Gallstones & IBS
 

I was diagnosed with Gallstones years ago but found that if I ate relatively healthy and didn't binge I didn't have attacks. Well before I changed my life style I was having five or six attacks a year. Since December I have had none, up until last night. I didn't eat fatty stuff but I did over eat by about 1000 calories (2500 instead of 1500) and most of that was late in the day.

I have also been dealing with what I now believe is IBS-A. For longer than I can remember I have alternated between constipation and diarrhea and always thought it was because of the gall bladder but now I'm not so sure.

Anyway, because of my 1am wake-up call from my gall bladder I have decided to have it removed. An additional 1000 calories should not cause an attack.

What I am looking for is what others have experienced when they had their gall badder removed. I would also be interested in knowing if you also suffered IBS symptoms and if that got better after surgery.

For those that have IBS how do you treat it?

cruisecat-I no!!!!!!!!!!!! I had my gallbladder out on Monday.Once you have had several attacks you are more likely to have more.I had one attack that sent me to ER a week before my surgery.Get it out???????????

And I had lap procedure.Stone was very large.Was pretty sore first 3 days.Use ice pack.You will have swelling.Be careful with diet for 2 weeks after while your body is adjusting to missing organ.LOL.Had mine out at 7am, home by noon.Pretty slick!!!Let us know.Oh-I also have IBS.Always constipated.Have not noticed an improvement with this yet.Hopefully it will help with some symptoms though such as bloating and gas.TMI, sorry.

Hi! Had an acute attack 2 years ago. Made the immediate appointment to get it removed as I travel alot and the last thing I wanted was to have an attack, go to a foreign hospital and wind up with the wrong surgery!!!
I too had a laparoscopic procedure. I had no -- NO-- and I mean absolutely NO pain post-surgery. Didn't take a single pain medication. I have had no side effects and no complications.
If I were you, I would get that puppy out stat, then see what happens with your GI system.
Good luck!
Kira

i had my gall bladder remove about a mth ago. the surgeon said my gall bladder was so messed up from my eating habits. unfortunately i dont eat totally different but im trying. i feel alot better. i had the lap procedure. i went in wednesday and had surgery thursday. i went home friday but i wished i would of stayed a couple more days. it is painful when u get home abd dont have very good pain pills. it was hard to even sit to use the restroom. but i am glad i got it removed. good luck

Have not heard.Did you get it out?Mt path report actually showed Low grade dysplasia,inflammatory polyps and chronic cholecystitis...so get it out if its truly a problem.Dysplasia can lead to cancer if you dont address it.....And im with Brenna,it was uncomfortable for me also. Become friends with Percocet!!!LOL.Let us know how you are!!

I am also curious about this subject. When I was prego I had lots of attacks with the gall bladder. They almost took it out but I decided to wait until after she was born. Then poof, after I had her I had NO problems. Then about a month ago I was having what I think is IBS problems. Horrible horrible horrible. For about 3 weeks straight it was waking me up at least 5 times a night...I tried to blame it on a couple days of bad eating in a row but now I'm not sure what I should do. Last Thursday I had the old gall bladder pains again.

Haven't went in to see the doc yet. Procrastinating I guess. As usual. But from Thursday afternoon until about 3:30 AM this morning, I felt like a rock star! So I'm hoping I can figure out what is triggering these IBS type symptoms. Anyone else out there want to list what brings it on for you? And how do you deal with it when you have things to get done and can't be home next to your bathroom?!?

Gallbladder pain for me was pain in right upper quadrant radiating to my right shoulder.i truly did not notice a difference with fatty foods(which is common).No diarrhea for me (which is common also)So, symptoms vary greatly.But my gallbladder was in pretty bad shape(per pathology report).So I am glad I had it out.

I wanted to ask about this also. I just had a baby 7 weeks ago via c-section I developed an ileus which is when the bowel goes to sleep I was in the hospital for a week and had to have ng tube to empty my stomach for a day also horrible!!
Well that is better but now if I have any dairy I get horrible gas pains my whole abdomen swells and hurts and get a sharp pain in between my shoulder blades does anyone think this is gallbladder? My dr thinks I developed lactose intolerance but I've never heard of pain like that from eating dairy?

Glad I had surgery!
 

It's been about a year since I had my gallbladder removed laproscopy. It wasn' too bad. Some pain, but they gave me meds and compared to the pain of my attacks it was nothing!

I had attacks on and off for a year or so until I became very ill vomiting constantly while on a cruise with my mom! It was good they had alternatives to fatty items it helped, but was not the best place to deal with it. I went through a series of tests before they would perform it, but found lots of stones and what the surgeon called sludge!

One side affect that my mom and friend who had the surgery told me about is if you eat fatty foods sometimes you have to go immediately to the bathroom. But I have noticed that has gone away for the most part for me too.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!:?:

Thank you all for posting. After a great deal of research regarding the doctors and hospital available in my HMO I have made the very difficult decision to not do battle with insurance.

I had an appointment with my doctor yesterday and have decided to have surgery at the elementary school by the quack. OK... it's not really an elementary school (it only looks like one) and the doctor may or may not be a quack; the fact of the matter is he has a couple court settlements I'm not comfortable with. I understand we live in a state where people are sue happy and I understand "bean counting" BUT!!!! Sadly this doctor is the lesser of the four evils available to me.

Anyway, I will schedule surgery for sometime in June when Mack gets back from visiting the kids.

I'll keep you posted on the procedure itself and also the IBS symptoms.

:?::?:I too have IBS, diarrhea type. It's taken a long time to figure it out. I must avoid most fruits,especially the skin,like cherries and grape tomatoes.I can have canned fruit. I peel apples.I cannot eat large salads,or fresh vegetables.Even cooked veggies are sometimes a problem.I also avoid fatty foods.The formula that helps me is this; I take an Immodium 2mg at bedtime, and in the morning I take a fiber-con.If I'm out to lunch and have a salad I take another fiber-con first. This makes it very difficult to follow a low fat diet with all the fiber usually recommended.Any advice? I also had my gallbladder removed years ago,no problems. Anyone everheard the phrase "fat fertile and forty" regarding gallbladder disease? Ask a nurse. Dodo

I'm happy to report that I had my surgery today and all went well. I was home and in my own bed less than five hours from cut time. I'm up from my drug induced nap and ready to eat something. Will take some more pain meds and I'm sure go back to sleep.

I'll keep you posted on my recovery and my IBS symptoms.

Take it easy for a few days.Its a pretty quick recovery.Take care.

I have had stomach problems since I can remember. And when I was pregnant the gall bladder hit me with a vengence. The attacks are worse than anything I have ever experienced and I went to the ER more times than I can count. It finally got to the point where I couldn't eat anything with some sort of stomach pain.

Be careful about what you eat after the surgery because you may still experience some discomfort when you eat too much fat. It's been a year since the surgery and if I eat a lot of fat in one sitting I will still experience stomach pain, but not a true attack.

As far as IBS (which I was told I had, but I don't think so), I manage it mostly by drinking lots of water and cutting back on soda. Changing my eating habits has also helped, but I am still not regular. I don't think the gall bladder affected the IBS issue.