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Help From Experience
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Help From Experience
“See a naturopath (a good one). Take bile acids and digestive enzymes; stay away from a lot of red meat and hifg fat foods;eat high proteins – a protein drink and green drink. Get lots of exercise; reduce stress by meditation; stay away from a lot of carbohydrates; eat fruits and vegetables – a salad every day. Mine has been out for 40 years and I have managed it by much reading and work with a naturopath. No MD has given me good advice.
Judy”
I have finally found the source of my pain after my gallbladder surgery! I had the pain i called “phantom gallbladder pain”. I got every test done to see if i had stones in my duct and many others. I had exploratory surgery done for endometriosis and my ob/gyn noticed scarring from my gallbladder surgery had adhered to my organs and and tissue, they are called adhesions. Hoping this helps someone. Its not something they can see on an mri or ultrasound. Hoping this relieves my “phantom gallbladder pain”. I had my gallbladder removed in August 2010 so after 2 1/2 years we got this figured out.
I have had all these same symptoms. Took me 3 months here in Canada to get in to see the surgeon just for him to tell me that I had a pulled muscle, he wrote a script for a drug that has high side effects and told me to come back in six weeks. since then I have been working at finding another solution. I have been to an Osteopath who has told me that my liver is hooked on the scar tissue. he has been working at manipulatiing the liver away from the scarring. After 4 treatments I finally have some relief. I am also following a fodmap diet from thr naturolpath staying away from food that cuases gas. The sad part is I have temporary relief, but not permanent
“I had My Gall Bladder removed 9 years ago.
The Surgeon came into the room and said > I need to warn you about something Important , what ever you do > Don’t ever drink any kind of Alchaol with NO G.B.
He said your body is Unable TO process the Alchaol without the use of a G.B.
He said you can get dangerously ill if you do that regardlessly.
I use to love Marguritas , Chi Chi’s , Kaluha and Cream.
Haven’t had them in 9 years.If you chose to drink anyway , You might get Horribly ill.
It’s Not Worth it.”
“Hope this helps!!!
I had my ‘GB’ removed 4-weeks-ago in Varna, Bulgaria. The surgeons, doctors and nurses were all highly-professional, and did a great job. With the help-of my Bulgarian translator, I was given strict after-care instructions, which I ‘must’ follow for the next 3-MONTHS. I also have to report-back to my surgeon next Monday for a follow-up-check-up! … My instructions include the following. In any 24 hours I must limit time-on-my-feet to 2-hours. When ‘active/up’ I must wear tight-fitting underpants. (for ‘support’). I cannot ‘lift’ any weight ‘over’ 5 kilos (think about ‘that’ IF you INTEND-TO-FLY) … … DIET; FIRST, for the following 10-days after surgery I had a simple regime of tablets to take when ‘eating’ … Simultaneously I was instructed as-follows; No fatty-foods, No YOLK-of-egg, NO coffee, No ‘fried-foods’, No sweets, No cakes, No ‘cold’-drinks, No chocolate, No BIG-meals … … I’m ‘advised-to’, eat a-‘little’-often, I can drink, ‘weak’-tea, and fruit-juices, plus lots-of fruit and vegetables … ‘AFTER-EFFECTS’ I have ‘some’ GAS, but not enough to distress-me, and I ‘have’ a small (expected) diminishing ‘pain’, NOTHING-ELSE … … IF you have been on a waiting-list for ‘months’ or, are not-satisfied with a truculent/unhelpful GP, hospital or specialist, and want your problem solved pretty damn quick !!! come to Varna, and get it sorted ‘here’ – I hugely recommend it. -BUT ‘if’ you have your EU health cert’docs (!) You ‘will’ have to ‘pay-something’, but relative to costs ‘in’ the UK, it’s very-little, so over-to-you … … … Hope this might have helped!!!”
I am a 25 year old female and had my gall bladder removed at 16 years old due to gall stones. Despite the nasty side effects, when I turned 21 I was a pretty heavy drinker. Jose Cuervo being my alcohol of choice. Sometimes I would pass out before I got sick but most of the time I would throw up all the alcohol I drank that night and any food there might have been. For some reason everytime I drink I get the munchies but it all comes right back up. After a while it started to piss me off so I tried to figure out my body and what I could do to stop barfing everytime I drink. Eating something high protien but still low in fat right before going out to drink works for me. for example: skinless and seasonless chicken, tuna, cold water fish, turkey. Also some kind of whole grain side like brown rice or bread. Some other things that helped were to spread out the liqquor because it will hit you all at once. For some reason not having a gall bladder messes with blood sugar I have noticed. Also, taking a couple ibproufin and hydration is key. So, a well balanced meal about an hour before drinking, headache medicine, and dring water all day long before going out will really help. You have to stabalize yur blood sugar. If I dont do this, I throw up yellow stuff and have a headache until all of it comes out. I cant even hold down water when I let myself get to that point. It is the worst felling ever. The whole reason our gall bladders were removed is because we werent taking care of ourselves like we should have been. Some people can handle processed foods and fats and never have gall stones. Our bodies just can’t deal with it. oh, and detox whenever possible. that helps our liver from working overtime. good luck. 😀 😀 😀 😀
“Contrary to popular belief the gallbladder has a very important function. It serves as a storage site for bile. Bile is designed to emulsify (digest) fats. When we eat meals with moderate amounts of fat the gallbladder releases its stores of bile to aid the liver in digesting the fat.
