Gall bladder op' queries. Please come and talk to me!

[cariadambyth]

Hello, this is the first thread I've ever started on here and what a glamorous topic to begin with

Basically, I'm booked in to have my gall bladder removed on the 23rd of this month and was hoping some of you could share your wisdom with me.

How long will I be out of action for? I have two dcs under 5.

I am due to stay in hospital over night, what should i pack?

Will I have to make any significant changes to my life style afterwards? My attacks don't appear to be diet related, more hormonal.

Finally, a very trivial question I know but I am going to a wedding about 6 weeks post op and I just wandered whether anyone had experience of putting on/ shedding weight after the op. What I'm really asking is, can I buy an outfit noe while there are sales on or would it be wiser to wait until afterwards?!

Sorry this has turned into such a ramble

Looking forward to hearing from you

yes my stomach just grumbles really loudly all night ,my stomach bloats up and then i vary between 2-3 lbs over night. My kids think i am sleep eating. Since the op i feel as if someone is wringing a wet towel out just under my ribcage and the bottom of my breastbone and as the days wears on it feels as though there is something solid in my abdomen as it is at times uncomfortable to sit on the couch. It distends from just under my ribs, almost like a pregnancy lump.
It weird actually, had a really nice homemade cheese and onion pie ( just a small piece)last night, puff pastry, cheddar cheese, onions and havent had one grumble. Why does it vary so much from day today and why does it make you so wacked out when it upsets you.Am building up to a glass of white wine as i wouldlike to be able to have one at night on hols but still very wary. Made the kids a curry for tonight and dont know whether to risk a spoonful!!!!!!!!!!

ABetaDad
Dont know how you are most mornings, but becos of all the weight loss my stomach is a flat as a pancake in the morning....wonderful, but as the day goes on it just gets bigger and and bloated as you say and i am positive it is not irritable bowel.Have suffered from stress in the past and the doc used to say all the bloating was irritable bowel but have never been convinced. Are you the same? Lost my faith in doctors.
Beginning to wish it had taken longer to have the op as this daily dull pain is a real grind and at times is all consuming.Mind you i wouldnt thank anyone for another bout of pancreatitis.

Yes just the same as you.

Morning I am like a 25 year old. I can actually see my 'six pack' now. By the evening, I am bloated if I eat the wrong thing. Indeed, to get a good nights sleep I never eat dinner now. I just eat a little fruit, maybe a gluten free biscuit, some nuts, maybe Rice Krispie with Soya Milk or a GF muesli.

Had the whole IBS you must be stressed question. As soon as I say I work in financial markets they begin imagining all sorts of 'Wall Street' images.

I did have gal stomes which doctors cured but teh rest I diagnosed and sorted ot myself and pretty much entirely as a result of reading MN for a year.

ABetaDad
arent you naffed off that you cant eat in the evening?
I used to love going out 4 meals and on holiday its one of the best parts of the day, 2 sit there and spend the evening talking to friends over dinner. OMG i do hope i am not like this in 18 months.Its doing my head in already and I know which medicines to take cos of my job. Although I have 2 say i am taking nothing as i dont want to mask any symptoms( and i hate tablets
I probably am repeating myself, forgive me if i am, but my stomach has been bloated like this for the last 4yrs approx and i initially just put it down to age (middle age spread)Then when i found out i had gall stones i was hoping the op was goin to be the miracle cure 4 this awful change in shape. Were you bloated b4 your op or has this happened post-op.
I know you say you have sorted it out now but how do you have a meal out with you wife if you cant eat. I feel so down at the moment,just want the gnawing pain to go.
Dont fancy having this ERCP (this mini camera that goes into you bile and pancreatic ducts as it can trigger off pancreatitis and i am getting a bit scared that that is what the doc is goin to suggest. God I am fed up with my own ramblings, sorry to be a pain, just never felt the need to talk so much to someone in such similar circumstances, just thought i was always the unlucky one despite keeping myself so fit.
Do u regret havin the op or was it an emergency

