Warning on Gall Stones

eyecandyrayce
eyecandyrayce Posts: 260 Member
in Motivation and Support
This is something I wish I had been aware of previously and wanted to share.

My first try at losing weight started out really well. I went from 185 pounds to 178 and was starting to feel good. The pains started during this process but they were only on occasion and I thought they were stress. Then we suddenly found ourselves moving from Seattle to Dallas. I stopped going to the gym and stopped caring what I was eating. In fact, we were going out all the time trying to hit all our favorite places before we no longer had the option.

I gained it all back plus some. That's when the pains really started. I would wake up suddenly in the most intense pain of my life and it would last for hours. By the point I went to the ER, the pain had been coming and going for almost a year but never that intense. I couldn't even stand up straight it was so bad. They did an ultrasound and found over a dozen gall stones. Since I had no insurance the surgery wasn't an option.

A major cause of gall stones is rapid weight lose. It is even more common among ladies who have lost weight and then gained it back.

I really recommend reading up on gall stones. Here is a good link with some great information on it.
http://win.niddk.nih.gov/publications/gallstones.htm

I'm trying to avoid the surgery by eating right. By eating mostly veggies and avoiding saturated fats and fried foods, I'm able to avoid the attacks but sometimes they still get me. Everyone is different but my triggers are overeating and emotional eating. You don't want to cut fat completely from your diet because not producing bile is what I suspect causes the stones but this is an uneducated theory on my part. I try to do healthy fats on occasion and will treat myself to saturated fats once in awhile.

Replies

  • llerelgin
    llerelgin Posts: 17 Member
    Wow! Good to know!
  • Wiseandcurious
    Wiseandcurious Posts: 730 Member
    This is very very true and wish more people knew about it. Sad thing is by the time you can be properly diagnosed you are already too far ahead, stones are there and unlike kidney stones, these buggers are much harder to get rid of. Prevention i s the best cure.

    BTW any rapid loss diet can cause this, not just low fat. For details see for example:: http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/gallstones/

    Thank you so much for sharing your story, hopefully it makes someone with aggressive goals reconsider them.
  • kkrause2
    kkrause2 Posts: 9 Member
    Glad you posted about this. The same thing happened to me after about an 80 lb weight loss/7 months. I ignored the pains (and I'm a nurse-do as I say not as I do right lol) until I ended up hospitalized with gall stone pancreatitis. (Worse than child birth I might add and I had 10lb childten!) I had ignored it, attributing it to be an ulcer due to stress. Unfortunately for me, no matter how I ate I would still have pain. I opted for surgery (I'm Canadian) . My surgeon said it was most definitely due to adhering to a low fat diet and a fast weight loss (more than 2lbs a week). He said this was for two reasons 1. When you don't eat fact your gallbladder (which stores bile to help digest fat) doesn't compress and it becomes firm and sludgy. 2. When weight loss is too rapid your body can't cope releasing the excess cholesterol from your fat cells so it ends up storing the excess in the gallbladder.

    Good luck eye candy! Wish you all the best! Thanks for bringing this to light. It is an important note for those overzealous dieters out there.
  • nashvillenellie
    nashvillenellie Posts: 75 Member
    I have not felt pain as bad as having a gall bladder attack. That is saying something considering the injuries I have incurred through out my life. I ended up having to have my gallbladder removed. It had gotten life threatening.

    My mom spent a week in the hospital last year due to having complications with her gallbladder. One of the stones had gotten lodged in her bile duct. The could not do the simple lazer suegery. They ended up doing it the old fashioned way. She had a really rough time. Prior to that she had went down from 220 pounds to 160.
  • fitphoenix
    fitphoenix Posts: 9,673 Member
    I'm another person on the gallstone bandwagon. I scarcely knew I even *had* a gallbladder (certainly didn't know what it did) until 2012 when I started having those crazy pains in the upper right quadrant of my stomach (not actually stomach, I know) just below my ribs. At first I just thought I was sick, but it didn't go away, so I went to a clinic, they did tests, and it was classic gallstones well past the point where there was any option except surgery. (It had gotten to the point where even eating cucumber made me react. Cucumber. Seriously.)

    This was after reaching my goal weight, although my weight loss average was never over 2lb/week and I wasn't eating particularly low-fat. (That said, I tried losing weight for the first time back in 2006, and I tried low fat for a few months then not being very well-educated on how a healthy lifestyle worked. So that might have started it, who knows.)

    Thankfully, I was able to have laproscopic (key-hole) surgery, so my recovery was pretty fast. It threw me out of my healthy routine, however, and I got stupidly lazy (and so excited about being able to eat food again, lol, that I went overboard) and gained back some of the weight. No complications so far, and I'm keeping my macros balanced and getting back to a life worth living. Good luck, everyone! Slow and steady wins the race. ^_^
  • wtw0n
    wtw0n Posts: 1,083 Member
    While this is true (rapid weight loss increasing one's chances of developing gallstones), I'd also like to add that it's still unknown what causes gallstones.

