Painful Diarrhea after gallbladder removal

[WorriedBoz]

Hey

I posted sometime ago about gallbladder issues, fretting about having it removed, wether it was the right thing to do.

Well, I had the surgery two weeks ago, June 7th, and though the first few days after were painful I felt close to myself at first until the third day rolled around. I started having horrible cramping/discomfort in my lower abdomen and loose BM's. I understood this might happen, so didn't stress much at first. But it has since kept happening, the discomfort is horrific sometimes and the BMs are a yellowish hue. I'm so scared ill never return to normal, I've been eating a very bland diet if toast and rice, with the occasional heavier meal for dinner. I didn't eat anything yesterday and had the worst episode of lower abdominal pain, felt like it would never stop though it maybe only lasted 45 seconds. It also burns on occasion when it's really watery.

I saw my gallbladder surgeon yesterday and told him about my problems, he didn't think the gallbladder removal has anything to do with my problems and suggested miralax (sp?) I had to take that before my colonoscopy last October, won't that just make it worse?

I'm just so worried, I feel I went through the traumatic surgery only to make things ten times worse. I just wanted to feel like myself again, and I don't know what to do. I'm a 32 year old male, 160 weight, I've lost at least 15 pounds because I'm terrified to eat since this whole ordeal began a year and a half ago. I've always had IBS like problems, but they used to be merely an annoyance and very manageable, then they got much worse and they thought my gallbladder was the culprit, everything else was ruled out. But I've jumped through all the hoops and I'm scared there's no hope, I break down just about everyday and can't stop stressing. I will probably end up seeing my gastro doctor but honestly they haven't been much help to me and I'm scared they'll just tell me what the gallbladder surgeon said.

Any help/ advice is very much appreciated, sorry this was so long.

[loony56]

I had my Gallbladder out in 1998. I have had so many problems. This last one was Bile Reflux Gastritis. This is when bile has no where to go but back into your stomach which caused Gastritis. Inflamed stomach. I could not eat for weeks. I finally ate bananas, oatmeal, apples and fish. I lost 40 lbs. When you have a Gallbladder out you cannot eat a lot of fatty foods, dairy, or gluten. You should limit those and take digestive enxymes That break down fats, proteins and corbohydrates. I use digestive support. It is a powder and you mix half teaspoon in couple ounces of water with your meals. I drink a home made tea with chamomile tea, slippery elm and marshmallow root. This helps with digestion and inflammation. Having a Gallbladder removed has been challenging. Please do no miralax. Drink a lot of water. Stay away from processed foods and limit meat. I hope this is helpful. If you have questions let me know. loony56

[CalGal]

It's possible that what's going on is some unregulated release of bile. When that happens, the bile (without the presence of food) ends up irritating the GI tract and 'fast-forwarding' everything in the tract, and loose stools or diarrhea results. You may want to ask your GI doc about using some form of bile-binding substance to see if you can get things better controlled.