Any experience of gall stones (biliary collic)?

[NonShallot]

I have just been diagnosed with suspected biliary collic/gall stones after suffering from horrendous tummy ache for a week which culminated in a trip to A&E for intravenous pain killers.

The doctor has suggested a low fat diet to see if things improve but I have no idea where to start really. How low fat is low fat? What sort of things should I be avoiding? I am terrified of having another flare up and am imagining a lifetime of never eating anything nice ever again and having to really restrict my diet.

Does anyone else suffer from this and how do you cope?

Try keeping a food diary to see if anything specific aggravates your symptoms. The pain is horrific and it’s horrible being almost scared to eat incase you have another attack. Just be sensible and look for lower fat options of the things you like and avoid greasy food if that irritates you.

Keep a stock of buscopan, be aware if you start to feel dehydrated, make a fuss with the GP and get referred to have it removed. I suffered for years, it's horrendous.

I was diagnosed with billary collic with no stones years ago, turns out pork was my trigger . Once I cut pork out , I never had an issue again.

@AnnyFadams, could you explain more about the dehydration thing, please?

I have gallstones, currently waiting for the OP. My attacks seem pretty random tbh, I haven't noticed any obvious triggers, though big fatty meals clearly don't help. Thankfully, I can eat fairly normally most of the time and my attacks are few and far between.

I suffered last year and lost 54lbs in a few months. Was awful.

You can't have any meals/food with more than 3g of fat. I lived off egg white omelettes, small portions of pasta, fruit, veg, and low fat curries, yoghurts etc.
Avoid fatty meats and chocolate/sweets/fried foods/full fat dairy.

If you pester them enough, they will give you surgery but only if they deem it serious. I had mine removed 2 months after my first attack.

So very low-fat for a day or two - you could just steam vegetables and eat them with rice. Maybe add a bit of tofu with soy sauce for flavour. Miso soup where you don't fry anything - lots of Youtube recipes for that. Undressed salad. Fruit. Poached white fish with potato and greens. Keep everything easy to digest so not big quantities at a time. Then try to have a little fat like avocado or a tiny drizzle of olive oil, yogurt on fruit - your gallbladder needs to keep working - and see how that goes down. Add in more food a bit at a time & see if you can find triggers, eg could be something simple like eggs or red meat or just too much junk or too much fat at one time.

I lived on stir frys until I had mine out. I never want to see another stir fry in my life

Dehydration was a factor for me apparently - as simple as the gall bladder / bile duct shrivels slightly around any stones and are less lubricated if you are dehydrated. Did the trick for me for a while. Also used to get a strangely dry tongue/ palate in advance of an attack, very distinctive feeling.

I had an attack this time last year. Stupidly had cream tea for both lunch and dinner! Was offered surgery or the low fat option. My GP told me to just avoid animal fats, so no butter, cream, stick to 5% beef etc. She said you shouldn't stop eating fat altogether, just reduce it. Things like olive oil are ok as they help you gently empty your gallbladder.
I still have the odd ice cream, fatty meal or even cream tea on occasion and I've been fine.

Reading this thread with interest, as I had my first ever gallbladder attack a couple of days ago. Seen by GP who took bloods to check for infection but otherwise said just rest your stomach for a few days and stay off fatty foods. Is that the normal approach these days? Not even suggested to send me for an Ultrasound to check for gallstones.

I'm feeling a bit better two days on but still have a sore stomach and a bit off my food. Good for the diet at least sigh.

I have surgery to have mine out booked in September. I can eat a small amount of healthy fats - avocado, nuts etc - but do need to drink loads of water. Alcohol is a trigger for me because it dehydrates me so I have to avoid that too, as well as dairy and oils etc.

I buy 0% fat free yogurt and mix with tuna and prawns on baked potato instead of mayo, and I make overnight oats with it in the mornings with frozen fruit and some honey. I have chicken, fish, stir frys with tofu, salads, veg bake, noodles, rice, leafy greens. Veg kebabs and potato wedges etc. I've lost about a stone by eating low fat over the last few months.

My surgeon said nowadays as soon as you have any pain or complications, they'll whip it out. Whether that's true or not for everyone I don't know, but seems to be the case for me. It took me about a year to get the date for surgery although obviously covid has delayed it.

The pain is like nothing else!! Awful thing. Not looking forward to the surgery but to have the pain gone, I'd do anything!

I had an ultrasound straight away and then told have it out! Was told to eat low fat to manage the pain while waiting for surgery.

Yep, horrific things. Dairy used to trigger me. In the end I had one move along my pancreatic duct which was excruciating. Had my gall bladder out and the relief was incredible!

Alcohol
High fat foods
Spicy stuff

All triggered mine. After I had the op it was incredible. Thought I had IBS for years, turns out it was a grumbling gallbladder. Had no issues whatsoever since the surgery.