Anyone with longer term issues after Gallbladder removal? - back to gp next week

[dahliaaa]

I'm just over 5 weeks post op. All ok from op itself. Incisions seem to have healed fine etc.

But I've been left with two things:

• Significant digestive issues. Sorry for TMI ! Started as awful constipation. Increased water/ started prune juice etc but needed various laxatives and settled on movicol for 3 weeks. Trying to manage without it now but alternating between constipation/ upset stomach etc. Feel uncomfortable most of the time and making things tricky at work. Stomach feel very 'sore' and burning.

• Dull ache under right ribs (in area where gallbladder was.) Most days. Feels very similar to the discomfort I had before the op.

Ive booked an appointment to see GP next week when I'll be 6 weeks post op but just wondered if anyone else had similar issues after getting over the initial op. Did things settle or did you need to deal with it longer term? Thanks

Huh, I wasn't sent home with any instructions at all! They couldn't wait to get rid of me, I took so long to get over the anaesthetic they virtually chucked me out after 10 hrs and locked the doors haha.

I had only the interweb and MN to guide me. I ate very carefully for a few days, had one episode of the dreaded bile salt diarrhoea on day 6, so I'm eating a little more but still being very cautious with fat. Letting my bowel get over the shock of absorbing a lot more bile salt than usual, and day 7 and day 8 have been uneventful.

At the moment I have no pain at the gallbladder site, unless I twist my body. I have noticeably worse heartburn than before, and when I eat I get these bizarre tingly, electric shock like sensations in my abdomen as it travels through. Occasionally I'll have a peculiar cramp somewhere in there, but nothing unbearable. Oherwise things are pretty normal, I've had digestive issues for years so I doubt much would shock me now.

Dahliaaa I'm not sure about the itchy skin at the base of the spine! You've got some nerve ganglions in that area but I'd be amazed if the surgery would aggravate that. Sadly, I am not a doctor!

How are you feeling today?

That all sounds positive Billy. I had lots of odd aches and pains in the first couple of weeks from the surgery but they all seemed to settle in week 3 / 4.

I've had same digestive issues today - although started having actimel this morning so assuming that will be a miracle cure

If it's bile salt causing you problems, I gather that 600mg Calcium (without magnesium) can be effective for some people?

Ya know it's funny I had all kinds of nervey sensations in my stomach after too. And the weird cramping.

I still kinda get the weird cramping now to be fair. Ahhhh the joys of having no gallbladder! I would much rather be without though.

Oh yes I second the calcium tablets from Holland & Barrett that helped stop my bile diarrhoea!

Thanks for the tip !

Fat helps to ahem ‘grease’ the digestive tract. The most common issue with gall bladder removal is diarrhoea linked to having too much fat.

I have no medical qualifications but perhaps you are not having enough fat.

Lots of pain killers cause constipation too.

Thanks chaos I only took painkillers for a couple of days for that reason (learnt the hard way after c section !)

I need to work out what is the right level of fat. I've always eaten a relatively good diet and never really given it much thought before.

I decided to live dangerously today and ate some sweets - in for a penny, eh.

Nothing to report at all. But of course they are just sugar and chemicals, no fat, so I wouldn't expect them to cause any issues.

I'm still eyeballing the butter warily and not touching it, and swerving anything with much more than 3g fat per serving. Semi skimmed milk in tea seems to be okay.

I'm hopeful that my single episode of bile diarrhoea was isolated, and that any future incidents will be self inflicted rather than par for the course...you never know, fingers crossed!

Hope you feel okay today Billy and Dahliaa!

Thanks snoopy

I had really strong dull ache in the same place as gallbladder again yesterday. It's just like the pain I had before the op which is v strange.
Hope you are feeling a bit better each day Billy

I'm fine today, not even any odd tingling feeling when I'm digesting food. I tried low fat spread with toast today - so far so good, no explosive reactions!

Dahliaaa you will have clips left inside, 2 on the cystic duct and 2 on the cystic artery (WelshWeasel told me this on one of my other threads). I think if the clips were causing problems you'd have had other issues though - phantom gallbladder pain is more aligned with cholecystectomy syndrome I think. Clip migration is rare as far as I can tell, I'm not sure of the symptoms?

