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Abdominal Pain after fatty foods-Post gallbladder removal
I am a 33 year old female, and I just had my second child 6 months ago. I had my first painful attack of severe epigastric pain (presumed to be a gallbladder) attack about 2 months ago (which was 4 months after my birth of my second child). At the time of the attack, I went to the ER where I had sonogram and blood work taken. However everything seemed normal. Upon leaving ER, tentatively diagnosed with Gastritis, however GI cocktail did not stop the pain. Since this time, I went to see a gasteroenterologist, he tentatively diagnosed me with gallbladder problems and ordered a CCK HIDA scan. The HIDA scan an revealed a gallbladder ejection fraction of 22%. Based on the ejection fraction, the Dr indicated my gallbladder was bad and instructed me to contact a surgeon to have it removed. I had my gallbladder removed a couple of weeks later. Prior to my surgery, I did not have any more episodes of pain. However, I did note I was unable to properly digest fats, symptoms included: Nausea, gurgling of stomach & diarrhea. Therefore, remained on a minimal fat diet until surgery was performed. Pathology from my cholecystectomy indicated my gallbladder had chronic inflammation of the gallbladder and think yellow-green bile. After the surgery my ability to digest fats properly seemed to get worse. My symptoms included a more severe case of a gurgling of stomach and severe diarrhea after ingestion of fatty substances. In order to get around this problem, I resorted to elimination of fats from my diet, although I still had a few problems with diarrhea and GI indigestion. My doctor also prescribed Colestid and Metamucil, and this seemed to also help, but the problem did not go away if I ate very fatty foods. I have had an MRI and an ERCP (where they were specifically looking for a choledochal cyst). It turns out I do not have a choledochal cyst, but I am not sure they were looking for other problems that are related to my other GI issues. Now, about 2 months post gallbladder surgery and 2 weeks after the ERCP, I had my second episode of severe epigastric pain after eating the chicken (not the skin) from fried chicken. I again went to the ER where they ran blood tests and gave my the GI cocktail, again nothing worked (but pain meds) and did not see anything unusual in my bloodwork. My question to you is, what else could be causing this epigastric pain? Is it possible it could be pancreatitis or IBS? Would this have been evident in the ERCP, even if they were not specifically looking for it? (I think they may have only been focused on the bile duct) What is causing this fat indigestion? Is this normal post gallbladder surgery, what else could it be? Can you suggest any addition tests I could have done to rule out other problems? Thank you in advance for your help!!!
Hello everyone, I came by this site researching doing the Atkins diet without a gallbladder.
I had my gallbladder out in '96 after years of chronic problems that had made life really awful for me. I was 23 at the time, and I had terrible pains in my shoulders which at the time I thought was bursitis. I had gotten cortisone shots and was considering surgery, I was nearly disabled. I had no idea that the problem was related to my gallbladder. In fact, at the time I didn't even know what a gallbladder was! I started having random episodes of stomach pain. It wasn't always after eating. I associated it with drinking diet drinks sweetened with aspartame, for lack of a better theory. I was on a diet at the time called Nutri-System and had lost 20 pounds. I had always been forty-odd pounds overweight and since high school had always been on some crash diet. The stomach pain came and went, as did the shoulder and upper back pain, and I just dealt with it and thought I would have to deal with it the rest of my life. Then I got married and the stomach pain got worse. I remember one night we ate fondue and I thought I was going to die! I still didn't see a doctor about it since I thought it was just a result of being overweight and eating the wrong things; and I was tired of being told to lose weight when I had tried and tried and couldn't. My doctor finally did do some tests to see if I had ulcers, and it turned out that I had a hiatal hernia, and I thought that explained it. I was given lots of tagamet and cimetidine (prescription antacids) and thought that would take care of the problem. But it didn't. It got worse. One day I was in so much pain I thought maybe I had pancreatitis or something. I read on the internet that people can die from that so I went to the ER. They did an ultrasound and found a big fat gallstone about the size of a robin's egg lodged into my gallbladder. I didn't hesitate to get my gallbladder out. It was infected, and my liver was affected by it. I should have had it out long before.
The procedure was laproscopic, and I had very little pain afterwards. For about two weeks my muscles were sore, but I recovered well and I have not had any problems since then. I have been taking a supplement that contains ox bile (I know it sounds gross!) I got from a nutritionist. Basically, he explained that the gallbladder provids an extra squirt on demand of bile when you need it, which is when you eat fat. I'm supposed to take the supplement with each meal. I did it for awhile, but I don't like taking supplements in general and so I don't always take it. But I'm still okay. I don't really notice any digestive issues, and all my shoulder and upper back pain is gone.
