Gallstones
 

Last March, at about 11pm at night... I had the most painful attack I had ever had. I thought I was having a heart attack. It started in my upper abdomen/chest area then radiated up into my shoulders and lasted for about an hour. A couple days later I had to do a physical so my doctor threw in an ECG just to make sure there was nothing wrong with my heart, and sure enough nothing wrong.

I have been having slightly more stomach problems than usual... ya know, not being able to eat what I used to. Fatty stuff would make me gassy or sick.

About 6 months after my first attack I had another. I was all alone at home, and completely freaked. I ended up calling 911 after 45 minutes of the fetal position on the floor. The hospital did NOTHING... just told me I had diaphragmatic spasms...and that if it happens again.. to just wait it out. Apparently not being able to breathe is no big deal.

I thought... okay.. no problem, I can deal with this if it's only going to happen every 6 months....well.... two weeks later.....BAM!!

So off to the doctor I go again.... then comes the onslaught of blood tests and ultrasounds.

GALLSTONES!!! I'M 26 YEARS OLD FOR HEAVENS SAKE!!!!

So, get this.... What's a good way to increase your chances of getting gallstones? LOSE WEIGHT!! My weight loss is a huge contributing factor to getting gallstones. Isn't that always the way it goes! You do something good for you, and life pays you back with that!

Well, the stones are huge, and tonnes of them... so medication is out. And I'm a low carber...so a no-fat diet is sorta out of the question too.

Surgery it is... the laparoscopic kind...

Anyone been through this?
For the same reasons?
Any advice to share?
How are things after surgery?

Linnea

Hi Linnea!

Yup...I was pretty much in the same situation about 9 years ago and not much older than you at 32. I had lost a good deal of weight following a low fat diet and BAM! Gallstones! It's odd that it took them so long to figure out what the problem was with you; they diagnosed me right in the ER. The laparoscopic surgery is very quick and the recovery time is usually quite short...about a week or so. I was back to work 5 days after having my gallbladder removed that way and that was 9 years ago. I'm sure they've made the procedure even better since then. While it's true that losing weight quickly will contribute to gallstones what most doctors won't tell you is that following a low fat diet contributes to them even more. Your gallbladder is there to help digest fat. It holds the bile until you eat some fat, then squeezes to release the bile into your intestines to do its job. When you don't eat any fat (or very little), it has no work to do and so the bile sits in your gallbladder and sediment forms which eventually becomes stones.
Some people, about 10%, have difficulty with eating fat after having their gallbladders removed, but the majority can eat whatever they like and have no problems without it. What my surgeon basically told me is to eat whatever I liked and if it bothered me to avoid it. Right now the only foods that ever give me problems are popcorn and green peppers.
Good luck!

I had Laparoscopic surgery last year
 

To have my gall bladder removed. I was out doing short walks (15 min) a couple days later a week after I was back at work. It's a real simple percedure, it took them 20 min. to do it. I went in at 11 am & I was home by 5 pm. I just slept the rest of the day. If I were you I'd have it done ASAP. It can rupture, And cause all kinds of trouble. I don't mean to scare you. BTW , I have 4 tiny incisions that are key hole size, you almost can't see them.
I started Atkins 4 months ago,I can eat fat , but I can't eat greasy food ,I get real sick.

Josie

I am so sorry to hear that you are enduring the gallstone attack pain!

I went through a similar incident at age 21! I went from 210 lbs to 117 lbs in about 7 months. I did this by literally cutting out ALL fat........and exercising a great deal. The attacks hit me several times over about a two month period. The MOST painul experiences of my life. They landed me in ER twice, where doctor's scratched their heads and said, we think you have acid reflux. At the time, when I would have attacks, I would throw up uncontrollably. Finally, on a third ER visit, while throwing up, the nurse came to me and accussed me of me being bulimic! She concluded this after learning of my rapid weight loss. My mother was so angry and concerned for my medical mystery that she took me to another ER that very night. My mother insisted they do an ultra-sound and low and behold, gallstones!

