Diet after gallbladder removal

[Verbena37]

So I had my GB removed almost 15 years ago but lately, I've been feeling shattered, putting on lots of weight (since October I've started looking about 6 months pregnant) and I'm always cold.

I assumed it's probably low thyroid but my bloods came back a couple of times either just under minimum or just above. They said possibly a blip (hmm).

Anyway, then I started reading about how low thyroid is because of poor essential fat absorption in people without a gall bladder.
So vitamins A,D, E and K1 and K2. Plus, fat isn't emulsified because no the bile is constantly weaker than normal and trickling out into small intestine constantly, rather than obviously being stored anymore.
Without essential fats, vitamins aren't absorbed and hormones aren't made efficiently.

Basically the dietary advice is to do this regime.....
Increase coconut oil in diet as it's more easily absorbed.
Take lipase supplement as it aids fat digestion
Take a probiotic to help digestion
Take a taurine supplement ....this seems to cure everything!
And take OX BILE!!!!

Ox bile???.
So does anybody do this? Taking bile salts just before a meal containing fat are supposed to help.

I just can't face taking a capsule of ox bile.
Does anyone know if there is a synthetic alternative?
Plus, cutting out fat apparently isn't the answer....because you need the good fats (of which I'm good at eating in general) to absorb the vits.

Has anybody lost weight by doing the above type of supplementary regime?

[Verbena37]

Anybody?

[Hulder]

Err, where the fuck did you read this? You eat a normal diet after gallbladder removal.

Methinks someone is trying to sell you snake oil.

[Verbena37]

You don't eat a normal diet actually.
My German surgeon told me after my cholecystectomy that you can't ever go back to eating normally because of the way the gall bladder works.

Without one, rather than the bile being stored and used as and when you eat any fat, the bile is about 8x weaker and trickles out 24/7 into the small intestine.....without the ability to digest and emulsify essential fats.

I just wondered if anybody had taken ox bile.

[Hulder]

You do eat a normal diet. Your German surgeon may have told you this, but my English one told me that 99% of people eat a normal diet, which I very much do.

A chat amongst those of us gallbladderless at work found we were all eating normally with just small problems if we tried to eat a heavily fat laden meal.

If you weren't digesting and emulsifying fats, your stool would change and become white, fatty and hard to flush away - steatorrhoea. We basically produce plenty of bile on an as and when we need it basis, the gallbladder is just a bonus store but not vital.

[Verbena37]

Well I've ordered taurine capsules. I'll see how I get on. I definitely have symptoms of hypothyroidism and vitamin deficiency so won't do any harm to see if they make a difference.

[PopcornBits]

You can take ox bile if you feel it will help, nothing to lose? But I eat a normal diet and don't have a gallbladder. No issues here, so far.

I have read ox bile is good for those without a gallbladder, you could try digestive enzymes too.

[Verbena37]

Thanks popcorn....what are digestive enzymes?

[purplecoathanger]

I've had my gallbladder removed and I eat a normal diet. My consultant said to eat normally as your liver still produces bile, which drips into your small intestine continually.

[PopcornBits]

They're fat binders, helps to digest fat. You can get them from holland & Barrett if you're in the UK.

[purplecoathanger]

Bile is an emulsifier, it literally breaks fat down into tiny pieces making it easier to digest. Lipase is the enzyme that digests fat.

[Lunde]

The old fashioned advice was a restricted diet but this has not been the advice for the last 20+ years is to eat a normal diet as far as possible. I was told to eat normally when I had my operation in 1997

The only exception is if you suffer a severe reaction (cramps etc) - the only person I have known who has had to do this after the surgery had to cut green apples out of her diet

[Verbena37]

Aha, someone who takes ox bile!
Do you take capsules and do they taste disgusting?

[PopcornBits]

Lunde that's really interesting. I was taking naproxen recently for a pinched nerve, I realised after about two weeks they were giving me severe cramps a few hours after having them, thought it was food at first but I stopped taking them and don't get the cramps now. I think I'm allergic to anti inflammatory's post gallbladder removal!

[Hulder]

Popcorn Naproxen and other anti-inflammatories commonly cause stomach pain and cramps as they can destroy the lining of the stomach, gallbladder or no gallbladder.

If you were taking them regularly for some days because of your trapped nerve, this is most likely what you had.

Cramps after gallbladder removal would be more from fatty foods where you didn't anage to get enough bile out to emulsify the fat to digest it in time. Happens to me v rarely - but when I've eaten something massively unhealthy so I should really be eating that stuff anyway

[seasontotaste]

Verbena as a person who has had cholecystectomy
I would counsel against becoming fixated with untested dietary supplements, e.g. ox bile. Just eat healthily, keep active and count yourself lucky you are no longer getting gall bladder pain.

[seasontotaste]

Popcorn opiates can cause cramps for those post-cholecystectomy. See research published online via Google Scholar.

[purplecoathanger]

I can't take any NSAIDs, I get a really bad stomach. This has always been the case, pre and post gallbladder.

[Verbena37]

That's really interesting because just before Christmas I was really poorly with viral arthralgia and had a really big course of antibiotics, NSAID's and omeprezol. I wonder if the NSAIDS did anything dodgy to my oesophagi/stomach lining because something is really not right with my abdomen.

Would one course do that?
I've stopped taking the taurine capsules for now because I was feeling sick 15 mins every breakfast and taking it. .....although I missed it yesterday and still felt sick after breakfast!