I have been doing atkins since april 19 and have lost 20 pounds.
Last week I was suffering from what I assumed was heart burn that would just not go away. After a few days of not being able to eat and intense pain, I went to the ER and was diagnosed with a gall bladder attack. I had emergency surgery to remove the gall bladder (over 50 stones inside) and then needed a second procedure to take out a stone the size of a small marble that got trapped inside a duct and was blocking secretions from my liver. When I asked the dr. what causes these attacks two of his reasons were: rapid weight loss and high fat diet. I know that not everyone who does atkins will suffer the same fate, but this WOE certainly contributed to my condition. I just think everyone should just be aware that this can happen! Stay healthy!

I have been experiencing mild to moderate heartburn for last few weeks after not having any previously (I am doing LC 14.5 months). I wonder if its my gallbladder? What are the symptoms other than heartburn?

Here is a good link on gallstone causes, symptoms and treatment:

http://www.murrasaca.com/Gallbladderstones.htm

There seems to be many factors that can cause stones in the gallbladder-obesity, high cholesterol, genetics and fast weight loss.

Youngdor, I hope you feel better and recover soon. Gallstones can be very painful and I am glad they caught it so quickly.

I hope that you are feeling better. I too am minus a gall bladder.

While I respect Drs, I have to put my two cents in here. It is NOT high fat diets that CAUSE gall stones. If you have been a low fat yo yo dieter all your life, THIS is what caused stones in the first place. Your stones did not appear over the last couple of months of LC dieting, I am sure they have been there for years. Yes, LC dieting probably activated the problem, because the purpose of your gall bladder is to squirt out bile into the digestive sysytem to digest fat. Your gall bladder was only doing it's job, but ALAS! it is sludged up from probably years of low fat dieting. This is because when you are eating Low Fat, your gall bladder never gets called on to do it's normal function, and holds on to the bile which becomes thick and turns to stone because it is never used. Yo Yo dieters like myself went for long periods of time eating Low Fat, thinking we were doing ourselves a favor, but in my case, and now yours, I guess we were wrong. Hope this helps a little.

I work closely with two women who have had their gallbladders removed. One lost a great deal of weight over a period of a year by eating a low fat diet and exercising a lot. She swims, bikes, and runs. The other is still quite overweight (I'm guessing about 230 on a 5' frame), and has never dieted. She tells me that she is supposed to limit her fat intake now that she has no gallbladder, but every day she eats something with sour cream, often something deep-fried. So, I don't know what she considers low fat. She eats what I would consider a high fat, high carb, low protein diet.

My point is that neither of the two people in my life who have had their gallbladders out fit the rapid-weight-loss-due-to-low-carb-diet characteristic. That makes me dubious of the doctor's proclamation that Atkins dieting alone is to blame. Maybe it's simply the rapid weight loss, regardless of how it happens. I don't know. That would only explain one of my friends' situations, though.

Now, I had three kidney stones when I first started Low Carbing last year, but it's because I was consuming much more dairy and I found out that dairy is what causes the kidney stones for people in my family (Dad has them, too). I stopped eating dairy products and I don't have any kidney stones anymore. I also don't have eczema, mood swings, or gastrointestinal distress anymore since I stopped consuming dairy products. (I am taking a calcium supplement now to keep my bones solid.)

I think doing some research, like one of the previous posters did, is a good idea.

GG

Maybe low fat makes your gall bladder weak but hi fat stretches its limits.

Im not throwing out the whole medical profession because I want sausage for breakfast-I think there are risk factors we need to consider.

Thanks for bringing us your story youngdor

I had bad reflux and heartburn BEFORE Atkin's. Bad gas cramps etc... not any more

http://www.docguide.com/dg.nsf/0/B7...penDocument&f=y

That old Linus Pauling guy, he knew a thing or two. I remember reading some of his stuff and he commented on lack of Vitamin C contributing to gallstone formation

I was wondering if you took Atkins supplements during your
dieting and if you were on induction a long time? Also, did you go to extremes on the diet, i.e. only meat and eggs, etc.? Not trying to sound critical just curious since what you had was a serious condition. Glad you are better, that had to be very painful.

when i first started this diet in 2001, I only lasted 1 week due to the fact i had a gall bladder attack and had to have it removed. it wasnt atkins that caused it, but because i had gall stones and was unaware of it the high fat diet brought it to light. once i had it removed and recovered from it i did not immediatley go back on atkins i waited 9 months but only because i was lazy. My surgeon told me it was most likely caused by yo yo dieting, and not eating enough calories. once you have this condition high fat foods will aggravaite it. ive been doin atkins for just over a year now with no ill effects. Once you have fully recovered from the operation ( which is 90% day surgeory) you can eat high fat again but it is important to eat low fat food for about 2 to 3 weeks after.

