Anyone ever had Gall Stones?

[ClarabelleCowFan]

Has anyone ever had gall stones or trouble with their gall bladder?

I have had a half dozen or so attacks in the past 2 weeks and my doctor is sending me for an ultrasound on Tuesday because he thinks it is the gall bladder.

Are there any treatments besides surgery?

What foods were big triggers for attacks? Most of the info I find online just says to avoid "fatty foods".

 

[nordkin]

Having gall stones was the most painful experience of my life. Especially when I passed them. I highly recommend the surgry. It had such an impact on me I can remember the first thing i said to the nurse whenI woke up was "wow- I feel wonderful". I had not felt that good in about a year. Everyone is different when it comes to food and I have found it is hit or miss with fatty food and spicy food. I

 

[NC Belle]

I had my gallbladder out 9 years ago, but I had to eat a low fat, bland diet for several weeks before surgery. I also had to avoid caffeine and most carbonated drinks.

 

[LMCT88]

Hi, My hubby had them and they were very painful, what set his off was if he ate high acid foods, like pasta or spicy food. He ended up having it removed, and is now well. It was a pretty simple surgery they made three holes in his torso. I also had to have mine out and we both have been find ever since. Good luck with what you choose. Keep us posted.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

I just had gallbladder out the day before Thanksgiving, and I feel wonderful. I have never experienced that much pain of a gallbladder attack in my lfe. I can eat anything, I haven't had a problem. I am on a diet anyway, so I have been eating low fat. The surgery was so easy, I was home 2 hours after I had it done.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

You beat me to starting this thread!

I had my ultrasound on Friday, which did confirm gallstones. It's no surprise since I had stones when I was pregnant with my son over 7 years ago, however, the person doing the ultrasound did say that I had some large ones (I don't think they were large before). My dr should be getting the results on Tuesday and I will talk to her then, but I'm assuming she will recommend me getting my gallbladder out. Of course that will be scheduled AFTER I'm done with WPASADI, thank you very much.

 

[4greatboys]

I had my GB out in '91. The day I passes a gallstone I had eaten a cheeseburger and onion rings for lunch. At first I thought maybe it was food poisoning. I was in a lot of pain. Luckily I worked in a drs office so they gave me a shot to help ease the pain, did an US on me to check my GB and had a surgeon come down from another floor to confirm it was my GB.

 

[disneysteve]

DW had her's out on Sept. 15th. She was in severe pain for a couple of days until we got her ultrasounded and hospitalized. She was great within a week after surgery and has been trouble-free since.

 

[crazygirlscotland]

How strange that you should post this thread.

My db has been taken into hospital tonight with his gallblader

He has been having problems with it for months now and has been in and out of hospital. I'm working nightshift and he is in a hospital bed, I'm feeling very sorry for us!

I hope Santa remembers where we live, theres nobody home!

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

UGH! I feel another "attack" coming on now. I ended up in the ER with what we now suspect was a gall bladder attack 2 weeks ago (in addition to a blood clot in my leg) and they gave me muscle relaxers and pain killers to take. I called my doctor on Saturday and he told me if I had another attack to take those. They didn't work so hot last time but I waited until I was in full blown doubled over pain before taking them. I hope by taking them earlier tonite that I can avoid the doubled over part!

Anyone have any other remedies for lessening the pain and intensity of the attacks once they start?

Maybe Santa can stop at the 24 hour pharmacy for something!

 

[LisaNJ25]

My niece just had hers removed yesterday. Poor thing is 19 and just had a baby 3 weeks ago. She woke up in the middle of of the with massive pain and they found out it was gallstones.

 

[Ava31]

My niece just had hers removed yesterday. Poor thing is 19 and just had a baby 3 weeks ago. She woke up in the middle of of the with massive pain and they found out it was gallstones.

I, too, had my gallbladder out 3 weeks postpartum. The hardest part was that I was breastfeeding and it hadn't been going very well prior to the surgery (DD had latching issues) and then after the surgery, she wasn't so sure she wanted to nurse again. The good thing was, the night after my worst attack, I was seen by my OB, diagnosed via ultrasound in the office and scheduled for surgery. I had my gallbladder out within a week of the worst attack.

As far as eating, I stuck to grilled chicken breast and plain pasta. Even veggies hurt me.

