Gallbladder attacks advice

[HeyBwoss]

Been having episodes of pain since January but have now had 2 in the past 2 weeks. I thought it was trapped wind (actually the first one I thought was a heart attack, at first) but have seen it may be gallstones. All my pain matches everything I have read. Except for labour, it's the worst pain I've ever had.

Anyway, I'm hoping to see the GP tomorrow, but in the meantime I'm terrified to eat incase something triggers it. Does anyone have any advice on how to manage or anything that stops the attacks? Thanks in advance

Can we alk about food more specifically? I'm finding eating first thing upon waking challenging and this will be the first thing to go once this is all over. And I'm missing my fried eggs and buttered toast. I also love peanut butter and get through a jar every 10 days or so. Also hummus, i miss the proper stuff but i have at a push blitzed lima or chickpeas before with olive oil and salt and pepper with lemon and that's been ok so I'll do that.

I've found a reasonable replacement for my full fat greek yogurt, yeo Valley and total both have good tasting 0%fat versions, including flavoured ones if you want a treat. And agave syrup doesn't have any fat, and our local health food shop had a chocolate sauce that's really very good and it comes in under 3%, so also good for a treat.

So far i feel like I'm still recovering from last weekend and my appetite is still low, and that plus the fear means I'm not having much. I need to get back to eating veg, but at the moment I'm having yogurt with nuts and seeds and frozen berries for breakfast, chicken and rice for lunch and a tuna sandwich (made with yeo valley creme fraiche, its OK, its not great) for dinner.

I'm shocked at how much fat is in everything and this bar of 3% or less is tiny. I would like to broaden my menu. Have either of you come across anything good low fat finds?

Food is the bane of my life at the moment! I've been having similar to you for breakfast, but I don't eat it until gone 9 as I'm too busy with the DC/school run before that.

Some things I've had for lunch are beans on toast, tuna salad sandwich (I'm ok with a small amount of lighter then light mayo), jacket potato with chicken/beans/tuna and salad, chicken and rice. Considering boiled eggs.

Dinners have been similar to the above or spaghetti Bolognese, a very unspicy chilli, chicken veg and boiled potatoes ()

I've got a massive sweet tooth so have missed the sweet stuff the most. I've found some of the protein stuff in Aldi is low fat, I've had the chocolate mousse but apparently they do a lemon one too.

Oh yeah, the spices, i miss that too, although i had mostly stopped having them this year as my partner was adamant that my life of spicy food was partly to blame.

It's a bland life though so i did add a lot of chillies to a left over blandish curry Saturday, and then ate ice cream and then some chip shop chips. Little did i know what a bad call that was.

Anyone had fluid around the gall bladder? Partner currently has this but no symptoms, was diy d on Ct scan

Not that I'm aware of @Brumbies , but did they say what the fluid was? I'm no exhort but i know there's a concern if the gb is perforated and leaks bile to the surrounding area.

No they didn't, but they're checking for infection. He's undergoing chemo for lung cancer at present so can't afford to get infections.

They found gall stones when he was initially seen for the cancer and had scans

@Brumbies they mentioned they couldn't see and free fluid during my scan. I really hope everything goes ok for you and your partner

I'm sorry @Brumbies , what a stressful addition to an already difficult situation.

Thanks, it's been a stressful time for us all.

I hope your scan went ok today @CleanQueen123

@HeyBwoss Sorry to hear you’ve been feeling so unwell. I think I’ve had gallbladder rage attack this past week.
Thanks so much for the sonogram link, I’ve decided that’s doable for me as I know my GP will say take 2 paracetamol and rest… stock answer to anything and everything.
And thanks everyone for all the advice , I wondered what the hell was happening when the pain first hit. Off to order enzymes too.

Thank you @HeyBwoss.

The scan showed a bunch of gallstones with the largest being 2.8mm and sitting right next to the duct which explains the pain. The rest of my gallbladder is full of sludge 🤢 and is inflamed.

They said to call my GP in a week for next steps but the GP called me a few hours later. I've got antibiotics for a week and they're referring me for surgery.

I'm so relieved. I've felt much better this week so I was worried they wouldn't find anything but clearly I'm still having issues.

I've got no idea how long the referral or surgery will take but at least it's going in the right direction.

I'm struggling with food too. Low fat goes against everything I know about nutrition but it does seem to work. I am having to be very careful. I managed a prawn sandwich and cup of tea earlier in the week but spaghetti bolognese was a step too far. I seem to be relying on basic carbs and sugar which is awful but needs must I suppose.

