Gallstones anyone?

i had my gallbladder out last year. i had a few attacks until a major one landed me in the ER & i was diagnosed w/ gallstones. at that point i had lost about 50# and my doctor said that may have been what caused them. something about cholesterol causing deposits. anyway...i definitely recommend getting your gallbladder removed!

I gained 70 lbs with both of my pregnancies. After the first, I lost my appendix and after the second, the gallbladder. I would never make another choice but to get that sucker out ASAP.

According to my doctor I was one of the rare cases. I had my first gallbladder attack at the end of January in 2011, they just said it was an ulcer or something like that, Sent me home. Few days later while visiting my in-laws I had another attack, went to ER and the doctor said it was anxiety. I didnt get another attack until near the end of February, I went back to the hospital and while I was being checked out my heart rate dropped to (I think) 30 something, the nurse came in asked how I was feeling, I said fine and she rushed out to get a doctor, doctor came back in and said "yeah, we better check and see what's wrong with you."
I was admitted for a week and a half. I was released and in the middle of march while I was visiting my in-laws again I had just finished supper and had a very hard attack. She rushed me to the city hospital while my father-in-law watched my 7 month old daughter. I was admitted, they did tests and they came back saying I was having a severe Pancreatitus attack. I was in the 5% of people whom they didnt know if they would live or die from it. I even developed a cyst in my pancreas from it. I got my gallbladder out in May of 2011 after having the run-around and being cancelled on (while I had already waited 1 1/2hours in the hospital) for 2 months, and have had similar gallbladder attacks which is being caused my the cyst in my pancreas, since. i put a lot of weight on since I initially started getting the attacks, but with working hard and eating healthy I have managed to lose almost 50lbs. The doctors are debating on doing surgery to remove the cyst.

It took me about a week to recover from the surgery (4 small incisions) mainly because I was trying to do more than I should, chasing after a 9 month old who just learned to crawl, she had kicked me in a few of the incisions so I even developed minor infections. But they healed up okay.

But mainly what I'm trying to say if you are in a lot of pain, dont let them make you wait. If they wont do it soon, try and find another doctor who will help manage your symptoms. The pains dont always go away with surgery, like mine for instance. & You dont have to be completely fat free because your body needs some of the good fats.

Hope they get yours dealt with and that you dont have to deal with the attacks for long.

Had mine removed 45 years ago. Get rid of that sucker.

I suffered through what turned out to be gall stone attacks for about 3 years. If felt like getting stabbed just under the sternum, but the pain went away after 20 minutes so I didn't worry about it. This was back when I was unhealthy and obese. I didn't pay attention to what I ate so I didn't have any idea what foods may have caused it. I was also stupid about not going to the doctor. The worst case of stupidity was when my son was born. He was born at 7:47 PM so they kept my wife in for a second night. I got us McDonalds for dinner that night. I had a Quarter Pounder, fries, and a McFlurry. Then I finished my wife's McFlurry. (I feel fat just typing this.) I woke up in the middle of the night, in a hospital, and just waited until the pain stopped and never said anything. And I was in a hospital. I guess I felt like I needed to stay there for my wife and new baby and not worry about stomache pains that went away. That was in the summer of 2000 and I was 28 years old.

One night on Labor Day weekend 2002 I woke up with HORRIBLE pain, way worse than my usual pain. What had been gallstone pain was very localized and would go away. This was my entire abdomen in severe pain, and it went on for hours. I still waited for my wife to wake up and then she took me to the hospital. They quickly determined it was gall stones through an ultrasound, but that I had also developed pancreatitis. That was the extreme pain. They admitted me, put me on antibiotics, pain meds (dilauden?), and I coudn't eat a thing. I received nutrition through a PIC line but couldn't eat a bite. They had to wait for my pancreas to get better before they could take out the gall bladder. I was admitted Sept 1 and had the surgery on Sept 10. The first few days not eating didn't matter because the thought of eating was horrible. But after a week I got my appetite back and had to watch countless pizza commercials during football games that weekend. I seem to remember this being the time that Dominos starting offer Buffalo wings.

My surgeon told my wife that it was the most infected gall bladder he had seen with around 200 stones. He made it very clear to hear that I could've easily died from this. The stones can block the common bile duct that the GB and pancreas share, causing pancreatitis.

The gall bladder surgery was nothing compared to any of this. It was done lapriscopically. I think I ended up with a 5th incision. Ten years later I can't even find scars from all of them. The recovery was no big deal. I think a lot of people on this site can imagine the pain when you decide I need to do situps for the first time in years, do 100 of them, and wake up with very sore abs. That's comparable to the GB surgery. I don't even think you need to stay over night for it. I couldn't imagine that someone would need to miss more than a week of work from it.

That started a long process of getting healthy for me. My all time high weight was around 275 lbs. I was in the 250's at the time of the surgery. I lost weight in stages over the years, getting to about 205 about two years ago. I then joined this site and lost the rest of my weight to reach my goal of 188.

I have recently had gallbladder problems. The first attack hit at mile 2 of a 5K! I thought I was going to die!! I have no health insurance, so I sought out natural remedies. I did the gallbladder cleanse...terrible, but it worked to remove stones. I had muscle testing done at an herb shop. Since taking the supplements that was recommended, I haven't had any more problems. I do feel a bit sore from time to time, but I haven't had any more attacks. If you would like to know the herbs and supplements I take, message me and I'll be happy to supply the list.