    I had my gallbladder removed over a year ago. One of the best decisions I've ever made. The gallbladder attacks were awful and I had a crapload of gallstones (can't blame a low-fat diet or rapid weight loss, though).
  • Spewze72
    Spewze72 Posts: 82 Member
    Hmm. I've been overweight on and off for most of my adult life, losing 40 lbs in 2005 but putting it back on during 2006, then yo-yo-ing (and putting a bit more on each time) ever since. I'm at my heaviest ever now, but have lost 11 lbs since 30th December.

    I started having some terrible pains after eating a salad with cucumber in it on Tuesday - they were so bad I was off work sick on Weds. It was an intense, colic-like pain between my sternum and navel - not behind the breastbone, lower than that, but central.

    I'm fine again now, but I definitely recognise the pain as something I've had before - specifically when I've cut out all my carb and fat-rich comfort food.

    My mother - whose diet lifestyle I seem to have inherited - has just been told she has lots of gallstones at the age of 76, but they don't seem to be bothering her so they're not operating....
  • bluestarlight19
    bluestarlight19 Posts: 419 Member
    I had this in my early 20s. Had those pains on and off for 2 years before my doctor even figured out it could be my gallbladder. I was being scheduled for surgery when I had a major attack, my bile duct had become so inflamed that it was stuck in the open position and was just dumping bile into my intestines and was backing up into my stomach. I ended up having emergency gallbladder removal, and boy was that ever a life changing experience. Prior to this, I had started losing weight, but only about 4 months before they figured out what the problem was. However, I was severely anemic because I had naturally started avoiding foods that would trigger an attack, which meant I hardly ate meat. Big gallbladder triggers: high-fat/fried foods or meals, dairy in any form, chocolate.

    The gallbladder is just a gland that holds bile and releases it into your intestines, usually after a meal with a certain fat %. It helps emulsify and break down the fats with the aid of pancreatic enzymes. The liver actually produces the bile. Check out webmd: http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/gallstones

    Mine was genetic it seems, my father had his removed, my sister had to have hers out and my other sister has symptoms and she has been fit all her life.

    During an attack the pain can spread to your back and shoulder. I used to get it in a band all around right under my rib cage. When they finally got it out, my gallbladder was completely inflamed, surrounded by a pocket of fluid they had to drain and the inner lining had started to die and became necrotic.

    So...maybe don't wait too long, if its been a problem for a while.
  • amm8589
    amm8589 Posts: 55 Member
    My husband had gall bladder issues and finally have it removed 18 months ago. It had gotten to the point where he lived with daily pain. Once the gall bladder was removed, the pain immediately ceased. Interestingly, the pains he had been having in his neck and shoulder also vanished. It's strange, but a bad gall bladder effects many parts of your physical being, many of which you would never consider. My husband recovered very quickly from the surgery, which was done via laparoscopy. Honestly, his only regret was the he didn't have it removed sooner. Please don't suffer needlessly if you don't have to.
  • maybeazure
    maybeazure Posts: 301 Member
    True...rapid weight loss can cause gall stones....but so can being overweight. Major risk factors are the three f's...Fat, Female, and Fourty.

    Seriously though, I had the surgery two years ago and I am so happy I did. It was a pretty minor thing...I had it laparoscopically. Just three little scars and I can barely see them now.
  • Dahamac
    Dahamac Posts: 213 Member
    Count me in the group having of having the gallbladder removed.

    The doctors only found mine when doing an ultrasound for possible kidney stones. It took me peeing blood from a Kidney infection for the doctors to find my bad gallbladder.

    I had been ignoring the back pains, nausea, irritable bowel (especially with certain oils and fried foods), and chest pains/abdomen pains for nearly 3 years. I am a man therefore I must not let minor pains bother me.

    Thank the Good Lord the doctors found my bad gallbladder when they did! The surgeon informed pre-op that my stones were small enough that he was worried about them migrating to the pancreas. After the surgery the surgeon informed me that I almost waited too long as the gallbladder for enlarged and diseased. If I had waited much longer then laproscopic (sp?) surgery would not have been sufficient to remove the gallbladder.

    Moral of the story: If you have insurance and are having any gallbladder symptoms then have the doctors do an ultrasound or MRI to determine what is best for your health.