Lapro. surgery two days later...in by 11, out by 5! Within three days, back at work.......no problems since! Other than the obvious fact that since that time (8 years ago), I met and married the man of my dreams, and became "fat and happy" again! Oh well, I am back on the road to the thin me.....down 31 lbs so far! Doing it in an intelligent way this time so as to avoid the horror of the ER!

Good luck with your procedure, it is actually fairly common these days in younger people. I wish you a speedy recovery!

OH YES
 

I work in the hosptial and I put my self on a EKG monitor because I thought I was having a heart attack, too!! I had to lie in the fetal postion until it passed or went back into the gall bladder. The surgery took care of the problem.

I feel your pain!! :(

Now, I am beginning to understand! I had experienced discomfort that sometimes was actually painful, but it did not last long. The doctor had me on a heart monitor ( nothing), ran EKGs (nothing) put me on aspirin, and gave me nitro. Nothing was actually diagnosed in approx 2 years.
One day while at home a severe attack took me to my knees. I was sure it was a heart attack so I called 911 and went to the ER. The doctor on duty recognised the symptoms and the ultrasound confirmed it. I also had been on a low carb diet and had lost 30 lb. I have not had the surgery, but have not had another attack either. Can someone advise me on passing gall stones using olive oil and lemon juice? I only have a few stones and will resort to surgery only as a last resort!

jsandy....

Please don't attempt to flush your gallbladder with lemon juice and olive oil, especially since you know that you have stones. If one of those stones were to get stuck in the bile duct, you would be facing extreme pain and immediate emergency surgery. It could even rupture the duct that connects your gallbladder to your small intestine and that would be a life-threatening situation, not to mention excruciatingly painful. Gallstones are rarely smooth and round; they often have sharp ridges and edges and it wouldn't take much for them to get stuck in the bile duct which is really not larger than a straw (perhaps even a bit smaller). If those stones are any bigger around than that, they won't pass anyway and trying to do a flush will only result in a very bad attack.
If you do experience another gallbladder attack, your doctor can advise you on your options and best course of action, but please don't try to treat this at home.

Thanks! You talked me right out of it. I really don't like pain.

I remember those pains. I still cringe at the thought of them!

I went through that after having lost 50 pounds through Nutrisystem.

You think you're doing something good for yourself. You don't realize the havoc you wreak on your body by yo-yo diets and the like. My Dr. said the gallbladder thing happens mostly when folks lose weight too fast.

BTW.. the surgery is not that bad. I had it laporascopically (sp?) and was back to work within a week!

I can't eat certain food combinations without having to run to the bathroom (like spaghetti sauce or greasy pizza), but other than that, I rarely have a problem.. and I am almost NEVER constipated!

I hope you feel better soon, That is one of my big concerns is gall stones. I am having an ultrasound next week per my dr's request. I dont have any symptoms but me and dh are trying to have a family in the future so he wanted to take care of a problem if I had them.

Hi, Linnea, sorry you have to go through this! I had a huge gallstone, only one, but I remember the pain. I got mine from being pregnant, apparently when your insides get all squished, gall stones can happen!

I had laproscopic surgery, and it was a piece of cake! No problems during or after. The surgeon did say that my gallbladder was barely functioning, and I had alot of scar tissue, so I must have had the problem for awhile. I hadn't ever lost weight prior to that, I used to be thin. :mad: So losing weight didn't cause my gallbladder trouble. Wonder what did...

Anyway, expect the incisions to be sore for a few days. Motrin helps alot. You will have some pain on the inside as well, but again, Motrin or whatever pain meds they give you will work great. I came home the same day. Hope you do to, being in the hospital is no fun, and the food could make you cry. I can't say much for the wardrobe there, either. :o

Good luck, and let us know how you do! They might even let you bring your gallbladder home in a jar, I did. It looks great on my mantle, I call it Stanley.

-Jess

ps

just kidding about the Stanley thing! They did tell me I could have it, I thought they were nuts!

Ever follow a low fat diet? Your gallbladder is there to store the bile that your body needs to digest fat until you eat a food that has fat in it. If you rarely eat fat, or eat very little, your poor gallbladder sits there with nothing to do. Eventually sediment can form which will eventually become stones. You can also develop adhesions (which it sounds like you had).
OTOH...some people just seem to be prone to them.

Aha!
 

