I had my gallbladder laproscopically removed 3 weeks ago, and I wanted to come on here and post my results because people’s horror stories really scared the hell out of me when I read them before getting the procedure done – in fact, I almost didn’t get it done because of the side-effects that people spoke of. My stats, so that you know them: Female, 29 years old, 5’6, 150 lbs. If you need to get your gallbladder removed, don’t fret too much – while there are certain less-than-ideal side effects that CAN happen, the fact of the matter is that they usually don’t. Gallbladder surgery is THE most performed surgery in the USA with over 500,000 operations performed each year. The handful of people online who post serious problems are the minority – the vast majority of people experience little or no side effects, and therefore don’t go looking for gallbladder forums to post to. I had my surgery 3 weeks ago, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised with how few side effects I’ve experienced – the procedure was a cinch, I went home the same day. It was quite painful to use my abdominal muscles for about 3 days – I was on Percocet for about that long. After the 3rd day, it was still painful (obviously, I mean they DID cut me open) but it was bearable with just an OTC pain reliever. Getting off the Percocet quickly is definitely something I’d advise, as it constipated me pretty badly – I had to take stool softeners, a laxative, and milk of magnesia to get my bowels moving (don’t be afraid to take these – they make pooping unpleasant, yes, but pushing is NO fun right after surgery… Gross? Yes. But the softer, the better). Now that I’m off the Percocet, I go once every day in the afternoon and that’s it – I have absolutely no dietary restrictions, I eat whatever I want. One thing that I’ve noticed is that I’m unable to eat as much as I did before, and I’ve lost a few pounds since the surgery, so that’s a positive side effect. I don’t have any emergency poops, I’m not running to bathrooms. My cuts are healing nicely, but aren’t all the way healed so I can’t speak to scarring – but they are very small, the 2 in the center of my stomach are about 1″ wide and the 2 on my right side are about half an inch. I’m still sore, but healing nicely and hoping to be back at the gym in a couple weeks – I was walking around by the end of the first week. Anyway, since there’s so much negative out there on this subject, I figured I’d post something positive – the surgery and the recovery, while not the most pleasant thing I’ve done this year, weren’t as bad as I thought. The side effects weren’t either 🙂 Good luck!