Gallbladder removed!!

Bubbles_09

Has anyone had this procedure done, are there certain things you cant eat or irritate your stomach?

kacarter1017

I've had mine out. I can't eat anything with cream or melted butter. So, no alfredo sauce, anything in a garlic butter sauce. I don't handle fast food very well any more either. Someone had told me that if I work at it, I could get my body to tolerate those things again. Since the foods I don't tolerate aren't very healthy, I've decided it's better to just not tolerate them. And in all honesty, I don't think I would like the process of teaching my body to like those food again!!

I have no issues with healthy foods.

rachgleeson

I had mine taken out nearly 4 years ago. I suffer alot with what they call dumping (Sorry for TMI) sometimes as soon as i have finished eating i have to run straight to the toilet,i am sure this is connected. It doesnt seem to matter too much what it is i eat, as at the moment i am on a very low fat diet, so its not the fat in my diet!! I would love to hear what others have to say!!

kamechaf

I had it done. I can eat everything I want.

christinar2008

I had mine removed 10 years ago. No fried foods, spicy foods, fast food. No pasta. I have struggled with losing weight since it was removed. Finally getting somewhere now. You will just have to try it and see what bothers you. Keep a list of foods that bother your stomach and you will learn what is going to cause you issues and will know to stay away from those foods.

funkyspunky871

I had mine out last September. Two days after, I was eating alfredo and fried shrimp. Lol. Not good for me... I shouldn't have risked it, but I didn't have any side effects. I haven't had any complications since... other than some constipation which seems to be the opposite of the norm. Oh well.

Just wanted to add that I ate the alfredo and fried shrimp (and some icecream too) because I hadn't eaten much a week before. Along with gallbladder problems, I used to get gastritis one or two times a month, and each bout of gastritis would last for about a week. So, the week before my surgery, I was sick to my stomach (the equivalent of the stomach flu). I was hospitalized three days before the surgery and put on a liquid diet. I didn't have an appetite at all the morning after my surgery, so when I got home and was ready to eat the next day, I ate what I wanted!

FeistyKitty808

Had mine out in 2007, didn't have any real food complications.

akgrl1020

I did. The first year was pretty sketchy, but I have found that I can't let my stomach go empty, for too long. When I do that, digestion gets "fast-tracked". It's been ten years now, and it is very rare for me to have any issues. Good luck!

luv2ash

I had mine out----nothing ever botherd me after that---no problems whatsoever.

1bubblybroad

I had mine out about 8 years ago. I remember at first, alot of things seemed to upset my stomach and give me weird b/m's (sorry if too much information), but I quickly got over that. One problem I did have was when they removed my gallbladder, they nicked a bile duct, so I ended up having to go back to the hospital as the pain was unbearable. Had bile free floating in my abdomen. Was in the hospital for a couple days. Don't mean to scare you. If you just had it done and your pain worsens instead of get better, go back for a recheck.

JulyHummingbird

I had mine out five years ago. My liver/body has 'retrained' itself according to my doctor. I am able to eat anything. However, when I eat certain foods in excess, I break out in fat <big grin>.

I had the laser surgery so not too bad. I was pretty sick for the few days before, though. My only gallbladder attack. Do you have to have yours out?

Bubbles_09

Im getting mines tooken out next month, how quickly were you all able to go back to regular activity??

CirrusMoth

I had mine out in 2003. While I don't have constant problems, I find that too much sugar or fat (fast food being the usual culprit) eaten quickly will send me to the bathroom fairly soon after eating. This isn't always the case, but is the only correlation I can draw.

Annoying, but livable as a condition. Much better than the stones, that's for sure. :-)

As for activity, I was back mostly to normal after a few days. It was laproscopy of course, so there wasn't much healing to be done. Do be mindful of keeping the area clean and dry. You do not want to get an infection there. Really, the only trouble for me was the fact I'm a stomach sleeper, so it took a little longer to get back to that.

JulyHummingbird

Im getting mines tooken out next month, how quickly were you all able to go back to regular activity??

I took it very easy for about two weeks. I was in the hospital for three days - emergency surgery and I had to have a drain. I didn't have any upper body strength, so getting up and down was hard for the first week or so. After that, I bounced back pretty quickly. I was in my mid-40's.

CeleryStalker

It's nice to see someone else on this forum posting the issues they have experienced after this surgery. I basically got a lot of flack off some members for talking about all the issues I, my fiance, and several friends have ALL had since having this surgery. I don't understand why people have to be so damn ugly about it. It's not like it was in response to a post asking about gall bladder surgery as a new weight loss method and I was trash talking it, ya know?