Yes, I used to eat low fat!!! Skim milk, low fat dressing, all that stuff that tastes like YUCK! And I was a terrible eater. Ate on the run, alot of sugar. Now it makes sense.

I have said it once, no maybe I have said it alot, but this low carb thing IS THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER DONE!!!!!!! If I could meet Dr. ATkins, I would give him a big bear hug, and maybe even a big sloppy kiss. On the cheek. Wouldn't want to embarress the poor man! :D

LET'S HEAR IT FOR LOW CARB!!

-Jess

Im 17 years old and I just had to get my gall bladder removed from gallstones.

I went to the emergency room on New Years day and they didnt do anything for me.... they gave me some mild pain killers (which didn't anything) and let the door hit me in the ass on the way out. A month later I went back to the emergency room and they finally ran an ultrasound and found that I had gallstones.

After that it took me a month to finally get in for surgery. I basically had attacks for two and a half months straight, it was so terrible! I was so afraid to eat and ending up loosing about 15 pounds in two weeks. Everytime I ate something I would be in pain for about 5 or 6 hours afterwards.

Sorry, I just needed to share that with you all. It was the worst two months of my life... not the way I wanted to start out my year!! Not to mention the fact that the day after I was released from the hospital, my uncle and my boyfriends brother passed away.

This just hasn't been my year...

Gall Bladder Agony
 

I am back to work today for the first day since my surgery to remove my gall bladder. I went to the ER Sat. night, and was told there was basically there was nothing they could do. I was in so much pain on my way home, that it scared my husband, so he took me to a different ER!!! They ran a mirage of tests to find that it was my gall bladder. I spent Mother's Day in the Hospital and then to top it all off, was given a bad mix of Demerol and some other drug for nausea, and it threw me into respiratory arrest. They called Code Blue and revived me, and I must say, a scare like that makes you happy to be alive!
I feel much better today, 1week after surgery, but I am wondering about my Atkins diet......? :q: Does anyone that has been through this know if it is safe for me to continue on this diet? I am still in the induction phase. I lost 25 pounds in 14 days which was a contributing factor to the collapse of my gall bladder. So....should I continue? I am aware of the eating greasy foods concern....I learned that the night my husband thought it would be nice to treat me to pizza (the toppings only of course!).
Let me know if anyone has any advise! Thanks guys!

I had them at 17 due to weight loss..
 

I lost 90 pounds when I was 16 years of age, via a starvation diet. I ended up with very bad gallstones and many months of attacks.

Finally I had my gallbladder removed when I was 17. They tried to give me an ERCP first, but they couldn't sedate me enough so that I'd stop trying to pull the tube out. The actual removal of my gallbladder went fine, though.

I was terrified of "going under," but it ended up being the best thing I could have done for myself. During my attacks I was starting to become severely jaundiced, meaning that my common bile duct was being blocked by the stones. It'd get so that the palms of my hands, my belly, and the whites of my eyes would start turning yellow. I probably could have died if I'd let it go on much longer.

Anyways, the surgery was a breeze! I have four tiny scars now from the laser (three on my side and one in my navel) and I've never had a problem since then.

Good luck!

Thanks for the support! I am realizing that I am going to have to be careful with what I eat for a few months just to see what agrees with me and doesn't....if you know what I mean, but other than that, I am hoping life will get back to normal soon.
After the surgery did you gain weight back...or did it help you to keep it off. If it was many years ago things might have changed, but just wondering.
Thanks again,
Gena

More of my Gallstone Saga..
 

I was 5'4" at the time (I'm 5'5" now) and I went from 225+ to under 135 in about 7 months or so. I've stayed at between 150-160 in the almost eight years since then, most of the time. The lowest I've been since gaining a bit of weight after the big Crash Diet is 142 and the highest is 185, but neither of those weights lasted long. I seem to always come back to around the 155 mark. That's a big part of why I'm doing this WOE..

Here are some things I've noticed sincing losing my gallbladder... my stomach is a little more sensitive, I have mild gallstonish "cramps" from time to time if I eat certain things, and my ability to have a proper BM has degraded. I'm either constipated a lot of time or just the opposite. I go through time periods when extremely high-fiber diets will even things out for awhile, but somehow my body seems to resist the idea of fiber the majority of the time. Some of these things may be due to age, my own body, etc.