    BTW, I cannot believe how much better I feel today than I did before the surgery in December 2013. For months I felt like I had the flu and had quit caring what I ate just so long as it didn't make me hurt. Glad the gallbladder is gone!
  • emdeesea
    emdeesea Posts: 1,823 Member
    Yep, me too. I had lost about 55 pounds back in 2005 and had to have my gall bladder out in an emergency surgery.
  • chai_masala
    chai_masala Posts: 51 Member
    I had gallstones too, and subsequently got my gallbladder removed. It did seem to happen after I had an incredibly healthy summer, then in the fall returned to lots of junk food. But obviously this doesn't happen to everyone who loses and gains quickly. I'd already had some digestive issues--that's always a risk factor. But yeah. Gallbladder attacks hurt like CRAZY.

    I still get what feels like milder gallbladder attacks sometimes. Even though I don't have one. Following a low FODMAP diet (for IBS) seems to help.

    I think there's some crazy diet that you drink apple juice for four days and then drink a bunch of oil, and it's supposed to help you pass the gallstones. I don't know...probably not doctor-recommended :)
  • Roaringgael
    Roaringgael Posts: 339 Member
    I had my gall bladder removed several years ago. It was similar to what has been mentioned. I lost weight gained it back etc.
    My luck didn't change there.
    I still create stones I just do it in my liver ducts now.
    I have had this twice since surgery.
    I am doing the best I can be eating well, not losing weight too rapidly.
    I will be seeing someone at the Liver Clinic however I doubt that there is much they can do other than what I am doing.
    I am a nurse so am aware.
    I have passed the stones (twice) on my own but of course I have to be careful and do seek medical attention when I need to.
  • Wiseandcurious
    Wiseandcurious Posts: 730 Member
    I am lucky not to have stones (as far as I know) but I did have a crisis as a teenager from irritated gall bladder and yes, from the perspective of experience, that pain *is* worse than childbirth. And I can only imagine how much more painful actual stones are.
  • Chillyfrog
    Chillyfrog Posts: 207 Member
    True...rapid weight loss can cause gall stones....but so can being overweight. Major risk factors are the three f's...Fat, Female, and Fourty.

    Seriously though, I had the surgery two years ago and I am so happy I did. It was a pretty minor thing...I had it laparoscopically. Just three little scars and I can barely see them now.

    The three f's are what my doctor told me is usually the case, which was why he was surprised when we found out all my pain was caused from gall stones. I was 23 and not overweight. Mine started when I was pregnant and the pain was so severe no matter what I ate that I had to have it removed 8wks after my daughter was born. Some people still have problems with certain foods after having it removed (I have a few) but it's nothing compared to the pain they cause.
  • Rak0ribz
    Rak0ribz Posts: 177 Member
    I had my gall bladder removed a few years ago, too (in 2008). I'd only been able to eat soup for a few months before that; the ultrasound missed the gallstone the first time.

    Worst part: the nurse's assistant turning off the IV pump in the middle of the night because she didn't feel like changing the bag. (Actually, the worst part was the next day, when they had to flush out the line.)

    Best part: getting to ask the doctor if I was going to have to stop eating French food.
  • StephyGetsHealthy
    StephyGetsHealthy Posts: 46
    I'm 22 and have gall stones, and it is definitely the worst pain I've ever felt. I was supposed to get the surgery late last year but couldn't because of other health issues. But since changing my diet I haven't had another attack - except if I eat a lot of crap, especially late at night.

    I've found, and my doctor agreed, that sleeping upright can help, especially if you tend to get attacks at night. Something about gravity and whatever. :huh: Needless to say, it definitely helps me. If I wake up in the middle of the night with an attack, I take some tylenol and curl up in a ball against the wall, and eventually can actually get to sleep.

    I don't know if I'll end up getting the surgery, since I haven't had a serious attack in a while, but I hope my losing weight doesn't exacerbate the problem - something I'll have to mention to the specialist when I go to see them again. Thanks for mentioning that!
  • eyecandyrayce
    eyecandyrayce Posts: 260 Member
    I've really been torn on having the surgery. I am 39 and never been under the knife so I'm looking for natural solutions. I found an article somewhere that a doctor can perscribe medication to help remove the stones but it can take 6 months to a year. I've also talked to some people about natural treatments.

    I just want to avoid the surgery if I can.
  • bethannien
    bethannien Posts: 556 Member
    I've really been torn on having the surgery. I am 39 and never been under the knife so I'm looking for natural solutions. I found an article somewhere that a doctor can perscribe medication to help remove the stones but it can take 6 months to a year. I've also talked to some people about natural treatments.

    I just want to avoid the surgery if I can.

    I asked my doc about those drugs and he said they don't really work.

    I attribute mine to a combination of acid reflux, my rapid weight loss 5 years ago and my affinity for super rich, cheesy foods. It's horribly unpleasant and my insurance doesn't kick in until march so suffer on I must. The attacks are agonizing and I need pretty serious pain killers to cope.
  • Roaringgael
    Roaringgael Posts: 339 Member
    I've really been torn on having the surgery. I am 39 and never been under the knife so I'm looking for natural solutions. I found an article somewhere that a doctor can perscribe medication to help remove the stones but it can take 6 months to a year. I've also talked to some people about natural treatments.

