Too much bile?

[SuperMomOfTwo]

In 2005 I had my gallbladder removed, never had stones, just a very diseased gallbladder. This year I was hospitalized with severe pain (they thought it was my gallbladder until I told them I didn’t have one).  Turned out after a week they finally did something I remember them calling it a “Sphynxectomy”, where they cut the muscle that controls the flow of bile through the bile duct. I was told I had billary sludge and may have had a gall stone in there when I first came to the hospital and that this minor surgery would fix that, allowing everything to free-flow through.

In the meantime, over the past year I’ve also had lots of diarrhea, very yellow fluid.  I have heard, and been given the impression, it could be over production of bile, but my doctor quickly dismissed it. He eventually diagnosed me as having IBS (which I hear sometimes can be “I don’t know what’s wrong with your digestive system so let’s call it IBS”.  I’ve tried a pill to stop spasms of my intestine, that didn’t do anything for me. He then prescribed a new pill for the same thing, only for me to find out from the pharmacy that that pill isn’t even made anymore (yes, I’ve lost confidence in my dr.)

I’ve been doing more of my own research into this whole problem, as I’m getting very tired of always having to make sure I know where the nearest bathroom is, and its to the point where I don’t want to eat if I know I have a work meeting after lunch for fear of having to leave the meeting. So I’ve found a few interesting things, like estrogen can reduce the production of bile (is this true, I was on birth control for a while, and I was actually a little better). I’ve also heard there are pills to lower the production of bile, but then I read into it and they are cholesterol reducing pills which reduce the re-absorption of the bile, and reduce diarrhea.  I’m confused.

Any dr’s out there with any information, or any other websites which have info on this specific problem (possibly bile overproduction)?? Thanks!!!!!!

[Robbb3]

I took Colestid and it seemed to help but gave me heartburn. Started to take Pepcid with it and eventually noticed that just the Pepcid helped a great deal and that is all I currently take.  Works most of the time for me and is over the counter.

[ed4483]

I had my gallbladder out a few years ago and experienced the exact same symptoms afterwards. Bad diarrhea every time I ate. I actually lost about 30 lbs because I was too afraid to eat especially before and during work. I would wait to eat anything until I got home because i knew It was going to be bad news about 15 minutes after. Anyway, The Dr. prescribed Cholestyramine. Its a pwder packed you add to water before eating. I mix about half a small packet in water every morning before I begin the day and 95% of the time I am absolutely fine now. My Dr. said I would probably use this medicine the rest of my life. I am totally fine with that. It was an absolute miracle from God when i started taking this. I finally felt normal again.

[Aly_set]

Wow! same for me but after taking the powder for 4 years I am with severe rocesa and vatamin deficien because a dr told me it works great for binding the acid and food it also does not allow vitamin absorbed to the body from the food because it just bulks everything up... I am desperate as of now!! I have tried many natural ways after he told me that with no results I am interested to see how long have you been taking it?

[ineedhelppain]

Sorry about all that you have been through. You say you have constricted bile ducts did that show up in an imaging test? If so which one? Thanks

[justsharinginfo]

My doctor put me on Pristiq to slow the production of bile and it has worked. I have suffered from IBS?! or overactive Bile since 1992 and Pristiq keeps things under control. I still have to watch how much acidic foods and/or spicy foods, but daily living is much better. Fried foods are a no-no. I hate being on Pristiq as you can not just stop it when you want, but it does help my stomach and I do not need a map of restrooms.

[justsharinginfo]

My doctor put me on Pristiq to slow the production of bile and it has worked. I have suffered from IBS?! or overactive Bile since 1992 and Pristiq keeps things under control. I still have to watch how much acidic foods and/or spicy foods, but daily living is much better. Fried foods are a no-no. I hate being on Pristiq as you can not just stop it when you want, but it does help my stomach and I do not need a map of restrooms.

[scubaOR]

I started out with the bile burps.  Burps meant that an attach was coming.  I would have bad bile breath and burps and then came the diarrhea.  The last solid stool and then the rest came out violent and spraying.  I would also be nauseous and vomiting on some attached but not all.  What also made these attaches interesting was that they occurred approximately every three weeks and usually began at night/early morning.  I at first thought I was having food poisoning but then when it began to repeat I thought later that I was having a pork sensitivity as that seemed possible but nope through trials I proved that wrong.  Then I learned I had a diseased gall bladder and had it removed.  The attacks continued post surgery.  I was told by a doctor to eat better.  Some tested me for lactose sensitivity.  I can eat cheese by the pound without issues.  Again my attaches are cyclical.  Then later I was diagnosed with cryptosporidium.  That is interesting is that the life cycle of cypto is about 3 weeks and my body was trying to purge itself of the parasite.  After treatment I still had attaches.  I learned that maybe I would need another round, which the doctor would not give.  I later changed doctors and he gave me another round.  I had at that point can cameras up my butt, down my throat, intestines imaged with barium, and later a CAT scan and physically all looks okay from what they have looked at.  Lately I have thought maybe I have had attaches so long that my body cannot shut itself off of these attaches.  So my doctor gave me Desipramine as a way to try turning down the volume and help my body to stop the attaches; in other words this might at this point be psychosomatic.  So far I have ramped up and have not stopped my attaches.  Actually my attaches were every 3 weeks of nausea, vomiting, and explosive diarrhea.   Then after I started the Desipramine my attaches have changed to once a week.  They are getting less explosive.  I still might or might not vomit.  The shower is my home during attaches as all is contained there.  As the diarrhea is so acidic with bile I find the water from a showerhead to be a gentler way of cleaning instead of wipes or toilet paper and causing pain from all the roughness.  So at this point my attaches are lesser.  I have a multi hours lag phase where I know it is coming and then the body purges.  I end up purging 6-10 pounds of lost solids and fluids.  Attaches have lasted about as short as 12 hours and some of the few worst up to two days.  Normally I am good in less than 24 hours so attach for 12 hours and recovery.  So at this point I am on an antidepressant that does not seem to work but did in fact change my body’s behavior.  So when I come off the meds do my attaches go back to 3 weeks or am I stuck at once a week normally on a Saturday night/Sunday morning.  This has for the most part been kind of predictable and cyclical bile over production to purge my body.  I have also thought about my liver.  I have been drinking a lot of cranberry juice and also taking Liver Detoxifier and Regenerator from NOW.  I have lately upped my water drinking being lately 0.5-1 gallons a day.  Any thoughts?