Have You Had Your Gall Bladder Out?

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I think I might be headed in that direction. It hurts when I eat and a few years ago, I had an ultrasound that showed 'biliary sludge'. Do you have to avoid all fats after cholecystectomy? Is it a difficult recovery? Do you get alot of diarrhea?

Thanks

not everyone have the same post-complain i had the surgery in november 2002 it taked me approxamility 2 months to recover fully but by the end of the firt month i was back to work. today i can eat any and every thing but except for a large amount of margine that will make me be vomite,feel nausiated ,have diarrhorea and just feel sick for a few days so i don't use margine at all i use low fat butter other wise no problem since

oblove23RN

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I had mine taken out about 10 years ago when I was about 30 and it really, really, really improved my life. Up until then I had been suffering from pressure/indigestion in my stomach following evening meals for 10+ years and would often need to make myself vomit at some point in the wee hours of the morning in order to get some sleep. I had no idea what was going on and neither did the doctors. (Did not fit the profile since I was relatively young and skinny. One doctor even accused me of bulimia! Duh, bulimics don't make themselves vomit reluctantly 8-12 hours after a meal because of discomfort.) The indigestion became more frequent and finally progressed to painful attacks that took me into the emergency ward and an ultrasound that showed a gallbladder completely filled with multiple gallstones.

For about a year after surgery my digestive system resembled that of a goose. Now it's fine, for the most part. (Infrequent diarrhea if I skip a meal and then overeat.)

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

I've never heard of post-cholecystectomy syndrome.........will have to check that out.

Still, I wouldn't go back to those days before my chole, when a single handful of French fries or a hamburger would cause my GB to go into a spasm of agony, like somebody was trying to reach in there and yank the sucker out manually without benefit of anesthesia! I bounced back quickly after the surgery, digging in my garden four days post-op and returning to work within a week; it's just that my digestive system (which was NEVER all that great to start with) has changed some, and I'm still having to figure out what foods work for me and which are apt to cause trouble.

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Yes things do change after the surgery. Myself I am going to see GI doctor in few weeks about problems I have had since I had gall bladder out.

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I had lap chole back in July. Went back to work two days later. I feel much better now, but do have some GI symptoms from it...at least no pain though. A coworker had hers removed over twenty years ago and STILL has GI problems.

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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

I had mine out 23 years ago and have had no GI problems except that if I take Codiene I get terrible abdominal cramping.

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Specializes in NICU.

My mom had hers out in an open procedure about 20 years ago. She still can't tolerate a large amount of greasy food, but she doesn't mind that so much because it keeps her thin! She can have a small hamburger with no fries, a single piece of pizza, etc. But nothing more. Once in a while she will eat something without realizing how much grease and fat there is - often after dining out - and she will have very urgent diarrhea. It comes on in a matter of minutes and she only has a few minutes after that to find a bathroom or else she will actually have an accident. So when she goes out to dinner, she just tries to eat either a small portion of her meal, or she'll order something that she knows isn't going to be very greasy, like grilled fish. Again, it keeps her thin!

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Had a lap choly 2/9/06. Took 2 1/2 weeks off from work. It was mostly the belly button pain/bruising that bothered me. As far as certain foods triggering any untoward effects, it is still new to me. I ate mostly low-fat food the first month. Then recently I had a bad bout of the "stomach bug" that has been going around. I think I am feeling ok though. No complaints.

~h

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I had mine done about 4 years ago. Prior to surgery, I had cramping and consequently diarrhea after eating high fat foods. I can eat almost anything now. Some pizza (depending the type = which I've only had one type cause this) causes me diarrhea.

Recovery was a cinch. I did have n/v 24 hrs. afterwards; however, that was due to giving me a certain pain med. that causes me to have the n/v.

My reason for having it done was gall bladder cyst. My theory is to have it taken care of before it causes more discomfort than you already have.

Good Luck with whatever you decide to do.

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My boyfriend had his taken out about a year ago, and to be honest with you, I am so JELOUS of him!! he can eat all the greasy food he wants, because he knows that within the next half hour to hour, it's ALL coming out!!! lol...there's no better diet then that! the only bummer is that when he eats avocado, he has an upset stomach... but nothing a xanax doesn't fix. So congratulations on your lifetime pass to eat anything you want, and know that it aint stayin in suga! :lol2:

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I had mine out 2 mos ago (ironically during the week of my new hire GN orientation). I sat in the restraints class with the worst pain of my life, had been ignoring it for mos thinking it was just bad indigestion, stress from nursing school, etc, but this pain (always in my epigastric area, never on my right side) hurt so bad I had to walk out of class, go see the employee health nurse and come home. Ended up calling my DH who took me to the ED (not at the hospital I work at) and they gave me toradol IV (wonderful, fabulous stuff, btw!!) and sent me for a stat u/s of gallbladder and epigastric area, sure enough by the time I was wheeled back to the ED, I heard paged overhead a call from radiology to my ED doc.... he came in a few minutes later and said my gallbladder had to come out, it was enlarged, full of stones as was my CBD, and infected. Couldn't be operated on til the next day (needed 2 bags of rocephin first), but had it done. The recovery wasn't that bad, it was nowhere as bad as the two ENT surgeries I went thru as an adult (tonsils and then sinus surgery).

The pain at home went away about 1 week postop and I returned to work 2 weeks after the surgery. I haven't noticed much as far as change in diet (never had typical chole symptoms before either, as far as nausea or diarrhea), but have noticed once in a while, when I have to go, I have to GO right then and there (and it's a lil loose). But haven't had anymore "heartburn" symptoms (I coulda swore I was having acid reflux for months, NOT gallbladder symptoms). Glad i had it done. I can tolerate fatty foods just fine.

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I had mine out a couple of years ago. I'm doing fine without as now I can eat anything that I want. I managed the gall bladder attacks for ten years (because I don't have insurance) through a really miserable low-fat diet. I still had to have it out because the attacks were becoming more frequent and more severe. I had it out on a Friday, was back to work the following Tuesday with lift restrictions. I haven't any complications at all except for the heart attack when the bills came in the mail.

Fuzzy

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