Re: GallBladder- OT

[Guest guest]

At 07:36 PM 4/2/2008, you wrote:

Anyone ever have their

GallBladder removed and regret it? Why did you need to have it removed in

the first place? Did it make IBS/IBD worse after

removing?

Jodi,

Well, as you may recall, I had my gallbladder removed and started

SCD at the same time. (I'd been edging into it since September, but

wasn't 100% until after the surgery.)

I needed to have it removed because it was clogged with stones. I

actually have a triple-sized laparoscopic incision because one of the

stones was, according to the surgeon, about the size of a golf

ball.

It was affecting my liver -- I had turned vivid yellow. (And yellow

eyeballs on a blue-eyed person is a startling combination.) The liver

enzymes were extremely high, and created weeping sores all over my body.

(I still have a number of the scars from it.) Surgeon never told me

beforehand, but afterwards, he told me that the enzymes were so high he

fully expected to find end-stage liver cancer. (He obviously

didn't.)

Now, many people find they have to go to a low fat diet after gallbladder

surgery. SCD can be, but is frequently not low fat. I actually find now

that I require a certain amount of fat on a daily basis or I get cramps

up under my rib cage on the right side.

When your liver & etc. produces digestive enzymes, it normally stores

them in the gallbladder. Then when you eat something with some fat, it

squirts some of the enzymes into the digestive tract to take care of

it. Ironically, according to my surgeon, the modern emphasis on low

fat diets has created an epidemic of gallbladder issues because the

gallbladder doesn't get " exercised " as often as it should, and

the digestive juices solidify into stones, which necessitates the removal

of the gallbladder.

Apparently, after the removal of the gallbladder, the liver & etc.

just drip their juices into the digestive tracts at a steady rate. No

sudden squirt (because the storage bulb, aka gallbladder is

gone.)

So people who consume a quantity of fat may have trouble digesting it if

their systems aren't producing adequate enzymes. For myself, I've never

had trouble with a bit of extra fat because a fair percentage of my

calories come from fat. Other folks can't handle that level of fat, for

one reason or another.

Do I regret having it out? Well, surgery and I don't get along, and I

object to losing important body parts. But I was extremely ill, and it

wasn't getting any better. Once I came out from under the anesthesia (I

spent 2-3 weeks doing a lot of sleeping, but that may have been

multifold: detox from SCD, detox from the anesthesia, and detox as my

poor kidneys worked overtime to eliminate the sky-high liver enzymes.

Phewww did my urine stink!), I recovered pretty quickly.

And up until now, I can't say that I've had regrets. (I'm having a very

bad bout of terror at the thought of a minimum of a week in hospital and

everything that is going to be done to me. I know the NOT having it is

ultimately worse, but I'm still pretty freaky just now.)

I think the major emotion over something like this is, " How can my

body have betrayed me like this? "

—

Marilyn

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund

[Guest guest]

Marilyn,

What a story! Thanks for sharing with me.

Jodi

> Well, as you may recall, I had my gallbladder

> removed and started SCD at the same time. (I'd