Gallbladder issues. UPDATED POST 64

[luvthatduke]

I second the comments about night & day before/after surgery!
What a difference it made once I was diagnosed correctly.
My 3rd trip to the ER & the Dr. there said that my gallbladder
was working hard to destroy my pancreas.
I say this because many people ignore the symptoms & the other organs will pay for it.
The back pain you mentioned is a major clue that it's your gallbladder, in addition to your other symptoms.
Like others have said, stay away from all fats including margarine, butter, meat, chocolate, & you said you don't eat dairy.

 

[BadPinkTink]

I had gall bladder issues last summer which ended up as acute pancreatitis. Basically the gall stones are from fat in the diet. They can be in the gall bladder and not cause problems, but if the move up the tube to the pancreas, thats when issues occur.

I had very sudden severe pain in my right side, with nausea and vomiting. I went straight to the ER and was in hospital for 5 days. I was not allowed any food and was on a drip. The treatment is to completely clear the system of food / fat and allow the inflamed gall bladder and pancreas to heal.

This was July 2020. My surgeon put me on the list for gall bladder removal for September 2020. The hospital dietitian gave me a diet sheet , basically cut out as much fat as possible from my diet for 8 weeks.

Cutting out fat is not just things like butter, cheese, fried food etc, its also the good fats such as seeds, nuts, avocados.

I completely changed my entire diet. I bought a George Forman grill to cook meat, I only ate bread / toast dry or with jam, I changed my breakfast cereal from muesli to low fat cornflakes. Even things like snacks I changed, no chips or chocolate, only jelly beans, marshmallows, Haribo, popcorn and low fat cookies.

I do online shopping and my grocery store has a colour coded system for nutritional information, so before I bought anything, I checked the colour code to make sure it was low fat.

This was the meal planner I made, using the diet sheet from the hospital dietitian.



During the 8 weeks before my surgery I had no further gall bladder attacks. I also drank 2 litres of water every day.

I had my gall bladder removed by keyhole surgery in September 2020. It was a day surgery, I went to the hospital at about 7am and I was home by 5pm.

The first few days I was a bit out of it, but by the following week I was back working in my home office. I have 4 tiny scars, one at my belly button, one just under my bra band and two on my right side. I had dissolvable stitches, so I just had to keep the wounds clean and they healed up. I didn't do any lifting for about 4 weeks.

Since the surgery I have had no dietary issues. I re introduced various foods slowly just in case but I didnt have any issues. I did loose weight while waiting for my surgery , so now I eat a modified version of the low fat diet.

 

[HappyDznyCamper]

I had my gallbladder out this past December. Suffered through what I thought was a ridiculous amount of "stomach bugs". I had a round Tuesday and Wednesday, went back to work Thursday. Thursday, about 2 hours after alfredo sauce for dinner I was in so much pain I wasn't sure it wasn't a heart attack. The ER quickly diagnosed my gallbladder. CT and ultrasound confirmed a blockage. Surgery was scheduled for Friday. I was home just 24 hours from the time I arrived at the ER, minus my gallbladder but feeling soooo much better.

 

[nkereina]

My MIL and my best friend both had their gallbladders removed after experiencing similar symptoms. Both surgeries were done laparoscopically so it was minimally invasive, and I think they only spent a night in the hospital and went home the next day. They are both 5+ years removed from surgery now and to my knowledge, neither have any dietary restrictions. I'm sure there's foods its recommended they avoid, but both eat what they want and don't seem to have any lingering effects or issues. Best wishes to you!

 

[elsbit]

I just had my gallbladder out a couple of months ago. I was so happy to get it yanked out because it was a miserable experience to have an attack! Prior to my major attack, I had what I thought was food poisoning at the time. In hindsight, I learned that was my gallbladder acting up.

