Help Suggestions

[DataCurator]

I also had my gallbladder removed in July after suffering off and on for 30+ years. I managed most of the time not to eat what I knew would trigger the pain. I could not eat anything with wheat in it, so cookies, cakes, all goodies like that was a no-no. But I found that I could eat lots of food that would not trigger the pain. Now I know what you suffer. My pain was no less and it would knock me out for hours helpless until it would pass. But I found I could eat salad greens (no cabbage). I could go to a salad bar and eat my weight in salad and never hurt at all. I’d put peas, tomatoes, eggs and beets and use vinegarette and bluecheese dressing. I can’t eat raw onions but cooked ones I could eat. I could eat Mexican food as long as I stayed with corn. I could eat chicken fahitas, sour cream and even the cheese and not get sick. My best friends though is oats and apple cider. Oh, I could also eat fruit mostly apples and peaches. When I went out to a smorgasborg place I’d just eat the filling out of the cobblers or pies. That pretty much took care of the sweet tooth. Can eat green beans and white potatoes. Don’t do well with sweetpotatoes, though. I am using past and present tense because after almost 3 month of being mostly able to eat anything after surgery I am back to the same exact pain as before the surgery and back to the old way of eating which thankfully still works. But it is the time of year when I really want the things I can’t have and I know that’s kind of childish but it is the truth. I am going to a specialist next week and I don’t know if I want to let them do anything knowing that they really don’t know what they’re doing when it comes to this condition. You really do need your gallbladder and I let them take mine out and everything I ate went to my waist because the gallbladder tells the body what fat is good and what is bad and the body doesn’t know what to do with it when the gallbladder is gone so it stores it all. . So I may just consider myself blessed to be able to eat what I can and leave it alone. I will let them test me but after hearing everyone elses stories nothing can be done that doesn’t have repercussions. Goodluck everyone out there. I know everyone is different so you just have to find your own diet. There are foods you can eat and not get sick. Try the apple cider, fresh if you can get it. I live near an orchard or I just look for the best I can find. Try the oatmeal. You have to cook it don’t use the instant flavored one because they contain wheat. You can cut up an apple in it. I love oats so it’s a good thing I do. I’m 66 years and I expect I’ll be all right on this regimen. I am not selling anything. I’m just an ordinary person. I like to think for myself and I check out as much as I can. That is how I found out about what can be eaten with a bad gallbladder. Some things worked and some things didn’t. With a computer at hand we don’t have an excuse not to find out what we can before we put our bodies in the hands of someone else. This sphinter of oddi problem is still up in the air as far as fixing it. I’m sure there will be a good treatment some day but not in time for me.

[DataCurator]

I had my gall bladder removed 2 years ago..it contained a stone that filled the entire bladder. My diarrhea began within 3 weeks and continued to be difficult every day…embarrassing at best, debilitating at worst! I read a post by a gal who had her GB removed a number of years ago and, like me, didn’t want a bunch of drugs and tests to get past the problem. She tried Caltrate D+, 600 mg. I think that’s right, but I tried Walgreens brand of that and I cut them in half. One 600 mg tab cut in half taken before bed each night works for me under most circumstances. If i do something wild, like eat a tray of spinach artichoke dip or other super high fat stuff, I will have some loose stool but not watery diarrhea. It works! I am so much happier and no surprises in meetings. Try it…it works. It turns out that your body absorbs about 60% of the caltrate (important to take the right one…not ‘trix but ‘trate) and the rest goes into your intestines and absorbs the liquid (bile) that is there. That’s a pretty loose description but all I know is that it works for me and I am soooo thankful to have read that post. I don’t want any drugs! LL

[DataCurator]

“I had my GB out during the 2000 election – 4 yrs ago. I too felt good for a while that slowly began to feel sort of claustraphobic and kept gaining weight. I also felt like had junk stuck inside. It got to the point where I was having obvious toxic effects that I couldn’t shake. I had several episodes of severe fatigue and insomnia. I read about famous people w/o GBs – LBJ spoke about insomnia and nightmares after having his GB out (he never made the connection). My guess is that the GB actually pumps out the debris when it works. Without it stones build up in the liver and in the common bile duct. So, the GB normally pumps out stones w/o it we get sort of plugged up. The only things that I have found that help are the liver flush, chanca piedra, mint, milk thistle, goldenseal. I think exercise and fish oil help – must take care of cholesterol. I eat really low fat now to be safe.
”

[DataCurator]

There are medications to help with diarrhea after gallbladder removal. You need to see your doctor about this. My husband has used cholestyramine for years for this condition after his gallbladder was removed and it makes a huge difference. Hope you get like help soon!

