Gallstones, oh my.

[MareQ]

I had mine out May 8th 1998 - one of the best days of my life. I had been in pain and suffering attacks for over 7 years - several hospital visits, Upper Gi's, Ultrasounds and none of those quacks believed me when I said I thought it was my gallbladder.

I kep generating stones and sludge but would pass it ad feel better by the time they got around to checking my gallbladder. What finally did it was having my son - my gallbladder could no longer pass the stones and sludge and for 3 weeks WITH A NEWBORN - I was having pretty much non stop attacks until I finally went back to th ehospitl(expecting to be sent home as usual) I ended up having REALLY high liver enzyme levels or something like that as a stone came out and got stuck in teh common bile duct. I had to have some procedure to get thet out - then have the laproscopic surgery.

I was in SAD SHAPE and again - I had a newborn.. Despite recovering from birth, the effects of the blocked bile duct AND surgery - I was back on my feet in two weeks flat. I suffered no ill effects from having my gallbladder removed.

It's much more frightening than it really is - and 8 year later you cannot even see my little scars. I have one about 1" long dead center a few inches below my breasts - another one IN my belly button and two small ones diagnoally off to my right side - those are maybe 1/2" long??

It's ok - you'll be fine - you will need some pain meds for the first few days but it's really not as bad as it all sounds.

GOOD LUCK!!

 

[Laurajean1014]

I'm scheduled for August 7th! Looking forward to recovery.

 

[YourMajesty]

What are the meds they recommend if you have problems after your surgery? I'm almost 6 months and I'm ready to go back to my GI dr...although after reading this post I see it's common... It's not just fatty foods...who knows what will set me off. I had a very low functioning gallbladder (no stones). Nothing has improved and the reflux is worse and the bathroom breaks...post surgery. Good luck with your surgery...hopefully you will be one of the

 

[Laurajean1014]

I believe I will get pain killers. I will post when I receive them.

 

[MickeyMonstersMom]

I realized I had gallstones when my 2nd child was 8 weeks old. He was hospitalized for RSV and I had such an intense attack I had the whole floor in an uproar - I was writhing on the floor, vomiting, could not catch my breath - definitely the worst moment of my life. I was sent to the ER to check for a heart attack, and was advised to have my family Dr. check for gallstones.

I was afraid of surgery, so I was put on a very low-fat diet to try to manage the attacks. I could have no more than 5 grams of fat per MEAL (very difficult!), but I still had two more attacks, so I ended up having the laparascopic removal. I took Friday off for the surgery, Columbus Day was Monday, and I was back in school on Tuesday. I took one of the prescribed pain pills but did fine with Tylenol after that. I was moving carefully all that next week, shuffling more than walking, and kept a pillow with me to press into my abdomen if I sneezed or coughed, but every day felt so much better than the one before.

As far as post-surgery eating goes, I'd been on that diet for 5 months and had gone below 100 pounds - I was a skeleton, and other teachers were considering an intervention as they thought I'd become anorexic! I felt so deprived over those months that the day after my surgery, I had sausage gravy at the local diner! I do have "episodes" where I must get to a bathroom NOW, but the food that triggers one this week may be fine the next. I had no idea that this could be an effect of the surgery!

The posts here show that different people respond in different ways, but we all seem to be generally better off for removing those pesky gallbladders. Good luck with your surgery.

 

[DVC-Don]

I had mine out laparoscopic back on December 20th, 2005. I was out of work for about 10 days, but really did not feel "right" for about a month or so.