Gallstones - help with diet

[PiazzaDelPoppolo]

Hi

I was taken into hospital yesterday morning with severe abdominal and back pain. A few hours later I was given the diagnosis of gallstones.

I've been sent home from hospital with painkillers and told to book a GP appointment asap. The doctor at the hospital said my GP would talk me through what I should be eating to manage the condition.

I can't get a GP appointment until after the Easter weekend. Google tells me to stick to a low fat diet. Does anyone have any tips for what to eat / what to avoid?

I really don't want to trigger it again - I've never felt pain like it

Thanks

There are lots of things that trigger attacks for different people! Mine was fat in general - I gave up cheese, meat, cakes and biscuits etc. Also found anything sugary also made it hurt so gave up sweets. Lost a load of weight and am now 3 days post op and starting to feel human again.

Keep a food diary. My triggers were crispy bacon, pepperoni and Hash Browns which were deep fried.

I used to eat simple broth mix soup, salad and chicken while I recovered. Unfortunately everything became a trigger in the end and removal was the only way forward.

Thanks. A pepperoni pizza was the last thing I ate before the pain started so I'll be avoiding that from now on. A food diary sounds like a good idea groovee

Hope you are recovering well after your op next ?

Super low-fat diet for your Easter (we had this over Christmas with DH!). He lived off rice (the packet savoury rice is usually fine, it's more low-fat than you think) and low fat meat such as chicken breast or turkey breast - prawns are good too. For dessert, jelly is low fat. No fatty meats or cheese, no spread on bread, would advise against chocolate and go for jelly-type sweets or the pink and white wafer biscuits instead. Check the fat content of food carefully!

The pain is awful, glad it has eased up for you now.

Recovering well thanks, stopped taking the codeine last night so am only taking paracetamol for the very slight lingering pain. Still getting quite tired but manged to potter around the house this morning and even put the washing machine on!
I'm still not eating very much though.

When I was dealing with my gallstones, I tried not to eat anything more than 5% fat. So when you read the label on anything, for ever 100g there should be no more than 5g of fat. Big triggers for me were cheese, butter, creamy sauces and fatty meat. Basically, go as low fat as you possibly manage. Boiled sweets, jelly sweets and marshmallows are a godsend for a sweet treat! I had it removed 3 years ago and don't regret it for a minute.

As above - I ate chicken, salad, vegetables, plain rice etc. Fatty meats, cheese, cream, cashew nuts and - bizarrely - tuna caused attacks for me. Had mine removed 5 years ago and it was so bloody worth it.

Even healthy fats were a problem for me. I remember salmon being a trigger.

The advice I was given was:

• no more than 10g fat per day
• no more than 3g at any meal

For reference, a smear of ultra light flora on bread is about 3.5g so you can see it soon adds up.

I was on an ultra low fat diet for several months until I had gallbladder removed and lived on:

• grilled or poached chicken or fish with rice and steamed vegetables
• homemade carrot and spinach soup
• bran flakes, zero fat yoghurt and fruit for breakfast
• zero fat cottage cheese and salad bits
• marmite rice cakes for snacks (or 18 pop chips)
• wine
• Percy pigs :)

For eating out, i was severely limited which was miserable, but luckily there was an itsu near my office so I could have chicken teriyaki on a bed of sticky rice or sushi.

It was bloody boring, but effective. No more attacks and I lost 3 stone. Wouldn't recommend it as a long term diet though.

I had to avoid fat. Any fat. It was soul destroyingly boring but I lost loads of weight (which I haven't put back on).

Diet consisted of grilled fish and steamed veg.

Even a low fat yoghurt set it off.

The only answer is to have your gallbladder out.

I was so thankful I could still have a -bottle- glass of wine. The amount of times I said "thank God wine is fat free!". I lost around 4 stone, most of it back on unfortunately.