Thanks Everyone, looks like I need to avoid the bad stuff anyway. I am just so tired of the discomfort and nausea.

I just found this thread --

(warning -- may be TMI for some -- )

I had mine out in late 2006 -- I had been having horrible attacks, and finally went to the ER -- they said it was riddled with gallstones and had to come out. I also had the laproscopic. The surgery was not bad, and once I learned what foods to eat and not, the recovery wasn't too bad. If I ate any kind of animal fat at all, I had severe diarrhea, and certain other foods caused a lot of gas and discomfort -- but like I said, once I learned what not to eat, it wasn't too bad at first.

But here's the thing -- after a couple of years I found I could tolerate all the "offending" foods again, even animal fat, so I started eating the same way I did before the surgery. And guess what? I started having the same symptoms I had before I had it out -- the belching, bad stomach, and discomfort -- not the sharp pain of the gallstones, but the same general all over yucky feeling, and that telltale loud belching after I ate. I thought to myself "How could I be having gallbladder problems again? I don't even have one!"

I went to a naturopathic/homeopathic doctor, and she said that when you have your gallbladder out, they actually leave a little bitty bit of it in, and if you are not careful of your diet you can get all the same problems back again. I was also having a lot of other physical problems, and it turns out I had a severe magnesium deficiency, caused by not having a gall bladder.

I have since done a huge study on the gallbladder, what it does, and what happens to your digestive system when you don't have one any more. I have changed my diet dramatically, and take supplements, and now feel 100% better.

One thing I am not sure was mentioned by the other posters -- I have struggled with constipation my whole adult life, and it got a lot worse when I started having the new attack this past year. And fiber and Metamucil wasn't working, it just made it worse. I have since found out by self study that bile production by the liver is a huge issue when you don't have a gall bladder. So I take supplements that help stimulate bile production, and that helps.

I would love to know what suppliments you are taking. I cant seem to find anything to help me since I had mine out and would love any advice!

Sure, I'd be happy to tell you what I take --

500 mg of Magnesium and 2 Potassium Gluconate caplets that are 99 mg each -- I take these because it's common for people with no gallbladder to be deficient in Magnesium, and the Potassium helps with Magnesium absorption. I call them my "mental health pills", because before I went to the naturopathic doctor in February, I was having all kinds of weird spaciness in my head, and just a couple of days after I started on the Magnesium/Potassium combo (the first change I made), the weird spacey floating feeling was gone.

I also take Digestive Enzymes -- the ones I take now are 100% vegan/plant based -- however, I used to take these ones that were made with ox bile -- they are supposed to be more effective, but the thought of ox bile just grossed me out so I switched -- this is for bile production and overall digestion

Probiotics / Acidophilus -- also for bile production and overall digestion

Turmeric -- increases the bile flow in the liver

EFA's -- Essential Fatty Acids -- also increases bile flow in the liver


I also take a bunch of other things -- C, E, D3, St. John's Wort, Ginkgo, Ginseng, Cranberry Fruit, B Complex, Ultra Minerals, Spirulina, Olive Leaf, Horse Chestnut, for other reasons.....



Another thing I do is that I try to avoid processed food as much as possible -- I read food labels, and if it's full of things that I can't pronounce and have no idea what they are, I avoid it. I used to eat a lot of Hamburger Helper, made with ground turkey, but no more. I found out that without a gallbladder, your body has trouble digesting processed foods. So I eat mostly whole "real" food ...



After I saw the naturopathic doctor, I did my own research -- I spent several days just digging around at various websites, learning as much as I could about gallbladders and the lack thereof, and then started eliminating things from my diet -- it was definitely trial and error, and I am still learning. For instance, I have finally just figured out that pasta makes me "pass gas" -- I eat it anyway in limited quantities because I am Italian and I can't imagine living without it, but I can expect the resulting flatulence after eating it.


Another thing I learned from that research is that many doctors really don't know what they are talking about regarding living without a gallbladder -- some may tell you to eat a low fat diet, but some say that you can eat normally -- and then when you start having all the digestive problems and head spaciness like I did, they prescribe pharmaceutical drugs to treat the symptoms. In my opinion there is absolutely no reason to take any drugs for this -- it can all be controlled by diet and supplements -- it just may take some trial and error to find what works for you.