Woohoo, that's a step in the right direction @CleanQueen123 , I'm glad for you. And I'm gobsmacked your gp called you, my surgery doesn't actively engage with me at all. That must be that little bit more reassuring. Were they unable to provide a timescale?

I ate pasta and veg last night. No idea why i had decided these were scary things to eat, i think i just had found my three safe meals and stuck with them. It was good to have veg again.

I was watching poor quality comedy last night but one droll joke did make me laugh. "I used to stay up late doing drugs and partying, now it only happens if i eat a cookie after 6pm".

Do either of you have this constant bloating? It goes down a little over night, but never fully leaves me. I'm tired of my stomach being so distorted.

@Zarataralara I really recommend the private scan. I hope you get some answers too.

Really pleased you have been referred finally @CleanQueen123! I'm sure we will all have a bit of a wait now unfortunately. The junior doctor strike announced has made me a bit nervous of what that means if another attack happens or it escalates. I understand how you feel about the carbs and sugar.

@dudsville I am either hungry or bloated. No inbetween! I don't think I look massively bloated but I'm fat anyway, I just feel it.

There doesn’t seem to be much vegetables and fruit in your diet OP. Homemade vegetable soup is very soothing for gb issues.

Sugar aggravates gb problems. And more than 40g per day doubles the risk of gallstones according to one study.

I didn't know that about sugar. There's so much to learn!

My other bit of learning this week was the impact on skin dryness from the gb's struggle to process fat efficiently (again, not a dr so i may not be describing this accurately!). I have had a sudden shift in my skin this yr, parts of my body that i never need to moisturise were looking really dry. My hands aged massively and my face less so but noticeably.

I couldn't eat anything without having an attack, I lost over 2 stone In the 8 weeks from my first attack to having the operation. I spent so many hours even kneeling on the stairs with a hot water bottle under my chest or on my knees with my bum in the air like when I was in labour. I got prescribed anti sickness meds, dihydracodeine for pain & buscopan, which I took by the bucket load. If you order buscopan & peppermint oil capsules on Amazon tonight, you should get them delivered tomorrow, you could also order some travel sickness tablets to help with the sickness. I drank gallons of peppermint cordial with soda water, it helped with the feeling of needing to burp.

Mine started just after having ds then went away, it came back after having a hysterectomy, so can only think that hormonal changes must have something to do with it.

That's true! I generally eat less veg/more salads in the summer because of the heat, but I had thought about making a vegetable soup last week. Need to go food shopping tomorrow. I didn't list the fruit, but have it with fat free yogurt for breakfast and mostly snack on fruit if I'm hungry between meals.

That's frightening @Nat6999 . I'm sorry you went through that, and I'm terrified. Why did they make you wait so long given how badly you were suffering?

@dudsville I'd concur with @HeyBwoss about either being hungry or bloated. I've definitely lost weight because of this but I probably don't look like it because my stomach is distorted.

Low fat and low sugar is nigh on impossible because inevitably you have to replace good quality fats with something which is likely to mean carbohydrates which contain sugar. Something's got to give. I can't live on cucumber.

Thanks to those who pointed me in the direction of this thread. It’s been really interesting to read everyone’s experiences so I don’t feel so alone.
In November 2021 I had my first suspected gallbladder attack but the ultrasound I had a few weeks later didn’t show any abnormalities. Then I had 5 or 6 more attacks up to November 22, then nothing until last week.

Last week on Friday I had a really painful attack lasting 2-3 hours. Then another on Tuesday. My GP arranged blood tests which were normal other than slightly raised bilirubin. My GP said he would refer me to the surgeons if it happened again.
On Friday I had another attack, it was severe for four hours but lingered all day. Yesterday evening I had another attack and decided to go to A&E as that was
4 in a week. Just as the attack was tapering off I was given IV paracetamol but within an hour it was severe again. Then I had IV buscopan, didn’t help at all.

I saw the surgeon and she gave me morphine which means I finally have some relief!
The surgeon thinks a gallstone is blocking a bile duct. I will have an ultrasound to confirm this and then a procedure to move it along. Then gallbladder out but elective surgery at some point.

I have been eating low carb since October due to raised blood sugar and have felt so much healthier. Quite worried that I need to change my diet to exclude fat.

Try to include beetroot, artichoke and bitter salad leaves - basically a gallbladder-friendly salad - every day. I found they made a massive difference. If you google beetroot and gallbladder you'll see it's a big help. Also, be very careful with food intolerances esp eggs as they have been found to be a big part of gallbladder attacks.