There are treatments besides surgery, however, I just wanted to be out of pain, so I went the route of least resistance (at least in my mind). One of the more informative sites about the alternatives is: http://chetday.com/gallbladderflushes.htm

Let us know if you use a flush...I'd be interested to see if and how it worked!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I have had mine out...no serious attacks however, just a constant dull ache and constant feeling of wanting to throw up. My stones were many tiny "grains of sands".
(can't get smilies to work yet...so insert laughing smilies here)

My 15yodd has an appt. on Jan 2nd so see a gastro for a consultation to do surgery. She has 2 4mm stones, I think.

 

[Virgo10]

I had my GB removed on December 15th. I was terrified. The last surgery I had was my thyroid removal and that was very bad. I was sure the GB surgery would be the same. Wrong! It was the easiest operation I've ever had.

Like some of you, I had "attacks" in the weeks preceding the surgery. The first one in October was so bad the husband called 911. I honestly thought I was going to die. After the second attack, I put myself on as close to a no fat diet as possible. I lost 17 pounds in 10 weeks, nearly went nuts from eating the same 10 foods each and every day but did NOT have another attack.

Post Op I'm doing fairly well. I see my surgeon on Wednesday for the follow up. The only concern I have is that one of the incisions is still bothering me a lot.

Gallbladder disease left untreated can cause many problems including pancreas trouble and you don't want to go there. The only real cure for gallstones is to have the sucker out.

As for foods, I've been eating just about everything and so far the only thing that bothered me in the least was the dark meat from yesterday's turkey. After 10 weeks of rice, chicken, potatoes, jello, etc., every meal now is an adventure!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

See that's just it for me--my pain is not too bad. Maybe I'm just fooling myself and in denial and I'm just trying to out-stubborn the inevitable like I do everything else, but so far I'm thinking that the pain of this is better than the pain of surgery. When I had my previous problems years ago (when pregnant over 7 years ago) that really hurt a lot), so that could be where I'm heading and I just don't want to admit it. Yes, I'm a stubborn one.

 

[Virgo10]

See that's just it for me--my pain is not too bad. Maybe I'm just fooling myself and in denial and I'm just trying to out-stubborn the inevitable like I do everything else, but so far I'm thinking that the pain of this is better than the pain of surgery. When I had my previous problems years ago (when pregnant over 7 years ago) that really hurt a lot), so that could be where I'm heading and I just don't want to admit it. Yes, I'm a stubborn one.

Once I went on my no fat diet, things got much better but was I pain free? NO way! The discomfort was just so much less than the full blown attacks, it was easy to ignore it.

The surgery, while not pain free, was not even close to what I had expected. Really, on a scale of 1 to 10, it was about a 4 the first day and a 2 by the second. I was amazed.

Like you, I do believe that I had problems during my first pregnancy 31 years ago. Then all's been quiet until that first attack.

I was absolutely sure I wanted this thing out. The thoughts of having another episode that caused us to call 911 was worse than the thought of the surgery.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I don't eat much fat now (not because of the gallstones, but just because I don't like a lot). I notice when I do I have some pain, but nothing too bad. Will be interesting to hear what the dr says when she calls in a day or two. I'm such a big procrastinator when it comes to stuff like this. I guess that one bad attack could change my outlook on that quickly.

 

[ToriLammy]

See that's just it for me--my pain is not too bad. Maybe I'm just fooling myself and in denial and I'm just trying to out-stubborn the inevitable like I do everything else, but so far I'm thinking that the pain of this is better than the pain of surgery. When I had my previous problems years ago (when pregnant over 7 years ago) that really hurt a lot), so that could be where I'm heading and I just don't want to admit it. Yes, I'm a stubborn one.

Trust me the pain of the surgery is NOTHING compared to a really, really bad attack. I was up and moving the day after surgery.

You need to be really careful. My surgery was emergency surgery because a stone had passed and was blocking my bile duct causing my liver to have problems. If I hadn't gone to the doctor and insist they do something that day I could have been a world of trouble.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I had my gall bladder removed about 18 years ago. This was before they did a nice little neat small incision. I have a big long one that runs from under my breasts to nearly my hip. It was the best thing I ever did. They talked about Lithotripsy, but my doc said that once you start forming gall stones, you keep forming gall stones until your gall bladder is removed.

I've never had any problems with what I eat since.

 

[SillyMe]

I don't have gallstones, but my gallbladder is only functioning at 23%. It's supposed to function at least 35% or higher. The doctor said I can wait until after the holidays. If I have another attack, I'm supposed to call him and he'll set me up for the surgery. Ugh. I get the pain in my back by my right shoulder blade. It doesn't seem to matter what I eat. Sometimes I can eat something and it won't bother me. Other times I can eat the same food and end up in pain.