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Gall Bladder Transplant

I have made the biggest mistake of my life. I had my gallbladder removed, which I felt rushed into by the surgeon, because I had polyps (very small). For some stupid reason I listenend to his bad advise and got it removed. I feel TERRIBLE!! I'm experiencing terrible digestion problems, which I never had before. I have taken enzymes, etc. all to no avail. All of this is a result of the gallbladder removal. Is there such a thing as a gall bladder transplant? I can't live like this...I would definitely have it done. I know this may sound drastic to you (but not to me)...live in my shoes for one day and tell me how drastic it really is.
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Avatar universal
I have also had my hall bladder out for 8 years now.. My doctor gives me phenergan like its candy because I stay so nauseous. I could eat something one day and be fine but another day with the exact same food may leave me in the bathroom. It does not get better, I hate it. At the time I was only 14 and my gallbladder had all but stopped working (only 19% worked) I didn't have a choice. Definitely would do a transplant if it was ever possible
Helpful - 1
2827584 tn?1340579696
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
I would point out that  there are 700,000 gallbladders removed annually in the US. If these problems were common or typical no one would undergo the procedure. The fact of the matter is that problems are few and generally managed rather easily. This doesn't help the small number of patients that end up with severe post-cholecystectomy syndromes but long posts suggesting that these are actually common scares patients that would benefit tremendously from the surgery. I have mentioned in several posts that the real reason we perform cholecystectomies is the the risk of premature death is significantly lower with surgery than without in symptomatic patients. Misleading forums from a small minority of patients with poor outcomes can cost others their life.
Helpful - 1
3 Comments
thank you, wish I'd seen this before reading all the other posts.  Up until I found this forum I wasn't remotely worried bc most of my friends who have had the surgery said they did great and are glad they had it done. Only one told me she has to run to a bathroom every time she eats. I know we are all different and prayerfully I will be in the majority not the minority...
That's a poor excuse for telling us all you know best and we don't because 700,000 of these are performed. This is poor care. This is a form of barbarism. Tell me, what long-term study have you seen or done that proves that removal of gallbladders is good idea for health outcomes?
I just spoke with my physician after getting HIDA results of 21% ejection fraction with a clean ultrasound. I was considering trying to manage it without surgery. He encouraged me to discuss with the surgeon but said that, although he always leans towards the conservative side, with gallbladders like mine he does not. The reason is that it will not ever get better. You can adjust diet and weight to lessen attacks and symptoms but that won't ever fix the problem. It almost certainly will come back again in the future and could be significantly worse at that point, possibly requiring emergency surgery with a much higher risk. He also indicated that, as a person gets older, the risk of the surgery becomes much greater. I asked him frankly about "life without a gallbladder" after reading all these stories and he said for the vast majority of people it's basically "if you eat a Big Mac and milkshake you'll be running to the bathroom", suggesting that a super fatty meal is likely to always cause loose stools. Beyond that, he feels that the low risk of surgery and the high probably of future, worse problems make sense for me to have the surgery (I'm age 49). I've seen this doctor for many years and always gotten good advice. I trust him implicitly. He gave me instructions on what to try for a while if I want to avoid surgery but was very clear that all those great things - dietary changes, weight loss, exercise, etc. - will not fix my gallbladder, only help avoid symptoms, and the older I get the problem will almost certainly rear it's head again regardless of the work I might do now to try and improve things. We agreed that it really is up to the surgeon at this point. I haven't made an appointment to see him yet but will do so soon, he's a highly regarded guy locally with a ton of experience removing gallbladders.

My point is not to marginalize or dispute anyone's real life story - what you feel and experience is very real. My point is simply to say that Dr. Watters's advice echoes what I'm hearing from my doctor, and after having researched it at length, the numbers do not lie. Although some people do suffer for their entire lives the vast majority of those who undergo the removal procedure do not suffer symptoms worse than they had before the surgery. That's also not to say the surgery HELPED all those people, it simply didn't create the horrid quality of life so many are experiencing here. I think it's important when looking at the numbers to distinguish those that feel the surgery didn't help them to those, like many posters here, who feel like their life is entirely worse because of the surgery. The outcomes research shows the latter to be an extremely small percentage even though the former is often reported as high as 10% or more.

