“I had my gallbladder removed 20 years ago. I had just finished college, I am a GUY, and like many others I suddenly started to have the most horrible heart burn. However because I was a guy I went to the doctors for months and always went home with the same diagnosis…you are eating too much spicy food. I even became extremely jaundiced (sp?)…I was YELLOW, and still the doctors didn’t have a clue.
Finally one night at 3 in the morning I went to the hospital and I wasn’t going to leave until someone told me what was wrong with me and low and behold a nurse, working that night shift, asked me a few questions and told me it sounded like I had gall stones. A quick scan of my tummy and sure enough I was full of stones.
However back then they gutted you like a fish to remove the gall stone, and I’ve lived with a 7 inch scar right down the middle of my stomach. But problem solved, or so I thought.
Wrong – and this is the problem and I think I’m hearing the same thing from people on here.
There is no follow up treatment to clearly explain to people the long-term effects of having one’s gallbladder removed. You’ve heard a lot of them here, but with time they do get worse. I’ve managed through them and have had a pretty normal life, but my digestion system is not what it should be, and as one gets older it does get worse. I’ve recently began having serious stomach pain, which the doctor says is irratiable bowel symdrome. It probably is, but I have no doubt it also has to do with the fact that I’ve gone 20 years without a gall bladder.
I have no had prolems with gaining weight, but I have had unusual displacement of where the weight ends up…i.e. skinny legs, more fat around the tummy, and just feel bloated almost every time I eat.
Do not let any doctor tell you, especially if you are younger, that having your gallbladder removed won’t affect the quality of your life. That is a lie.
However, you have to do what you have to do, and my gallbladder had to go.
I think the medical community really needs to start focusing more effort on the long-term effects of living without a gallbladder, and give people more information on how to deal with your diet after it’s removed.”