Gallbladder Issues, Removal, Post Surgery Diet

[Acadia 20]

My adventure with gallbladder issues started in March with chest pain right under my sternum. Chest pain so severe that, after 30 minutes of it, I drove myself to the ER. All the tests found nothing. Including two contrast CTs.

The chest pain started like a dull pressure, like a c-clamp in my chest, then sweating, inability to take deep breaths, no positions were comfortable, felt like I needed to vomit and have a bowel movement (but neither actually happened), nausea, and it dissipated like it started. And I was left exhausted.

I sat on my knees at the edge of my bed, with no pressure on my chest, rocking and counting through it.

After the first I had several more, each varying from 10 minutes to 40 minutes of the most excruciating pain I have ever felt (I have an extraordinary and documented pain tolerance due to nerve damage so this scared me).

All of my research said gallbladder so I knew what I was dealing with.

Finally, when I went in for an unfill I mentioned it to my practitioner. She scheduled me for an ultrasound and HIDA test. If the US was positive no HIDA. The US was positive for stones and my surgeon said I needed to get in ASAP.

If a gallbladder bursts it's like an appendix bursting, infection spreads and causes all sorts of issues.

I couldn't schedule immediately without risking my job so I scheduled three weeks out. I was very careful to avoid fats, greasy food, dairy, sugars, etc. to not prompt another attack. I didn't eat much of those before this but the smallest amount could trigger an attack.

Surgery was much like the Lap Band. They used the exact same navel incision and two small incisions in the upper abdomen. Surgery took about 90 minutes all done via lap. No unfill was necessary so I didn't start over with my band.

Recovery had all the same issues, gas pain, abdominal pain, etc. With the addition of lower abdominal pain, extended gas issues (I'll explain those later), diarrhea (from extra bile in intestines), Constipation (from pain meds), the need to go literally within minutes of eating, and lifestyle diet changes.

GAS PAIN

Note: gas pain comes because of two reasons 1) the gas they put in doesn't all come out and some will move around but more so, 2) the gas they put in goes in at room temp and dry, this acts much like a cold winter where you can burn your skin with a cold dry wind, the cells the gas comes in contact with actually die and send off nerve impulses and since your diaphragm (where a lot of cell death occurs) is connected to nerves that go through both your shoulders you get back and shoulder pain. How your Dr can prevent this is to use elevators instead of air, or if they insist on air, they can warm it up and humidify it in your body. This helps your body assimilate it without killing tissue. After the fact you can do this by using moist heat (a tube sock filled with 4-5 cups of dry rice, microwaved for 2 minutes will provide moist heat for around 1 hour). Gas x will not help. It helps air in your digestive system, it can't do anything for air in your tissues.

DIET CHANGES

While you could eat what you did before, you can still form gall stones in your liver and bile ducts so changing your eating is the best way to counteract that and prevent it. They can't take your liver out, at least not without a replacement.

Avoid: dairy, fats, grease, liquor, alcohol, chocolate, sweets, any food that have fats or grease associated. Including cheese, some sweet breads, butter, Peanut Butter, etc.

And if you eat something greasy or fatty, be near a bathroom. Food will literally go through you like you have never imagined.

It's not a death sentence but will end any affair you have with fatty or greasy foods, even healthy fats.

COMMON SURGERY

Gallbladder removal is one of the most common surgeries currently. Likely due to the American diet. If you have pains you can't explain, and I'd you've had anything fatty or greasy that day, get checked out. An ultrasound can pick up the stones, a HIDA scan will show how Fluid is or isn't moving.

For people with lap band your risk is increased. You're losing weight (caused gallstone formation), you're over weight, you likely had a gallstone forming diet prior to surgery, and you're mostly women (but men can suffer too).

Overall, 20% of Lap Band patients need their gallbladder removed within 18 months of surgery.

Know though, that 10% of people who have the surgery still have problems after the fact. So it's not always a cure all.

Hopefully this helps someone get tested before they suffer like I did. And know that though the recovery sucks, it will help in the long run.

[LapBandBobbi 8]

Thanks for the info. I am in the same situation and need to have my gallbladder out in the next few weeks. I have been putting it off until summer, and my doc said to stick to a bland diet. I recovered quickly from the lapband surgery and am hoping for the same with the gallbladder surgery.

[Acadia 20]

I hope you have a great recovery. Definitely ask your surgeon if s/he's willing to use dermal elevators instead of gas, it will cut down on the pain. I've found recovery was more painful for this surgery than for lap band, perhaps because the nerves were six months out from the previous surgery.

Today I've had the joy of nerve regrowth zingers. Feels like being stabbed with a scalpel around 2.5" away from my navel incision. Horrible.

You'll still need a relatively bland diet for a while after, and ready access to a bathroom, but according to friends who have had theirs out, that gets better.