Doreen has written an excellent post on gallstones that I'm plunking here in it's entirety...

Don't know if you had the chance to read my reply to your previous post about CCL and stalling (?) ... I'll try to address the gallstone problem here, though ..

First, obesity itself is a risk factor, as you know. Also, rapid weight loss can aggravate an already present gallbladder disease, usually from very low calorie, lowFAT diets. I have heard anecdotally that extremely lowFAT dieting (less than 20% of total calories from fat) will trigger gallstones --- in fact, two of my nursing colleagues who lost over 50 lbs. each developed gallstones requiring surgery within 6 months of losing their weight on a lowfat diet.

Here's what happens - the gallbladder is basically just a storage receptacle for bile, which is produced in the liver. When fat is eaten and reaches the small intestine, the gallbladder responds by contracting -- "squirting" the bile through the bile duct into the intestine to digest the fat. It's estimated that nearly 40% of us have some gallstones, but they're so tiny that they're easily flushed out with the force of the contraction or "squirt". If the diet is very low FAT, not a lot of bile is required, and the gallbag doesn't have to contract very much. This allows the acids, sterols and minerals in the bile to "pool", thus providing opportunity for the tiny, microscopic debris to accumulate and form into bigger stones. And then one day, some fat is eaten and the gallbladder tries to contract, and it can't because there's a stone lodged in there somewhere, and YEOWWWCH, pain results. Or worse scenario, the stone is freed and gets squirted into the bile duct, which then becomes blocked, and even more Pain & Agony results, as well as the risk of the bile duct rupturing, which is very serious indeed!

Now, I'm not a doctor, just a nurse, so you need to follow your physicians advice. But some general recommendations are -

Lose your weight gradually and steadily; aim for losses of no more than 1 or 2 lbs a week. In other words, keep to the upper limits of your CCL.

Eat some fat. The best thing would be to eat smaller meals, more frequently, to avoid a big load on the gallbladder. Try to avoid meals and snacks that are just carb only -- ie, have some meat or cheese with your lowcarb fruit, or some full-fat yogurt (sugar-free, of course). If you choose to eat lowcarb muffins, bread and the like, ALWAYS eat it with some fat-containing protein. If you eat a meal or snack without some fat in it, the gallbladder won't contract and flush itself out.

Your query about avoiding saturated fat is a good one. It would be better to eat less animal fat overall, choosing fish, fowl, eggs, tofu, etc more often, and red meats, cheese and cream less often. However, adding essential Omega-3 fatty acids in the form of flax or fish oils would be beneficial, and in my opinion, therapeutic for inhibiting the production of gallstones. Also olive oil, avocados, and nuts (but not peanuts, which are a legume) are highest in monounsaturates, which will have a beneficial effect on bile and cholesterol production.
On the subject of insulin-response triggered by eating artificially sweetened "legal" treats, I believe the Hellers have some comments in their "Carbohydrate Addicts" books. I think the response is indirect, in that eating a sweet-tasting food causes certain EMOTIONAL triggers, which lead to surges in neuro-hormones like serotonin, endorphins, etc..... and this sets up a cascade of physical events in the body -- like an adrenalin "rush", and this is what stimulates insulin.

Just going to add my two cents here.

My cousin began having gall bladder attacks and was told she had to have her gall bladder removed. She was about to do so because this is what the doctor said. Well, her mother (who is into naturopathy (sp?) ) was very upset and begged her to go see the naturopath. So much so that my cousin went just to shut her up!

Well, the naturopath had her drink 1 or 2 Litres (can't remember) of apple juice every day for a week. Then on the 7th day she was told to eat/drink nothing but 2 cups of olive oil all at once. (ick!)

Well apparently the acidity in the apple juice (over a week) softens gall stones and shapes them differently then the olive oil makes things come out/pass through very quickly! She passed all the stones and hasn't had a problem since. This was two years ago.

Medical science has come a long way but more and more people are discovering that the old/natural ways of doing things is better. I recommend that if you have a major health problem (like gallstones) that you see a naturopath as well as your doctor - get all information then make your own choice.

(please note that the apple juice & olive oil amounts could be wrong - I'm going from memory so don't quote me on that!)

p.s. She was dieting I think but hadn't lost a lot of weight suddenly or anything.

I need to check this out but I would think that it would require more time than a couple of months to develope gall stones. High fat may get blamed but isn't it the job of the gall bladder to digest fat? Also, if a high fat diet causes an increased risk of gall stones whouldn't a high fat diet raise the risk of high cholesterol? The gal bladder and liver share similar jobs. We have discovered that this diet helps to balance cholesterol.

This just incident raises some questions for me.

Black57