I hope you all can find answers to your challenges and providers that will work with you in a way that you feel that you need. I hope that, if I decide to have the procedure, I won't end up in the boat so many of your are in.
Avatar universal
I had the same issues for a couple of months, it became easier as time went on. I would suggest trying to go for a follow up from specialist/doctor. Hope this helps you out!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I feel you man! I made the exact same mistake! I am a quadriplegic in a wheelchair, who started having diarrhea everytime I would eat anything with the slightest amount of fat in it. I wanted a gallbladder transplant so badly. I even consider getting a tube installed to a poop bag. Eventually, I pulled my head out of my butt (so to speak) and decided that instead of continuing to eat the crap that caused me to think I needed my gallbladder removed, in the first place, I would just improve my diet. I started to eat only fruits and vegetables, except when I was trying to poop. It worked! I am way healthier now and I no longer have diarrhea! I just eat fruit and vegetables, except what I am sitting on the pot. That’s when I eat the meat and any fattening crap. It sucks not having a gallbladder! But, since it’s gone, just improve your diet and be way more healthy and end up feeling a lot better, being skinnier and having no more diarrhea! Just eat healthy stuff, except when you’re trying to poop. That’s when you eat all the fattening and dessert stuff. It works!
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
… That includes dairy too! Only drink milk or eat ice cream or cheese when you’re on the pot too, because that will spur your bowel movement, in a like manner. Make this mistake, be the best mistake you ever made! You’ll end up extending your life, because you are forced to eat healthy. Eventually, you will feel that it’s all for the best and you won’t be crapping your pants anymore!
Avatar universal
Hello hope4me,

I’ve had my GB removed for just over two years now. After my operation and the period of high fiber, low fat diet, My situation did not get better. It only got worse. My pain was gone, sure. However, I discovered that I was now sensitive to almost all foods that I was eating. My bathroom trips were almost always an emergency. I was honestly thinking that I’d be in diapers in my 30s.  Everything seemed to trigger it. Even when I went all organic, then Paleo. I had refused any medications as even then I thought that most of that was just a way for big Pharma to make money of us. I became sluggish, low energy, though this may have been related to a depression episode I was experiencing.

I had essentially resigned myself to the fact that my life would always be this way, likely worse.

Then, one day I was watching a documentary on diet that really spoke to me. So that day I made a huge change in the way I ate and how I thought about food and it has caused the most incredible changes.  I have a far more predictable bowel movement, I am more alert, my fogginess and sluggishness are gone, (unless I drink) My entire body seems to work better.

The change isn’t easy. I cut out all dairy and meats. (I cheat on the diet once in a while, though I always pay for it.) I will say that your symptoms seem worse than mine did, but I want to help you find a way to be normal again. No one deserves to go through that kind of hell for that long with no light at the end of the tunnel. So please, I encourage you to make the change to a vegan or plant based diet, if only for a few months. If it alleviates even one or two of your symptoms then I’d say it would be worth it. Do your own research or write me back and we can talk about it.

I truly hope that we can help you find a way to get better my friend. I wish you the best of luck.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I have had my gallbladder removed on augest 28 2018 I wish I didn't.
The doctor said I would feel a lot better with it but out but I don't. I actually feel worse with out then I did with mine in. Instead helping with the problems it just added a new one.
So I agree with you.  I have tried pill in USA and I have way too many side effects. I get dizzy a lot. I was around 98 pounds when I had my gallbladder removed. I am still having problems.

Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I have to unfortunately agree. However my situation is a tad different. I don’t know if I could have kept mine. When I finally got the surgery after months of obstruction jaundice features the surgeon when he went in to take my gallbladder found that my cystic duct was strictured. He took out the gallbladder anyways and then didn’t tell me they had found strictured ducts. I felt in the same desperation though. I was 97lbs by the time I got surgery and I did supplements to try and help balance everything as well as enzymes, but eventually all the deficiencies due to losing my gallbladder started to catch up with me. I don’t know if we made the right decision or if he should have just tried stenting my duct first instead of just going ahead and taking out the gallbladder too, but my life has been a living hell since. I can’t absorb fat at all anymore. I basically look anorexic and I’m a year out from surgery. I’ve had to start doing iron infusions and more to try and make up for what I’m losing by not having a gallbladder. My triglycerides have gone from normal to dangerously low and nothing so far, no matter how many calories or protein I try to pack in, I’m still stuck just hoping I’m going to survive this whole ordeal. I try to get out and not be home bound and get my activity levels up as much as possible but I constantly start to pass out because my body can’t sustain. I’ve been living like this since the surgery. I too, with being so miserable with the suffering physically every day started looking at options of gallbladder transplants.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I have to say I'm quite upset with some Doctor remarks, stating they don't like posts/blogs like this because we are the MINORITY. That proves what I have always believed, that WE/Patients are nothing more than a NUMBER to them and being the minority (49%) our problems that have occurred after having the surgery (whether it was needed or not) DOESN'T Matter to them, it's not their concern to find a cure. "Just give them another pill and they will go away". For awhile, till the side effects from that pill destroys another organ and then you can have another operation. This is how the Health Care System works in the USA. How do you cure Cancer? YOU STOP EATING FOODS THAT CONTAIN INGREDIENTS THAT CAUSE CANCER!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Four years after cholecystectomy I'm now permanently on morphine and still in pain! Can't even continue with a part-time job! Total misery! Had stones twice in the remaining duct and now have been referred to a Liver Unit! God only knows how long that will take as had to wait two years to get in to the Pain Clinic (only to be given Gabapentin after no consultation or examination at all)
If I were a dog, they would've put me down years ago!
So, I'm not giving you a hope or advice at all!
I've found out that screaming and crying might get you some more tests!
All the best,
Take care,
Ekaterina
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Seek a medical attorney if you feel that the remedy suggested was done by force without time to consider the proper treatment. Their has been records of transplant of the gallbladder, having a medical degree in practice does not solvent the specialized field of surgery. Quite truthfully an organ work with a organ system to perform a function removing a function decrease efficiency.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
ur talking crap.they perform soooo many of these operations and how many of them r 4 saving lives?im sure only a very small percentage is in order to save a life&most of them r just destroying lives...as bile reflux-which is common after gallbladder removal can cause stomach cancer, esophageal cancer, pancreatic cancer and throat cancer and more.so **** that
Helpful - 0
10502830 tn?1410618756
I would think with all the new transplants like heart and lungs by now something  so simple that doctors don't think is so important to the human body we should have a new method . This would help people and save money.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I noticed that drinking tap water would cause diarrhea ( I also have gallbladder removed, also think unnecessarily). So I try to drink only bottled water. Eating sour cream causes diarrhea, better to avoid it or use minimal amount, sparingly. Butter is OK, even, possibly, also oil is necessary to support ongoing amount of fat in a stomach to let the bile to do it's job of digesting fat, since bile now is not stored and delivered from gallbladder on order, but drips from the duct off the liver into the stomach all the time little by little, as soon as it is produced by the liver. If person does not eat enough fat, the bile will have nothing to do and will cause diarrhea, plus will agitate the channels that come into intestines from Pancreas. Pancreas can get tired of it and eventually get deceased, causing diabetes. After 3 years post surgery I got acid reflex, and avoided certain foods instead of just adjusting my behavior (no heavy work, banging over or laying down after the meal for 30 min.) Avoiding certain foods ( I thought they are acidic) caused me low potassium, which caused heart palpitations. When I watch potassium, I do not have palpitations. Gained weight, yes.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I had my gallbladder removed in January 2013. I was scared to do this procedure because I had never had surgery before, but the doctor assured me everything would be fine. Reading all of these comments actually made me realize that I do get diarrhea after I eat. I didn't think much of that until now! I had gallbladder removed due to too much soft drinks, which caused the gallstones!! Sodas are so bad for you!  I did change my lifestyle after surgery. I workout everyday, but have noticed I've been gaining weight rather than losing! So weird! It's so difficult to lose weight for me anyway. I want to see a doctor about that, but like a lot of other people have no insurance, and on top of that still paying gallbladder surgery! Another thing I noticed when I had the gallstones was that I would break out in hives like CRAZY! When I would sweat, be cold, after eating something, which I really blame it on the gallstones because never in my life had I broken out with hives until diagnosed with gallstones! Then again everything was wrong with me at that time, I lost a lot of weight, my hair was falling, due to not eating much, since I was scared I would get the pain again, and I just felt the life sucked out of me period! A true reality check! Now, I feel so much better, healthier, and best of all don't have to deal with that awful pain, but like all others I do feel that there should be a gallbladder transplant. It just doesn't feel right not having an organ that you basically were born with!! Either way, I'm thankful that I'm still alive and get to enjoy watching my son grow up.
Helpful - 0
757137 tn?1347196453
You might also be interested to know that we both had sufficient thyroid hormone but still showed all the signs of hypothyroidism. It was determined that what we were actually suffering was an iodine deficiency which blocked the utilization of thyroid hormone. Once on Iodine, we were fine.
Helpful - 0
2827584 tn?1340579696
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Good point. Lots of things don't work right when the thyroid is messed up.
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757137 tn?1347196453
Both my daughter and I were suffering from digestion problems which turned out to be caused by sluggish gallbladders. There was nausea after eating, severe bloating and, in my case, pain at the gallbladder site requiring strong pain killers.