The loose stools and urgency are very common side effects of gallbladder removal and/or dysfunction.
Because fats are essential for human health, they cannot simply be avoided. Good luck trying! Fats are required in the diet to help us absorb fat soluble vitamins such as Vit A,D,E and K. Fats are also important for the brain and our cell membranes. Fats also provide the building block for steroid hormones in the body such as estrogen, testosterone etc…
Some common side effects of gallbladder removal are:
Light colored stools
Belching
Constipation/Diarrhea
Hormone Imbalances
Gas and Bloating
Dry Skin
Weight Gain
DepressionYou cannot be healthy without a gallbladder. You can live, but be miserable. It is a shame when doctors remove the gallbladder. It is the greatest disservice your doctor can do to send you home and pretend you don’t need one. What a joke. There is a reason god put one there, and it was not for doctors to remove for the sake of doing a $5-10,000 surgery. Taking pain meds to fight the diarrhea is not the solution either, unless you really hate your liver.
In my practice we treat patients that have had their gallbladders removed. We use a very cheap and effective tablet that mimmicks the function of the gallbladder, since you don’t have one anymore, the next best thing is to take a digestive aid that mimmicks its function.
The supplement costs just pennies a meal and is only available from health care providers.
If you would like help with this problem please contact me at:
“Hi everyone,
I too had my gallbladder out- June ’07 and suffer from Bile Salt Diarrhea also.
Just recently my naturopath recommended I take a calcium supplement to “”bind”” me up. If you do a search for “”Bile salt diarrhea”” you will see all the people that it has helped (including me). I take a 1/2 of a Citracal right BEFORE I eat (if you take it while eating or after, it doesn’t work as well). You may have to adjust the dosage for your own body. I also take calcium/magnesium supplements (which will make me “”go”” so I will take a whole pill then to counteract the magnesium effect) Many of the blogs recommend Caltrate- I have found both work well. Plus, they are inexpensive-and if you are a woman- you need the calcuim ANYWAY! Why take a RX with possible side effects when calcium works. You DO have to be careful because it can make you constipated though. So you have to adjust to YOU. But, please don’t eliminate ALL fats- we DO need them!
If I had known of the possible side effect I probably would still have had the surgery because of the extreme pain I was in. My GB wasn’t working AT ALL so I had no choice. I hope this helps- I still have the big “”D”” if I forget to take the calcium-so I don’t think it will be going away anytime soon!
GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL”“In regard to the weight gain, I can share with you the way my nutritionist explained it to me…
After gallbladder removal you have a constant flow of bile that is considerably weaker than if it had been simmering and condensing in your gallbladder. The purpose of bile is to break down fats so the body can get the Essential Fatty Acids and fat soluble vitamins it needs. Weaker bile means that it is more difficult for your body to break down and absorb EFAs. When your body senses a shortage of EFAs it panics and stores fat because it thinks it’s not getting enough and wants to have some in reserve just in case. After all the body needs EFAs for proper brain function.SO…after gallbladder removal it’s vital to OVER-supplement with EFA’s so that body doesn’t kick into survival and fat storage mode. For me this means 1 Tablespoon of (mercury-free) fish oil every day, and I eat 3oz of salmon or sardines everyday. I also have a fruit smoothie every morning with coconut oil–the only fat your body doesn’t need bile to break down and it also promotes weight loss. I also add 1-2 T of Soy Lecithin to my smoothie, which is a fat emusifier that does some of the work of bile to help your body properly digest fats.
The other thing that will help you properly digest fats is supplementing digestive enzymes (for fats lipase). Taking digestive enzyme supplements (check label- should have lipase plus 4-5 other enzymes) with meals will also help stop bloating, gas and constipation.
Hope this helps!”
“I have a cure that worked for me, bile relux has been plaguing me for 5 years and i had been getting misdiagnosed with acid reflux, until i started getting the severe esophageal pains that you described, so i went to 100% acid neutralization and was still getting the esophageal spasms/cramping, thats how i knew it was never acid reflux, i also had the abdominal buring, hydrochloric acid can not cause this, only bile can cause this burning sensation in the stomach, i also had the other clear bile reflux symptoms but doctors did not pick up on any of them? What a joke!! I eventually got a 24 hr pH test which clearly showed non acidic liquids jumping up from my stomach, contrary to what people think, bile acid is actually alkaline.