 

[hdrolfe]

Just be careful because my gallbladder attack led to pancreatitis which was the worst pain I've ever experienced (even worse than childbirth) and I was hospitalized for a few days. It also caused jaundice, so watch and if your eyes start yellowing, get to the hospital.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

I'm going through tests and procedures right now to rule out everything else, which I think is ridiculous but it's what my government insurance requires. The attacks start with a strange...I don't know how to describe it exactly...feeling in my upper center belly. I know I'm going to have an attack and there's very little I can do about it. In fact, there's nothing I can do about it. Soon I get a terrible, *gnawing* pain in that spot, which lasts for hours and hours. Last time I had an attack, which was in February (knock wood), I threw up as it was subsiding and felt better. My family doctor said right away it sounded like my gallbladder, but that he was required to send me to a gastro guy and a cardiologist. My heart turned out to be fine. My stomach lining and esophagus show no sign of either gastritis (which was my earlier diagnosis) or GERD, and my colon is fine. So now I'm just waiting on an ultrasound of my gallbladder, *finally.*

 

[Praying Colonel]

I suffered 9 months with a bad gallbladder due to a misread of an ultrasound and being mislabeled with gerd. No change in eating helped. There was no safe food and I was miserable for months. It was my obgyn who convinced me to get it out, because he was sure it was gallbladder and not gerd. Sure enough, he was right. I visited with a surgeon who scheduled another ultrasound. It was FULL of stones. He showed me photos after surgery and it looked like a quarter cup of popcorn kernels.

Life was so much better after removal!

Ditto--an ER doc misdiagnosed me with GERD and every time I returned with incredible pain they just assumed the first guy was right and kept misdiagnosing me. I finally got smart and went to a doc someone referred me to and it took him about 5 minutes to diagnose it as gallbladder. Ultrasound confirmed, had it out in a week. 7 months of needless suffering (and I mean suffering).

 

[ronandannette]

I'm going through tests and procedures right now to rule out everything else, which I think is ridiculous but it's what my government insurance requires. The attacks start with a strange...I don't know how to describe it exactly...feeling in my upper center belly. I know I'm going to have an attack and there's very little I can do about it. In fact, there's nothing I can do about it. Soon I get a terrible, *gnawing* pain in that spot, which lasts for hours and hours. Last time I had an attack, which was in February (knock wood), I threw up as it was subsiding and felt better. My family doctor said right away it sounded like my gallbladder, but that he was required to send me to a gastro guy and a cardiologist. My heart turned out to be fine. My stomach lining and esophagus show no sign of either gastritis (which was my earlier diagnosis) or GERD, and my colon is fine. So now I'm just waiting on an ultrasound of my gallbladder, *finally.*

Wow, what a bizarre-sounding diagnostic route - ruling out everything BUT the thing it actually seems to be. Is that common there? It seems like a test-generating exercise more than efficient diagnostics.

 

[BadPinkTink]

I'm going through tests and procedures right now to rule out everything else, which I think is ridiculous but it's what my government insurance requires. The attacks start with a strange...I don't know how to describe it exactly...feeling in my upper center belly. I know I'm going to have an attack and there's very little I can do about it. In fact, there's nothing I can do about it. Soon I get a terrible, *gnawing* pain in that spot, which lasts for hours and hours. Last time I had an attack, which was in February (knock wood), I threw up as it was subsiding and felt better. My family doctor said right away it sounded like my gallbladder, but that he was required to send me to a gastro guy and a cardiologist. My heart turned out to be fine. My stomach lining and esophagus show no sign of either gastritis (which was my earlier diagnosis) or GERD, and my colon is fine. So now I'm just waiting on an ultrasound of my gallbladder, *finally.*

Yikes, thats insane, here in Ireland, its totally different.

I had one attack, went to the ER was admitted straight away, 5 days fasting on a drip, then scheduled for gall bladder removal 8 weeks later. And this was during Covid, summer 2020! Everything taken of by my insurance, no questions asked. I just signed the form when I was admitted that all bills were to be sent to my insurance. The hospital stay cost approx $5500 which included everything from scans to medications and the surgery cost approx $1800, and I didnt have to pay anything out of pocket, all sorted directly by the hospital and my insurance.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Wow, what a bizarre-sounding diagnostic route - ruling out everything BUT the thing it actually seems to be. Is that common there? It seems like a test-generating exercise more than efficient diagnostics.

Maybe specifically they are trying to prevent surgery if possible?

 

[ronandannette]

Yikes, thats insane, here in Ireland, its totally different.

