more sugar (lactose). I just looked it up, and if you compare 100 grams of skim milk to whole milk, they both have 5 grams of lactose each.

Secondly, insulin is not "turned into fat". Insulin lets glucose into cells and excess glucose eventually gets converted to body fat if there is an excess of calories in the diet.

I have to eat a low fat diet due to having familial hypercholesterolemia, so I'm pretty up on low fat stuff.