ABetaDad
I think i am going to try your GF/LF diet for a while and see if i can get things to settle and then gradually reintroduce the more complex proteins and carbs into the diet. It must be quite a shock for a system to have a gall bladder for so long and then one day its gone. I reckon we are like fine tuned horses being sporty and imbalance may affect us more. What do you think.My friend who has had her GB out cant eat eggs so i have steered away from omelettes and eggy stuff. |How are you with eggs. I hate all this uncertainty,i hate negativity, but i am becoming both very rapidly.
sorry to moan.
Want to be cured with no pain !!!

alypaly - DW and me do not eat in the evenings. It helps keep the weight off anyway. We go out to lunch together instead once a week. It feels like a date. We occassionally do eat in the evening with friends but eat lightly if we can and just live with the consequences.

No I do not regret having the op. It was not an emergency but I shoud have had it far sooner. I could not walk in the end because the irritation of the pancreas meant I had far too much insulin which caused my blood sugar to crash. I nearly passed out a couple of times in teh street. Lots of pain too that was unbearable at times. I did bloat out. Looked like a ballon when I stood sideways. Full of water and fat. Going to the gym I felt even worse afterwards had to stop going in the end.

I feel far far better than I did but just have to be really careful what I eat. I have got used to it now. Stupidly, I ate a few small pieces of mozarella cheeese yesterday to see what would happen. By this morning, I was bloated, aching joints, blinding headache, acid pain in my stomach, could not sleep and will not be doing that again.

I think I can eat eggs OK. Well they are not to bad anyway and cutting out egg is pretty tricky. It is even in some GF/LF breads such the one Tesco do that is called Genius Bread which a lot of the coeliacs on MN like and rave about as being like real bread.

You are talking about ECRP - did you say they had done an ultrasound yet to check for stones or have they not done that? It is quick and easy. I have never heard of ECRP.

I am off for a GF/LF hot cross bun now with jam and a nice Illy coffee and soya milk. It is a nice breakfast honestly. I am having a normal lunch with DW, might even have a glass of wine. Tea time will be something light like smoked salmon on GF/LF crackers, some fruit and a pepermint tea and Crimbles stem ginger biscuit before bed.

Hopefully, that does not sound too bad? The trick I found was to rebase my diet completely for 2 weeks and enjoy the change of feeling well. Then spend a lot of time working out nice things to eat that were GF/LF. Of course GF/LF might not work for you, there may be complictations such as the bile duct may have narrowed with scar tissue after your op (easily corrected), but a lighter diet will help anyway.

ABetaDad
Yes i had an ultrasound 3 weeks after op to check that there was no leaking from op site.Also had a gastroscope to check stomach and duodenum for problems,all okay tho.But unless you have a really visible stone, ultrasound will not show up a solitary stone. I had 200-300 lentil sized stone and 4 x1cm ones, so if one of the small ones is stuck, an ultrasound is not delicate enough to spot it. The ercp technique is done by a specialist as the camera is a micro camera. It actually goes into the ducts of the pancreas and the bile duct as it is only 1mm across. This technique is not done with a normal Gastroscopy/endoscopy but it can find mini stones. There are obvious dangers with it because the pancreas does not like being invaded, and i am like you I have had a bout of pancreatitis( not thro drink although the docs very rudely said it was thro drinking)and i was in absolute agony for 6 weeks.I have never really had more 2 units a night except on my big birthday, which was a two day celebration whist skiing, schnapps, gluwein, wine in the night clubs....but that is not a regular thing.I like my sport to much to wreck my body. I really thought i was going to die with pain. Just found out recently that docs shouldnt give morphine for either pancreatitis or gall stone pains as it causes problems with sphincter of oddy and that stops bile from emptying from the liver properly. My Gp must have known that as she gave me pethidine. Full marks to her.
If the bile duct narrows they have to put a stent in dont they. My surgeon said he cud see the bile emptying out when he was doing gastroscopy so he wasnt unduly worried.
Im like you tho, brill in the morning and raring to go but beached whale syndrome in the evening.
Thanks for chatting,it does help.

ABetaDad
ERCP stands for
Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography just incase it might be suitable 4 u too.

