Hi

I am new to this forum and the Atkin's diet. I have to go on this diet for 2 months per surgeon's orders. I am on induction plan and have been very faithful for 11 days now. The last 2 days I had severe pain on right side under ribs. Saw my doc and he said my gallbladder is inflamed and I will have to go off this diet for a few days and rest. Then he will re-evaluate. I am bummed. The first week was so hard for me to give up breads and sugars... now that I am in second week I don't have those cravings... and I hate to go back!

I have lost 27 pounds in 11 days! This is almost too good to be true till this gall bladder thing came up.

Does anyone have suggestions on what else I could do other than give up this diet?

Hi Kachina!

Sorry to hear that you're not feeling well! You could try backing off on the fat a bit and see if that helps. Of course, that may mean that you feel a bit hungrier but it will also give your gallbladder a chance to rest.
When your gallbladder hasn't been used much for a long time as it often is with low fat diets, it can sometimes act up when you go back to eating fats again. Please note; it's not the fat content of the diet that is causing your gallbladder problems (they were likely already there) but are now making you aware of the problem.

I appreciate your response. I wonder how much this doc understands a protien diet. He wasn't the one who put me on this. I think I will do as y ou suggested and just cut back a bit on the fats and wait to talk to surgeon. I have never had such success before and I sure hate to mess it up now.

Kachina...this just jumped out at me when I came back and re-read this thread. Are you sure that's correct? That's astonishingly fast weight loss at a rate of almost 2 1/2 pounds a day. You might want to increase your carbs a bit now instead of waiting until the full 14 days is up along with decreasing the fat content to slow things down a little. Weight loss that rapid is hard on your body and could also be contributing to your gallbladder problems.
I know it's tempting to let your body keep losing at that pace, but it's really not in your best interest, healthwise, to do so.

Hey, Kachina-

I concur with the other answers, but will add a bit. They are right, the gall bladder irritation was already there, and could have developed from many years of low-fat eating-a real bummer for you!

Have you read any of Dr. Atkins' books or consulted his website? They both offer help for those with gallbaldder issues. It's not an easy thing for a gallbladder patient to do low-carb (I know, I have a co-worker with severe gallbladder issues), but you could definitely try decreasing your fat a bit. The actual function of the gallbladder is only to process fat-it has no other job than that.

If you can get a doctor to agree to it, you could also have your stones dissoved non-surgically instead of having outright surgery. If you do that and resume eating some fat, your gallbladder might respond better...

Anyway, good luck, and congrats on your early loss!

If you had gallstones and passed one, yes I know there would be pain, but once it's out of the gallbladder, where does it go from there and if it's big enough can it get stuck somewhere else or does it dissolve?

Liz

Hi Liz,

Gallstones don't dissolve, alas. If they leave the gall bladder, they tend to get stuck in the common bile duct - causing very severe pain known as biliary colic.

I have seen people attempt various "recipes" for passing the stones - definitely not advisable! The stones are usually sharp edged and can cause all sorts of serious problems.

Kachina, I agree with LisaN that lowering your fat intake for a while may help.

I hope you are feeling better, soon.

Rosebud

Rose, Thanks for the info. Had an INTENSE sharp pain for a minute or two just under the bottom of my right rib cage the other day. Had just read the part of Atkins about the gallbladder and figured that's what it was. Don't know if it was a stone or the ole GB had just been nonfunctioning for too long. Had a much milder discomfort in the same area the next day, but other than those two nothing. If I hadn't just read about the GB I probably would have thought it was a horrible muscle cramp. I'll keep an eye on it.

Liz

Just adding my 2 cents.

First of all let me agree... higher fat diets do set off gallbladder attacks, but are not usually the cause. Often a bad gallbladder is inherited. Yo-yo dieting seems to encourage it's sickness. More often than not, it is just much simpler to get it removed rather than take medication and hope for the best.

Second, Rosebud is right. Stones do not dissolve. They can cause all sorts of damage to your biliary duct. And if they block your duct completely will inevitably create a back up of bile into your liver which will damage it and if left untreated will eventually cause your liver to fail.

Scary stuff.

Here is a link to my story... http://www.epinions.com/content_24430349956

I hate that it is scary, but hope that it helps people not have to go through what I did. Had I just had my gallbladder out sooner....

I can empathize with you, as I suffered from severe gallbladder problems. I would have attacks towards the end, 1-2 times per week, and was critically close to becoming disabled because of it.