Since losing my gallbladder I've found it very easy to lose weight doing low-calorie diets... not that it's necessarily related. I don't like how I feel while I'm doing low-cal, though... tired, hungry, etc. Doing low-carb seems to be affecting me slowly, but I feel way better when I'm doing it. I'm not sure exactly how having a missing gallbladder may or may not be affecting me doing low-carb, but I would love to hear about it from others!

I'd like to hear as well. I still haven't gotten my gallbladder out. I was put on the waiting list, but I am enrolled in an accellerated program in which there is no way I could miss 3 or 4 days of school without having to repeat the program... so I took myself off the waiting list.

Now I am starting to hear more scary stories about the after affects of having your gallbladder removed. I'm thinking I may want to keep it and just put up with the pain.

Linnea

Get it out!
 

Hello! :D

Listen, if you are having gall pain...you are in misery, and let me tell you the pain will only get worse and never get better! You need to go ahead with getting it out as soon as possible. I JUST had mine done over the weekend and I already feel much better. It is really not a major surgery, and you will be much better off afterwards. I am not sure what negative side effects you have heard, but the ones I have come across are things such as constipation or diareha (sp?) at times, and trial and error with what you can and can not eat for about 6 mo. after the surgery. My doctor says that after 6 mo. my body will be used to the change and I should be able to go back to eating whatever I like.
If I were you, I would go to the General Health Thread in this forum and look for the other threads labeled with something about gallbladders. You will learn alot just reading the tales of some that have had it out for many years or are in the same boat as you are.
Hope this helps, school is important, but when you get a chance, you should take care of the matter before it takes care of you. I did not have a chance to wait, they did mine as emergency surgery and gave me no choice!
Gena :roll:

One more thing...
 

I should mention that I left the hospital the same day that I had my gallbladder removed... I didn't stay over night. I have very minimal pain after that, too... they gave me pain pills but I never used them.

My belly was very tender for a couple of days, but it was easily tolerable as long as I was careful about not bending too much or hitting it against anything. I think the only reason I had any pain at all was because of the incision they made in my navel... I say that because since the surgery I've had my navel peirced and I found the pain to be slightly similar.

I think my speedy recovery may have had something to do with my young age, but who knows. It really is a simple, quick procedure.

My surgery
 

Three years ago I had surgery to remove my gallbladder and a 15 pound fibroid tumor that resulted in my having a hysterectomy. Because of the extreme pain I was in and my serious anemia (from the fibroid and excessive bleeding during my TOM) I had to have both operations done at the same time.

I had absolutely no pain from the gall bladder removal. It was done laporascopically (4 small scars) and they itch sometimes, but that's all. The pain after the hysterectomy was more intense.

BUT I would do it again in a heartbeat. I have never felt better than I do now. A lot of that has to do with this WOL but the pain from the stones was excruciating. And, thinking back, I had lost 40 pounds on Jenny Craig right before I started noticing the attacks. By the way, my Doc told me that I had over 300 gallstones and that if I hadn't acted when I did, I could have died. Believe me, life is a much better choice. :D

Last night was the 2nd time that Ive had excruciating cramping in my stomach (not belly).. the first time it happened was Sunday night... I thought it might be from dairy products, but then when I didnt have any dairy and still experienced the stomach pain I just thought I was constipated... so last night I took a nice concoction of pills.. first GasX, then Pepto.. then, I was like, wait, havent had a nice BM in a while, so then I took some laxatives.. and then finally 4 Ibprofen, and an hour later, 3 more.. finally, cramping stopped..(i love ibprofen..) then of course this morning I had to make 4 trips to the bathroom.. but its okay.. now my stomach is tender.. i can sorta feel it, and Im wary of everything..

just called a bit ago to make an appt with a doctor I found through my insurance website.. they said, "the doctor wants to see you a 1:30 today"... so.. Im going.. anyways, any advice would be awesome.. the pain didnt move anywhere else other than my stomach.. so... I dontknow what it is but we'll find out.. thanks for this thread..!