Gallstones postpartum

[dreamingdream]

Has anybody on here been diagnosed with gallstones postpartum? I did and I have no clue if it will just go away or require surgery? Has anyone on mumsnet experienced this? The only person I know who might have had this, is one lady I used to know in real life, she had to have surgery.

I googled about gallstones after childbirth and I came across this website mamamend.com/postpartum-health/postpartum-gallstones

I did about ten days after the birth. I literally thought I was having a heart attack. I was still on medication for pre eclampsia so I thought it was that. Went to hospital by ambulance in the middle of the night, and was diagnosed straight away. Had to wait 6 months for my op and they found 52 stones!!

I had this too with my DC1 and it was an awful experience so I do sympathise with you. Within the first 2 weeks of her being born I had 5 'episodes' of which I honestly felt like I just wanted to die the pain was that bad. Spoke to health visitor, midwifes and my GP who all told me it was indigestion and to take Gaviscon 🙄 it wasn't until the 5th time that I ended up in A&E and the consultant who saw me knew what it was straight away and was surprised it went undiagnosed. I was quite ill by that point as the stones were stuck in my bile duct causing my liver to function poorly; I was underweight and had yellowing of the eyes and skin and was in a right mess. It was a tough thing to deal with at the time because I was still recovering from a terrible vaginal delivery and up all night struggling with breastfeeding too.

I was told it was high levels of progesterone during pregnancy that caused it but foods high in fat will trigger the symptoms so was advised to avoid these entirely until I had it removed; I was also prescribed Omeprazole. I decided (based on the advise of the consultant) to avoid having it removed until I had finished breastfeeding. I managed to control the symptoms most of the time but to be honest I probably should have had it removed sooner because I did have a few more episodes after that and just put up with it as I wanted to breastfeed until DD was 12 months old. I waited but did end up in A&E again when DD was 14 months old and ended up having it removed via emergency key hole surgery. The surgery recovery was ok (in comparison to an episiotomy and forceps delivery!) and I've had no symptoms since.

One piece of advise I would give is to try and have it removed sooner rather than later because if the stones end up in your bile duct it can be dangerous and cause you intense pain that I wouldn't wish on anyone. I'm not trying to scare you; just trying to warn you based on my experience. Take care and look after yourself.x