Gall stones

[mummynumnum]

HAd a scan today that confirmed gall stones. Had severe pain three wks after c section and was sent for scan and blood tests. Still waiting on blood results. Are stones likely to be caused by preg/c section or poor diet. Mine not perfect but not horrific either!

Any tips re low fat diet and natural remedies?

Mine were dx ed about 6 years ago.
I'm sure a fat-laden diet does cause them (or how your body processes the fat does), but tbh, you wouldn't look at me and think my diet was high in fat.
It's always seemed to me that the cause of an attack is stress in addition to whatever I've eaten.
So I could eat, say, a portion of trifle on one occasion with no ill effects, but on another day, stressful circumstances, or just me feeling 'stressy', combined with said trifle, will bring on an attack.
I now only have about one attack a year - in fact, the last one was Christmas 2008 - so I'm no sure if they're even there any more.
Not sure about natural remedies; my DM did a 'natural cure' recommended by a homeopath, where you eat tons of apples and drink castor oil, then spend half the night on the loo. She did pass a few stones, but said it was too extreme and a vile experience, so wouldn't recommend.
My then (anthroposophical) gp gave me herbal drops whose name I forget, but they're known as 'stonebreaker.' I didn't take them for more than a few weeks as they were vile, but maybe they did work to some extent.
It's horrible to be suffering an attack, and to feel the threat of one hanging over you, so I do sympathise.

OWWWWW!! I had my gallbladder removed after my year and a half of TORTURE! It started mildly after my CS with my DD, silly me thought that I just wasn't recovering well from the birth. Until....on the opening day at Westfield's in London I collapsed in agony and had to be carted away by ambulance!

The most common risk factors are:
Female
Fat
Forty
Fair
Fertile

I tried every diet, chinese medicine, herbal tablet, funky juice mixture out there as I did not want to have surgery with a NB at home. What happened during this time?? Well my 'attacks' got worse and worse, far worse then any contraction or childbirth. I finally got on an NHS waitlist for surgery but by the time I got on there I was already heading to the hospital every 2 weeks on a morphine drip to try and touch the pain (which it barely did).

I would say get it taken out, don't put yourself through hell, it's not worth it. I lost a year of my life.

canucktraveler - totally agree with everything you say. Me and my mother both went through exactly what you described. I lost 18 months of my life. My mother lost 3 years.

Gradually geting worse and worse. Both of our GPs were useless. They just fob you off with pain killers and non specifc diagnoses but in reality everyone should just get in and get the gall bladder out - it just does not get better.

mummynumnum - bottom line is push like hell to get it taken out. No herbal remedy will make it go away.

I got a stone stuck in the bile duct for two days and I didnt care whether I lived or died. Vomiting, sweating, green and in agony unable to move. My mother the same.

Crumbs.
< feels like a pathetic, mini-gallstone sufferer >.

I do agree that the pain is worse than a contraction as it's unremitting and you can do nothing to relieve it -changing positions, massage, pain-killers.

I think I was incredibly lucky and I'd definitely agree that in your situation you should push for decent information and treatment.

Probably worth avoiding the obvious triggers - cream, cheese, oily food.

Yes I agree, I will push for removal and avoid triggers, which seems to be greasy food. On omerazapole which seems to help.

canuck..........where did the theory............ The most common risk factors are:
Female
Fat
Forty
Fair
Fertile

im slim
female
dark
53
and past the menopause????????????

Its a myth.believe me.
Mummynunum...this is a good diet til you have it removed
www.gallbladderattack.com/gallbladderdiet.shtml

I also recommend getting your gall bladder removed. I was diagnosed with gall stones about 2 years ago and tried cutting out all the foods that made it worse, but it got so bad that a piece of lettuce could set off an attack.

I had mine taken out and have not had an attack since.

hth

recommend the same as tilly,had mine out last june

alypaly The five F risk factors are the most common group of gallstone sufferers, this does not however mean that others don't suffer from them, it just means that time and time again through statistics and studies this group is the highest risk group. All doctors will tell you this, it is taught in medical schools around the world.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallstone
www.drhoffman.com/page.cfm/140
www.besthealthmag.ca/get-healthy/a-z-index/gallstones
www.ehow.co.uk/how_5641942_having-gallstone-attack.html
www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/6380.php
www.umm.edu/patiented/articles/who_gets_gallstones_gallbladder_disease_000010_4.htm

It is not a myth, it is based on sound medical evidence. There are hundereds of medical papers, articles and studies that back this evidence up. There are other risk factors, such as cirrhosis, crohn's disease, Certain blood disorders, bariatric surgery, etc. However the risk group which I mentioned are the group which this disease most commonly presents itself.

For the record, I am in my 30's and slim.

Diet does not do anything if you have big stones as I did. Eating an apple would set off an attack for me, it did not matter what I ate the last 4 months prior to my surgery.

I had mine taken out four years ago and have never had any problems since. Keyhole surgery and very easy recovery! There was a family history - Mother, Grandmother and my sister all had 'em out and never looked back after!

Alypaly, that site looks v. useful.
I wondered if you'd followed any of the supplementary programmes they're selling.

Whilst I'd never go down the route of trying to purge the stones as I know this can be dangerous and is a hideous experience, I do wonder if there aren't ways of improving your body's systems and helping to process the bile more efficiently, hopefully resulting in no stones.

The omeraprozole seems to be stopping the attacks at the mo but need to
def re-think diet when come off tabs.

I've got gallstones and haven't had my gallbladder removed as yet, preferring instead to manage the attacks when they come. They aren't all that pleasant but have never gotten so bad that I've felt the need to present myself at A&E - when they do I'll definitely have out out.

