Pcos and gallstones...

Emigirl94
Emigirl94 Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I'm completely stuck here.
I found out at the beginning of the year that I have PCOS. Luckily, it has not caused me to fall victim to diabetes, but I am insulin resistant because of it, so dieting in general doesn't work for me the same as the average woman. I had looked into keto, because of the successes I had seen from many other pcos women, and I was excited to start it.
Unfortunately before I could begin the switch to keto, I started experiencing some of the worst pain I'd ever had. Found out after an excruciatingly long ER visit that my gallbladder is completely full of gallstones. I have not had it removed yet for several reasons, but surgery may be something I can't avoid down the line.
Anyhow, I have learned (both from research and personal experience) that any foods containing fat aggravate a gallstone ridden gallbaldder and cause that send-me-straight-to-the-floor pain. So, now keto is out of the question.
I've got quite a bit of weight that I need to lose, but I'm just at a total loss. I've tried just about everything I could think of that I used to do to keep weight off before pcos, but I can't get anything to work. I have no idea what I should be eating to aid in weight loss having both insulin resistance from pcos and painful gallstones. I really don't know enough about nutrition to figure this out..
Any recommendations? Any help is very much appreciated!!

Replies

  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    High fat diets are usually recommended for PCOS women, but not required for weightloss. A calorie deficit over time is required for weightloss. As fat causes gallstone attacks, you'll want to reduce fat intake until you get the stones out, but as fat is an essential nutrient, and makes weight management easier, you'll want those stones out as soon as possible. What I would consider, is thus, how soon can you get the operation, and do you need to lose weight to have the operation done?
  • Zedeff
    Zedeff Posts: 651 Member
    There’s really no way around the fact that you need surgery. Gallstones do not go away on their own. Symptomatic gallstones are 5-8x more likely than asymptomatic stones to cause complications (cholangitis, pancreatitis, cholecystitis). Drugs and diets to dissolve gallstones don’t work effectively. This problem isn’t going to fix itself I’m afraid and you will keep coming back to the “surgery” option every attack until you get it done!
  • alicebhsia1
    alicebhsia1 Posts: 82 Member
    i'd say don't worry so much about dieting and exercise exercise exercise to lose weight. also i'd suggest looking into supplementing with chromium
  • kenyonhaff
    kenyonhaff Posts: 1,377 Member
    Get the surgery done, then work on the weight. It's hard to focus on counting calories and exercising when you're on the floor of the bathroom writhing in pain...I've got personal experience in this.
  • kardsharp
    kardsharp Posts: 516 Member
    I had my gall bladder removed almost 20 years ago and I still get stones. This happens to a very small percentage of the population. I feel for you, as it is some of the worst pain I have ever experienced.
  • MikePfirrman
    MikePfirrman Posts: 3,307 Member
    I don't see why you can't help with both problems by eating lean meats, avoiding sugar and vegetable oils (fried foods) and eating tons of fresh vegetables and snacking on fruit. There's a lot of crossover general recommendations on diet for both PCOS and Gallstones. Leaner meats (avoiding red meat), limit oils, limit processed starches and sugar, eat lots of fresh veggies. Finding out more about Whole Food Plant Based diet approach, I think, would be tremendously helpful for you.

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