Gallstones - your experience please!

[Moose46]

I had an episode of severe pain this week, that led to an ambulance being sent, as I was on my own looking after 2 young kids. I had taken paracetamol and Buscopan but nothing helped. Ended up having morphine.

Been back for an ultrasound today which confirmed gallstones. Consultant left the decision totally up to me as to whether I opted for surgery or wanted to manage it with a low fat diet. I opted to go on the waiting list (8 months) but it’s difficult to know what to do at this point as we have no idea if or how often i’ll get more flare ups.

I’d be grateful for anyone’s general experience or any advice please.

Did anyone ever just get one flare up and then never again? Or how often after your first flare up did you get further ones?

How have you found managing a low fat diet? Do you ever eat anything like chocolate or takeaways ever?

Does anyone have any useful links for good recipes for low fat family meals?

If you only get 1 flare up, would you still consider surgery?

Might it be worth me looking into private to get it done sooner anyway?

Is it worth me contacting my GP for more advice?

For further info, i’m in my 30s, i have 2 children aged 3, and 4 months (currently on mat leave). And my flare up did happen on a day when I admittedly ate a high amount of fatty food, including indian takeaway.

TIA :)

Thank you! Lord…..i was intending to try a basic coffee tomorrow morning!

Thanks, this is definitely something to take into consideration i think!

Luckily not all attacks have me on the floor, but it is agony evey day and the diet just doesn't hold off anymore.
No, not been offered anything. They want to do my sliding hernia at the same time.
Which is great....except they're dragging their feet with it all.
I had a PH test in March and after cahsing my surgeon I was informed the results hadn't even been sent over
There is just no choice but to crack on. Bills need to be paid.

I've had three flares ups - one around 20 years ago, the other two more recently, but nine months apart. Basically I eat pretty much whatever I want, although I do generally check the fat content of things I buy. I do have discomfort in the area of my gallbladder often, but it's not bad, and I do have gastritis, which might, or might not, be connected. I was supposed to be referred to a surgeon, but that was almost a year ago and I've heard nothing so assume I've slipped through the cracks, so I will just wait and see if I have any more flare-ups. I think the last one was caused by too much indulgence over Christmas!! I keep Tramadol on hand, just in case, but have only used it on the last two occasions, and not for long.

My mother decided to go the route of managing her diet and it was ok for a few years but became increasingly difficult and she came to regret the decision not to have the operation.

Hi, I had 3 severe pain episodes, gallstones confirmed by ultrasound then went on the waiting list.
In that time I lost 3 stone and started running/ gave up wine.

I never had another episode and 9 months passed. When I got to the top of wait list I had my appointment and the consultant said he wouldn't recommend me for surgery at this time as I've not had another attack.
He booked a check in with me on the phone 6 months later and I still haven't had any further attacks or even a grumbling, now 3 years later.

I don't know whether the pains were not actually to do with my gallstones or whether I passed them at some point or what.

Anyway that's my experience!

I had my first attack when dc2 was 3 months old. My Dr told me it can be aggravated pregnancy. I'd never had anything like it before and thought I was dying as the pain was so bad.

It was pretty constant pain until my surgery 3 months later. By then I literally only ate plain couscous or rice. Everything else set it off including all dairy, meat, fruit.

The surgery was easy and I could feel this toxic thing had gone straight away. I have no ongoing impact of no gall bladder. All in all I would 💯 have the surgery if I was you.

My surgeon said how effective the low fat diet approach is really varies from person to person.

First attack when pregnant. I thought it was pregnancy related indigestion …. Even though it was extremely painful. It affected my appetite and I lost weight through my pregnancy. Had another attack the day after my daughter was born as I celebrated by eating some cheese…. Thinking my digestion problems were over! Got diagnosed with gall stones. I had abnormal liver function test so was told I needed them out. Had to wait 6 months and in that time I had a few attacks but mostly controlled it with diet. I have never been so thin!!! After the op I put in 9 lbs in 3 weeks….. stuffing my face with cheese and chocolate!

I was in hospital for 5 days after passing out in a and e with the pain, 2 weeks later it was removed, I virtually skipped into the operating room, no regrets about removal. I'd rather give birth than go through that pain again ( and I had a 10.5lb baby!)

Thank you. Yeah i’m reading quite a few people saying that cheese sets them off so i may try and avoid that (and actually i had had cheese in both meals the day of y attack), but also i don’t see me being able to keep up such a restrictive diet with 3 peope in the house who need more fat in their diets and rounded meals. (My DH is also very tall so needs the calories). I have also read like you said, that diet doesn’t work for everyone.

Yeah i’ve read that estrogen increases the risk of gallstone formation which is why it’s common for pregnant and postpartum women to get it. The things they don’t tell us!

Wow! 5 days. Yeah my biggest fear as well as getting another attack while looking after my 2 kids is having to make my own way to a&e and sit and wait with that pain without them giving me any pain relief first. I was lucky this time that 111 sent an ambulance and they gave me morphine before i sat in a&e reception for 8 hours.