I would rather give birth to a baby than to *ever* experience biliary colic again. No joke. You will think you are dying, and for the period of time, usually 30-45 minutes it lasts, will wish you could. Any doctor or nurse will tell you, biliary/pancreatic pain, is the *worst pain* you will ever experience.

Some of the symtoms you may experience is a sudden onset of nausea, followed by a drenching sweat, maybe a sense of impending doom. Within mere minutes, you may vomit, feel weak, and experience a horrible searing pain under the breast bone above the naval, or under the ribs on the right. The pain can radiate to the right shoulder, and the center of the back. You may then have diarrhea, and the pain will be very severe with almost shockingly painful waves of pain every few seconds. You may pant, and wish to sit up, leaning forward to guard the pain.

The pain can be so severe it is disorienting, and towards the end of the attack, you will most likely not be able to stand. You will have the urge to call 911.

Most attacks have a precurser period where you will have a day or two of constipation, as if your intestines come to a standstill, with bloating, gas, and discomfort, as well as a loss of appetite. I was misdiagnosed many, many times as having food poisoning or "intestinal flu".

If you notice anything resembling bruising near your naval or around the left ribs, call 911 immediately, or get someone to take you to the emergency room. Attacks can come on any time from 12-24 hours after you eat.

If you experience an attack, full blown, and it does not dissipate within an hour or so, go to the emergency room, you may have a stone blocking the bile duct or stuck in the biliary tract. I never had stones, sludge, or any of the other problems, it was plain inflamation, cause unknown. My GB had an ejection fraction of only 14%, normal is 35% or more. (It was carbs/sugar/protein - believe it or not!) My GB was destroying itself.

Ask your doctor for a small prescrition of hydrocodone (if you can take it-codeine), perhaps 6 pills or so, to keep on hand in case such an attack happens. I found if you are alert to the symtoms of an impending attack, you can predose yourself and head off the most severe part. Then, call your doctor. Don't play with this, don't wait.

After my attacks, I would have abdominal tenderness which felt much like being bruised, for up to two weeks post attack. This was from my ribs to my pubic bone, side to side, with a more tender area right in the center of my abdomen between the breastbone and naval. I didn't even feel the pain under my ribs until I went to the hospital by ambulance Christmas Eve, 1997, and the doctor pushed on it. After many more attacks, it was removed in 1998.

I also had my GB problems after living a low fat diet for many years. After my surgery to have it removed, it was not until Atkins that my bowel situation corrected itself. I experienced multiple problems, including chronic pancreatitis because the inflamation spread from the GB to the rest of my biliary tract. The constant irritant of the bile along my duodenum caused severe ulceration and a problem with pancreatic sphincters. The course of the disease was over many years. Imagine my surprise when, after having my GB removed, 2 weeks post op, I had another attack. The symptoms were identical to GB attacks, but this time, it was pancreatitis, which was exhausted from carbs and sugar, overworked and wearing itself out. Of course, it took me till this year to discover this! Starting Atkins was a huge leap of faith for me.

For many people, low fat is a definite problem causing WOE in the long run. Look for trigger foods. For some it is cream, chocolate, fried foods. Your trigger foods will have been eaten 12-24 hours before the pain. Experiment with eliminating them, to see how you tolerate it. You may even discover you crave your trigger foods. I found mine were protein (chicken, steak) and chocolate. When I removed the carbs, it all vanished, and I can eat protein and chocolate fear free. Add the carbs and bingo, back to the ER.

If you have an attack, go on liquids for a day, then slowly add in softer foods until you can see the doctor.

Good luck.


Attack free since January 4th, 2003

I'm so sorry for what the two of you have been through. I'm lucky that I've never had a major weight problem. 25 lbs is really the most I've been over my ideal weight. So I've never really had severe yo-yo dieting. I was vegetarian for 6 months once. And the last time I was up to 150 I was more hi carb and low fat. I think in my over zealousness with this new WOE I ate too many fats too fast. The only attack (with the horrible pain & can't more or breathe) happened after I added almonds, dried coconut & olive oil dressing every day. I've had three other twinges but nothing like the first one. And every time one happens 16 hrs later my stool is green. I think cutting back on the fat will fix my problem, more protein instead. The poor thing's just been sitting there with all the low-fat crap I used to eat!! I just tried to start it back up too fast. Never had a problem with it before.

Hope you're both doing well now. Liz