Gall Stones

[Erin18 143]

well long ish story made short, i woke up around 4am yesturday cause my cat woke me up, so i went to the bathroom and came to lay back down. not even a few minutes later i started having this pain right under my left rib at the bottom so i tried laying on my left side. i thought it was a gas bubble or something but it didnt go away when i layed on my side so i tried laying on my stomach and it hurt so bad, it felt so hard and felt sort of warm it was a sharp pain so i got up and it still hurt, i walked in the living room where my mom was(my neice stays the night on fridays and she sleeps on the couch so my mom stays in there so she doesnt fall off of the couch)to tell her i was having pain there. so we all thought it was just gas pain but it was hurting more and more so i tried 3 gas-x's and it was hurting a little more, i sat down..i thought the gas-x was gonna work but nope it didnt, it got to the point where i couldnt lay, sit or stand, it hurt so bad it put me in tears so finally 25-30 mins later decided to go to the hospital. got there at 5am left at 10am...but anyways they couldnt get blood so finally at the 4th IV needle, they got it. got the results and they came back fine. when the dr came back in i told him i was having pain on my right side now and in my back so i got an ultrasound done. the results came back with gall stones. i really hope i dont have to have surgery, i should be finding out tomorrow. is anything you guys suggest?

[jalomum 1]

Sorry for the bad news but....If you have gall stones that are causing you pain then the only answer is surgery, key hole to remove the gall bladder or so I believe. I don't think they can treat them like kidney stones which they can treat with sound waves and stuff to break them down. Could be wrong though. I did research it as I have a 3cm one and am hoping it is too big to cause a blockage - which is the cause of the pain.

Gall stones are a side effect of high fat diets and so over weight folks are prone to them :-(

Good luck

[reverie 49]

Hope things go well! My doctor has me on gallstone medication for 6 months to prevent them. He said losing weight/gaining weight suddenly can cause them.

[Erin18 143]

first time ever having them

[jalomum 1]

My understanding is that prevention is easier than cure. Medication can stop them from forming but not dissolve them...unless someone knows different. My research was done a couple of months ago.

Some surgeons remove the gall bladder when they perform WLS as it is almost a certainty that gall stones are present.

Mine was only picked up on a scan of my Kidneys, 6 months after my band was installed! If I had been aware of it at that time then I would have made enquiries about having it removed during the op.

The lady who did the scan said over 50% of folks she scans for other things have gall stones. My doctor says that the fact it is so big means it may not cause me problems but if it does I will have to have my gall bladder out.

Bile from the gall bladder helps dissolve fat in food we eat so if you eat a nice low-fat diet it should stop them forming but once you have one I think you are stuck with it.

Could be wrong and I hope I am...I will watch this thread...

[honk 780]

I am preband. 22 years ago I had lost over 100 pounds and started to have HORRIFIC pains like you mentioned. Horrible, unbearable pain. After the ultrasound I was diagnosed with Gall Stones. I would say they are going to remove the gall bladder. You are lucky though today they do one small opening. I had a regualar sugery and have about a four inch scar. Though compared to my mothers which is twice that size I guess I can't complain. To lower you chances of an attack I would go on a no fat diet (as close to zero as you can get). If I ate something high in fat it would set off an attack.

[Jachut 487]

Fair, fat, forty and flatulent is the usual profile for gallstones, lol.

not only do you form them from a high fat diet, but losing weight releases cholesterol into the bloodstream which can form cholesterol based stones. In addition, a high Protein low carb diet can in some cases be influential in the formation of Calcium based stones.

most folks on a western diet have some gallstones, its a matter of how big, and how problematic, they become.

I know I've got a bit of a problem, I get pain every now and then, but not nearly as severe as what gallstone pain can be and at more like six monthly intervals, which to me is not a reason just yet to consider surgery.

[Sue Magoo 71]

Hi:

I had gallstones after 9 months of being banded. Had my gallbladder removed and no problems since.

The surgery is easier than lapband surgery because you don't have to deal with the food adjustments afterwards. It's usually done as outpatient surgery too.

I have one suggestion that was helpful to me. Because I had lost alot of weight prior to the gallbladder surgery my tummy was getting quite jiggly. When they did the gallbladder removal the biggest incision was right above my belly button. That was the sore one. It hurt every time my belly jiggled a little. My Sister said to put on something really tight so that it couldn't jiggle. I had a spanx-type thing so I put that on. Made all the difference in the world and took all of the pain away!

Hope you feel better soon.

Sue

[LarraineM 6]

Just relax and take the best medical advice available. I lost my gall bladder 3 months post op. You ll be fine and feel so much better.

[okiegirl79 1]

hey there...

i was banded on 10/14/09 and just had to have my gallbladder out last week b/c of multiple mobil gallstones.

surgery was similar to lap-band but you can eat normal right after you leave the hospital and no pre-op diet. just the normal nothing after nid-night.

good luck to you erin...the surgery was easy.