Around this time we were both diagnosed as hypothyroid. Treatment for that condition was successful and, much to our surprise, our gallbladder problems disappeared. I have since learned that hypothyroidism and gallbladder disease are often related.
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Avatar universal
I feel the same way.....kinda like a ticking time bomb that could go off at anytime...
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Avatar universal
Thanks!
Helpful - 0
2827584 tn?1340579696
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Both meds require a prescription.

If these fail to improve your symptoms after a month of treatment or if your symptoms recur despite the treatment I would then recommennd cholecystectomy without a repeat HIDA.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Thanks Dr. Watters,  last question.  Is sucralfate and cholestyramine Rx meds or over counter?  Also you mentioned at the end "if things fail to improve and symptoms were really reproduced with CCK you would consider cholecystectomy" are saying have a repeat Hida scan after these trial  Rx therapies?
Helpful - 0
2827584 tn?1340579696
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Before considering a cholecystectomy I would give a trial of sucralfate and cholestyramine. I think that many people with these generalized forgut dysmotility issues have significant bile reflux gastritis as part of their dysfunction. The episodic loose stools may well be due to inappropriate "firing" of the gallbladder resulting in a bolus of bile into an empty duodenum with upstream gastric irritation and downstream secretory diarrhea. If this fails to improve things and symptoms were really reproduced with CCK I would then consider cholecystectomy.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Thanks,  it is 2:00am here and I do have a dull aching pain in center of back but guess could be musculoskeletal.   I am a healthcare professional and always worrying about the worst.  Another thought was maybe IBS but I am very regular, always have been. Just sometimes soft lighter colored stools which could be diet related.  Thoughts on next move?  As always center of upper abdomen uncomfortable to push on, always has been, but no isolated RUQ pain.  So a GI motility issue could cause low GB dysfunction at 6%?  What tests would rule this problem out going forward? I hate asking but I do appreciate any advice. I hate to remove an organ to rule out problem. Thanks, much appreciated!
Helpful - 0
2827584 tn?1340579696
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
I use functional gallbladder studies in the context of the clinical picture. I don't trust it as a screening test for gallbladder dysfunction. In other words, I don't get the study unless I feel the clinical picture could be produced by a gallbladder problem. The yield on eradicating symptoms blamed on the gallbladder by cholecystectomy is fairly low if there is no pain. When typical biliary pain is present in addition to other symptoms like bloating, diarrhea, nausea, etc it is common that all improve but these symptoms frequently persist after surgery if pain was absent. In your situation, I would be reluctant to proceed with cholecystectomy. You have symptoms suggestive of a more generalized GI dysmotility disorder. Measured dysfunction of the gallbladder is more likely one small part of a much larger issue. In the absence of pain, I would be worried that your soft stools would turn into post cholecystectomy diarrhea.
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