Anxiety about gallbladder removal

[Lisa900]

I'm so anxious, I keep putting it off . I know they give you general anesthetic but is there anything leading up to the op I can take ?

What’s making you anxious about it?
Do you mean something to take pain wise? If you’re in the UK I assume you’ve spoken to the surgeons? Had the leaflets? Pre op? Etc?
I can’t wait to have mine out soon, it’s caused so many problems. I’m going to take peppermint oil capsules in readiness/after for the pain from trapped wind which I’ve read about and get plenty of over the counter pain relief in for after (the pre op info I had said pharmacy won’t prescribe OTC strength pain meds).

What are you afraid of op? Is it the pain, the anaesthetic, the recovery?
Assume your gallbladder disease must be rather serious to warrant surgery so you must be in pain already?
my good friend waited 18m for surgery whilst frequently in excruciating agony.

Thank you for replies.
Yes mine is quite bad, I had a bad case on acute pancreatitis (caused by gallstones) that left me fighting for my life in intensive care. They have been waiting for months for the swelling to go down in my stomach, to remove it . I have never had an operation or been under general anesthetic, it terrifies me.

Sorry to hear about your pancreatitis. I had that a couple of months ago and was in hospital for nearly 2 weeks. I’ve never been in such pain and was on a morphine drip but still in hideous pain. I feel for you with the swelling, I felt like my insides were going to explode and it took ages to calm down. Try not to worry too much, they will assess and mediate risk in your pre op and I hope they’ve explained it all to you.

Before I had mine removed 10yrs ago I was in such excruciating on and off pain I would have removed it myself if I could have done so , it was my worst ever pain and I only got the surgery because I was hospitalised for the 2nd time with the pain.
So by putting your surgery off you either can tolerate extreme pain well or it’s not that bad yet but is only going to get worse. Can’t believe they keep letting you put it off without threatening to remove you from the wait list. A close friend of mine has been waiting more than a year and has been hospitalised twice but the waiting list has grown so much since I had my surgery that even being hospitalised doesn’t push you to the top of the list.
Edited as cross posted with your update.

If it’s done by keyhole surgery it’s often a day case I was last on the list so was kept in overnight but sent home early the next morning. My BP was a bit low hence my stay. If you have had acute pain of gallstones then this is relatively easy operation which you should recover quickly from. My GP said I’d not regret it and he was right. That was ten years ago. Everyone is slightly different under GA and it was my first one it did make me feel a bit odd and spacey for a couple of weeks afterwards but such a relief to be pain free compared to when I was waiting for the op. I hope yours goes well.

Your friends case is not serious, if she has been waiting that long .

I had mine removed by keyhole surgery about 17 years ago, and it was a very easy experience - operation at lunchtime, home the same evening. I didn’t even need pain relief beyond a couple of paracetamol a few times. General anaesthetic is great - they are so kind and gentle, you get a pre-dose which makes you just floaty - my most recent anaesthetist described it as being like a nice strong gin and tonic - and then you won’t even remember going to sleep, a dreamless sleep, and when you wake up you’re in recovery and it feels like no time has passed at all.

The relief is so immense after the horrific pain of biliary colic, and yours must be doubly painful with pancreatitis as well, you poor thing. Screw up your courage and get it arranged - you will be so pleased and relieved afterwards.

It's so easy I was amazed and to suddenly be out of horrendous pain even better. Two weeks ago after being very ill collapsed on Wednesday had op Thursday morning for gallbladder removal and by gum starting to get my life back again.

I had mine removed 10 years ago now with keyhole surgery. It was very easy really. You are not allowed to lift things for 2 weeks (I had a 6 month old so that was challenging). It was straightforward and I am so much better for it though OP so please don’t worry.

Had mine removed in July. I also had never had an op or general anaesthetic before. It all went very well and recovery was quick - was back at work within 10 days (desk job). So glad it has gone and I haven’t looked back. Nothing to do to prep beforehand (other than the instructions the hospital will give you) I was in and out in a day.

I had pancreatitis and jaundice because of mine, had it removed after 4 months of hell with it back and forth. Was back on my feet and mostly fine within a few days. Quick, very minimal pain recovering. Best thing I've ever done - attacks were both causing me to end up in hospital and easily the most painful thing I've ever experienced, and I've had worse post-gym aches than my recovery from the op.

Nobody likes going under. But it's an ok operation. Go ahead. It will be fine And no more pain.

I said goodbye to my gallbladder about 16 years ago. I too was having severe bouts of pain - absolutely awful.

The keyhole op and recovery afterwards were pretty straightforward - I had about a week off work, if I remember rightly.

Compared to the pain I had before the op, I was just relieved to get rid.

After previously never experiencing gallbladder issues, I ended up hospitalised with gallstone-induced acute pancreatitis shortly after the birth of my first baby.

I was subsequently fast-tracked to have my gallbladder removed and had the operation a couple of months later. It was a relatively easy recovery even postpartum and breastfeeding!

That was nearly 10 years ago and I have been fine since.

Acute pancreatitis was far worse than a difficult labour.

Have the operation - you won't regret it!

I had gallstones pancreatitis 15 years ago. Fortunately, they did the op within a week and it was fabulous. The GA is brilliant - the best sleep I've ever had - what's to be scared of?
My recovery has been fine ever since. You'll be so glad you've done it, because the pain of gallstones is awful.

Just a quick note on the peppermint oil, it might help if you have trapped wind in your intestines, the ‘normal’ kind, but unfortunately doesn’t help for the air they put into the abdominal cavity itself for the surgery.

It can be annoyingly painful, particularly the referred pain into the shoulder area. I think unfortunately with that one it’s a case of painkillers and gentle movement.

Not to say that you might find you have the regular kind of trapped, wind, too, after surgery!