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Ongoing Complications (1000+)
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I just found these posts on here. A lot of people talking about the weight gain after GB surgery. I have not experienced this. I started getting what was thought to be acid reflux and a milk allergy. The symptoms eventually turned to pain. Extreme pain. And I was rushed to the emergency room. My doctor referred me to a specialist. And scheduled my surgery. I was extremely overweight. I had no idea by how much at the time as I hated scales. I knew I was big but I would rather just not know. I was scared because my weight along with the surgery could have killed me. It was the first time I had to face my weight problem. I could no longer push it under the rug. I weighed 450 pounds at the time of my surgery in Feb 2007. I was scared when I heard it could make me gain weight. But my health and my life was more important. I was immobile for two weeks. I gained a little during those two weeks due to that fact alone. I have been doing just fine after the surgery and had no major issues to deal with from it. As of July 22nd, 2009 I now weigh 299 pounds. I did not have gastric bypass or lapband or any of that. I do not take diet supplements. I do not “kill” myself with diet and exercise. I just changed my eating habits at first, then eventually adding in some exercising. (mostly walking) I have not taken any of the fish oils or any stuff that is supposed to help you after GB surgery. Not that they don’t work, I just wouldn’t know because I have never had the need to try them. I stopped drinking soda. I drink lots of water. I eat low or no fat foods. I stay away from salty foods. I eat a lot of raw foods. No more white bread. Simple things I over looked for years. I have found that my GB surgery was the best thing that ever happened to me. It made me face my weight issues and it made me change my life for the better. I’m still not at “goal”, but I feel fantastic and I love myself everyday for what I have went through to get here.
I honestly believe it depends on the person. I had my gallbladder removed in July of 2006. So it hasn’t even been a year. When I went into the hospital, it was so bad that the gall stones had gotten to my pancreas and I ended up with pancreatitis. So I needed it removed. The doctors warned me though that just because my gallbladder was being removed I could still form gallstones. I’ve noticed that I’ve been feeling pain like when I would have may gallstone attacks and ever since the surgery when eating fats I’ve needed the bathroom within 30 minutes because it would run straight through me. Regardless, I am glad I had that surgery done because the pain was unbearable. It was a quick surgery. I was in pain for 3 days but within a week I was back to work. Every body is different and every body heals differently.
“I had my gallbladder out in 2002, and had the same problems as most of you. But I will tell you that every once in awhile, could be once a year, or a couple times a year, I get a terrible pain right around my lower right rib area, there is no way to relieve this pain, but thankfully it only lasts up to 20 minutes or less. I will break out in a terrible sweat, and once the pain subsides I will start belching, and then I will feel normal.
I went to the Dr. regarding this, and she said that there are still gallstones in me, and when I get this pain, one of the gallstones (like a grain of sand) gets in the bile duct and this is what is causing this unbearable pain. She said I will just have to live with it.
Does anyone else experience this?
I wish I never got my gallbladder out, I have to live with constant digestive issues, and its not much better then when I had my gallbladder.”
I have had the reflux and nausea and a lttle diarrhea since having my gallbladder removed 8 weeks ago—I llost 11 ponds before and after surgery—Iand I have pain in my left shoulder blade and ribs but all tests ahve come back okay—-I still need a colonoscopy but my dr. didn’t want to do it right after surgery because the prep is hard—I have been on carafate for a few weeks and it really helped the reflux and nausea —also, I am down to 20 mg. of prilosec and was on 60 mg.–How are you doing now? One more thing, my naturopath gave me a digestive enzyme to take which seems to help too–The carafate is very constipating so i only take it once a day now which seems to help—-let me know how you are doing—
You should all look into Celiac Disease. This is an allergy to gluten and Dr’s don’t seem to know anything about it. I have been going to a GI specialist for over 3 years and they told me everything from Irritable bowel syndrome to stress. Finally after a Hida Scan, they found out that my gall bladder was mal-functioning. Without trying to find out why, they took out my gall bladder. I have been feeling worse with the same pain as everyone else is complaining about. My boss said she thought I looked like someone else she knew who had Celiac — I’ve lost weight since the surgery, look pale and sickly. I started researching Celiac and I have so many of the symptoms it is unreal. (Although you can have Celiac and not have symptoms, also the symptoms vary from person to person.) I got a blood test done last Friday to test for this and am waiting to get results. In my research for Celiac disease I found out that if Celiac disease is undiagnosed in an adult it can lead to gall bladder malfunction and gall stones. Bingo! The gall bladder is removed but the problems persist or become worse. Abdominal surgery (such as gall bladder removal) can also activate Celiac if you have it. It is genetic, you’re born with it but different things can set it off. Celiac is one of the most underdiagnosed diseases. Research shows that as many as 1 in 133 people could have it. However, only 1 in 4,000 get diagnosed properly. Honestly, do yourself a favour and research Celiac disease. Reading through different threads regarding gall bladder surgery, I have noticed a few other people who have made the connection. They were tested and diagnosed for Celiac and are now living a happy, pain free life on a gluten-free diet. Isn’t that worth looking into? Very best wishes to all of you.
