Gallbladder Attacks During Pregnancy

My best friend did for her first baby, thats actually how she found out she was pregnant! She went to the er for stomache pain and they told her she was having a gallbladder attack and a baby! lol They tried to control hers with diet but eventually they had to go in and take it out! After that her pregnancy was awesome! Good luck!

I had the same thing, but my attacks were controlled with the low fat diet. I was also on a different pain med because Vicodin didn't work for me. You may want to ask about another pain med. If the pain was not manageable my doctor was ready to take it out. It can be done, if I were you I would find a surgeon to do it. You're going to be absolutely miserable if you don't!

Your diet is wrong- fats are not the issue.That is why is isn't working. The issue for you is most likely hormone (estrogen) dominance.The other thing that causes gallbladder issues are insulin and choleserolcan. It could be one of these or a combination of all three.

Corn and SOY products create estrogen dominance issues. Processed foods and grains, (frozen ,canned, boxed, and bagged)... are full of these products and create estrogen dominance.
99% of all manufactered foods have one of these two in them. There are a slew of alternative names for them as well, so go online and find out what those names are. Watch labels for these products.

Same with insulin! You need to get away from the grains and processed foods , and high carb diet- that will keep insulin high!

You should be eating a low carb diet with high protein and a fair amount of saturated fat. Hormone free GRASS FED meat and chicken, wild fish, and vegetables. Eat raw fruit, only at dessert, after the meal, to help keep insulin down.
Saturated fat in the form of butter, raw virgin coconut oil, and virgin raw red palm oil are the precurors to create progesterone, which will balance out the estrogen. If you cant find a way to cook with coconut oil- then eat a T or two a day, right off a spoon. Raw seeds and nuts (except for flax)should be comsumed and do not limit them- try to find someone with a tree because the nuts in the store are now irradiated.

Then- take magnesium malate supplements. At least ###-###-#### mg a day. It can cause a loose stool, if it does you cut back the dose a little until comfortable.
Magnesium can help balance out the insulin issue, and it is also probably low in you , since you eat high grains. Magnesium is very important to the fetus and mother and normal delivery. Also take a b liquid complex under the tounge.

http://www.drlam.com/articles/Estrogen_Dominance.asp

I know the exact pain your going through!!! I was pregnant with my twin girls and had my gallbladder removed at 23 weeks. It was a life savor and I can not even picture trying to make it the remaining of my pregnancy with the pain. I was not considered high-risk but I did see a high-risk doctor for my gallbladder. I tried teh no-fat diet but only last 10 hours!! :) I would really try and get them to remove it... you will feel 1,000 times better I promise! :)

Keep us posted as to what happens with you! If you have any questions email me :) ____@____.com

Take Care!

Hi K.,

I had gall bladder issues about 3 years ago. They started about a week after my twins were born. My doctor said that pregnancy hormones can cause your gallbladder to act up. I know this pain is debilitating. My doctor recommended that I have it taken out, but I really did not want to take that route, and I hoped things would clear up on their own. Lucky for me I have not had one problem since then. I just had to suffer through the attacks. My hubby would have to take time off of work sometimes, because I could not even care for our children. Maybe you can find a doctor who is willing to do the surgery during pregnancy? I hate to tell you to hold on and see if they will go away on their own, but I know how painful it is to suffer through this. Have you had an ultrasound done to determine if it is actually gall stones? I know sometimes you can get what doctors call "sludge" in there, and it causes significant pain, but it usually resolves by itself. I had actual stones, and they said they seemed small enough to pass, and I assume that's what happened. Good luck. I feel for you.

K.

Hi K.,
Let me just start off by saying that I can totally feel your pain. While I did not have attacks every other day, I did have them once or twice a week. It was horrible. I missed a lot of work and spent a good amount of time just laying in bed or taking it easy. My OB and two surgeons did not recommend surgery for me unless it was a true emergency, like if the gall bladder became gangrene or it was about to rupture. Also, the low fat diet did not work for me either. I would literally get attacks from just drinking water. I basically had to grin and bear it through out the rest of the pregnancy, but I did deliver a very healthy son at 37 weeks (even with losing all the weight!). See if the second surgeon would recommend surgery. Like I said, mine wouldn't do it bc they were afraid of starting early labor. I'm sorry I couldn't help much, but I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone. I will keep you in my thoughts/prayers.

I had the same issues when I was pregnant but farther along, now I have a 4month old and just haven't been able to get around to having the surgery, $ is tight since I haven't returned to work. I hope it gets better for you soon, hopefully you can wait it out until your little one is born!

My sister had hers out while she was pregnant because she was like you and had to keep going to the hospital every other day because she was in so much pain! I had mine out after I delivered but my attacks weren't as often as hers were at all! My gall bladder pretty much hurt constantly but it was bearable and i only had a few attacks that were HORRIBLE! I know this doesn't help a lot but just wanted to let you know that sometimes they DO take it out while you are still pregnant! I hope you feel better really soon!

I had a ton of pain during my pregnancy. and I too was losing weight I could not hold any food down. I was taken off my job because I was not able to drive because of the pain. They could not figure out what it was until I had my c-section (breach). and when my ob mad the cut he litterally said holy s***.. not what you really want to hear when you are getting cut open anyway, before he could get my daughter out he had to unattach my bladder from my colon. it had fused together and was pushed forward from my uterus growing. so it was getting all of the pressure. I had all the tests done and they never could figure it out, because they never went up far enough with the ultra sound so they never saw it. and it was a godsend that my daught was breach because if I had a normal delivery I would have put myself and baby in danger. so anyway it may not be your gullbladder it could be somthing else. not to freak you out. gl

I can say, the only thing I did was restrict my diet. No dairy, no fast food, etc. It looks like you're doing that already, so my advice wont help much. Good luck, hun!

I had the same issue while I was pregnent with both of my boys. I could stand working. Sitting during daily attacks was more than I could take. I did stick it out though and glad I did. They wanted to take it out while I was in the hospital after delivery if not sooner, but luckily they didn't. After many tests they couldn't find anything wrong and I didn't have much trouble in the weeks after delivery and no trouble at all after that. With my second pregnancy I found out it was a hormone issue. I heard more people having more issues after having their gallbladder out than good. It just wasn't worth taking the risk for me, and like I said, I'm glad I didn't...it would have all been for nothing. I'd see if you can figure out a different diet to help with the chance it is a hormone issue. Good luck!