can gallstones return?

I forgot to mention that for an elevated total cholesterol of 244 in May, 2005, my PCP recommended I take Policosonol 10 mg qd. It is derived from sugar beets. I took it x1 yr. and in May, 2006 my total cholesterol was 178. I had not tried to watch my food intake during the year. I think this substance caused the gallstones. I mentioned this to one dr. and he didn't think so and the surgeon said he hadn't even heard of Policosonol.

I had mine out at 25 and I went in at 6 AM to get everything done and was out before noon. I spent several days on the couch watching TV. I will say if you watch TV do not watch anything that will make you laugh, that really hurts. I turned on a George Lopez special I had DVRed and everytime I laughed it really hurt(not as bad as the gallbladder attacks though.) I will say I didn't have stones, mine was chronically inflamed and scarred and the surgeon could see the scarring with his naked eye and said that it looked really painful and didn't look like the gallbladder of a 25 year old.
The surgery wasn't that bad, worst thing I had was some nausea but Reglan took care of that. I was back to my normal life in a week and that included taking care of my 2.5 year old, which obviously involved some lifting of a 25-29 lb(I think, can't remember how much he weighed, but it was under 30 lbs) child on my part.

Taryn

I finally had my gallbladder removed yesterday (the surgery was cancelled and rescheduled x5). It really wasn't that bad. I am sore, but that is to be expected. I haven't required any pain meds yet and I hope I don't. I sure hope I never have anymore gallstones. The pain from them was worse than the surgery.

I had the cholecystectomy via lap. on 9/18 around 12 noon. Returned to my room wide awake at 2/30 p.m. Sat up in a chair at 3 p.m. Went home at 3:30. No nausea or vomiting, of which I was concerned about.
No pain med. taken, just sore. I saw the surgeon yesterday for my 10 day follow-up and he pronounced me healthy. I told him the gallstones hurt worse than the surgery. I can't believe how easy this was. I cleaned my house and mopped floors after a week of taking it easy. Thanks for the feed back and encouragement that was given.

I had mine out when I was 15 I was told you can have phantom pains after the surgery

Yes, the surgeon said there would probably be some sharp pains on the right side as the inside was healing. I've already had a few pains but nothing bad.

...i had my gallbladder removed few years back...surgery was uneventful...minimal discomfort...and im doing fine till now...

...a fren of mine had the same surgery...but hers was an open surgery...she wrote to me telling me of a fren of hers that had died due to what she said as having stones in the liver...

...i started looking for articles on liver stones and was rather surprise to read that if u had gallstones, then chances is that u could as well have liver stones all along...the article also states that the stones actually originated in the intrahepatic duct and travelled down to the gallbladder where they continue to grow in size...

...treatment wise...they recommended doing liver cleansing which could remove the stones...

...question...

...have any of u guys heard of liver cleansing??...

...thank u....

Usually the internet is a bad place to get medical advice. From a scientific standpoint gallstones can originate after a cholecystectomy through two mechanisms. The first is described above, that the stones originate in the intrahepatic ducts. Usually these are small stones that pass through the sphincter. The other method involves the CBD (common bile duct). Once you have a cholecystectomy the CBD enlarges. This may leave an area or relative stasis. This can lead to CBD stones developing directly or an stones from the intrahepatic ducts may enlarge here.

As far as liver cleansing it is difficult to know what you mean. Sometimes Actigall is helpful in dissolving gallstones, but I haven't had much luck with this. Other "liver cleansing" products are worse than useless.

As far as post chole pain there are a couple of issues. One is that some RUQ pain is not gallbladder related. Some of this is sphincter of Odi dysfunction, some may be biliary stenosis from repeated stones, or bilary dyskenesia. All of these need to be worked up by GI.

David Carpenter, PA-C

I have a question, I had a surgery done to me on July of 2007 I have gallstones. The pain was very bad to were I couldn't move. I don't know the type of surgery I had but I think it was the fastest one which the I only have a scar in my belly button, another just below my breast area and two more on my right side of my stomach. Just recently about maybe 1 week ago I started feeling the same symptons before when I had the gallstones. My question is can gallstones develop that fast. I mean do you think I should seek a doctor and ask him or get another surgery done so they can take my whole gallbladder out. Please I need to seek some kind of advice. I don't tolerate pain very well.

Worried:
Proedure you had is laproscopic cholycysectomy. See core0 post above you regarding stone recurrance post cholecystectomy.

You need to follow-up with doctor or GI specialist for further testing if ongoing pain months post procedure.