What you need to do is realise that any acid blocking medication is making the problem worse, due to “”Delayed gastric emptying””, PPI are also known to aggrevate symptoms and cause attacks to be more frequent although not as severe. When i realised what i had to do to cure myself i panicked, i thought if i stop taking acid blockers i will be in agony within 12 hours, and i was right, i had intense esophageal pains that lasted 8 hours all through the night, i only ate dry toast and sipped water in between for 1 day, that night i slept with stomach pains and burning, the next morning, my condition was 10 times better, the burning had gone and my esophagus was breathing a sigh of relief.
Its so simple when you think of it, bile is getting into the stomach! solution is to stop it getting into the stomach and to stop bile production, you do not need meds to do this just some bravado.
How does this work? when we first went to the doctors are condition was not as bad as it is now, am i correct? We had bile in the stomach, our pyloric valve was weak, we had burning sensation, so we got put on acid blockers, they cause delayed gastric emptying which causes excess gas, and high pressure fat destruction dilates the stomach valves making the problem worse, allowing more bile in and alows it to damage the stomach for longer, delayed gastric emptying causes back flow and hey presto the bile goes into your esophagus and causes severe damage, this problem spirals downwards and the condition gets worse over time and causes additional problems. When we first got the problems, we probably were not looking after ourselves as we should fatty foods? late night snacks? overeating? If all we had done back then is changed our eating habits and lifestyle instead of going to the doctors we would have been cured years ago, in fact the problems would have gone in 24 hours.
So this is how it works, which is all the opposites to the above, the problem causers, we need to improve digestion and gastric emptying, to do this we need to stop the acid blockers or any acid neutralizing drugs, we need to eat non fat non dairy products, small ammounts regular, the gall bladder reduces the ammount of bile produced, this meansevery time that stomach valve opens to empty, it takes the bile into the intestines with it, in the meantime the bread soaks up all excess stoch acids and bile like a sponge and stops it splashing up to the esophagus, hence why you should not drink until you feel your stomach empty, you do not want fluids splashing around.
Imagine your valve is a door, imagine you are bile, you are on one side and every time that door opens you tries to run through, but when it opens a 1000 people on the other side coming running through the door in the opposite direction, your going to have getting through arent you, the doors is slightly ajar, so you sneak through and 1000 people are all stood still, so you make your way through the crowd, before you can get through the crowd surge’s forward and drags you back to the other side of the door and down the street, lol.
I can laugh about it now because it is all so simple, i spent years in agony and depression, get through that 24 hours and you come cback and tell me you do not feel 10 times better, the day after you will feel like the illness never happened, whenever you get a bit of reflux, eat dry toast and it will work 10 times better than any acid blocker did.
Gradually build up your diet, rice and fish, fresh vegeatbles,the odd banana, sleep elevated to combat reflux, because no doubt you have lower esophageal impedence and you will find a new lease of life, forget drugs, the only thing that might help is Bile diversion surgery, but why even have that when it is so easy to self heal.
Because you stomach acids will be back to normal level and food is being broken down properly to release nutrients you will also get all your energy back, because of the new healthy diet you will probably live longer and happier life.
Natural things are always best, get plenty of excercise once you get your energy back, your stomach will empty even faster and your body will get even stronger and so on, just build on it and appreciate you got a second chance. summarize.
The Problem
The problems is bile getting into the stomach.
The catalyst is delayed gastric emptying, causing backflow of acids into the esophagus
The cause of delayed gastric emptying is acid blockers, low stomach levels.The Treatment(so simple it blows the mind)
Speed up gastric emptying by stop taking acid blockers or any other medication and by eating small meals regular.
Do not eat foods that will promote the production of bile.The Result
You are cured, you have broken out of the viscious cycle and are in the recovery process, every time bile comes into the stomach it gets flushed back down into the intestines before it can do any damage.