That being said, here is what I've experienced, starting with the surgery itself, which was supposed to be 'easy, routine, you'll be back to work in just 3 days' laproscopic surgery:

I had the surgery. I woke up in lots of pain, but of course I did, I just had an organ removed. Over the next couple days, I started to feel better but then I started to feel just like I did prior to the surgery, lots of pain in the same area. Based on their reaction to my complaints of pain, I think they didn't believe me. After 2 weeks of missed work, countless pain pills, and several tests, they determined that the clamp they used to close my bile duct had 'come off', and I was leaking bile into my abdomen. I was becoming septic. Awesome, huh? So in for more surgery to place a stent which was again supposed to be quick and relatively pain free. I woke up in the most horrendous pain I've ever been in, violently throwing up. NOTHING they gave me helped this pain. It was honest to God, worse than child birth. I spent four DAYS in the hospital on a Fentanyl drip because morphine wasn't taking away the pain.


The finally sent me home with an RX for this drug. I missed two solid months of work while I writhed in pain. The root cause of this? My body didn't like the stent placed in me, it was causing spasms in the duct where the stent was placed. It literally felt like someone stabbing me with a sword, for TWO MONTHS. The pain immediately went away the day they took the stent out and I started to feel human again. Yay!

My digestive system has been a hot mess ever since. Your gall bladder regulates the amount of bile being dumped after you eat a meal. Without the regulator, your body has to guess. Well, I suppose my body isn't good at guessing, because pretty much every time I eat (and I eat low fat meals, I don't even want to think about what would happen if I ate something high in fat, as fat increases the problems with bile regulation), I am in the bathroom 10 minutes later, taking the world's stinkiest poop. Bile poop smells really different from regular poop and it's just plain disgusting. Not that poop smells great to begin with, but it was just weird and took some getting used to.

From time to time, I have 'bile duct spasms'. They bring me to my knees. They are WAY worse than ANY gallstone pain I ever had prior to the surgery. Some last moments, some last for hours, and there's no medicine they've been able to prescribe me that kills the pain. I basically just have to ride it out.

My fiance had the surgery years ago. While he didn't experience any issues with the surgery itself, he did experience the same poop issues and bile duct spasms as I do, but he assured me the day I was told I needed surgery that his side effects were rare, and I shouldn't let what I know about HIS situation stop me from having this surgery. Turns out, these side effects aren't so rare when you've got 100% of the people in my house who've had this surgery have these side effects.

A friend of mine at work had the same surgery. She has experienced everything I have mentioned above (aside from the complications with surgery), only multiply it by 10. She frequently has to excuse herself from the dinner table to go poop.

I'm not telling you this stuff to scare you. I'm telling you this so maybe you can take the time to research alternatives to this stinkin' surgery. I wish I had, and now that it's gone, what's done is done and this is how I get to live my life. I'm miserable. It really, really sucks.

The good thing is, it keeps me from eating foods I'm not supposed to be eating, because like kacarter said already, it's the rich food and fast food that makes the digestive problems SO much worse than they already are.


Good luck!

shreddingit

I read you should avoid eggs

CeleryStalker

I did. The first year was pretty sketchy, but I have found that I can't let my stomach go empty, for too long. When I do that, digestion gets "fast-tracked". It's been ten years now, and it is very rare for me to have any issues. Good luck!

Thank you for mentioning this. Ya, if I go all day without eating, it doesn't matter WHAT i put in there. Its going to come flying out moments later. Yay.

chnkydnknmomma

Had mine out in 2007, didn't have any real food complications.

ditto...i can actually eat things now that i couldn't before.

Bubbles_09

It's nice to see someone else on this forum posting the issues they have experienced after this surgery. I basically got a lot of flack off some members for talking about all the issues I, my fiance, and several friends have ALL had since having this surgery. I don't understand why people have to be so damn ugly about it. It's not like it was in response to a post asking about gall bladder surgery as a new weight loss method and I was trash talking it, ya know?