[DataCurator]

I have bile reflux gastritis. It has been hell. Get off all dairy since everybody should be off dairy! Dairy has pus and its for baby calves. I am going gluten free, and no processed foods. Low fat diet period! I had my gallbladder out in 1998. I have lost 25 lbs. I recently found this book by Caroline Myss It is called ” Invisible acts of power” It’s about curing yourself through your Chakras. You heal through your own energy. I have been studying this. I found some tapes of hers and it is remarkable. I understand that you have to heal yourself. I am talking to natural doctors. The stress alone is hurting you. Try to relax. Keep your energy for yourself. Oatmeal and bananas help. I make smoothies and soak my vitamins in water and add hemp protein and Aloe Vera . Eat Boiled potatoes and I eat small amounts of Salmon Brats diet= bananas, rice, apples, toast. Gluten free! I hope you get to feeling better. I am going to feel better because God is so in my life! Loony56

[DataCurator]

“Hi,
I’m sorry you’re having such a difficult time. I think there’s a few things that could help you. I would recommend taking digestive enzyme supplements with meals (you can get them at Whole Foods or any GNC)–check the label and make sure they have 5 different enzymes or more. Although your bile flows constantly now, it is much weaker so you need to add some additional enzymes to help with the bloating, gas and constipation. You’re constipated partly because the food isn’t breaking down enough in your upper GI tract. Eat more roughage in the form of fruits and vegetables to help keep the food moving though. Chew Lots to break the food down as much as you can!!! Don’t drink anything (water include) while you eat, it dilutes your enzymes. Avoid processed wheat and dairy, they are very hard to digest and they will constipate you–they’re like glue in your system. Some people get alot of help from bile salt supplements also.

In regard to your brittle hair, this is a sign that you’re not absorbing essential fatty acids well (on the inside). This is common with weaker bile flow. You’ll need to OVER-supplement EFA’s in the form of fish oil, flax seed/oil and/or hemp. Eat lots of salmon too. For sure take fish oil capsules or liquid everyday. This is really important, the brittle hair is just the first sign of malabsorption. If it persists you will begin to feel lethargic and have reduced focus and concentration. One thing I do in the morning that has helped alot is I make a fruit smoothie every morning with flax, coconut or hemp oil and I add 1-2T of soy lecithin (also at GNC or Whole Foods). Soy lecithin is a fat emulsifier, it will help your body absorb the essential fatty acids in the oil.

I hope this helps. Good Luck!!”

[DataCurator]

“I am 62 and had my GB removed Nov.2007.If I eat fastfood (greasy) I get
the runs.So I stay away from fried foods and anything with high fat like
ice cream.So just eat healthy and you might not have side effects.”

[DataCurator]

I did not like the powdered drink the doctor gave me so I experimented with how much I took… I found that 1/2 to a 1/4 of a scoop in lots of water worked for me better and I would take it twice a day that way. I still didn’t care for the way it made me feel so I looked around and found that psyllium was natural and gave enough bulk to do the job, it’s not the most pleasant thing to drink, but neither was the cholestyramine… so I think overall i preferred the psyllium. You can get psyllium at your pharmacy or natural food store. I also eat a lot of barley and brown rice…. high in fiber and bulks up when going through the system. Sometimes I eat cheese if nothing else is available, it makes things worse at first from the fat but then it binds things up after a bit, not ideal but works.

[DataCurator]

I had my gallbladder removed on Nov. 3, 2012. I had the same kind of symptoms as you do. Everything I would eat would give me diarrhea until i switched my diet. I switched to a gluten free diet. I avoid all wheat products. At first i thought fat was the problem but for some reason avoided wheat changed that. i do not experience gas as frequent, bloating, nausea, and haven’t had any more diarrhea episodes. I really do not think fat is the problem, it is the gluten (wheat products) which is in mostly everything that is eaten by everyone. try the diet and see how it makes you feel. i would like to know.

[DataCurator]

I had recurrent “attacks” the day after my surgery and for months after. I had lots of testing done, gastric emptying, more ct’s, more labs. No stones, no sphincter of oddi disfunction. However my doctor didn’t know what was causing the 5am morning awakenings for these attacks. What they did do was send me to a specialist in Pittsburgh at UPMC Presby. It was a sort of phantom pain syndrome I was suffering with. I was given low dose Pamelor (old school antidepressant) in the low dose it doesn’t cross your blood brain barrier and works on the nerve endings. I took this for a year and it really helped. I now only have occasional episodes. I had the surgery in 2007. Little background- I am a nurse, not overweight, the death of my gallbladder was caused by oral contraceptives which I take for my endometriosis. Hope that helps. They said that this occurs in young, white, females. I was about 27yrs old so I fit that bill.

