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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Gallbladder Removal - Anyone had this done?

157 replies

gratitudee · 12/08/2020 10:48

Posted here so I can hopefully get more answers, I hope that's ok.
I just wanted to hear peoples experiences, I've searched a lot and can find a lot of horror stories about pain and constant diarrhoea for years after surgery. Is this normal? Is there anyone who had symptoms before but they went away after the surgery and didn't get worse?
I think mine is going to have to come out but I really don't want to live with years of diarrhoea.

OP posts:

Emotionalfuckwit · 13/08/2020 21:50

Had mine out 3 years ago and not had a problem since

VinylDetective · 13/08/2020 22:00

@CheetasOnFajitas

I think they come in a lot of shapes, colours and sizes. I had no idea mine were so big but, looking at VinylDetective’s

I was lucky apparently. My gallbladder was tightly stretched over the two stones and was about to rupture. It seems that “gravel” is more painful. God help anyone with tiny stones.

Original poster

gratitudee · 13/08/2020 22:04

I hope I get to keep mine

OP posts:

EKGEMS · 13/08/2020 22:57

20 years ago when I was 30 weeks pregnant-old fashion open abdomen surgery. Got a surgical infection post operative and then a hernia which required additional surgery.

Original poster

gratitudee · 14/08/2020 08:35

@EKGEMS 30 weeks pregnant. I can imagine that was scary for you. Apart from the hernia did you have ya other complications afterwards?

OP posts:

DollyDally · 14/08/2020 08:40

Had mine out about 7 years ago - I was having awful attacks every couple of weeks - worse than labour. When the took it out I had about 60 tiny gravelly stones which dr gave me in a test tube! No pain since.

Thedogscollar · 14/08/2020 08:57

Had mine out last year after some truly agonising attacks. No catheter required for this op which takes approx 1 hour and your GB is not near your bladder. If you have keyhole surgery, barring any complications, you should be out the same day.
I have had no side effects at all, it was a good decision to proceed to surgery as gallstones do not go away and mine was huge.

Bearfrills · 14/08/2020 09:06

I'm going to ask on Monday if I can keep mine. I'd like the whole gallbladder because who doesn't want to see what one of their organs looks like? But I'd settle for just the stones if there are any, I had pre-stones sludge at the time of my scan but that was a year ago.

DianasLasso · 14/08/2020 09:09

Had mine out and it is so, so much better than the pain of an acute attack (and the week in hospital on an IV drip with industrial strength antibiotics when it got infected - it's the most ill I've ever felt in my life).

Points to note about mine though - took much longer than anticipated to get over keyhole surgery. I had 2 weeks completely off work, and another 2 on half days due to just feeling knackered. Did have the occasional night where I needed codeine to sleep (mostly managed on paracetamol). I mention this because the flip side to the horror stories online are the "I was back to work 3 days after the op as if nothing had happened" stories. I think slightly longer recoveries are not that uncommon talking to friends who've also had theirs done.

I reacted badly to the anaesthetic so wasn't home that day, they had to keep me in over night - but I think that's just me and anaesthetics rather than anything specific to the op.

The surgeon told me the next morning ('cos I was still on the ward, and happened to be there when he did his rounds) that my op had been quite tricky as there was quite a lot of scarring and adhesions from the bad infection. This is relevant because I still get the odd twinge of pain where the gall bladder used to be, which I think is due to scarring. However, it's fine so long as I avoid too much fat and/or alcohol. (The odd small glass of wine is OK, but I have to be careful - fortunately I was never a big drinker anyway).

Other than that all fine - I was back to running 3 miles within 4 or 5 months of the op.

listsandbudgets · 14/08/2020 09:15

Dont put it off. My friend kept ignoring the symptoms until hers burst and she had to have emergency surgery and 5 weeks in hospital. She was quite ill for sometime after but ultimately she felt a lot better than ever.

VinylDetective · 14/08/2020 10:33

@Bearfrills

You won’t get your gallbladder so just put that idea to bed! Apparently they’re reluctant to give you the stones for infection control reasons. I got mine because they were the biggest one of the theatre nurses had ever seen and she sneaked them out to show me.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 14/08/2020 10:39

I was given my stones without asking. I also saw the pictures of my insides Andy gallbladder afterwards! I wish I’d asked for a copy!