My mum had her gall bladder out but had stones left in her bile duct, which she had to have removed. That caused symptoms the same as the gall bladder attacks. She also has bad indigestion, but takes omeprazole to help. It helps with the heartburn, but her weight has suffered as she has been on a cheese-fest for about a year!

Glad you've had a good day Billy

Thanks for the info about the clips.
The itchiness is very strong today. I will mention it at appointment just in case it's linked to bile etc.

So that's three things I need to mention : constipation, pain under ribs, itchy skin

You could have a rogue stone if itchy. It’s a sign of jaundice. I had severe itching about 5 days post op and they then had to do an ercp to remove a stone that was lodged in a duct which hadn’t been spotted in the original op.

Did you have any other symptoms trinity ?
I'm feeling a bit fed up with it today.
DH has been diagnosed with inoperable cancer which is being controlled for the time being but I had my gallbladder removed to avoid future problems from the stones while he was also ill and needing me to help him.
Worried that instead I've actually made things more complicated for us.

I never thought of a rogue stone...I had a something-iogram (cholangiogram??) during the removal of mine, they said they would run a camera through the bile ducts to make sure no stones were left behind. They also told me that everything was fully flushed through during the procedure.

And itchiness being a sign of jaundice, who knew?! Sounds like you might have a little stone still lurking Dahliaaa?

I'm 16 and a bit years post op and still have issues, I'm sorry to say.

Immediately after I had lots of digestion issues, while my body got used things.
I used to get the electric type shock feeling in my stomach normally after eating something, very regularly at first but not so often now.
If i eat a high fat content meal now I get diarrhea so I've learned with time how to prevent it.
I was on lansoprazole(sp?) for around 3 years after surgery as I got constant heartburn but that has now stopped.
I began having 'phantom' GB issues around 2 years after my surgery. It feels like it did before I got the sodding thing removed, same pains, same places with the added area of just below and to the right of my stomach. It didn't have to be a high fat meal that started this off though......I can and do eat cheese, butter etc without any issues whatsoever. I've found after years of carefully scrutinising my food that what kicks this off now is any food that sucks in grease/oil, if that makes sense? such as potato cakes, omelettes, frozen deep fried chips (I'm unsure why but those are the worst for sucking and retaining fat) Chinese takeaway does it to me now too - another thing added to my list.
After many tests my new diagnosis was/is biliary colic!
When I first started to complain about these pains to my GP he tried to brush it off saying it couldn't possibly be GB related but after a visit to a gastro consultant he explained a bit why so little was unknown about this.
For years and years it tended to be the older generations that needed GB removals and had issues. Over the last 15-20 years there's been a massive increase in much younger people needing their GB taken out (I was only 22, diagnosed while pregnant and pregnancy hormones were blamed for how quickly mine had gone very bad and increased the stones that were already present)
Anyway, when older people reported their further post op issues it was often put down to other medical or age related problems and not necessarily linked to their GB removals.
He told me this around 7/8 years ago and did say research was at that time underway into this very thing. I moved from the area he worked in so didn't see him again after that and to be honest have since given up on finding a cure other than not eating the foods i know will put me in agony.
Things that have helped. Peppermint tea allowed to cool before drinking.
Kefir - it's not for everyone, definitely an acquired taste :) but I found it does help me. It's full of bacteria, I treat it as a medicine and have a bottle of it around 4 times a week. The more I drink it the less problems I get.
Hope you don't get anything more op and hope your symptoms just fade away after a few weeks. Good luck

I've suffered with heartburn for years, but I must say it's been about 10 times worse in the 10 days since the op!

Today I've glugged gaviscon and chewed half a dozen Rennie and it's still burning like hell fire. Wonder why that is.

Thanks so much for all that info fluffy. Sorry it's still a prob for you.

Had mine out 7 years ago, the relief was immediate..... However (TMI) I've never had a solid poo since but it's worth it to be rid of the excruciating pain, give it time OP

Interesting toomoretears - I wonder if the 'it's minor surgery / you'll be back to normal quickly' message is just a bit unrealistic

The same as FluffyFerrets, I’m afraid. I have almost a permanent dull ache under my ribs, am in omeprazole and Gaviscon, have had ultrasound to see if I have any stones stuck (no). Can’t eat chips, cream, too much cheese. Alcohol is hit and miss. I can throw up after a glass of wine, other times I can drink more. I throw up at least once a month and rarely poo anything particularly solid, although bizarrely get constipated from time to time.

:-(