Morning all
Good news, think i am on the mend. Played badminton last night at about 2/3rds my normal pace which was much better than last tuesday. No pain ( or very little) and still only 51/2 weeks down the line. Am feeling a bit more optimistic now that i8 am doing my "normal" things

Thats good news. Take it easy though. It while come and go for a while at least.

Weight loss stopped,playing better badminton, managed a chicken tikka(no sauce) tonight and meat balls at lunch with spaghetti.Yahoo!!!! Consultant said i can go away on. Still dont feel 100% but doc says everything looks ok. Guess pain pales into insignificance when its not happening to them, but all he did say was phone me if it gets worse.

Meant to say ...consultant says i can go away on hols!!!!! yipee!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ABetaDad ....tried and tested all foods and some alcohol. Ouzo and lemonade brilliant. No foods upset my stomach except bread and cereal on my return home,so i think i am 98% better. Lager didnt agree with me either so i guess its good wine,campari ,ouzo ........and almost forgot...champers stood the test well too

I read somewhere that severe caloric restriction can also cause gallstones, so that would rule out the fat part for a good few people.

Take a good book or mag along because unless you're going in through the A&E you will most likely be bumped as more urgent cases arrive. My op was delayed from 7 am until 4 pm; sitting around in the waiting area without having eaten for well over the required fasting time was no fun. Bring a short nightie to the hosp. They will have to come and inspect your wound and will need to lift up whatever you're wearing. Or just use that hospital-supplied sleepwear if they offer any. Anesthesia may cause nausea and you may not want to eat anything. My hosp put everyone on a liquid diet after gallstone ops and got everyone up and walking as soon as the anesthesia had worn off -- I felt very sore and stiff and really nervous about popping stitches. While lying in the bed they also made everyone wear those very attractive anti-clot tights and immediately post op I had inflatable ones that massaged my legs accompanied by a hissing air sound, so got no rest. You will go home bleary eyed from lack of sleep, which is considered a luxury in most hosps that I have heard of.

Don't try lifting anything even as heavy as a bag of flour afterwards. If you could arrange for someone to be there for about two days after you come home you'll probably be fine. The DCs may be more clingy and demanding than usual because of your absence and their worries right after you come home. Wash as usual -- the bandages will fall off and stitches will dissolve. Stick to a low fat and high fibre diet after your op. I would go out and get that dress on the sales.

Just to update i had my op on the 17th of october and was in and out of hospital for weeks, the op went well but i had a suspected stone in my bile duct so had to go back for an MRCP and that showed a stone. I was back in to have it removed via ERCP nearly two weeks ago so was in for another two nights. To top it all i had bloods taken last week at my doctors and they are showing raised ALT levels, so i have to go see my doc.

Anyone know how long they took to go down? I just wish this was all over and done with it was supposed to be easy.

I had my gall bladder out end of Jan and have been eating normally since with no problems, until now.

Last 2 weeks i have had mild trapped wind type pain, similar to gall stone pain but very mild.

About an hour ago i had severe pain just like before op. Felt sick and pain got worse until i made myself be a little bit sick. Eased the pain a bit. Took a pethide tablet which i still had from before op and it has helped but still in pain.

Any ideas what could be happening? I was feeling so happy that all seemed ok.

hi,

just a question. My DH had his gallbladder out in January. He had a stone stuck in the bile duct and was in a lot of pain.
He has had no pain since and no particuar food is affecting him.
However he has high cholestral(hereditery) and diet not great. They think this may have called the gallstone.
He has been bit naughty about diet and hasn't been back to the drs about his cholestral since op.
Without scaring me too much(i have HA) why would he be itching? No rash. He did this before the op when the pain got bad. This time no pain just itching.
He thinks it's the heating being on...but i think not..it's just like before.

Could this be the start of another stone from cholestral build up like before? Or am I being paranoid. He sayes he's going to the doctors..but never gets round to it. Plus he sayes other than the itching he feels fine.
He has been better on diet lately and taking bencol..but if vholestral is hereditery..he should be on statins..like before right? Made him miserable so he stopped.

Any ideas?

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