Long term your body gets stronger to the point where you actually cure the problem completely, the lower esophageal sphincter recovers from the constant bombardment and gets its strength back,reducing reflux symptoms, stomach muscles start to contract strong again, nutrients, vitamins, proteins and calcium get released from the food and absorbed, due to the stomach acids being at the correct level again and everything just starts spiralling back up.The Conclusion
If you do not break the viscious cycle you will be plagued by this for the rest of your life, everything you try to do and every medication you take will cause other health problems and make symptoms worse. ”
I am suffering the same problems as all of these posts as well! I had my gall bladder out last summer and felt great until a bad bout with the flu in December. The pain under my ribs is so bad im not able to sleep at night as the pain worsens when im laying down. Im almost incontinent for several hours in the morning, and my ribs too have spread and i am so bloated. I haven’t seen the dr yet because before i had my gall bladder out I went through a year of tests and being told nothing is wrong until i as so debilitated with pain that i was rushed by ambulance for emergency surgery. I don’t want to go through that again! My complaint had my entire circle of family and friends thinking i was a big hypochondriac until i landed in the hospital! I dont know what to do now besides go back to the post galbladder surgery diet and see what happens. Finding these posts has brought me some comfort because i have done nothing but worry about the worst. I have heard that many post surgery patients develop dyverticulitus…more commen in Hispanics….which I am. If this helps anyone
I had my gall bladder out in 2004. Within three months, had put on weight but managed to keep it down to 15-20 pounds for the past few years. I exercise ALOT, marathons, endurance bike rides etc but nothing shifted the weight…until I went to a nutritionist who, upon me stating I had my gall bladder out, asked if I noticed weight gain. I was stunned and told her I thought it was an age thing. She suggested Licethin and Digestive Enzymes to aid in the breaking down and processing of the fat. As she put it, without the gallbladder, the fat just gets thrown into your body, your back, stomach etc. Three weeks into taking these two additional supplements and I have noticed a substantial weight loss by not changing anything in my diet or exercise routine. I have lost five pounds. I suspect that by end of year I will be back down to my pre-surgery weight. And yes, sciatic nerve pain and back pain increased post gall bladder surgery, but plenty of exercise helps me keep that all in check. So for anyone, particularly women, and peri-menopause ones at that, I can oly reccommend to go and see a properly certified Nutritionist who can make a world of difference. It was well worth my £60 and two hours of my time! Hope this has helped someone!
“MY PAIN: Under my right rib cage, follows through up under my right breast, round under my arm (can’t wear bra as causes pain to get worse), goes round into my back. TREMENDOUS PAIN. still there with pain killers.
Hi guys,
i just wanted to Post an UPDATE on my situation, as when all this first happened to me i struggled to find information. I found people with same problem on sites like this, but no one ever updated on their progress so i want to do this for the future people who might indure this horrible problem.
It has now been almost 2 years since my gall bladder op which caused the pain.
About 6 months in i had some localised Steroid injections which prooved helpful and got me off my back.
I have also since had some electro currents put through my nerves T5 through to T12, had this done 3 times but no success so we have moved on from this.
today we went about to distinguish which nerve exactly is causing the pain. My pain is under my right rib cage and goes round up under my boob, under my arm around to back. Pain is horrendous. on ongoing pain killers which some what help, but still can’t live a normal life of any activity (tramadol sr 200mg, lyrica 300mg, norspan patch 20mg).
My pain specialist has done a few nerve blocks with just a local anaesethic today to try and figure out exactly which nerves are causing my pain.
We have got it down to T7 & T8.I know, you would have different nerve numbers involved but just wanted to let you know where i am at with treatment. I have 4 options from here.
1.Spinal Cord Stimulator – not real keen on this idea as don’t want them touching my spine, and also as you will feel the constant vibration of the device. Plus not keen on the implanted box.
2.Peripheral Neuro Stimulator – same implanted box, but wired into the actual nerves under my rib cage rather than into spine.
3. Thermal Neorotom (nerve burn), basically burning off the nerves involved, will result in numb area, they will grow back within the year. risk of pain being worse of return, but process can be repeated.
4. Phenol Asletion (chemical), bacically same as nerve burn above but the chemical liquid is pump into nerve instead, kills off nerve in same way, will result in numb area, but hey better than pain!! and nerve can grow back etc as per nerve burn.
At this stage i have option 4 booked in. There is no reason why it should not work now we know the nerve causing the pain.
Will continue to update when i can.If anybody want further details please message me and i can even give you my pain specialists details. I am in Cairns, Australia.”
“Just a note on the Vitamin D issue: anyone who has had their gallbladder removed should consider taking a Vitamin D3 supplement. Bile, produced by the gallbladder, is crucial to the proper breakdown and assimilation of fats.
Vitamins A, D, E, and K are all fat soluble and those with impaired fat digestion or on extremely low-fat diets are at risk of becoming deficient in one or all these. Vitamin D is especially a concern, as deficiency is already very common, especially in northern areas. 5000IU’s a day of Vitamin D3 should be a part of any post gall bladder removal regimen.
On another note, the issue of impaired fat digestion can be addressed with digestive enzymes. When taken with a meal, they assist your body in the breakdown of foods, in this case fats specifically. They can help tremendously with discomfort caused by low bile. If you have 20 bucks to experiment with, I cannot reccomend them enough.
Therazyme has a wonderful formula for fat digestion:
NOW Foods also makes a decent enzyme formula for those on a budget:
Or there are a plethora of other brands out there, just look specifically for lipase and ox bile in the ingredients.”
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