I've discovered the Atkins diet, which I think I actually have a prayer of staying on, but I was curious as to whether not having a gallbladder would slow down weight loss. Has anyone else noticed this? If the fat just goes "right on through" then the body might think it's not getting enough fat and it seems like that would skew the carb/fat ratio Atkins talks about. Maybe eating small amounts of fat throughout the day might help?
I don't regret having my gallbladder out at all, in fact I regret not having it out sooner. Actually, what I regret the most is the misinformation I got when younger about low fat dieting. There were times when I ate absolutely NO FAT for WEEKS and did not lose weight-- in fact I gained some! Although I felt like I was STARVING TO DEATH! If I were more paranoid I would think the whole lowfat diet thing was a plot invented by skinny people to torment those of us unfortunate enough to be genetically predisposed to putting on pounds.
So far, I've been on Atkins for 3 weeks, and I've only lost 8 lbs. I'm just wondering if it's been slow because of my gallbladder.
I had my gallbladder out in '96 after years of chronic problems that had made life really awful for me. I was 23 at the time, and I had terrible pains in my shoulders which at the time I thought was bursitis. I had gotten cortisone shots and was considering surgery, I was nearly disabled. I had no idea that the problem was related to my gallbladder. In fact, at the time I didn't even know what a gallbladder was! I started having random episodes of stomach pain. It wasn't always after eating. I associated it with drinking diet drinks sweetened with aspartame, for lack of a better theory. I was on a diet at the time called Nutri-System and had lost 20 pounds. I had always been forty-odd pounds overweight and since high school had always been on some crash diet. The stomach pain came and went, as did the shoulder and upper back pain, and I just dealt with it and thought I would have to deal with it the rest of my life. Then I got married and the stomach pain got worse. I remember one night we ate fondue and I thought I was going to die! I still didn't see a doctor about it since I thought it was just a result of being overweight and eating the wrong things; and I was tired of being told to lose weight when I had tried and tried and couldn't. My doctor finally did do some tests to see if I had ulcers, and it turned out that I had a hiatal hernia, and I thought that explained it. I was given lots of tagamet and cimetidine (prescription antacids) and thought that would take care of the problem. But it didn't. It got worse. One day I was in so much pain I thought maybe I had pancreatitis or something. I read on the internet that people can die from that so I went to the ER. They did an ultrasound and found a big fat gallstone about the size of a robin's egg lodged into my gallbladder. I didn't hesitate to get my gallbladder out. It was infected, and my liver was affected by it. I should have had it out long before.
The procedure was laproscopic, and I had very little pain afterwards. For about two weeks my muscles were sore, but I recovered well and I have not had any problems since then. I have been taking a supplement that contains ox bile (I know it sounds gross!) I got from a nutritionist. Basically, he explained that the gallbladder provids an extra squirt on demand of bile when you need it, which is when you eat fat. I'm supposed to take the supplement with each meal. I did it for awhile, but I don't like taking supplements in general and so I don't always take it. But I'm still okay. I don't really notice any digestive issues, and all my shoulder and upper back pain is gone.
I've discovered the Atkins diet, which I think I actually have a prayer of staying on, but I was curious as to whether not having a gallbladder would slow down weight loss. Has anyone else noticed this? If the fat just goes "right on through" then the body might think it's not getting enough fat and it seems like that would skew the carb/fat ratio Atkins talks about. Maybe eating small amounts of fat throughout the day might help?
I don't regret having my gallbladder out at all, in fact I regret not having it out sooner. Actually, what I regret the most is the misinformation I got when younger about low fat dieting. There were times when I ate absolutely NO FAT for WEEKS and did not lose weight-- in fact I gained some! Although I felt like I was STARVING TO DEATH! If I were more paranoid I would think the whole lowfat diet thing was a plot invented by skinny people to torment those of us unfortunate enough to be genetically predisposed to putting on pounds.
So far, I've been on Atkins for 3 weeks, and I've only lost 8 lbs. I'm just wondering if it's been slow because of my gallbladder.
Hi everyone. I am just baffled by how many people have the very same symptoms post gallbladder removal and do not have the answers they need in order to feel better. I too have had my gallbladder removed... when I was 21. It was weird-- I didn't have any "attacks" or pain, I just couldn't evacuate any food for a period of 2 months.
Anyway, I was treated for everything but the gallbladder then finally, on a whim, the doctor mentioned having my gallbladder checked out. Sure enough, the scan and tests prescribed revealed a diseased gallbladder....
