Gallstones after sleeve

[sal-wa 43]

Hey guys
I had my sleeve done mid July,
And now unfortunately and suffering from gallstones and need to have surgery to remove the gallbladder ,
Has anyone else had this done after having a sleeve?
Also what kind of surgery was it? Keyhole or open?

Thankyou :)

[Sleeve_Me_Alone 656]

No personal experience, but gallbladder issues/gallstones are VERY common post-WLS. Many surgeons do a preemptive course of Actigall/Ursodiol during the first 6 months post-op to try and help minimize the risk. Typically, it is laparoscopic and minimally invasive. Recovery is fairly quick, similar to VSG. Hopefully they can get you in quickly and you'll be on your way to feeling better!

[Arabesque 7,168]

Yep. Had my gall removed 2 years after my sleeve. I had a single stone which suddenly decided to stage a riot - worst pain ever. My surgeon used three of the same keyhole incisions from my sleeve plus one new one. He said once you have one stone you’ll develop others & once you’ve experienced a severe attack you’ll have more attacks. Better to remove the gall.

Honestly, the recovery was comparatively worse than the sleeve. I had gas pain (never did after the sleeve) & a lot of muscular discomfort across the abdomen like lots of pulled muscles which I didn’t after my sleeve. In saying that, the pain wasn’t bad & I was only taking the odd over the counter pain med from about day 3. It’s all relative.

It is pretty common as some have had stones for years & didn’t know - just rumbling symptoms. High cholesterol or significant weight loss can contribute to the development of gall stones as can high bilirubin levels. Some women develop them during menopause. I ticked the boxes for all four possible causes as while I was losing my cholesterol increased (dropped to my usual level once I reached goal).

[sal-wa 43]

On 11/02/2021 at 13:31, Arabesque said:

Yep. Had my gall removed 2 years after my sleeve. I had a single stone which suddenly decided to stage a riot - worst pain ever. My surgeon used three of the same keyhole incisions from my sleeve plus one new one. He said once you have one stone you’ll develop others & once you’ve experienced a severe attack you’ll have more attacks. Better to remove the gall.

Honestly, the recovery was comparatively worse than the sleeve. I had gas pain (never did after the sleeve) & a lot of muscular discomfort across the abdomen like lots of pulled muscles which I didn’t after my sleeve. In saying that, the pain wasn’t bad & I was only taking the odd over the counter pain med from about day 3. It’s all relative.

It is pretty common as some have had stones for years & didn’t know - just rumbling symptoms. High cholesterol or significant weight loss can contribute to the development of gall stones as can high bilirubin levels. Some women develop them during menopause. I ticked the boxes for all four possible causes as while I was losing my cholesterol increased (dropped to my usual level once I reached goal).

Thankyou for the reply ,
I have had 4 attacks just this weeks
I hope they do this surgery soon, I feel like I’m having a heart attack every time !

My recovery from the sleeve was pretty bad for the first 2 weeks , I’m praying it won’t be as bad ! 😢

[dms75 161]

Yes. I'm 18 months out from VSG, and had a gallbladder pain attack. Scheduled for the gallbladder removal this Friday (11/5). It will be laparoscopic, but for some reason I'm more stressed about it than I was bout the sleeve.

[sal-wa 43]

On 11/03/2021 at 07:08, dms75 said:

Yes. I'm 18 months out from VSG, and had a gallbladder pain attack. Scheduled for the gallbladder removal this Friday (11/5). It will be laparoscopic, but for some reason I'm more stressed about it than I was bout the sleeve.

I feel the same way :(

Good luck for ur surgery , hope it goes well and u recover quick !

[Arabesque 7,168]

16 hours ago, sal-wa said:
I hope they do this surgery soon, I feel like I’m having a heart attack every time !

Full blown attacks are very painful. I swear I would have thought I was dying if I didn’t know what was happening. Amusingly (or not) a friend told me her daughter rang her saying she did think she was dying when she had her first attack.

Hope yours is removed soon too. It was 15 1/2 days from first attack, seeing my GP, then my surgeon until the surgery.

I found the whole process somewhat easier. This time I knew the surgeon better, knew the hospital, knew the processes to expect going into the surgery & coming out. It was just the recovery that was the unknown but there were still similarities because they were both laparoscopic abdominal surgeries. You’ll be fine.

[MistySkye 181]

I had mine removed 20 years ago - I do not miss that evil thing. Even back then it was laprascopic. I can still remember the gas pain, which in a way made the sleeve surgery easier because I knew what to expect. Recovery was easy...and that was with me being in the hospital for a week prior to removal due to pancreatitis triggered by a procedure to try and break up the stones. Hands down worst pain I experienced was those stones.