Dh had bad attacks they had trouble diagnosising but finally he had his gallbladder taken out about 4 yrs ago, He has put on 30 more lbs since then putting him about 75 lbs over weight all in his gut. He has had trouble off and on since having his gallbladder out with this pain near the inscision site. still drinks beer and eats very unhealthy. He's going to call the dr tommorrow since he had pain this weekend. I'm wondering if anyone has experienced this and might know some possiblities the dr might look into?? Am i off base guessing it is his diet??
thanks
thanks so far everyone. I hadn't seen the other recent question about this so i appreciate you taking the time to copy and paste. I hope the dr can help convince him to make some changes for his health.
It probably has a lot to do with his diet. Alcohol and fat (grease) make the liver work pretty hard. With the gall bladder missing it makes the liver work even harder. I think the gall bladder has something to do with helping the liver detoxify stuff, but I'm not totally sure about that. But EVERYone that I know that has had their gallbladder removed has problems of one kind or another.
The others said pretty much what I was going to say.. the only thing I wanted to add was that with my inscision ( a nice 7 in scar going aross my stomach due to dropping a stone while removing them) I will still get a sharp pain near it. The Dr said that its scar tissue and since scar tissue isn't as flexible as other tissues it will get hard and tear and then it has to heal again. That was 8 years ago I had the surgery and still get it every so often.
Hi!
I would say it's his diet. I had my gallbladder removed in 1999. After that, I changed my diet, too. Lost the extra weight. Hope he feels better quick. Btw, I cut out all fried foods and spicy foods for a full year after surgery. Today I am just careful to not over do it.
Having no gallbladder makes digesting fats more difficult and can lead to digestive trouble. If his diet contains a lot of fat, that could be causing him issues.
It's diet. If you still eat fatty things your liver will still dump bile. This time though, it has nowhere to go but directly into his intestines. After a while he could develop stones in his liver or the ducts leading from the liver which will cause much pain. Also if he has to run to the potty after eating something really rich and fatty that will also go away if he changes his diet. Change is hard but it's better than living in pain. Someone asked a similar question just a few days ago. I'll copy and paste my response:
"Even if you had a gallbladder out you can still get stones that form from the bile the liver produces. The gallbladder was just the storage sac that the liver dumped the bile into so it was the usual culprit for stones and pain. It regulated how much bile to release depending on what you've eaten. Without the gallbladder there's no storage or regulation, the bile just gets dumped. I've also had my gallbladder out and I try and eat a diet low in fats so I can prevent bile dumping. It's really terrible. To quote a website about gallbladder surgery:
"One of the side effects of gallbladder removal can be the dumping of bile which is now not as easily regulated and can send someone running to the bathroom immediately after eating. A more common side effect is a decrease in the secretion of bile. If the bile produced by the liver becomes thick and sluggish, painful symptoms and bile stones can occur. Bile stones can form in the liver as well as the gallbladder. One woman had her gallbladder removed only to end up back in surgery again two or three days later where they found stones in the bile ducts of the liver causing her a lot of pain."
So if you're still having pains in generally the same area. Get an ultrasound to check for stones in your liver or ducts. You also may need to drastically alter your diet to prevent bile sludge in the future."
I had my gallbladder removed 10 years ago. I try not to overdo fatty foods, but by no means have I given them up entirely (I bake with butter). I walk and run for exercise, and watch my portion sizes. In contrast to what Grandma T says, I have not had any major digestive problems since the surgery.
It is my understanding that you can still develop gall stones even though you no longer have your gall bladder. I'm not sure what they can do for it. Hopefully his doctor will have some answers for you tomorrow.