4 years later, food digestion is still strange. I have gone from craving and only eating potatoes to craving FAT to feeling bloated after almost every meal. There is not a day that goes by that I don't have discomfort after eating.
As of this summer, undergoing a lot of stress, my stomach became agitated and lead me to begin a new diet. One thing that has helped me is eating every couple of hours and very small meals. Luna bars are my favorite and are gluten free, dairy free which make digestion easier. High water consumption and eating low amounts of carbohydrates helps, also...low fat. I also have been trying to put back the "good" bacteria in my stomach (acidophilus & metagreens-oasis product).
Maybe these things will help... and I wish you all better health.
Anyway, I was treated for everything but the gallbladder then finally, on a whim, the doctor mentioned having my gallbladder checked out. Sure enough, the scan and tests prescribed revealed a diseased gallbladder....
4 years later, food digestion is still strange. I have gone from craving and only eating potatoes to craving FAT to feeling bloated after almost every meal. There is not a day that goes by that I don't have discomfort after eating.
As of this summer, undergoing a lot of stress, my stomach became agitated and lead me to begin a new diet. One thing that has helped me is eating every couple of hours and very small meals. Luna bars are my favorite and are gluten free, dairy free which make digestion easier. High water consumption and eating low amounts of carbohydrates helps, also...low fat. I also have been trying to put back the "good" bacteria in my stomach (acidophilus & metagreens-oasis product).
Maybe these things will help... and I wish you all better health.
Hi everyone. I am just baffled by how many people have the very same symptoms post gallbladder removal and do not have the answers they need in order to feel better. I too have had my gallbladder removed... when I was 21. It was weird-- I didn't have any "attacks" or pain, I just couldn't evacuate any food for a period of 2 months.
Anyway, I was treated for everything but the gallbladder then finally, on a whim, the doctor mentioned having my gallbladder checked out. Sure enough, the scan and tests prescribed revealed a diseased gallbladder....
4 years later, food digestion is still strange. I have gone from craving and only eating potatoes to craving FAT to feeling bloated after almost every meal. There is not a day that goes by that I don't have discomfort after eating.
As of this summer, undergoing a lot of stress, my stomach became agitated and lead me to begin a new diet. One thing that has helped me is eating every couple of hours and very small meals. Luna bars are my favorite and are gluten free, dairy free which make digestion easier. High water consumption and eating low amounts of carbohydrates helps, also...low fat. I also have been trying to put back the "good" bacteria in my stomach (acidophilus & metagreens-oasis product).
Maybe these things will help... and I wish you all better health.
Anyway, I was treated for everything but the gallbladder then finally, on a whim, the doctor mentioned having my gallbladder checked out. Sure enough, the scan and tests prescribed revealed a diseased gallbladder....
4 years later, food digestion is still strange. I have gone from craving and only eating potatoes to craving FAT to feeling bloated after almost every meal. There is not a day that goes by that I don't have discomfort after eating.
As of this summer, undergoing a lot of stress, my stomach became agitated and lead me to begin a new diet. One thing that has helped me is eating every couple of hours and very small meals. Luna bars are my favorite and are gluten free, dairy free which make digestion easier. High water consumption and eating low amounts of carbohydrates helps, also...low fat. I also have been trying to put back the "good" bacteria in my stomach (acidophilus & metagreens-oasis product).
Maybe these things will help... and I wish you all better health.
Hi everyone. I am just baffled by how many people have the very same symptoms post gallbladder removal and do not have the answers they need in order to feel better. I too have had my gallbladder removed... when I was 21. It was weird-- I didn't have any "attacks" or pain, I just couldn't evacuate any food for a period of 2 months.
Anyway, I was treated for everything but the gallbladder then finally, on a whim, the doctor mentioned having my gallbladder checked out. Sure enough, the scan and tests prescribed revealed a diseased gallbladder....
4 years later, food digestion is still strange. I have gone from craving and only eating potatoes to craving FAT to feeling bloated after almost every meal. There is not a day that goes by that I don't have discomfort after eating.
As of this summer, undergoing a lot of stress, my stomach became agitated and lead me to begin a new diet. One thing that has helped me is eating every couple of hours and very small meals. Luna bars are my favorite and are gluten free, dairy free which make digestion easier. High water consumption and eating low amounts of carbohydrates helps, also...low fat. I also have been trying to put back the "good" bacteria in my stomach (acidophilus & metagreens-oasis product).
Maybe these things will help... and I wish you all better health.
