Abdominal Pain after fatty foods-Post gallbladder removal

[olsonkl]

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!!!

[marlow]

I don't think I'd put my experience of having the gallbladder removed as 'nothing to it'. From my pain first starting, I was admitted to hospital six months later, having visited my doctor 7 times & him precribing antacid pills telling me i just had acid.
I had my gallbladder removed and was fitted with a drain to drain the fluid from the site. This stopped working within hours of surgery.  After 4 days of crying in pain, the surgeon visited me on the ward and instructed the consultant to get me for a scan URGENT. Upon returning to the ward I was told the fluid was all in my stomach & if it wasn;t gotten out straight away, I would be dead by the end of the day.  Straight back to theatre I went.
I was in hospital for 15 days from start to finish and 4 years later I am still in pain and have constant diarhea. I have been for yet another ultrasound scan this morning and will let you know when I get the results. I just wonder, if the drain had worked properly, would I be in this state now????? Any ideas????

[dn]

i am 27 years old.  i just had my gallbladder removed last september.  at that time i had just turned 27.  i suffered with what i thought was just intergestion.  this went on for about a year to a year and a half.  as the time went by, it got worse.  the night of my last attack, right before my surgery, once again i just thought i needed maalox.  in porevious attacks the maalox would work.  this night nothing worked.  in the same night, 3 hours apart, i tried maalox, tums, digel, rolaids, liquid maalox, and one other one.  nothing worked.  then i knew that something was wrong.  years ago my dad had his gallbladder removed.  this was the time before the laser.  i knew what he went through.  the first thing that came to my mind was the i was having gallbladder attacks.  i went to the doctor.  he sent me for an ultrasound and sure enough, i had gallstones.  i had quite a few.  two weeks later i had my surgery,  i had it done my laser as a smae day surgery.  there was nothing to it.  this was my first surgery.  i still have my tonsils, have never broken a bone in my whole life, and i have never had stitches.  i was afraid, but, after it was all done, there was nothing to it.  i was up and moving around right after i woke up from surgery.  it felt like i just did too many sit ups. there was nothing to it.  if you have trouble with gallbaldder attacks the best thing to do is to get it taken out.  i read about all the treatments that you can do besides the surgery (the ones that are supposed to just clean it out).  that is such bull.  there is a bad catch to doing that.  i talked to a friend of mine.  a friend of his left his go and they started to poison his entire system.  he had to get an emergency surgery because his gallbladder was so inflammed and infected, gang green started to set in.  that is not good.  if that happens and if one of the stones does happen to get loose into your system, you are in even bigger trouble.  overall the best thing is to just get the gallbladder taken out.  there is nothing to it.

[purplekat]

Thank you for your advise, I only wish I would have known what I know now before I had the surgery.  I hope your posting is helpful to others!

[browniee]

Has anyone tried using supplements to help dissolve or relieve some of their symptoms (before gall bladder surgery)? I've read that peppermint oil tablets, milk thistle, lecithin, vitamin E and C are supposed to help. Has anyone tried using any of these supplements? If so, did they work?

[KathyS]

Browniee and others -- I had a lap chole in July of last year.  I had the same symptoms mentioned above, cramping and sudden "explosive" diahhrea shortly after eating, especially following a meal higher in fat than my normal.  I also had to watch what I ate and modify my diet, cutting down on things such as ice cream, rich sauces, etc.  Fortunately, this passed after about five months.  I slowly regained the ability to eat and drink the same types of food as I did before the surgery.  Maybe in time some of those who posted above as having these symptoms will see that the symptoms dimenish also.  Browniee, as far as the surgery itself, I have to say it was very easy.  I spent one night in the hospital (only because my gallbladder removal was deemed an "emergency" and was performed in the late afternoon) and I was back at work just two days after that.  I was lucky to have had a laproscopic procedure.  Good luck with your decision and I hope you fare well and don't experience these other gastric complications.  Remember that it's usually the people with poor results and complications that come here for advice and support ... few of those with excellent surgical outcomes feel the need to post about it.  Take care!

[browniee]

Hello everyone,
I've been having gall bladder attacks since December of last year. I've done about 3, or 4 gall bladder flushes (olive oil, lemon juice, apple juice, grapefruit juice), and I've passed some stones. I've had one sonogram done back in April, and when I had another one done yesterday, I had about the same amount or more stones (gall bladder is about 1/3 full). I have made an appointment for surgery, but I still think there's something else I can do besides having one of my organs cut out. I am also well aware of the side effects (loose bowels, gas...etc...) that can follow having the gall bladder removed. Does anybody have any ideas about what I can do besides surgery? Has anyone here ever gone to a natural/alternative health care doctor?For those who opted for surgery, do you regret your decision? HELP!!!!!!!!!!!