That being said, here is what I've experienced, starting with the surgery itself, which was supposed to be 'easy, routine, you'll be back to work in just 3 days' laproscopic surgery:

I had the surgery. I woke up in lots of pain, but of course I did, I just had an organ removed. Over the next couple days, I started to feel better but then I started to feel just like I did prior to the surgery, lots of pain in the same area. Based on their reaction to my complaints of pain, I think they didn't believe me. After 2 weeks of missed work, countless pain pills, and several tests, they determined that the clamp they used to close my bile duct had 'come off', and I was leaking bile into my abdomen. I was becoming septic. Awesome, huh? So in for more surgery to place a stent which was again supposed to be quick and relatively pain free. I woke up in the most horrendous pain I've ever been in, violently throwing up. NOTHING they gave me helped this pain. It was honest to God, worse than child birth. I spent four DAYS in the hospital on a Fentanyl drip because morphine wasn't taking away the pain.


The finally sent me home with an RX for this drug. I missed two solid months of work while I writhed in pain. The root cause of this? My body didn't like the stent placed in me, it was causing spasms in the duct where the stent was placed. It literally felt like someone stabbing me with a sword, for TWO MONTHS. The pain immediately went away the day they took the stent out and I started to feel human again. Yay!

My digestive system has been a hot mess ever since. Your gall bladder regulates the amount of bile being dumped after you eat a meal. Without the regulator, your body has to guess. Well, I suppose my body isn't good at guessing, because pretty much every time I eat (and I eat low fat meals, I don't even want to think about what would happen if I ate something high in fat, as fat increases the problems with bile regulation), I am in the bathroom 10 minutes later, taking the world's stinkiest poop. Bile poop smells really different from regular poop and it's just plain disgusting. Not that poop smells great to begin with, but it was just weird and took some getting used to.

From time to time, I have 'bile duct spasms'. They bring me to my knees. They are WAY worse than ANY gallstone pain I ever had prior to the surgery. Some last moments, some last for hours, and there's no medicine they've been able to prescribe me that kills the pain. I basically just have to ride it out.

My fiance had the surgery years ago. While he didn't experience any issues with the surgery itself, he did experience the same poop issues and bile duct spasms as I do, but he assured me the day I was told I needed surgery that his side effects were rare, and I shouldn't let what I know about HIS situation stop me from having this surgery. Turns out, these side effects aren't so rare when you've got 100% of the people in my house who've had this surgery have these side effects.

A friend of mine at work had the same surgery. She has experienced everything I have mentioned above (aside from the complications with surgery), only multiply it by 10. She frequently has to excuse herself from the dinner table to go poop.

I'm not telling you this stuff to scare you. I'm telling you this so maybe you can take the time to research alternatives to this stinkin' surgery. I wish I had, and now that it's gone, what's done is done and this is how I get to live my life. I'm miserable. It really, really sucks.

The good thing is, it keeps me from eating foods I'm not supposed to be eating, because like kacarter said already, it's the rich food and fast food that makes the digestive problems SO much worse than they already are.









Wow thanks for the info




Good luck!

pattycakes726

I had my gall bladder out 8 years ago and I also get 'dumping'. Spicy and/or high fat meals seems to set me off, but not always. It also happens less often if I don't drink anything with my meals. It's better than living with gall bladder disease, but it is a very unpleasant side effect to have to live with.

I had complications with my procedure - they sliced into my liver during the surgery and I got peritonitis and had a stent put in. I was out or work for about a month altogether.

Missjulesdid

I had mine out 6 years ago. Here's my story:

I suffered with attacks since my late teens and had it out when I was 33. By the time I had it out it was basically a mess. It was gangrene and had begun to disinegrate. I was so afraid of having the surgery that I allowed it to get this bad. I didn't go to the hospital until I literally thought I might die. I had my gallbladder removed the next day. The doctor said it was the worst he had EVER seen and scolded me for not taking care of it sooner since I made his job very difficult. I was in the hospital for three days and it was two weeks at home before I felt well enough to return to work half days. I did half days for a week.

Now for the gross stuff. Before my surgery I would get so sick if I ate anything with fat. I often had explosive diarreaha. After the surgery for the first two years I had trouble with fat but it was not every time. but occasionally if I'd have oily chinese food or a piece of pizza I'd have to "go" before I even left the restaraunt. It was terrible. There was no pain involved but it was very inconvenient. The worst part is that I never knew when it would happen. And when I had to "go" I had to GO.

Finally after 6 years it's getting better. I have read that these problem are supposed to be very rare, but I don't think so, I think that most people maybe just don't report them. Honestly though, It's a whole lot better than walking around with a gangrene gall bladder.

