I had my lapband surgery on Sept 10th and had my gallbladder removed on Monday October 27th.
I wasn't told about the potential for having gallbladder problems after the lapband surgery. I did some research and found that this occurs most often after the gastric bypass but it can happen after lapband. They checked my gallbladder before I had the surgery and found no stones. The problem I had could not be seen by and ultrasound or a CAT scan. I had 'slug' building up in my gallbladder and it was found after a HIDA scan.
It all happened very quickly. The pain started off pretty light and I thought it was my port healing then it kept on getting worse. After the 4th day I call my lapband surgeon and he suggested that I go to the emergency because it was my gallbladder. The emergency room also agreed that it probably was my gallbladder but they didn't see anything on the ultrasound and Cat scan so they told me to follow up with my doc the next day and get a HIDA scan scheduled. To make a long story short, Thurs 10/16 went to ER, Fri 10/17 went to doc, Sat 10/18 had HIDA scan, Mon 10/20 got the call from doc telling me that it needs to come out, Tues 10/21 met with the surgeon who scheduled the removal on Monday 10/27, spent a night in the hospital, which sucked, and got back home yesterday.
I did a lot of research and found he gallbladder issues can be caused by fasting. I was on liquids for 3 weeks after my surgery. My surgeon said that the 'sludge' was probably already they I just irritated it more with the weight loss and fasting.
I do wish I had know about this potential complication before I had the surgery but, after thinking about it, it wouldn’t have changed my decision to have the surgery in the first place. But if you’re worried about it I would defiantly have my gallbladder checked before I had the surgery. I did have mine checked but they never did the HIDA scan which showed my true issue.
I am so glad you posted this thread because I was trying to look through old posts to see if anyone had the same issue.