it’s great to know I am not the only one feeling this way. I had my gallbladder out 4 years ago, and I know when you get older your metabolisim slows down but this is rediculuos! And yes it is like it (weight) goes right to your stomach, and there is nothing you can do about it. and it is just the way you feel and how different you feel. Like you know something just isn’t right or the same.
it’s great to know I am not the only one feeling this way. I had my gallbladder out 4 years ago, and I know when you get older your metabolisim slows down but this is rediculuos! And yes it is like it (weight) goes right to your stomach, and there is nothing you can do about it. and it is just the way you feel and how different you feel. Like you know something just isn’t right or the same.
I had my gallbladder and stones removed five weeks ago.ebded up being in hospital 4 days not 2 due to high liver count and problems jn surgery due to genetics i had extra ducts which caused difficuties in removal. After op i had two hematoma and needed antibiotic courses x 2. Since operation the nausea subsided but i have reflux especially at night.taking nexiam.also boits of diarohea. Plus no appetite at all.
“Hello fellow former cholecystectomy patients!
4 years ago I had my gall bladder out due to gall stones. (more like a rock garden by the looks of the ultrasound). I thought the pain and vomiting would go away like magic. Alas, it didn’t. It continued. I constantly ate bread because at least the pain would subside. 2 years later and after a rather invasive colonoscopy/endoscopy exam (of which I have yet to frame those pics) for them to tell me I had Bile Gastritis. I had to take Carafate for a while. Good thing I got the BG under control because honestly, the Carafate was no picnic.
The thing is the tolerances of what a person can eat depends on the person. There are foods to avoid…alcohol, caffeine, spicy foods…and always the low fat diet…..but somethings you will be able to eat, other things you can’t. For me, I can’t get near fresh pineapple. Love it….but it will make me double over after 3 pieces.
”“At least I know now I am not alone in this.
Gallbladder was removed the third week of November last year. Seemed fine for several weeks afterwards as surgery went very well (didn’t even need pain meds of any kind afterwards) and then my liver began to swell. ER said it was nothing unusual? Ran all the tests, and gave me IV of anti-inflamatory meds to take the swelling down. Wish they would have warned me this could happen as I suffered for days before going in. It seems to still swell occasionally about once a week and it feels like a balloon under my rib cage. All tests show it is fine and no problems, so I am guessing just scar tissue from the surgery. BTW-Did you know you can actually watch what was done online? Just google it and it will bring up a video. Kind of explained why my liver swelled after watching what they do to remove them.
After that it has been a two month battle with many very bad days of stomach cramping, lower abdominal cramping, back aches, and loose stools, the first three seem to last from morning until night. No matter what or when I eat, it takes me totally out of commission for the entire day. Heat pads on my back and stomach for most of the day seem to temporairly help the pain. Sure wish some doctor would have told me that the ‘ends’ to my Gallbladder removal would be worse than the ‘means’ were. No stones for me, just a GB full of sludge and functioning at 7%, and it was misdianosed for about 10 years.
Today is another bad day, and thought I would look online if others suffer the same problems afterward.
I have been watching my diet, and one tiny bit of any type of fatty foods will assure me of loosing the following day to pain and being useless. Sometimes, even without any fat I am down for the count for the entire day. It normally doesn’t effect me immediately, not until the next morning. I wake up early and run to the restroom as fast as possible.
