Gall Bladder Diet

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sarahsedaii
sarahsedaii Posts: 39 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hey!

In the last few months, I have had a lot of trouble with my Gall Bladder. Thanks to a home-remedy cleanse, if I have an attack, I can take care of it in a few hours. But, in my opinion anyway, I think that it would be better to NOT have attacks. If anyone else has problems like mine, what do you eat? Especially the few days after the attack when it feels like your gall bladder is just begging you for fat and grease. I swear, once I get done with a cleanse, I crave every food that will make my poor gall bladder hurt hurt again.

Any ideas?
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Replies

  • ashley0616
    ashley0616 Posts: 579 Member
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    I am very interested in what others have to say. I can't seem to keep my gallbladder happy either! I try to stay low fat as a general rule but I still get attacks and they are killer!
  • Panda_Jack
    Panda_Jack Posts: 829 Member
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    There are a few sites that have some great info on them.

    http://www.gallbladderattack.com/gallbladderdiet.shtml

    Unfortunately I no longer have my gall bladder, and that's a whole other can of worms...
  • Jami22
    Jami22 Posts: 253 Member
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    Girl I remember those attacks! Some of the worst pain ever!! And mine seemed to come out of no where! I have no solutions for you because once I was finally diagnosed with gall stones (it took several months) my doctor opted to take it out so I wouldn't have any future problems.
  • ltlemermaid
    ltlemermaid Posts: 637 Member
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    I have a friend that had to eventually get her gall bladder removed, she is in recovery now but certain foods make her sick. She tries to stay away from dairy, red meat, tomato and tomato sauces, spices...these seem to make her sick within minutes of eating. She is trying to stay with chicken and seafood only, and foods that are not greasy.

    hope this helps some.
  • girliegirl1822
    girliegirl1822 Posts: 164 Member
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    I used to get gall bladder attacks all the time and they were bad and I just started cutting everything out that would trigger them I was cutting out soo much. Like 4 wks ago I had a real bad attack and had to be rushed to the emergency room and they took out the gall bladder so I dont know if cutting foods out will work for you it didn't work for me sorry :cry:
  • HelenTheKitchen
    HelenTheKitchen Posts: 383
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    I'm getting mine removed at the end of the month because of all the problems it's causing.

    I've had to avoid all rich fatty foods, even the healthy ones:
    Avocados
    Heavy Cheese/Cheese Sauce
    Oils
    Hummus (Which I eat anyway, but I always have to take heavy pain medication afterwards)
    High Fat Dairy

    Also, anything spicy are acidic seems to aggravate it as well. Mexican and heavy Italian food are pretty much out of the question.

    However, I'm a pretty severe case, I'm getting it removed at 27 years old. There are different degrees.

    Apples and apple juice seem to soften the stones and help with passing and pain relief, but mine is too big to pass so it only helps with the pain a little bit.

    That's about everything I pretty much know about it. That, and it hurts really bad.

    Hope I helped.
  • tonisteedley
    tonisteedley Posts: 44
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    This is terrible stuff !!! I hated attacks, sometimes I thought I was having a Heart Attack.. I learned the hard way. Mine got so bad that I learned to eat very little and very healthy. High Fat grams over a period of a week or 2 would set mine off. But when I learned to stay away from all that stuff it got better. I couldnt even do buffett's or anything like that, because even if I ate healthy food but if I ate to much food, I would get a attack.
    But let me tell ya, over the course of 4 yrs with a bad Gallblader and under eating totally reaked Havoc on my Metabolism. I let the under eating go on way to long, because I got use to it. Because I am sure you know when you have them attacks you learn real fast what makes them come and what you can do to make them stay away. So my body got use to eating very little. Now about 6 months ago I had that thing taken OUT !!! But it has been a very hard road to get my Metabolism back in check and learning that I have to eat a certain amount a day. It has been a struggle with getting use to eating more food.
    So the best method is to have it taken out... But when I had attacks I wouldnt eat for a few days ( not a good idea). Now a friend of mine told me one time that if you drink some very warm water ( not HOT !! ) that sometimes did Help mine for a short period of time. But when there bad, you will try anything !!! I feel terrible for anyone with them attacks. good luck ladies...
  • jlbay
    jlbay Posts: 473 Member
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    Well, nothing makes me feel better in the midst of an attack. However, i've noticed that if I eat low fat for a while, then eat something high fat, that is almost guaranteed to trigger some level of pain. So, dieting sucks for me. I try not to eat extremely low fat over consecutive meals. I don't know what this means, though.

    My first and worst attack was after a terrible bout of food poisoning - I didn't eat anything solid for over a week. Over the next several weeks (once I started eating again) I started having the worst pain in my life - went to ER and ultrasound showed "sludge and particles" in the bile duct.

