Gallbladder problems

Jessyrabbit
Jessyrabbit Posts: 24 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'm 26 and have been suffering from a declining gallbladder for the last year or so! It seemed to clear up for a while but came back with revenge a few weeks ago. Doctor wants me to hang on to it for as long as possible (All the women in my family had it out BEFORE 20 but most of them didn't know what the problem was till they ended up in the ER) Since im aware and on top of the situation Dr. thinks it best I hang onto all my organs for as long as possible.

Which means no more fun food. No Peanut butter, that ones the hardest, keep my fat calories to 30% of my daily intake, and only stick to healthy fats. I'm hoping that by tracking everything again on here I will be more on top of my fat intake.

Anyone have any tips? I've heard from people that it is worth hanging onto my gallbladder as long as I can, but the heart burn and tummy pain needs to go away! Im gonna have to start buyingTums and Alkaseltzer tablets in bulk and count them in my daily calorie intake soon if the symptoms dont clear up soon!

Replies

  • mom2aeris
    mom2aeris Posts: 98 Member
    I have a gallbladder problem. A few years ago I was having attacks almost weekly, and it was misery. Trouble was, they couldn't figure out what the problem was. So they eventually figured it out after an ultrasound, and they told me to cut out all the fat I could. I got down to a 20g of fat a day diet, I watched everything. Problem was, I wasn't losing weight and I was miserable. Then I learned about Paleo, which features a low carb, high fat diet of foods that are as close to natural as possible (no processing, no added sugar, etc). So, I thought well, let's just go for it. If it doesn't work, I can stop. So in the last 3.5 months I have been slowing increasing my fat intake and decreasing my carbs, and I have only had 1 attack in all that time (which was my fault; I binged and ate 8 chicken wings and french fries, so bad). But I did notice that so long as I keep my activity levels up and keep away from fried foods and dairy I am totally fine.

    Not giving you medical advice, just trying to let you know what happened for me. Now I typically eat 65 - 80 grams of fat, depending on how I feel that day and how much exercise I get, and most of that comes from healthy places like eggs, meat and nuts.
  • Richterchuk
    Richterchuk Posts: 16 Member
    PLEASE - do not follow the advice of hanging on to it!

    I was told that too.

    What ended up happening is that I was rushed to the ER and needed to get it taken out immediately.

    Because I tried "hanging on to it", it became so inflamed that it attached to my liver. When they removed it, my liver started to bleed too much and I ended up having to get a blood transfusion. A day surgery turned into a 2 week long hospital stay, with a very worried doctor in the beginning.

    My surgeon said to me "If your appendix needs to come out, do you try and keep it? Same thing goes for your gallbladder".

    Get an ultrasound - if it is full of gallstones, you will never lose that. Take it out, spare yourself the misery, and eat healthy going forward.
  • 053069
    053069 Posts: 52 Member
    Gallstones (if this is the case) is not something to "play with". Please do your research on the internet, look for "gallstones left untreated risks".
    good luck
  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,059 Member
    I would get a new doctor's opinion.
    If I had an organ that was a ticking time bomb, I wouldn't want to hold onto it if it is potentially going to cause a problem later on! It may be in your best interest to have it taken out, before it becomes an emergency.
  • PBlilacs
    PBlilacs Posts: 23
    I would in no way try to tell you to go against what a Dr says, however I will say this..... After unexpectedly having my gallbladder out about 3 weeks ago, I feel better today than I have for months!! Yes, there are adjustments and some odd things to get used to but Wow, I didn't even realize some of the symptoms I was having. No gallstones, so just a slow decline and then out of no where it just stopped functioning one day and that was PAINFUL. Take care of it!!
  • fitandfortyish
    fitandfortyish Posts: 194 Member
    Same thing, would never say go against what your doc has ordered, but I suffered while "trying to hold on to it". Ate low fat, lots of fibre and was petrified of the next attack. I was on vacation and had two 10 hour attacks and decided right then it had to go.

    Infections are always a possibility if gallstones are present. BEST thing I ever did was have it taken out--super easy surgery--in and out on the same day and scars you can barely see. If you wait and it gets infected or bursts you will have major surgery and an epic scar

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