What did everyone do in terms of eating out when managing the low fat diet?

i’m on mat leave so meeting other mums for lunch or at a cafe is a big part of having any kind of interaction and social life right now.

I had one severe attack and the scan revealed one single large stone the size of a golf ball.
I had been eating cottage cheese earlier, I’ve eaten it most weeks for the last 30 years.

I was told that the waiting list was a year and to call an ambulance if I had another attack as the large stones could be serious.

Luckily I had no other attacks and was transferred to a private hospital by the NHS and had it removed 6 months later.
Back at my desk wfh 3 days later.

No issues since and I can eat everything.

Thanks to all who are still sharing their experiences.

As well as wondering how you all manage to eat out, what time of day were your attacks happening? Were they mostly after dinner?

I didn’t eat out…. I was too scared to. Once we went for dinner at a friends and I took my own food. I think as you say the fear of an attack when you have babies to look after is scary. I had very strong painkillers from the doctor but they were so strong they sent me to sleep . So I just felt I couldn’t take any risks….. but I also had one attack when I had eaten nothing fatty.

it is one of those things that makes me so thankful for the nhs and modern medicine… my life would be awful without that surgery.

time of attacks was random.

My attacks were always at night. One thing I found that helped, along with painkillers, was a hot water bottle pressed against the pain (sometimes my pain was in my stomach and sometimes in my back between my shoulder blades). I really found the heat eased the pain slightly

I still ate out but avoided cheese and spice and was really careful about what I ate the rest of the day

It was about 18 months between first attack and my surgery. At first the gaps were longish (3 months) but by the time I got closer to surgery I was having a couple of episodes a month. One lasted for 5 days and it was horrific. Like others have said, worse than child birth. I was frightened of eating anything and stick to a diet of breakfast biscuits and pasta with tomato sauce (no oil used in the sauce) but still had attacks. The surgery was straightforward and I've had no problems since. Like a previous poster said a hot water bottle helped with the pain and I was also prescribed co codamol.

DH had 4 attacks over about 2 years. He didn't initially go for surgery but after the 2nd attack, I told him to put his name on the list. The surgeon who removed his gallbladder said he was surprised DH had left it so long! That was 10 years ago now - I doubt they'd be pressuring you to add to an already long list these days but given that they cancel scheduled surgery frequently, your 8 months may become 12 months! (When DH was in surgery I was chatting to other patients. They'd all had 2 previous dates and been cancelled, so they were hoping it was 3rd time lucky - they tried to cancel DHs the night before too but we had very good reason to stamp our feet and refuse to be cancelled and in the end they apologised and went ahead!)

Get on the list. My mum got really poorly after hers kept getting left. Several trips to A&E and a few stays on wards. She could only eat things 2% fat or less (have a look what that includes!). She was miserable, grey and lost all her weight. The surgery got pushed back a couple of times too and once she went down and it couldn’t be done as it had then got to the point it was so infected and inflamed. She had to go on a course of IV antibiotics before then being referred to a specialist hospital for removal. This was over the course of 18 months

That was last March and a year on she’s back to her former self and loving life.

Dont leave it until the pain and attacks are too bad

Oh my I am so glad I found this thread! I had an attack Wednesday night as I was feeding my 4 week old. It was so bad I had to go to A & E and my liver function was up so they done an ultrasound and found gallstones. The surgeon said not to push for surgery because it was first flare up and my daughter is so young but I'm really regretting not pushing now as I'm having constant anxiety and everyone is saying the same thing that the only way forward is getting the gallbladder out :(

Very sorry to hear that! I read it’s common after pregnancy as estrogen makes gallstones grow.

The consultant very much left the decision up to me and wouldn’t give me any kind of advice or recommendation.

I would urge you to speak to your GP about going on the wait list for surgery. You can always opt out when the time comes but it might be a good idea just in case it gets worse.

i’ve also stocked up on nurofen express and cocodamol in case it happens again.

Did you get any specific guidance on following a low fat diet?

@Moose46 yes I am going to ring on Monday!! No they gave no advice whatsoever. It was very much in the air. I was trying to ask will it definitely happen again etc but they couldn't really give me any advice as according to them it's very random! My friend had them and had a flare up just from having butter on her toast! Anything with high fat is bad. I've been having Weatabix with semi skimmed milk and sugar for breakfast then fruit and low fat jelly and then for dinner I had white rice with chicken and half a pouch of blue dragon sweet chilli and garlic sauce but I'm not going to be able to live like this forever! X

I would definitely get on the list as the waiting time is usually quite long, so you can always change your mind if you don't have another attack, but it is very likely if you've already had one. I had mine out on Monday after one severe attack and another 2 weeks later.

Feel free to DM me if you ever want to chat. Sounds like we are in the same boat. It’s not for 2 weeks but i have a GP appt to ask about the low fat diet (i don’t know if i’m allowed healthy fats!), and to ask for general advice and possibly prescription painkillers.

Thank you. Glad you’ve had your surgery! Can i please ask how long your wait was, when you had your latest attack and if anything triggered them?