I just had my gallbladder removed.

[MissFox]

Hi!
I need somehwere to talk about this. Last Saturday I had a horible gallstone attack starting at 2am. I took pain meds all day and only got a very short break from the pain. Upon waking the next morning I felt ok bu as soon as food hit my stomach it was all over again. Since it had been over 24 hours of pain I went to the hospital (more than 36 at this point :/)
Once I got in and in the hospital bed and tests were done gall stones were confirmed and as was pancreatitis. I knew I had the stone and wanted to try natural ways to get rid of them. But my pancreas levels were at 11,000- some of the highest numbers my Dr had ever seen. I was put on Dilaudin 1mg every hour. It hardly touched the pain. I was admitted to the hosptital and long story short had my gall bladder removed Wednesday morning.
I'm so very depressed. I know it is early days but I'm scared about food and how it is going to "rush" through me. I'm on the verge of tears all the time. has anyone else had theirs out and doing ok? the internet is riddled with horror stories.

 

[ericacaca]

Hi there

Really try not to panic. I had mine removed a few years ago and nothing went straight through me!

Your gallbladder used to store condensed bile - so when you ate something particularly fatty or spicy there was some extra acid to break it down when it reached your liver. Now you don't have one its just up to your liver to deal with so you might get some indigestion to start with once your body gets used to life without it. Your liver will keep producing bile and it'll just store in the intestines now - it just won't be as powerful as the gall bladder's stuff.

Your turnaround was quite quick though. I was diagnosed with an angry gall bladder (infection) and had to spend 6 months on a low fat diet on a waiting list for a removal. I lost a load of weight which was great though. I gradually added fats back into my diet and all is fine now. Strange thing is the only things that go through me are tomatoes and the things that block me are nuts!

Hope you recover soon xxx

 

[ericacaca]

Plus, if you've been given co-codamol to control the pain then you won't be going to the loo for a while. Sorry if tmi xxx

 

[bunnyg82]

Hiya, it's coming up to three years since I had mine removed after I had a bad pancreatitis attack when my baby was 5 weeks old. It was another 3 months before my gallbladder was removed though (NHS waiting lists in the uk!!) so I had a really strict diet.
Try not to be depressed, I guess it's probably all a big shock as it happened all of a sudden but trust me, after having a few attacks, it was more scary living with the gallstones than it was having r gallbladder removed. Now I have to admit every now and then my stomach can't handle really fatty foods and I need to be close to the loo when that happens, but it's definitely got better and unfortunately I've gone back to quite a bad diet, considering how healthy it was just before the gallbladder was removed (being scared of attacks was enough motivation to keep a low fat diet, once it was gone I "made up" for all the food I'd been missing!!).

Just see how it goes. I'd say to start with if you knew you were having something particularly fatty, just make sure you're near to a toilet just in case it goes through you, but it's unlikely to affect your life enough to worry about it too much at all. Please don't worry! It was definitely more when I'd first had the gallbladder removed that I had some "urgent" trips to the loo following some really high fatty food but my diet now is very fatty and really don't have problems with that. Xx

 

[NerdyMama]

I had mine out just over a year now. I have had like 2 bathroom issues where I needed to run quick. The only thing that gives me problems now is nuts occasionally. I'm much better having it out than in. I wouldn't worry! I too googled myself into terror! But it's been just fine not having one!

 

[MissFox]

Thank you! Yesterday was OK. I had some coffee and tried keeping it low fat but only went in the morning. It really helps to hear some good stories! I'm doing better since the post. I've had an outrageously stressful last few months. They rushed me in when my pancreas was having the issues but I also had 10-12 attacks in the 8 weeks following birth and low fat didn't keep them away

 

[dgirllamius]

I had mine out in March. I had a few attacks before that but they were pretty mild and I didn't really think much of it. Early in March I had quite a painful attack where all I could do was curl up into a ball and scream. I was taken by ambulance to the hospital where they suspected either pancreatitis or gallstones. They quickly did an ultrasound and found god knows how many little stones and sludge. That was on a Friday and I had it out the following Monday.

Over that weekend I practically ate nothing. I was so scared of having another attack. A couple of days wouldn't hurt anyway - I'd rather go a couple of days hungry than suffer that attack again. My doctor said they only get worse too so I wasn't risking it. My liver enzyme levels were so high as well, they couldn't believe how high they really were. They had to do so many tests and stuff. I even had to have a camera down my throat to check there were no blockages in the bile duct.

Since then I have felt much better and have no fear of what I eat. Before I had my gallbladder out I suffered with IBS and since having it out the symptoms of IBS seemed to have worn off a bit. I do find tomato products go through me really quickly whereas they didn't before. Other than that it's been pretty good so far.

Just give it time, your body has to adjust to the changes. Your liver has to make bile pretty much on demand now and can no longer rely on taking it from the gallbladder storage but your body will get used to this and you'll feel much better.