gallstones

[Hippywannabe]

Having a bad week with suspected gallstones, I am having bloods done tomorrow and have been referred for a scan. In the meantime, I have been signed off this week and am being careful with food. I know it has to be lowfat from now on in and I am about 6 stones overweight.
I am desperate to avoid surgery, anyone got any tips that would help with food and coping with or easing symptoms?
I have just had a half an hour spell of pain so am in bed again. On Sunday it was so bad NHS direct sent an ambulance but it passed in the half hour it took them to get here.

DP has gallstones and is awaiting surgery. From what I have read recently it has been decided that diet doesn't make much difference. Would love to hear of positive experiences though.

My best friend also has them and only eats food that has less than 4g of fat per 100g. She hasn't had an outbreak for a couple of years and has lost 7 stones! I think I am going to stick to plant based food for a bit. Just had a plain baked potato!

I had my gall bladder removed last year. Whilst I was waiting for the op I used to eat low fat small meals. If I ate a large meal then an episode would soon follow

I almost entirely controlled mine through diet while waiting for the surgery, however it is not a good idea to try and avoid the operation long-term, because a) it can't always be reliably controlled by diet anyway b) it's really restrictive, and a very low fat diet isn't necessarily that good for you and c) if you carry on having attacks, it can cause irrevocable damage to the gallbladder and also cause pancreatitis and liver problems.

I ate a low carb high fat diet for a couple of years and rarely had an attack.

Different foods trigger different people.

The op isn’t that bad, you’ll be back at work within 2 weeks if done as keyhole surgery. Just get it done if you need it. Don’t let it get really bad, I ended up with a gallbladder drain and a bag I had to carry collecting my bile for 6 weeks, wouldn’t wish that on anyone!

Some people find a low fat diet helpful but it's certainly not a cure. I'd focus on doing whatever you can do to shed some of the excess weight before your op (assuming the scan confirms stones). Most people get the quickest results doing a low carb diet or meal replacement type diet. If the scan does show stones the only treatment is surgery I'm afraid.