    My grandmother had her GB removed and could eat whatever she wanted. My friend had hers removed and she is guaranteed to be sick if she eats fat. I guess it depends on the person? My doctor wanted my GB removed, but the surgeon didn't agree. I guess they're going to wait until it explodes (which is what happened to my grandmother).
  • sarahsedaii
    sarahsedaii Posts: 39 Member
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    Wow. Seems like everyone is just as miserable as me! I guess misery loves company. Let me tell you what I do to aliviate the pain. I have gone to the emergency room, and they basically did nothing. But while this is not the most comfortable solution, you can flush your gallstones and be attack free unless you decide that you have to eat the chili cheese tots at Soncic (man were they good)

    here is one of the better websites explaining the flush: http://www.sensiblehealth.com/Journey-03.xhtml

    Basically, you drink 2 ounces of freshly squeezed lemon juice and 2 ounces of olive oil before you go to bed. If you want to do a full flush, do it either once a day for 4 days or every hour for 4 hours. You will not feel good. In the morning, you will wake up and and be attached to the bathroom for about 30 minutes. You can actually see your gall stones (eww gross right?) But you will feel so much better by lunch. It also reduces the residual pain.

    The oil loosens up your gall stones and the acid in the lemon juices eats them away. This literally has saved my life. I was in pain so long until someone suggested this to me. I went from an attack every 2 weeks to one every 2 months (and only because of the tastey cheese tot obession).

    Hope this helps!
  • lcoulter23
    lcoulter23 Posts: 568 Member
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    the only real way to stop gall bladder attacks is to get it removed. If you do not get it removed and you have stones your gall bladder can become gangrenous and cause you to become very ill and it has even been known to cause death if it goes too long. My mom had hers removed years ago and she had over 400 small stones in her gall bladder. Her pain came on very sudden. My aunt also had hers removed, but I was a kid and they were still doing the open surgeries that left you incapacitated for weeks afterwards. My mom got hers done when they first started doing Laprascopic removals. As for me, I am more prone to Kidney stones. I passed one in 2001 a couple of weeks before my missions trip to China. I thought I was going to die, that is how bad it was. It took 2 days to pass, and it finally passed while I was in the Emergency room. They thought it was either my appendix or my gall bladder.
  • Clonekuh
    Clonekuh Posts: 92 Member
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    I got mine removed! ;)

    Definitely worth it. I used to get sick all the time when I ate and I thought I just had a sensitive stomach. It's been years now. I used to take a bottle of pepto a month, and I can only recall taking the pills once since I've had it removed.
  • clem7444
    clem7444 Posts: 64 Member
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    I had mine removed in emergency surgery because of 3 2cm stones.
    Prior to that, however, I noted through food tracking, that my gall pain was caused not necessarily by fatty foods, but by foods with a lot of artificial ingredients and preservatives. When I cut those out, I did better. Even without it though, I can't eat some things, most specifically fake butter (margerine, popcorn oil, flavorings, spray butter, etc).
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    I had mine removed in late December. The interesting thing is, I never had any "attacks" but I did have one HUGE gallstone about an inch in diameter. My grandmother's burst when she was in her 60s, so my gastroenterologist wanted it out. The surgeon didn't agree. He didn't feel he should remove it if I wasn't have any trouble. My gastroenterologist insisted, so out it came.

    I'm not having that much trouble without it now. I can't eat a lot of really high fat foods (so long, fish and chips!) or I'm in the bathroom all day, but other than that, things are pretty much normal.

    Someone else mentioned this, but it's worth repeating: if you suffer from gallstones, you will ALWAYS suffer from them. Your gall bladder will continue to produce them for the rest of its existence. Some of you seem to be letting it nearly rule your lives or at least your eating habits. It might be worthwhile to discuss the option of having it removed with a gastroenterologist. The surgery wasn't too bad. I was back to work in under a week (desk job) and didn't have to rely too heavily on pain medication during that time. Just my two cents.
  • gumonyershoe
    gumonyershoe Posts: 20
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    I've been hesitant to even think about having it removed because stones can still form even if you don't have the gall bladder so then you're still in the same position even after having spent thousands of dollars to get it removed.

    I personally have not had mine removed, but I do the same clease (as Sarahsedaii suggested to me) and it does really work pretty well.

    As far as what I eat after an attack, bland food (grilled chicken, clear broth soup) and just very small/light meals for a day or two.
  • jlbay
    jlbay Posts: 473 Member
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    It is interesting when people suggest to have my GB removed. Believe me, for SIX months I was in so much pain, I would have let them take out anything. BUT, the surgeon refused. He said I was too young and that the GB removal might not cure the pain (like gumonyershoe said - my surgeon said the same.) I was only 26 at the time and very thin. They said I didn't have the "Four F's": "Fat, Female, Fertile and Forty" because I was young, thin and never had children. I didn't have any big stones, just many tiny ones and "sludge" - whatever that means.

