I just found out I have Gallstones?

I have a friend who just had surgery this week and she could barely eat a thing. She basically avoided greasy foods, ice cream, anything spicy. She had to eat very bland things. Even eating too many veggies disrupted her so she ate very small amounts of food.

Yes,very painful.I got them at the age of 14 and were removed.I had them for at least 6 months,but could not stand the pain. N that time I didnt really care too much about what I was eating,but glad you are wanting to eat better. I tryed taking meds for it also,but didnt seem to help. Hope everything goes well for you!!!

Yes I had gallstones at age of 18. My gallbladder was full of stones so I ended up having surgery to have my gallblader removed. I remember how terribly painful it was. I was scared to eat anything as it seemed everything but plain bread and water would cause an attack ( but not to scare you, remember I had a gallbladder full of stones ). I ended up losing almost 15 pounds and was down to 95 pounds when I finally had surgery...I went through the pain for over 6 months before they did anything about it...The doctors kept telling me it was heartburn I was experiencing!! I wish I had some advice for you as to what foods to avoid...but other than staying away from fatty foods I'm not sure what else to tell you. Hopefully you will have some relief from the pain soon. :flowerforyou:

I just had mine removed 3/1/11. It was an easy procedure. Very minor pain afterwards. I took it easy for 2 weeks post-op. But still walked everyday, several times a day. Just 5 minutes at at time. The procedure can make you gassy, so I sipped diet soda several times a day to relieve it. ( I actually took a month off work. I milked it for all I could, lol). I am glad I had it done though. If you have health insurance, I would suggest getting it removed versus prolonging it.:flowerforyou:

Man I feel for you! I have the same thing and have had it for 3 years. It sucks!!! I always feel like someone has jammed their fingers underneath my rib cage and won't remove them! But, I have learned what foods I can and can't eat and that has helped. What is even more awful is that they won't remove it unless it is absolutely necessary, so I basically have to live with this till it gets worse. It takes about a week, but if you lay off the fats and caffeine and take ibuprofen to take the swelling down, you will feel 90% better.

I fought problems for 3 years. The doctor kept telling me it was something else when all along it was my gall bladder. By the time I had surgery, I did not have one left, it had turned to muss. Stay away from greasy and spicy foods. Also be careful of the same things right after surgery and stay close to a bathroom. I was able to eat whatever I wanted 3 months after my surgery.

My mom just went through this. Well, is still going through it. The pain was so bad that she was physically afraid of food.

Some things we learned VERY quickly. Have a lot of cucumber on hand. Half a peeled cucumber will REALLY help with the pain.
Lactose free milk was the only milk she could have. Coffee was out for awhile, but we've brought it back in now. While she was in constant pain, anything with gluten was out. We've brought in small amounts of whole wheat now, but mostly use Rye breads. Tofu was ok, but we never really developed a taste for it. Egg whites were good.

This website-( http://www.gallbladderattack.com/gallbladderdiet.shtml#gallbladderdiet ) helped so much. There's a list of foods there. But it does require some experimentation, the "good" news is that you know with a bite whether it is going to bother you.

Go to your health food store and get a bag of flax seed and some flax seed oil. Every night, a flax seed tea (3tbsp of flax seed steeped) Every morning, the juice of half a lemon with 1tbsp of flax oil. The tea helps the pain so you can sleep, the lemon juice helps things to ahem...move again.

Basically, you're cutting out the fat and processed foods until the pain stops at least. Now she's on a mostly vegetarian diet. With fish for protein, since she can't have the fats that most protein has.

Another thing that helps VERY quickly is about 4 oz of apple juice with a table spoon of apple cider vinegar added. This relieved attacks within minutes.

My wife was having pains she called heart attacks in the back, a sharp debilitating pain in her left shoulder blade. After trips tot he doctor with no results I started reading up on the symptoms, gallbladder attack. She was pregnant at the time so surgery was not an option.

Researching "home remedies" came up with the apple juice/cider vinegar and it works like a charm. Here are a few others:

1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in a glass of apple juice*
1 tablespoon of Epsom salts in a glass of pure water or fresh grapefruit juice*
Iceberg lettuce (you can use other types of lettuce but they might not be as effective)
Castor oil pack on the gallbladder
Strong foot massage or rotating from balls of feet to heels while standing
1 to 2 tablespoons of cod liver oil
Coffee or pure water enema (often brings instant relief)

We've used the first two, number one offered her the greatest relief.

The doctor said as soon as the baby was born she should consider gall bladder removed (funny because they never diagnosed gallbladder problems, we did and asked them). That was seven years ago, still no surgery.

I had my gallbladder removed and two years later I was suffering the same pain. The doctor continued to tell me that it was just my stomach and I needed to alter my diet. After six months of eating nothing but PLAIN roast beef sandwiches (no condiments what-so-ever) and gallons of Gatorade, I finally saw a specialist who told me that the doctor had missed three gall stones that were at that time now stuck in the bile duct and my liver was starting to shut down. Lesson learned. To this day eating at a fast food restaurant can be a scary experience. Anyway-watch the spicy stuff, bland foods and no dairy. Good luck-hopefully you can be rid of those nasty little things soon!