Re: To keep or not to keep the Gallbladder

[Guest guest]

Hiya Chris!

Sorry for this long (and probably over-descriptive) post, but my

gallbladder and I parted ways last year and I can't say " Good

Riddance! " enough! I figured I should at least relate my own

experience. I went on a liquid fast in 1999 and lost 95lbs. All

through the fast, I was on Actigall. I was told I could stop taking it

once I stopped the fast. I didn't recognize a connection at the

time, but as soon as I stopped taking it, I began to experience

mildly annoying cramping and infrequent diarrhea. I suspected it

had something to do with the fact that I was eating real food

again so I made some changes in my eating habits. Often, I had

diarrhea so quickly after eating that I thought it was food

poisoning.

Over the course of about six months - again, this was after I'd

lost the weight and after I'd been taking Actigall - the symptoms

went from mildly annoying to " MY GOD I'M GOING TO DIE RIGHT

HERE ON THE BATHROOM FLOOR...MY INSIDES ARE GOING

TO EXPLODE! " It was the most excruciating pain I have

ever experienced and it would last for about a day. At first, the

attacks were very infrequent, but they became more frequent as

time went on. It felt like I was constipated from my bowels up to

my neck. It felt like I was blocked...but I didn't know if that was

really what it was. I was nauseous, I couldn't stand up straight, I

couldn't lie down...I felt like someone was tightening a noose

around my intestines. It *felt* like constipation and I did spend

an awful lot of time sitting on the toilet thinking I was gonna die

there, but it would end with a rather nasty bout of diarrhea.

I honestly thought it was food poisoning or my body having some

strange reaction to something I ate. Once the attacks were over,

I felt 100%. I shrugged them off a " must be something I ate " and

didn't think about it again. It never ONCE occurred to me that it

could be my gallbladder. I'd been taking Actigall and the doc told

me that it would prevent gallstones! It wasn't until the attacks

upped in frequency to the point where I spent an entire week in

pain that I thought it had to be something else. That following

week, I happened to have an appointment with my doc for an

unrelated thing and I mentioned the attacks in passing. My doc

asked me about two questions and then wrote " gallbladder? " on

my referral form for an ultrasound. A week later, I was visiting a

surgeon to have it removed. Wham, Bam, Thank-You M'am...the

attacks stopped immediately and I felt like a total idiot for not

getting concerned earlier. (BTW, the removal of my gallbladder

had absolutely no effect on my ability to digest food. I often

wonder if Actigall just delayed the onset of my problem, rather

than prevent it.)

I can understand the " if it ain't broke, don't fix it " mentality, but

believe me when I say you do NOT want to experience a " broken "

gallbladder as a post-op! It takes an ultrasound to diagnose

gallstones and surgery to " cure " the pain immediately. I'm glad I

don't have my gallbladder because if I do get pain after my

surgery, I know what it isn't. I have the benefit of hindsight on the

gallbladder issue, but I also can't wait to say goodbye to my

appendix. Generally, we don't need either organ and ruling them

out as a potential problem as a post-op is more important to me

than wanting to keep them for any reason.

The odds are high that you already have " silent " gallstones and

scientists don't know what makes the silent ones become

symptomatic ones, but a drastic change in diet seems to do the

trick. The NIH (see below) quotes one study as saying the risk

of gallbladder disease after weight loss surgery as 38%.

For more info:

http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health/nutrit/pubs/dietgall.htm

Cheers,