update on my daughter after GB removed 12/27/02

[gardenmaniac]

just a quick update on my daughter..she is 19...

She had her GB removed Friday, 12/27/02, late afternoon. Stayed the night due to nausea..checked out about 9 am. she didn't bounce back as quick as she thought she would, but by Monday night was starting to perk up. Even went back to work for the NY Eve shift at the ski lodge where she worked during her holiday break. She has taken it REALLY easy on the dietary end of things. A peanut butter cup sent her running to the bathroom on Tuesday with severe cramps & diahreah, but today she ate a Wendy's cheeseburger with no ill effects. We went grocery shopping today before she left to go back to school & she was getting antsy to eat "normal" again..before the surgery, food just didn't even have any appeal. A few times she has felt nauseaus since the surgery & I try not to worry that it means anything other than her body adjusting and healing.

Thank you everyone for your comments and concern. It has been a long difficult road. I have become an info junkie on gallbladder problems, but feel like you need to be an informed consumer. Like many others, this board has provided for me priceless info and comfort. I especially want to hear that some of you DO feel better!!

[Lillibet]

Doctors can be such idiots! They know very little about nutrition, and they just give generic information and comments. Your daughter will know what to eat and what works for her through trial and error. Hopefully, she will be one of those people who sail through all of this. However, she should try to eat a balanced diet, and not go overboard on junk foods. I know it's hard when you're that young, but in the long run it will help her to stay healthy. Keep in touch, and let us know how she progresses.

I will also keep in touch after my surgery so that I may be of some help to some poor soul suffering out there!

Best wishes.

[Robinbobin]

keep the faith gardenmanic.  Keep praying and beliving for the best!

[gardenmaniac]

Just another update since my daughter's surgery. Last week she saw the surgeon. The lab report said "chronic cholecystitis"..just like he said it would. He didn't give us any other information, other than use nail polish remover to get the tape glue off.....& if she had recurring stomach symptoms that he would refer us back to a GI doc. Pretty anticlimactic...but not unexpected. Said she should just try eating what she wanted & be careful. That occasional diahreah was normal & should get less & less with time. Nothing I hadn't read before. Hopefully she will be ok..

[Lillibet]

I can't believe they would tell you to give it another month! Your mother obviously has another problem. Keep at the doctors, and don't give up.

[ownjess]

As I'm reading these notes, I'm feeling "very slightly" more at ease with my mother's condition.  Gall bladder out in August...has lost 68 pounds so far, and three doctors (including today) have said...give it another month.  I've had it up to here with another month!!  How much weight can a body lose before it starts to quit?  Cancer is ruled out, celiac is ruled out...doc says her body is just fighting the loss of her gall bladder.  Has anyone heard of such a thing?

[JCLingo]

The Mylanta will cause loose stools.  It has magnesium in it which acts as a laxative.  I found that out the hard way too.  I'm sorry, I don't know what to suggest, other than it just took me a while to get over my surgery (GB removal).  I couldn't take the Prevacid.  Have you tried a bland diet?

[kykatfan]

Hi, My first time here. I had my Gall Bladder removed 5 years ago and I still experience pain in my right side after most meals. A year ago I was treated for H Pylori and I felt pretty good for awhile, now I am having pain in right side and bloating, burping, and nausea. I take previcid for Acid Reflux, and I thought that was the problem, so I stopped taking it for a week, needless to say that wasn't a good idea. I am so frustrated with Drs.and I seem to be scared all of the time that it could be something life threatening. I also suffer from constipation, but for some reason the Mylanta that I take for the bloating makes me have loose stools. Any suggestions I would appreciate. Thanks

[JCLingo]

Hi. As someone who has been through this, I'd thought I'd throw in my two cents worth.  I had my gallbladder removed in May of last year.  I suffered a couple of months with nausea, diarrhea, and burning in my chest.  My doctor thought I had an inflamed esophagus and put me on Prevacid. I finally marched into her office one morning and requested a gallbladder scan after being fed up with no help.  The ultrasound showed sludge and I had it removed a day later.  The first two weeks after surgery I was doing great, no symptoms whatsoever.  But all of a sudden, all the symptoms came back (nausea, diarrhea, even the burning pain in upper right chest).  I was so depressed and worried because I thought I may have had my GB removed for nothing.  I even went to a gastro dr. who did an endoscope.  It was normal.  Finally, about October, after a very limited diet I slowly was able to return to a normal diet.  I saw all of this to say that I think everyone is different after their gallbladder surgery. I just didn't give it enough time.  Yes, it took me 5 months to get back to normal.  Even now, I never know when I'm going to be plauged by an attack of diarrhea.  I ate some Meatloaf w/onions,a little mac and cheese, and black eyed peas, and some apple crisp on New Years Day and had an attack 30 mintues after eating.. (similar to your daughter eating the Reese cup).  But on the other hand I even ate pizza with no problems at all.  I've also lost about 12 pounds through all of this.  By the way I'm 32.  Never had a health problem in my life until this.  Best wishes to your daughter, tell her to hang in there.  It WILL get better, but it may take time.

[Lillibet]

Hi,

I have been suffering for years with what is supposed to be a gallbladder problem. I am supposed to have surgery very soon. However, I just wanted to find out about your daughter's diet at this point. How is she doing, and how much fat can she handle? I had heard that it is not a good idea to return to junk food etc., so soon as this can cause a lot of problems. I always had a very low fat diet to begin with, so I am surprised that I cannot handle any fat at the moment.

[gardenmaniac]

She ate plain white rice, plain noodles, cooked checken breast, baked potatoes (plain), mashed potatoes, some cooked vegetables, baby food (look at the fat content), oatmeal, animal crackers & occasionally a hard boiled egg (yeah..seems like that would be bad, doesn't it?) She also drank slim fast mixed with no-fat milk. She found that she needed the protein & vitamins or she was just too weak. Don't drink Ensure!

She did eat a Reese's peanut butter cup 4 days after surgery...BIG MISTAKE!!! bad cramps and diahreah....she went back to college on Sunday night & I'm not sure what she has been eating, but at the store she was starting to eye the stuff that she hadn't been able to eat for months...yes..you do need to take it slow!

she had been following a diet by Heather Von Vorous for IBS (you can find it on the net) becuase that is what her first Gastro doc said she had...she did that until August when she had a classic GB attack (brought on by apples we think) anyway...even eating the above mentioned list she was nauseaus all the time & sometimes had URQ pain. If she ate anything with fat..it REALLY hurt. In Nov the surgeon gave her a "cholecystitis diet"...that's pretty much the list she followed then...

Hope this helps...Good luck!

[wolffs5]

I really hope that this solves your daughters problem.  I like many have followed all your posts.  She is too young to have illness hold her down. Her problem is so similar to mine & others here.  I hope the rest of us get a doc that will listen & help to solve the problem, rather than give it a general label of IB or something.  I right now am waiting.  I am sooooo sick of doctors!!  It is really hard for me to trust any of them!  Thank you for keeping us posted on her progress.  I wish her and you, a happy healthy new year! Let us know about the post op follow up appointment.  I'm curious if they found anything wrong with the gallbladder. Thank again!