[DataCurator]

I have to tell you that I am very tired of having to explain to the medical community when asked… WHY I take Questran??? That medicine has vastly improved the quality of my life!!! I had my gall bladder out in 1991. Only five days after my surgery… it hit! I would not even get the last few bites of my meal down, and the terrible cramps would start. Then I would end up in the bathroom with horrible diarrhea. After the awful pain, sweats, and wiped out feeling… all I wanted to do was lay down. I actually lived like that for two years… then finally after keeping a food diary and eating no or low fat diets, I went back to the doctor who did my surgery. He kindly told me… NO, I wasn’t crazy and explained about the build up of bile in the small intestines and… put me on Questran! A scoopful of this wonderful powder in a cup of water each morning an hour before I eat, and I am good for the day! If it were an illegal drug… I would go on the street to buy it. It has made that much of a difference in my life.

[DataCurator]

“I had my gallbladder out 6 years ago and I don’t remember having the bile acid diarrhea until just a few years ago. So, yes, it can take a while and then KABOOM!!! lol

Also, I do get BAD (Bile Acid Diarrhea, fitting acronym I think) on again off again… Today I have it… Thursday I had it… *sighs* And sometimes the urgency just hits me, which I have seen is the case for so many posters!

In the past I have even had accidents which to say the least is quite embarrassing! I’ve been accident free for about six months now, thank goodness, but it is always a possibility! I know where EVERY rest stop and good restaurant/gas station bathroom is on my route to see my family and friends 3 hours away.

I usually try to have a change of clothes and wet wipes with me should I have a problem, thus far it’s only happened as I was running into the house and not sure I was going to make it.

Do bother your doc… We shouldn’t have to live this way! As I said in an earlier reply to someone and I have seen others say as well. They can prescribe cholestyramine… but also you could try psyllium which worked well for me and is less bothersome in my opinion!”

[DataCurator]

Wowwwww. You are all describing me. I got super sick in 2000, liver enzymes went off the charts, hurt every where, vomiting, horrible couple weeks during which they ran every test in the book all of which came back normal except the liver enzymes. Those have gradually resolved over the years to a near normal reading. They thought gall bladder way back then and did the sonogram but since they found no stones, they went no further. Finally in 2005 I found a Dr who said that if I was having pain, even if there were no stones, it was likely there was a problem with my gall bladder, so they did a hyda scan. Sure enough gall bladder no longer functioning so everything was basically backed up into my liver. Had that removed but found that within a very short time, I had the pain again. Sometimes really bad, sometimes not so bad. Also after the surgery, I have this bouts of “Oh boy, I really have to go to the bathroom NOW!” and I’m running full tilt through Home Depot or whatever to get there in time. I can no longer eat some things because this will be the result. Through this whole thing I started having alot of irregular bleeding between periods and pelvic pain. The thing about adhesions is that THEY DO NOT SHOW UP ON CT SCANS or sonograms or even Xrays and MRI’s. Typically they are no dense enough to show up. The only way to find them is to actually look in there (laprascope). I did that. On the first surgery the Dr said my lower abdomen looked like cob webs everywhere from the adhesions sticking everything together. The second surgery about 18 months later, it was even worse – my bowel was connected to my bladder and both were connected to my lower abdominal wall – it was a mess. On this surgery he also did a hysterectomy. I felt better for about 10 months but its back now, including up higher where my gall bladder used to be. My Dr told me though that this time when he goes in to laser everything clean, he’s going to use this new stuff which prevents new adhesions from forming and says I should get nearly complete relief this time. Looking forward to that. Don’t be afraid of the surgery to remove the adhesions, it really does help.

[DataCurator]

I’ve had mine removed and experimented with the way and what I eat. I can honestly say there was a reason why we had our gall bladders removed it was the high fatty foods we ate. We think we can continue to eat the same foods. Well I can say from experience all those medicines is a temporary fix. I went on the biggest loser cooking diet and I am back to normal before I had my gall bladder removed! You have to stop eating deep fried, fried foods, and especially soft drinks! Then I stopped eating right and it took a month before I went back to having diarreah (diarrhea) and going to the bathroom during a meal. Try this diet by Jillian Michaels and you will see results.

[DataCurator]

I’ve had mine removed and experimented with the way and what I eat. I can honestly say there was a reason why we had our gall bladders removed it was the high fatty foods we ate. We think we can continue to eat the same foods. Well I can say from experience all those medicines is a temporary fix. I went on the biggest loser cooking diet and I am back to normal before I had my gall bladder removed! You have to stop eating deep fried, fried foods, and especially soft drinks! Then I stopped eating right and it took a month before I went back to having diarreah (diarrhea) and going to the bathroom during a meal. Try this diet by Jillian Michaels and you will see results.