BTW, they say that gallstones are made of cholesterol, I have very low cholesterol, I wonder if my low cholesterol is why I wound up with the gallstone? Since having my gallbladder out my cholesterol is up to around 160. Prior to having it out it was 120 and my doctor couldn't figure out why it was so low since everyone knows that fat people sit around all day and drink bacon grease.

casey12105

Had mine out a few years ago, and I suffer from "dumping" as well (lol never heard it referred to as that) but only when I eat really greasy fatty food. So basically, any fast food. But I don't really consider this a bad thing lol it's a good deterrent from eating that stuff.

Bubbles_09

thank you all, this is very helpful!!

Tamelaine

I had mine out and on occasion I suffer from "dumping" as well, too. If it is a spicy of fatty meal or if I go to long without eating. Other than that, no problems. I think I have a harder time losing weight without it as well.
I never had a problem with it at all, and we always ate very healthy, but what caused mine is...wait for it..pregnancy!! I was super young too-23 and pregnant with our first child and all of a sudden started having attacks. Apparently a lot of pregnant women have gall bladder problems! Anyways, we weren't going to have the surgery but a stone got lodged in one of the ducts/tube that leads to the liver and my liver got blocked! I turned a lovely shade of yellow and they had to do the surgery (not laproscopic because I was pregnant). I actually recovered pretty quickly. It seems I can eat anything I want (the dumping problem is getting rarer and rarer). On occasion I do get these weird pains where the gall bladder used to be and I ended up with a gross looking scar since my stomach kept growing of course after the surgery and it got all stretched out and icky looking.

carpediem3

Too much fat for sure can effect me (or used to), and before I started this diet EVERYTHING bothered me! I had mine out in 2002 and my dr said I had one of the most serious side effects after having it out that hes seen, including simple water at times. Since changing my diet, I can pretty much eat anything Good luck!

MzBug

Had mine out in 95. I ate mild foods for about a week after, then back to normal. The only problem I had was while in the recovery room and had phantom pains in my back, they gave me a shot of demerol and I brought every ounce of liquid in my digestive system up on the floor....I could have brought up my shoes if I had been wearing any. No problems of any kind since.

propjetprop

Im getting mines tooken out next month, how quickly were you all able to go back to regular activity??

Did you really just type "mines tooken out"?

janecl

I had my gallbladder out 22 years ago and haven't had a bit of trouble with any kind of food.

MommaMind

had mine taken out right after having my daughter in 2008. No complications as far as that went, but everyone is different. Good luck!

gardea

I only had one attack. I did not have gallstones. I had a collaped gallbladder. I eat anything I want without any problems. If I go too long without eating, I get pretty bad hunger pains, but that's it. Now they attempted to do the easy laproscopy on me and then had to open me up all the way because they were having trouble reaching the gallbladder. So of course my recovery time was longer. I have a high pain tolerance and did well though. I was on complete bedrest for about a week and then was able to move around a little more easily. After two full weeks I was able to go back to work 1/2 days for two weeks, then full time again after that. This runs in my family. Out of six of us, my mom and brother are the only two who still have their gallbladders. However, my sisters didn't have theirs out until they were 28 and 30 respectively. I had mine out 4 years ago, so I was 31. My dad had his out two weeks after me and was in his fifties. Everyone except me had gallstones. And eventhough my mom still has her gallbladder, she had several problems with it when she was in her late 20s. So we tell my brother, hey man, its just a matter of time, lol. He is 25 and the baby of the family. Good luck with your surgery and I hope you have great luck. My dad and I don't have any problems eating. My sister and I both get the same hunger pains if we go too long without eating. My other sister still has to watch what she eats. She cannot have anything greasy or fatty and she cannot tolerate alcohol. So, there ya go, four people, same family, different outcomes.

smithmntry

I had my gallbladder out a little over a month ago. Leading up to a severe attack that landed me in the ER I hadn't experienced ANY symptoms. The pain was excruciating and I demanded they remove it, my admission blood pressure was 200 over 167 from the pain. Morphine helped but it took me from a 12 on the pain scale to only a 4. The M.D.'s were amazing and removed it about 13 hours after I'd checked in. Turns out my gallbladder was gangrenous and I'd had no idea. The docs told me this wasn't the norm but I was truly lucky it hadn't burst and caused a serious internal infection. Since then I can't eat fast food anymore, and my BM's smell funny. I also found out people with Native American ancestry are more likely to need removal. I suppose the point I'm getting to is sometimes you have no choice but to have it removed, for me it's better than the alternative. Good luck.