    That was 10 years ago. It is so frustrating dealing with doctors in these situations. Then I read people's stories where they had their GB's out with far less pain (my first "attacks" were about every three days for 6 months, I was loaded on vicodin and no one could agree to operate). I lost so much weight they were about to put me in the hospital and I had to drink these high calorie shakes. My grandmother went through the same thing - doctors told her it "couldn't" be her GB and sent her home for weeks. Finally, her's perforated and she had emergency surgery and was very ill - she could have died. Knowing that made me even more depressed. That was a bad year!

    Okay, enough ranting.

    I've read about this cleanse many times over the years, but have always been to scared to try it. Perhaps I will have to suck it up and try it next time... Do those who use the cleanse do it only after an attack or on a regular, maintenance basis?
  • lalilalu
    lalilalu Posts: 102 Member
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    I had a terrible time with Gall Stones and was having terrible attacks weekly with extreme pain lasting for hours and pain that would go on for about a day meaning another day off work. The only was to avoid these attacks was to totally cut out fat from my diet, spicy food was fine, but any time I had any fat I would spend the next day regretting it big time.

    Finally a made it to the top of the waiting list and had my gall bladder removed when I was 26 (I had the other 3 F's, just wasn't 40). And within days I was totally cured and since then have been able to eat anything any time, no wonder, I'm Fat!!!
  • armywifeinpink
    armywifeinpink Posts: 39
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    If a surgeon is refusing to remove your gallbladder than go to another doctor. You are NEVER to young to have your gallbladder removed. I had my gallbladder removed when I was barely 15 years old. We on the other hand were waiting for it to happen because gallbladder disease runs badly in the family and first sign of me having any problems, we got me tested and got it out. I would not go back and do things differently because I would get sick about every time I would eat to the point where I was loosing weight and becoming very unhealthy and malnutried. I have three kids who are 9, 6, and 5 and at the FIRST sign of them having problems I will get them tested and there will be no doctor in this world that will keep me from having it removed.....
    The only thing I have ever had since getting it out, is just a problem with eating restraunt eggs, but after a trip to the bathroom its all over with and no pain. You dont have to have your gallbladder to live and you defintly do not need to live with that sort of pain.....
  • SewRue
    SewRue Posts: 74 Member
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    I had my gall bladder removed and I dealt with the attacks for 2 years. Turns out I had HUNDREDS of stones. It was about to burst. Unfortunately a side effect of that is my mass amounts food sensitivities and food allergies on top of being a vegetarian my diet is limited. My attacks usually came from acids and anything with in it. It was all about trial and error for me.
  • jlbay
    jlbay Posts: 473 Member
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    I've changed doctors. I've had four different doctors (not including the surgeon), including 2 GI specialists. I even live in a different country now. My last attack only lasted 8 hours - it was over before I saw my doctor. So, they put me on the wait list for a new ultrasound. Four months later, I have the ultrasound and the GB is clear. The dr. said to see him again when I have pain next and if they found my GB was inflamed, he'd remove it. He said, until then, GB removal was not the best option b/c many people (I think he said 40%) still have the same symptoms, if not worse. Which I've heard before. So, it is difficult to know what to do when faced with such info. Right now, I only suffer from severe pain a couple times of year with occasional "pinches" in between.

    Anyhoo - I think I may have hijacked the thread a bit...oops!
  • Jami22
    Jami22 Posts: 253 Member
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    It is interesting when people suggest to have my GB removed. Believe me, for SIX months I was in so much pain, I would have let them take out anything. BUT, the surgeon refused. He said I was too young and that the GB removal might not cure the pain (like gumonyershoe said - my surgeon said the same.) I was only 26 at the time and very thin. They said I didn't have the "Four F's": "Fat, Female, Fertile and Forty" because I was young, thin and never had children. I didn't have any big stones, just many tiny ones and "sludge" - whatever that means.

    That was 10 years ago. It is so frustrating dealing with doctors in these situations. Then I read people's stories where they had their GB's out with far less pain (my first "attacks" were about every three days for 6 months, I was loaded on vicodin and no one could agree to operate). I lost so much weight they were about to put me in the hospital and I had to drink these high calorie shakes. My grandmother went through the same thing - doctors told her it "couldn't" be her GB and sent her home for weeks. Finally, her's perforated and she had emergency surgery and was very ill - she could have died. Knowing that made me even more depressed. That was a bad year!

    Okay, enough ranting.

    I've read about this cleanse many times over the years, but have always been to scared to try it. Perhaps I will have to suck it up and try it next time... Do those who use the cleanse do it only after an attack or on a regular, maintenance basis?


    Weird! Because my doctor said the exact opposite! I was a senior in High School when I started having my attacks and once they figured out that I had gall stones his first repsonse was to get it out because I was young and healthy and I would only continue to have problems....

    As time has passed my post gall bladder issues have eased up. McDonald's normally still sends me to the bathroom pretty quickly though. I never did have to take any mediciation after it was removed.

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