Gallbladder op tomorrow

[mummynumnum]

Care to share your experiences/stories?

Unfortunately, my consultant did confirm post gall bladder removal you have to cut back on alcohol as well as fatty and especially spicey foods like curry. He also advised excercise is helpful in keeping stomach acid under control.

I take Gaviscon before bed and sometimes sit up past midnight as laying down makes it worse. I cant tolerate Omeprazol or Ritidine unfortunately.

If you ever see me on MN after midnight - you know why.

Mine never told me about alcohol! Mind you I still tolerate pink wine and G&T so all is not lost! :) I'm kind of relieved to hear other people know about this though, I thought I was an oddity!

They did warn me about fatty or spicy food but I have had no problems at all.

I have no troubles drinking

Had mine out when ds1 was 3 months old, I developed the stones in pregnancy and had some horrible attacks. Once it was diagnosed I had the pop 2 weeks later - glad i wasn't in the UK by the sounds of it.

Keyhole surgery was a doodle. Walked out of hospital the next day, the following I was up and about. On day 5 my parents went back to the UK and i was looking after (very heavy) three month old alone all day.

Have had no after-effects except a slight tendency to diarrhoea and bloating. 4 small scars are invisible or as near as dammit.

Pop? Op! Rofl to iPad auto correct...

And doddle not doodle!

Oh god sorry to see you've been cancelled again! Truly ridiculous. How they can let people suffer in pain that can be easily prevented with an operation beggars belief! I am angry on your behalf.

A friend of mine got her surgeon's email address and kept bugging him until he treated her. Worth a try?

Good luck.

hello

I hope you don't get fobbed off again

I will be having mine in two weeks, really dreading it as I am not keen on GA

questions about post op, is there really a weight gaining problem? heard this and find it alarming

also the bloating and diarrhoea are they associated with particular foods?
and are antacids a necessity for everyone?

TIA

sfxmum i didnt have any problems at all in gaining weight post op.

the bloating, diarrhoea and antacids, do you mean post op? or pre op?

thanks Lizandlulu I think someone mentioned it as a post op issue
glad to hear it does not help pile on the pounds, I already have the fast approaching middle age to contend with

another thing about exercise, If I have to stop running for 6 weeks I might go mad, I really hope it does not take that long

i cant remember how long exactly i was out ofaction, but i don know i was back at work after 1 week, albeit taking it easy ( i have a very manual job) ,just had a huge dressing over my belly button area. nothing over the other smaller scars.

Sfxmum I have always been an avid gym bunny with full-on aerobics, step etc. I was back doing the classes after 10 days (albeit with slightly less jumping around than before) but was probably back at full speed within a couple of weeks.

As for the gaining weight, unfortunately that was not a problem with me - I think mainly because I had had to watch what I was eating for 10 months prior to the op to try and stop any attacks so once I had the op and could eat anything I wanted, I may have gone a little ott and scoffed everything in sight for a while

that is a relief, so if maintaining sensible eating I will not balloon
and I can go out for a run within two weeks - result thank you both

I am hoping it will be ok, I can't believe people choose major surgery and GA for vanity, if it was not for the occasionally crippling pain I would stay well clear

God I totally agree - I was so nervous and worried beforehand that I thought exactly the same about people who opt to have a GA for vanity reasons...any passing thoughts of a boob job at sometime have definitely gone out of my mind now!!

I totally sympathise with your situation. A few years back a couple of weeks after a C-section I developed an acute attack of Pancreatitis. It took two emergency hospital admissions within 24hrs for them to discover it by which time I was very ill and it still makes me upset to think of that time. I spent 5 days in hospital and they were trying to get me in for a Gall Bladder removal during that time. In the end they discharged me but told me not to make any plans as I could get a call any day to go in for the surgery. (Mind you it's not as if I could even walk from the car to the door I was so weak so making plans to go anywhere was optimistic!)

They rang me a few days later to go in the next morning for the surgery. I have 3 scars on my torso where the surgical instruments were inserted and went home the day after. I did try to go home the same night but when I got up off the bed I nearly fainted a very sensible nurse persuaded me back!

Obviously you have a general anaesthetic and perhaps an overnight stay depending on how it went for you. I took a few weeks to fully heal but in that time I was not allowed to do any heavy lifting or picking up children. I had just had a c-section too so it was doubly important I think as my body had been through so much in a short time.