Anyway, I was treated for everything but the gallbladder then finally, on a whim, the doctor mentioned having my gallbladder checked out. Sure enough, the scan and tests prescribed revealed a diseased gallbladder....
4 years later, food digestion is still strange. I have gone from craving and only eating potatoes to craving FAT to feeling bloated after almost every meal. There is not a day that goes by that I don't have discomfort after eating.
As of this summer, undergoing a lot of stress, my stomach became agitated and lead me to begin a new diet. One thing that has helped me is eating every couple of hours and very small meals. Luna bars are my favorite and are gluten free, dairy free which make digestion easier. High water consumption and eating low amounts of carbohydrates helps, also...low fat. I also have been trying to put back the "good" bacteria in my stomach (acidophilus & metagreens-oasis product).
Maybe these things will help... and I wish you all better health.
Hi everyone. I am just baffled by how many people have the very same symptoms post gallbladder removal and do not have the answers they need in order to feel better. I too have had my gallbladder removed... when I was 21. It was weird-- I didn't have any "attacks" or pain, I just couldn't evacuate any food for a period of 2 months.
Anyway, I was treated for everything but the gallbladder then finally, on a whim, the doctor mentioned having my gallbladder checked out. Sure enough, the scan and tests prescribed revealed a diseased gallbladder....
4 years later, food digestion is still strange. I have gone from craving and only eating potatoes to craving FAT to feeling bloated after almost every meal. There is not a day that goes by that I don't have discomfort after eating.
As of this summer, undergoing a lot of stress, my stomach became agitated and lead me to begin a new diet. One thing that has helped me is eating every couple of hours and very small meals. Luna bars are my favorite and are gluten free, dairy free which make digestion easier. High water consumption and eating low amounts of carbohydrates helps, also...low fat. I also have been trying to put back the "good" bacteria in my stomach (acidophilus & metagreens-oasis product).
Maybe these things will help... and I wish you all better health.
Anyway, I was treated for everything but the gallbladder then finally, on a whim, the doctor mentioned having my gallbladder checked out. Sure enough, the scan and tests prescribed revealed a diseased gallbladder....
4 years later, food digestion is still strange. I have gone from craving and only eating potatoes to craving FAT to feeling bloated after almost every meal. There is not a day that goes by that I don't have discomfort after eating.
As of this summer, undergoing a lot of stress, my stomach became agitated and lead me to begin a new diet. One thing that has helped me is eating every couple of hours and very small meals. Luna bars are my favorite and are gluten free, dairy free which make digestion easier. High water consumption and eating low amounts of carbohydrates helps, also...low fat. I also have been trying to put back the "good" bacteria in my stomach (acidophilus & metagreens-oasis product).
Maybe these things will help... and I wish you all better health.
Hi everyone. I am just baffled by how many people have the very same symptoms post gallbladder removal and do not have the answers they need in order to feel better. I too have had my gallbladder removed... when I was 21. It was weird-- I didn't have any "attacks" or pain, I just couldn't evacuate any food for a period of 2 months.
Anyway, I was treated for everything but the gallbladder then finally, on a whim, the doctor mentioned having my gallbladder checked out. Sure enough, the scan and tests prescribed revealed a diseased gallbladder....
4 years later, food digestion is still strange. I have gone from craving and only eating potatoes to craving FAT to feeling bloated after almost every meal. There is not a day that goes by that I don't have discomfort after eating.
As of this summer, undergoing a lot of stress, my stomach became agitated and lead me to begin a new diet. One thing that has helped me is eating every couple of hours and very small meals. Luna bars are my favorite and are gluten free, dairy free which make digestion easier. High water consumption and eating low amounts of carbohydrates helps, also...low fat. I also have been trying to put back the "good" bacteria in my stomach (acidophilus & metagreens-oasis product).
Maybe these things will help... and I wish you all better health.
Anyway, I was treated for everything but the gallbladder then finally, on a whim, the doctor mentioned having my gallbladder checked out. Sure enough, the scan and tests prescribed revealed a diseased gallbladder....
4 years later, food digestion is still strange. I have gone from craving and only eating potatoes to craving FAT to feeling bloated after almost every meal. There is not a day that goes by that I don't have discomfort after eating.
As of this summer, undergoing a lot of stress, my stomach became agitated and lead me to begin a new diet. One thing that has helped me is eating every couple of hours and very small meals. Luna bars are my favorite and are gluten free, dairy free which make digestion easier. High water consumption and eating low amounts of carbohydrates helps, also...low fat. I also have been trying to put back the "good" bacteria in my stomach (acidophilus & metagreens-oasis product).
Maybe these things will help... and I wish you all better health.
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