    I just want to avoid the surgery if I can.

    Honestly, have the surgery. Its minor these days. I had it as day surgery. They do it laproscopically.
    Don't risk complications, it doesn't 'get better' or go away.
    Like I mentioned earlier in a post, I still create stones in my liver duct - not everyone does this only the "lucky" few. But I still have never regretted the surgery.
  • jbee27
    jbee27 Posts: 356 Member
    I've really been torn on having the surgery. I am 39 and never been under the knife so I'm looking for natural solutions. I found an article somewhere that a doctor can perscribe medication to help remove the stones but it can take 6 months to a year. I've also talked to some people about natural treatments.

    I just want to avoid the surgery if I can.

    Echoing several comments above, surgery is usually your best option. There is no "natural option" to remove gallstones. There is a medication, but you would need to take it the rest of your life, otherwise the stones will re-form. My doctor and surgeon both said they would only advise the meds if the patient is elderly and/or there are other reasons that surgery would be dangerous.

    I also had never had surgery before (age 25 at the timeI had my removed via laparoscope, I have one, very tiny, incision scar that is located almost completely within my belly button. I had the surgery at 8:00am, was home by 4:00pm and was back at work 2 days later.

    I only had one gallbladder attack, and that was enough for me. It was so painful that I could barely walk or breathe...not an experience I wanted to repeat.
  • eyecandyrayce
    eyecandyrayce Posts: 260 Member

    I asked my doc about those drugs and he said they don't really work.

    I attribute mine to a combination of acid reflux, my rapid weight loss 5 years ago and my affinity for super rich, cheesy foods. It's horribly unpleasant and my insurance doesn't kick in until march so suffer on I must. The attacks are agonizing and I need pretty serious pain killers to cope.

    I'm in the exact same boat as you.
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
    My husband had gall bladder issues and finally have it removed 18 months ago. It had gotten to the point where he lived with daily pain. Once the gall bladder was removed, the pain immediately ceased. Interestingly, the pains he had been having in his neck and shoulder also vanished. It's strange, but a bad gall bladder effects many parts of your physical being, many of which you would never consider. My husband recovered very quickly from the surgery, which was done via laparoscopy. Honestly, his only regret was the he didn't have it removed sooner. Please don't suffer needlessly if you don't have to.

    Referred pain. It's quite common. I am glad that your husband is well now.
  • RLDeShazo
    RLDeShazo Posts: 356 Member
    I had mine removed shortly after my 13th birthday. The night of my birthday, I had intense pain. I had had pains before off and on for months, but nothing like this. The next day, we went to the doctor, and they performed an emergency appendectomy. All was well for about 2 weeks, when the same pain started again. After some tests and an ultrasound, they found out that it was my gall bladder (although the surgeon still insisted that my appendix was also bad). 6 weeks later, I had it removed. During that 6 weeks, I was miserable, couldn't hold much of anything down and ended up losing about 15 pounds through the whole ordeal.

    The doctor said I had so many stones, I had probably been developing them from birth. :grumble:
  • eyecandyrayce
    eyecandyrayce Posts: 260 Member
    I had mine removed shortly after my 13th birthday. The night of my birthday, I had intense pain. I had had pains before off and on for months, but nothing like this. The next day, we went to the doctor, and they performed an emergency appendectomy. All was well for about 2 weeks, when the same pain started again. After some tests and an ultrasound, they found out that it was my gall bladder (although the surgeon still insisted that my appendix was also bad). 6 weeks later, I had it removed. During that 6 weeks, I was miserable, couldn't hold much of anything down and ended up losing about 15 pounds through the whole ordeal.

    The doctor said I had so many stones, I had probably been developing them from birth. :grumble:

    Wow. That's rough.

    I've been able to avoid most flare ups by watching what I eat but get one every now and then. I have some pills for the nausea and some for the pain. They help get me through the episodes but eventually I'm going to run out of pills.
  • ThriceBlessed
    ThriceBlessed Posts: 499 Member
    I lost weight very quickly, had a severe gall bladder attack that turned into pancreatitis because a tiny stone somehow ended up traveling through my bile duct to where the pancreas is supposed to able to secrete digestive juices, and lodged itself in the opening, so every time I ate my pancreas began to digest itself. It also took a toll on my liver and kidneys, and I nearly died.

    After being in the hospital not allowed to eat or drink for a week (on IV for fluids), I was stable enough for surgery. A few days after surgery I was okay to go home.

    I too wished that someone had told me about that risk. Also, my doctor said the chances of a gall bladder attack were highest on a low-carb diet.

    This was all years ago... since then I gained back the weight, and now I'm losing it again....

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