I hope your cancelled operation is rescheduled very soon but I have to admit that if I had been cancelled so many times I would be ringing my consultant to ensure I get rescheduled very quickly.

Good luck!

Have any of you gall stones in pregancy ladies gone onto have healthy preganacys post op and also do any of you feel that having gall stones when you were preganant had any negative effects on the birth or health of your baby? Was just wondering as I had terrible gall stones when I was preggers and my waters broke early after a nasty attack, I then endured a horrific labour, was induced,had an emergency c section and then my dd was ill and taken off to scbu!!! I blame the gall stones!!! Often wonder how different the experience would have been without gallstones and how if I had any more children different it would be.

Also interesting to hear that others have had problems with acid/ bile reflux as I have recently had quite bad gastritis and am awaiting an opa with gastroenterologists, I am sure its all gall bladder linked

Hi, am in bed having just been discharged yesterday. my very recent advice would be (when you do get a date) is to try to stay overnight as that is when you're going to have the worst of the pain. ie rolling over in bed etc and that will help judge what level of pain relief you need to go home with.
Get out of the bed and moving as soon as you can most of the pain will the pressure of the gas against the incision site and the sooner you're moving the faster that moves in both directions. once you wake up also try to drink plenty, I found lemonade very useful in moving the wind. the first time out of bed is the worst as you have to figure out the least painful way for you, but I found standing and walking a lot less painful than sitting anyway..
The reason I'm still in bed, couldn't stand the pain of watching OH attempting to do housework and been constantly asked wheres. .
It seems that if I'm out of sight he just gets on with it

Anyway re:cancelled ops I think you need to get on to PALS again and inform them that you will be complaining about thier lack of assistance, they are paranoid about bad press. Good Luck!

Surgery manager called me today. Case passed to her by Pals. She said having trouble setting dates S huge prob with beds and medical surgery(!). However, due to fact I have had 5 cancellations she is going to get my notes and look into why I have had so many.

I hope it gets sorted soon it is awful to have had so many cancellations
make sure you keep getting on their case, seems quite unacceptable to me

girliefriend - I have had 3 pregnancies with gall stones (they were discovered just after having my first) and the births were fine. There is absolutely no reason why your gall stones would cause any of the problems that you describe.

Good luck with getting an actual op rather than just a date soon numnum.

I too am waiting for a date, but need to get lobbying my consultant in the mean time to allow me home the same day, as I need to breastfeed ds2 lots during the night.

hi, im due to have my gallbladder out on the 11th feb 2011 and seriously wondering if it is worth it? im petrified!ive heard people cant eat red meat again and sometimes the pain is worse than before!

Locket I've had no problems at all since having my gallbladder out. The attacks were so unbearable I certainly don't miss them.

How're you doing mummynumnum have you heard any more?

And locket80 how did it go?

I'm now 6 weeks+ post surgery and doing fine. Diarrhoea has stopped and everything seems back to normal. I can eat pretty much what I did before.

My only complaint at the minute is I'm still having a sharp stabbing/burning pain at the top incision site. It's definitely not like an attack, I know some people can have that afterwards, but this is directly related to how I'm sitting/moving, not with what I'm eating.
The scar looks fine, was the first to heal, and is fading nicely, so I really don't know what this pain is

I'm assuming for now it's just everything inside healing, if it hasn't gone away in a few weeks I'm going back to the Drs as it's a horrible pain, takes my breath away!

I had mine yesterday and I am ok still hurts mostly seems from the gas they pump in otherwise just sleepy and sore

I had my gallbladder removed in 2008 when DS1 was 14 months old. I was fine for a couple of years, could eat anything without any trouble/pain, it was great.

BUT I had DS2 in October 2010, and since then have not been able to tolerate saturated fat at all. I can't eat any dairy except skimmed milk, and only small amounts of red meat/oil. Can't eat chocolate without hideous stomach cramps and diarrhoea.

I'm desperately hoping it's somehow connected to pregnancy/breastfeeding/hormones, and that when DS2 weans I'll be able to eat 'normally' again.

On the plus side, I now weigh nearly a stone less than when I got pregnant with DS2!

how are you feeling a week on sfxmum?

I'm having my op next Wedns.