Pain from Gallbladder/Gallstones...foods to avoid? Or anything that has helped?

[ElizabethWakefield]

Just after some advice for my mum really, I have posted a few times about her problems, but last week she finally got diagnosed as having a really bad case of gallstones, after being really quite ill since before Xmas. (lots of pain, discomfort, vomiting and diarrhea)

She has been told she needs her gallbladder removed, but there is a 9-12 month waiting list, and unless things get really bad, then she will get it out as an emergency. (not sure what is classed as really bad as she is having several attacks a week with vomiting and lots of pain)

Anyway, she is going to start a food diary to see which foods trigger it, yesterday she discovered ice cream is very bad after a trip to the park with DD has left her still in agony and vomiting just now

But obviously fatty foods are bad, so just really looking to see if anyone else has suffered and what tips or advice they could give please?

She is on no medication other than painkillers that she has bough over the counter herself, so if anyone can recommend anything else that would help for the pain/ to lessen attacks, it would be much appreciated.

TIA

Your poor mum the pain is totally excruciating and I wouldn't wish it on anyone!!

Not sure how much help I can be but, for me, it seemed to be the volume of food rather than what the food was iyswim. If I ate more than 1 course at a meal, it generally bought on an attack - however I did avoid the obvious foods such as chips and other really fatty foods aswell. I remember having a chicken and bacon salad for lunch in a pub one day thinking it would be ok - it had 2 rashers of bacon in it (which I didn't think was excessive tbh) and some chicken...and I was in agony that night

I could still eat sweet foods - they never bothered me although I still watched the quantity of those.

Once I had my gallbladder removed, I have had absolutely no side-effects and can eat what I want

If you want to know anything else, just ask away!

It is hell on earth having gallstones.

I had my gallbladder out last summer and the difference is amazing!

To Avoid :

Dairy - I found the 1% milk was ok, and I used weigh watchers cheese sparingly.
High fat foods - pizza/chips/sausages etc
Sweet things - I ate Jelly tots and marshmallows for a sweet fix as they were fat free!
Fizzy drinks - my huge downfall, and ALWAYS without fail had an attack after drinking more than 1 glass of fizzy.

I lived on grilled meat/fish and veg. It was torture but I was lucky in that I got my op within 10 weeks of the original scan. I was bumped up the list though because of my age as it is apparently very uncommon for someone in their 20's to have gallstones.

For lunches, I mainly had toast or a homemade pasta salad (tomato based).

It was a miserable time for me, but I must say although I can pretty much eat what I like now, I did find for the first 2-3 weeks after the op, I still couldnt have too much fat - TMI here but I had severe diarrhea for about a month after and you could see the fat floating on the surface of the toilet water.

I am almost a year down the line now and I can pretty much eat what I like, but still try to limit the very fatty foods. Can still not eat a fry-up type meal without having an upset stomach!

Thanks very much both, glad to hear you are feeling much better after your ops.

Fizzy drinks is one that I don't think she has realised, and does have them now and then, so I will let her know about that.

She has discovered that weekdays when she is at work, and her days are much more structured and she eats less, more in routine, are much better than weekends.

I guess a lot of it is trial and error and just trying to eat as low fat as possible.

The consultant at the hospital did mention that she was very over weight to have the op anyway, (she is a 14 top, 16 bottom and 5'8 which doesn't seem hugely massive to me) so she is hoping the low fat diet will also help her to lose weight too.

Thanks again, I'll pass everything from this thread on to her

I am surprised your mum's consultant said that about her weight - doesn't seem particularly overweight to me

I am also 5ft 8in and am a size 12-14 now but at the time of my initial consultation with the doctor who operated on me I was probably a good size 14 and he commented that, although my GP had put on her notes that I was overweight, I didn't look overweight to him - a bit of flattery is always a good thing!!

I had just started shifting my baby no. 2 weight when I started suffering from gallstones so it kind of did me a favour as it did make it so much easier to resist temptation - since I had my gallbladder removed in October, I am having to rely on willpower (and I don't have any )

Avoid fat and onions.

Eat a grnny smith apple a day (has to be granny smith, something in it not in other apples) and artichokes.

Cannabis helps but is inconvenient (and illegal). V. hot bath (as hot as you can stand) also good, but inconvenient.

Ha, I am imagining the look on my mum's face when I mention cannabis, think she would prefer the hot bath! Will mention the other things.

I agree with the flattery, always a good thing. I am sure with her having to cut out fatty things she will lose some weight naturally anyway, although she is now worried about having to have it done as an emergency while she is "obese" and the consequences of that, although i am sure it would be fine if it came to that.

Thanks again for all your responses

I am 5ft and was about 13st when I had mine done, and no-one even mentioned anything about being obsese and having to lose weight for surgery! I did lose a bit of weight before the op, but not a huge amount. The only complication I had, in that it happens to me all the time is my oxygen levels after a GA are pretty dire so end up on oxygen for 12-16hrs after. It happened when I had my appendix out too, so Im used to it!

I think that rapid loss of weight is one of the triggers that gets the gall stones playing up. I have had 4 episodes of dreadful pain in the last 12 months and I've not decided what to do yet. I've improved my diet with smaller meals, plenty of wholegrain foods and less fat. I've lost 2 stone gradually and begun to exercise more. The last attack was over much quicker than the others so I'm hoping that if I'm "good" they won't play up again too much. The pain is the worst I have ever experienced and absoloutely nothing helps, pain killers, shifting position etc. etc. all to no avail. you just get to the point where you feel you will pass out with it all and for me it gradually begins to ease off after that.

Avoid Lamb , cheese and Eggs that contain a lot of fat.Ask GP for stronger pain killers , I was given strong codeine and took it every six hours and that worked, mind you I was constipated afterwards.I had mine out this April and yes I had the runs for a while but now its wonderful.

any fatty rich foods will triggy your colicky pain.

trigger not triggy