DianasLasso · 14/08/2020 10:40

Mine went off to the histology lab (I think it's absolutely routine - they want to check that there's nothing more sinister they've missed) then I got the histology report a month or so later, so no stones in a test tube, alas.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 14/08/2020 10:40

That should be ‘and gallbladder’, I didn’t name it Andy!

DianasLasso · 14/08/2020 10:52

Andy gallbladder . I think mine would have been Beelzebub gallbladder, given how much pain I was in.

Pericombobulations · 14/08/2020 11:33

I had mine removed 5 years ago and wish it had been diagnosed earlier as I had been suffering attacks for years. Sadly the DR's had told me it was colic from my IBS. Strangley after the surgery my IBS reduced too.

My recovery afterwards was slightly longer and harder than they normally quote but I had a two for one job as they fixed my umbilical hernia at the same time. I was also diagnosed with MS less than 8 months later which wont have helped either.

Since, I have been pretty fine. I too read all those horror stories and was worried but thought, people only post the horror stories and the thousands who were fine afterwards just got on with it and forgot as have I. But also the fact you are already in pain regularly. You are trying to sort it and hopefully it will.

I only had one stone but it was very large and I understand it had done significant damage to my gallbladder. My surgeon told me before hand he preferred people to have them removed before it became an emergency as things become harder then.

My mum kept having pancreatitis attacks and the last one, they diagnosed she too had gallstones and kept her in hospital and removed her gallbladder as soon as she recovered. She too has been fine.

Its nearly a family op now, my cousin and her adult daughter have also had theirs removed.

Yesyoudoknowme · 14/08/2020 11:37

Had mine out - no issues apart from being unable to eat fish and chips from one particular F&C shop chain, but I think that is to do with the oil they cook them in. I have tested all other F&C shops in the area and they are all fine

EKGEMS · 14/08/2020 11:45

Unfortunately I had severe complications-an inflamed pancreas then my lungs filled with fluid and I went into ARDS which has a high fatality rate and I had an emergency c section and was on life support four days. I got sepsis,blood clot and MRSA. I was discharged after 12 days but needed 3 months to recover. My baby was 3 lbs but later had a stroke in NICU due to medical malpractice. He's 20 now!

EKGEMS · 14/08/2020 12:11

My complications were from how long I had the stone and pregnancy stress not the removal surgery

CheetasOnFajitas · 14/08/2020 12:25

I asked the surgeon beforehand if I could have the stones and he said that the nurses might not allow it. However I came round from the anaesthetic to the recovery nurse shaking them in a tube over my head saying “look what we got!” and they handed the tube over then and there.

CheetasOnFajitas · 14/08/2020 12:26

Loving the rigorous post-op Fish and Chip shop testing @Yesyoudoknowme

MereDintofPandiculation · 14/08/2020 12:27

MereDintofPandiculation that sounds aweful. It was general anaesthetic, so I didn't know anything about it. Just a bit bemused because I was told I'd be back in the ward by 10.30, and when I came round it was nearly 5pm. Staggered at the patience of the surgeon. I'd have been thinking "Fuck that, let's just rip it out!".

My gallstones looked like dull gray marbles, perfectly spherical and 7 or 8 of them. But there's a problem - went to look at them to check, and they're not there! No idea where they are so that'll be a nice surprise for my children when I pop my clogs, if I haven't found and got rid of them before then

Bearfrills · 14/08/2020 13:22

Disappointed I won't get a look at the whole gallbladder!

My surgeon told me before hand he preferred people to have them removed before it became an emergency as things become harder then.

That's what my surgeon said. Theres a family history and I have/had the sludge that eventually becomes stones so he said I'm best off having it done now as an elective surgery in my late 30s while it's not inflamed ir giving me too much trouble than having it done in my 50s or 60s as an emergency surgery.

Letmegetthisrightasawoman · 14/08/2020 15:09

@notapizzaeater

I had mine out 12 months ago, I was one if the 1:10000 though that had to be converted to full surgery (too much scar tissue from previous hysterectomy) so recovery was a lot slower, that aside best thing I ever did ! Only real side effects are if I have double cream I feel really sick a,l night but been ok otherwise. Oh and my cholesterol has suddenly raised this year which I'm told can happen.

Is it really that rare for it to have to be converted to full open surgery? I was told that could happen but didn't (even) count as a complication. It did happen with me too, and then I had complications on top 🤦🏼‍♀️

Bearfrills · 14/08/2020 15:16

The surgeon doing mine has said that it's very unusual for him to have to convert to open surgery, usually when he does open surgeries it's been planned as open.

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