The guy who did my ultrasound told me tat if you scanned everyone in the whole population by far and away the vast majority of people would be found to have gallstones. It's just that some people's give them trouble and some don't.

That is reassuring. My sonographer said it was poor
diet. I thinknthere was def a pregnancy link
with me and had gestational diabetes in pregnancy and wondered if that was a factor. Have been good at cutting out triggers of an attack at the mo. V hard with a newborn to feed, as just craving stodge! Esp chocolate cake.

I became ill last year and was completely bedridden for weeks with severe joint and muscle pain. Eventually my Doctor came to see me and called an ambulance. Once in hospital I was diagnosed with septicaemia with a severe Rheumatoid response and spent 16 days in hospital fighting the infection.
This was all caused by my Gall Bladder which had become infected due to Gall Stones. I had an operation to remove it. They removed 143 stones.
The operation was keyhole.
I am now recovered. But it has been a long haul. Recovering from the original illness took 3 mths before they could operate.
I was back at work 7 weeks after the op. I feel better now than I have in the last 18 mths. The Doctor said my Gall Bladder had been festering for years and I had no other usual symptoms apart from recurrent pain in my right shoulder. ( the nerve endings for the Gall Bladder are just below your right shoulder). If you are offered an op to remove it I would seriously consider it as there is no other "cure". There is a drug that can reduce them over time but it can take years.

mummy..........i think there is a link with pregnancy too. There are so many mums on MN who seem to develop gallstones during or just after pregnancy.I wonder if we process cholesterol differently when we are pregnant as gallstones are mostly made up from cholesterol.

ourlady......i just followed the diet for the few weeks before my op and it stopped any further attacks til it was removed.

canuck......i know the research has come up with the results you showed,i was just so cheesed off at the time when i collapsed, that i didnt fit into any category and i was asking myself,'why me'...

It frightened me when i had gallstones as one lodged in my pancreas and gave me pancreatitis,which is 100 times more painful than gallstones. I then didnt have any really bad attacks for 3 years until i collpased with chest pain whilst i was on the phone.(i fe lke i was having a heart attack and like uggmum says,there is pain up to your right shoulder. I had 4 1cm stones and approx 200 lentil sized ones which cold have triggered off further pancreatitis as the stones were mobile.
Although i was very ill after keyhole i would say get it removd incase of complications.
But meanwhile reduce fat intake as this stimulates the gall bladder to contract.

Thanks for all the great advice

I have just been having gallstone attacks. They started after my son was born 4 months ago. So scary!

The doctors have given me 5 types of pain killers. But the thought of not knowing when they are going to flare up is so worrying.

I was also worried about having the gall bladder removed as i have read that this causes stomhach problems ongoing.

It has been so difficult with a very young baby and breastfeeding to deal with. I have notice that I have been stressed aswell, when they come on.

I have had about 6 in the last few days, one exstremely painfull. I am so tired.

There is most definitely a link between pregnancy and gall-stones. My first attack happened about 3 weeks after my baby was born, I thought I was going to die! I know that sounds like an exaggeration, but there was absolutely nothing I could do to relieve the pain. After an agonising half hour on the phone to NHS Direct they called me an ambulance. It took 3 days for them to decide it was gallstones, at which point they told me it's very common in both pregnant women and new mums because they produce extra oestrogen. I had another terrible attack a week later where I was taken to hospital in an ambulance again. The only thing that helped the pain was morphine, which made breast feeding difficult: I had to "pump and dump", heartbreaking after trying to build up my milk supply for weeks :) 2 weeks after that I had my gallbladder removed. In the meantime I did find that eating a very, very low fat diet with limited dairy and NO red meat seemed to keep the pains at bay, but there's no way I could have lived like that.

It's weird how many people have told me that they, or someone they know, had their gallbladder removed very soon after pregnancy too - there most definitely is a link.

Glad to say that since my op to remove my gallbladder I've only had one further attack, which the surgeon says was due to inflammation because it was only 3 days after the op.

I found out around a year ago that i've got gall stones. Woke up one night in absolute agony and being sick, but my LO was only 2 weeks old and she woke up just after being sick too so i just thought we'd got a tummy bug. The same happened again a few days after and was total agony so had to go and see a doctor, after about a month of them trying several medications to control acid stomach which they thought it were because i suffered bad from it when i was a child i was sent for blood tests and a ultrasound. When the results came back i was told i couldnt have surgery as i was overweight (baring in mind my LO was only around a 2 months old at this stage) I've been on loads of differant painkillers for when i have attacks. I do avoid everything that brings them on but it seems over time more things kicking it off (things that didnt before) I've been back to see the doctor and ive been told now that i can have the operation but to tell you the truth i am so scared. My LO has just started walking and im worried i wont be able to look after her properly and im so scared of the fact of being put to sleep, ive never had a operation in my life and it scares me to death. To the people that have had the OP what is the recovery like? How long does it take? And also to people that havent chosen surgery what are things that gives you attacks? And has anyone got any natural remedies what may help? The things that kick me off of what i can remember are; Milk, Cream, Fried things, Soft Cheese, Mayonaise, Wotsits, Quavers, Some mash potato, there are loads more things but i forget just of the top of my head. also i have noticed that if i get stressed they seem to kick up. When it happens i sweat so much it drips off me, I can't speak, Breathe, I roll round in agony :'( I know theres people on here thats had the same so would like to be able to talk to someone, its hard for me as no one seems to understand how bad the pain actually is :(

I've had the op to remove my gallbladder, and it was fine. My recovery from the op itself was about a week.

If you want to avoid attacks, the trigger foods are all the high/moderate fat foods, and also things like onions, pork, lamb, bacon, cheese, crisps etc. Some people find it helpful to stick to an ultra low fat diet, which means a daily fat intake of 20 grams or less.

hth