I had one attack, went to the ER was admitted straight away, 5 days fasting on a drip, then scheduled for gall bladder removal 8 weeks later. And this was during Covid, summer 2020! Everything taken of by my insurance, no questions asked. I just signed the form when I was admitted that all bills were to be sent to my insurance. The hospital stay cost approx $5500 which included everything from scans to medications and the surgery cost approx $1800, and I didnt have to pay anything out of pocket, all sorted directly by the hospital and my insurance.

I suspect those processes (the hospital stay and surgery) would be billed at many times that price at American for-profit health facilities. It’s very interesting though. 20 years ago in this province we all used to receive an annual statement of the health-care costs we’d each individually generated to the system but they stopped doing that. I’d love to see it again.

 

[mommasita]

Thank you to everyone. I received an email from the clinic this morning. My attachment didn’t link, so I sent a picture, they advised they are going to call very soon. I go there for everything, as it’s super quick, and my insurance reimburses me.
When I read the food poisoning comment, that hit home, but it can’t be, while away my husband ate the same, and the other night my son was here as well. That’s a great sheet BadPinkTink, thank you sooo much, it will help in the interim.
BlueStarryHat, good luck to you as well . This is no fun. While I have always had somewhat of IBS issues, this is not anywhere close to that.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

Maybe specifically they are trying to prevent surgery if possible?

Sorry- couldn't post until now. I'm in Dis jail. Medicaid, which is my insurance, makes you jump through hoops to get surgery. They make you have every diagnostic test there is before they'll approve it. When I had my hysterectomy in 2016, I endured a full year of pain and excessive bleeding while undergoing tests even though my gynecologist knew full well that I needed the surgery. Finally, she wrote personally to *someone,* I don't know who, an impassioned letter and why I needed this surgery and not medication or a balloon or another laparoscopy. They finally approved it after that.

I am happy to have this insurance, I know I'm better off than a lot of people who don't have any kind of coverage because they can't afford it. But when it comes to operations, they are a tough sell.

EDIT: thank you Mommasita...I hope everything works out for you as well.

 

[BadPinkTink]

That’s a great sheet BadPinkTink, thank you sooo much, it will help in the interim.

You are welcome from someone who has been there, the pain is no fun. The diet was hard for 8 weeks but every time I felt like cheating I just thought of the pain and ending up back in the ER and its not worth it.

Also I know some of the items on the list are own brand from my grocery store, but hopefully it will give you ideas. If you want I can scan in the diet sheet I got from the hospital, which lists all the different foods and items to avoid.

 

[HulaHoopy]

I had my gall bladder out in June - delayed due to Covid. I found eating small meals helped. I was fine as long as I never had a full stomach.

Also, when I had an attack, it would come at night after I had been sleeping for a couple of hours. Pain was in my back mostly

 

[FQLover]

My case was in 2005. I had two terribly painful attacks within 10 days of each other. It happened about an hour after I ate and the attack lasted four hours. I just rolled in a ball on a bed and couldn't even talk with family members who were worried about me. The pains were in my upper central chest and upper mid-back. Ultra sound showed two stones, and the surgeon wanted to have me go in very soon. I asked for six weeks to finish the semester (I was the instructor) and he didn't think I would make it because when the attacks come, they were fierce.

But I read up and decided to only eat boiled skinless chicken breast, watermelon, and regular white (non-fibrous) bread from a bakery. I wanted to avoid fiber as well as fat. I lost 10 needed pounds in those six weeks, but I didn't have even a whiff of the pain. At the end of the semester, I had a lap choli day surgery and recovered from it just fine. I have had no problems with pain since, regardless of what I eat. If you don't have a reason to wait, I would just get it done promptly.

Good luck! I think that you will do fine once diagnosed and treated.

 

[SmallWorld71]

FWIW, I had my gallbladder out in my late 20s when my son was about a year old and my mom had hers out around the same time in her late 40s. The recovery was so much easier than other surgeries I have had (c-sections, knee surgery) and I felt so much better after.

 

[RamblingMad]

I know a bunch of people who had their gallbladders removed. I'd opt for imaging before having organs removed.

 

[BadPinkTink]

I know a bunch of people who had their gallbladders removed. I'd opt for imaging before having organs removed.

just curious as to why? Removing the gall bladder stops any further pancreatitis attacks and I can function perfectly fine without my gall bladder. If I don't need it and removing it makes me healthier, then why not have it removed?