I've experienced gall stones and, yes, it is the worst pain I ever experienced. Far worse than childbirth. The best advice I can give you is schedule the surgery as soon as possible.

^^^^^this^^^^^

I had mine removed i never wanted to feel something as painful as that again or even risk it its also dangerous as it could get inflamed then another attack could cause it to rupture then youd bleed to death internally

I've had pain with my gallstones on and off for 7 years now!!
They where first diagnosed after I developed pancreatitus-long story but ended up in hospital on a drip for a week and almost died :-(
Thankfully the pancreatitus never came back, but from time to time I have attacks with my gallstones, the one trigger I've really found is butter that causes it. I stopped eating butter and began eating low fat spreads-but then got told they are bad for you, so went back to butter and you can guess what happened!!

I will admit that I am 100% whimp, I hate hospitals and the doctors where i live wanted me to have my gallbladder out, thankfully I've kept hold tight of it and have learnt what to have and what to avoid.
Eating healthy certainly is the only way to go, along with regular exercise - it's the future! :-)

Everyone will tell you their own story and that is it, 'their story' what you have to decide is, can you manage with or without your gallbladder? I know people who have had theirs removed and tell me it's the best thing since sliced bread, but it hasn't changed the way they eat-infact I would say it has given them 'free-range' to eat whatever fatty, greasy food they want to.

I can empathise with your pain, it's awful and so, so draining.
I wish you well :-)

If you're having pain, ust have it removed. If you don't you may end up having a traditional 'knife' surgery and the pain and recovery takes MUCH LONGER. You also can have it rupture and that's another whole topic. I had mine removed on a Thurs and was back to work on Monday. The pain was minimal and I recovered quickly.

One thing you should be aware of though, and I know it's tmi, but sometimes if you have it removed you end up with diarrhea every single time you eat. I had that for almost ten years and thank God it's gone now. I could rarely eat dinner out without having a 'problem'. It happens because your gallbladder used to control how much bile goes into your intestines and after it's removal, it dumps directly in there. There are powdered meds you can take to help but it's still a pita.

Good luck and I pray all goes well for you!

Hi,

Wow! It's amazing the similarities on our stories, for those who gallstones followed a dramatic weight loss! I started having attack last summer after loosing 25lbs. in just a couple of months. I gone on a strick diet called HMR, where I was getting close to 0% fat intake. I had my first attack one day when I decided to cheat since we were celebrating my birthday. I just assumed I had severe indigestion since I had a lot of cheese that day, which is fatty. A month later, I cheated again, just a bit, had a nice crab sales and a margarita. This time the attack was out of the park and landed me in ER! Thankfully the ER doctor diagnosed it correctly, but still had to wait to get tests and see specialists for a few weeks.
Given my situation, e.g. stones are very small, no infections, no blood work abnormalities, I decided to avoid the surgery. I been able to do well AS LONG AS I watch what I eat. Each time I had an attack is because I overdid it by eating too much, too late at night or eating the wrongs things. I continue to monitor with specialists once a year, and if stones get bigger, one get blocked, or some other issue comes up, I will have the surgery. I do worry about possible side effects on my esophagus from the occasional attacks.
Here are some of the things that have worked for me, in case you find it helpful:
- I don't eat anything deep fried, or too fatty or rich like Alfredo and Hollandaise sauces. If I am doing well, I can tolerate small amounts of fried things, like trying something my husband is eating, just to get a taste.
- I happen to love salmon, so I eat a lot of salmon, grilled, lightly sauteed, broiled. Other cold water seafood works well too. I also can eat skinned chicken with no problem.
- Coconut oil works well, use sparingly for cooking. I can also use a little olive oil.
- I eat nonfat greek yogurt . I avoid cheese as much as possible. no more ice cream for me.
- I enjoy steamed brussel sprouts, asparragus put 21 spice salute from TJ's to add flavor, if needed.
- I drink a lot of chamomile tea. I make a beets/apple/cucumber juice which is good for gall bladder. I like making drinks with ginget too, such as Thai Ginger Lemonade.
- TJ's has plantain chips, which I love, so no more corn chips for me. You have to be careful not to over due it because although they are roasted, they have a tiny bit of oil.
- Only have chocolate of good quality, and sparringly when there are no signs of stagnation.
- I have not been drinking sodas for ages now, so that is not my issue. However, if in a party and must drink sodas because it is the only thing available, I have it sugar free. Too much sugar seems to flare things up.
- I'm very careful with rich foods like crab and prawns, which I love, but remember that a crab salad is what landed me in the hospital.
- I use a sort of 90/10, or 80/20 rule: if I am doing the right things 80 or 90 % of the time, I find I can deviate and enjoy desserts, steaks, etc ocassionaly - as long as they are not deepfried.
- I find that a glass of wine helps me digest food, if I have a nice steak or something that feels heavy after eating it.
- I have to be careful with nuts, it I eat too much, I can get an attack.
- I do occasional acupunture treatments to help strengthen my digestive system. Specially, after have a couple of attack.
- When I got to Asian restaurants, curry dishes work well since it is one of the very few things that are not stir-fried. dossas work well for me in India restaurant. Just have to be careful to have mild to medium amount of spices. Need to learn which spices don't work for you.

Hope some of it helps.