If this is how my life is going to continue, who needs it? I am getting fed up with the pain and not being able to accomplish even normal tasks because of this. And to top it off, this morning the heart burn began. Just what I needed, another symptom to add to the lengthy list of so many already. I have to admit, if I would have known of all these complications, I would have lived with the GB pain for as long as possible before going along with the doctors idea of having it removed.
”I am experiencing the same pain; had my gall bladder removed in oct. 2010 and the last 2 days, I am having the same severe pain in my rib cage; i was told after surgery, that a radiologist thought there was 1 more stone; but the rest of the operating team couldn’t find it; do you think a gall stone could be stuck somewhere??
My gallbladder removal was in January. By April I was a mess. Fortunately after doing some major research online and finding alot of people like ourselves, I started taking Digestive multi enzymes. These are like miracle supplements to me and I do not ever eat a meal without taking these first. Within the first 48 hours of taking these with my meals I noticed a big difference. No stomach pains, my diarrhea slowed down and for the first week I was burping like crazy. But at the end of that week all the bloating I carried around during those months was gone. My energy also improved drastically. After being on them for five months now, I almost feel normal again. They have not helped as far as the weight gain goes. But I really haven’t been trying very hard at that either. I did have some blood work done which showed I was Vitamin D deficient (Probably because I didn’t even have enough energy to go outside to soak in the sun). I did start taking Vit D supplements but have noticed only a little improvement. I swear by these supplements. The ones I use are made by Spring Valley and are called Probiotic Multi-Enzyme Digestive Formula. I buy these at Walmart for $7.00 a bottle. One bottle lasts a good three to four weeks. I know of at least two other people with the same symptoms as I and tried these and it worked for them too. I don’t know if I’ll be on these forever, but until the medical field can figure out why we have these side effects from this surgery, it’s the only thing that I can count on. I have heard that bile salts work too. These supplements do have ox bile in them as well. It’s interesting to me that I hear a couple of you talk about asthma symptoms. I too have noticed a little extra phlegm in my lungs. I had read recently that this surgery could somehow affect the adrenal glands. Then I read somewhere else that malfunction of the adrenal glands could cause “asthma-like symptoms” because your bronchials are not opening up all the way like they should. Just a thought. I haven’t researched it enough to understand how it’s all related or how you would fix it. Maybe someone around here has any ideas? I hope any of this information is of some use to someone. I understand what it feels like to be in that condition. It was the worst place ever!!
I have the same problem with the weight and some diareha. I do not have any energy to work out and pain in side and back since. The only thing I can say would be not to eat sweets and gluten free products, but I have tried watching my diet, but it doesnt work that well for me either. I still feel the same even with eating better. I have also tried massage and that seems to work if I could do massage and afford massage twice a week and think it would be help and rest for a few weeks, but soon as I work out it comes back.
“Not to worry. It’s only been three weeks. I had my gall bladder removed about 5 years ago by laser. In and out of the hospital in less than 24 hours. IF you had a gall bladder attack, you will feel so much better. The best advice I can give ANYONE who had their gall bladder removed is once you are back in your hospital room GET UP AND WALK AROUND! You will need to do this to get the gas they pumped into your abdominal cavity OUT! It is hideously painful if you don’t. You may wake up with severe back pain for months even years after….hopefully you will have someone to rub or massage your back where the pain is. The gas will move around in your system for quite a while…but walking, and eventual exercise once you’re completely healed will help immensely.
The other bit of advice is: Your eating habits WILL BE FORCED to change. Because you no longer have an organ (gallbladder) to breakdown the acid and fat from food in your system, it won’t digest.
I’ve learned to eat about 5 -7 small meals a day instead of big meals. Trust me, a big meal will make you feel absolutely horrible and sick to your stomach.
Feel free to email me if you have any other questions”
Today is December 30, 2010, I had my Gall Bladder taken out on August 19, 2010. I also experienced the bathroom issue, nausea, right side ache and some bloating. Due to this I had to adjust my diet dramtically. I on the other hand have not gained weight, I have lost about 15 pounds and no this was not a good thing. I had already dramatically lost weight due to the loss of my husband so this loss of weight does not look good on me, I feel like I look sick! I am also Hypoglycemic and have been since I was diagnosed at 14 (I am now 40), since the removal it has been worse, before I could control it with foods but now some of those foods have bad effects. Not sure what to do as my doctor says that I am a rare case as far as the weight loss goes!??
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