Gall Bladder Removal

I recently had my gall bladder removed. It seems like every time I eat now Im in the bathroom with diarreah (diarrhea)? Is this a common symptom after that type of surgery? I have family members that went through the same thing with the same outcome.Any hope I wont have to do this the rest of my life. Are there any medicines I could take and should I increse my fiber intake. Help!

[sagie]

Hi,

I just had GB surgery on March 12 and had diarreha also.  Seemed like I was in the bathroom constantly and didn't want to stray too far from home as I wanted to be close to the potty when it hit.  It finally started to taper off after a month and many visits back to the doctor asking why this was going on.  There is a prescription they can give you called Questran that will help with this problem.  It is not exactly tasty stuff, but does help.  From what I was told, diarreha is quite common after GB surgery. You may want to visit with your doctor about this at your followup visit just to make sure nothing else is going on.

[gumby]

Hello,
I had my gallbladder out on March 5, and I still have diarrhea most of the time.  I was told that it is normal and that bowel movement should return back to normal gradually.

[drumgal]

HI, I had my gallbladder removed on March 28th. I have not had a problem with diarrhea.  My problem is constipation.  Sometimes I wish I had diarrhea, constipation is very uncomfortable.  Good luck.

[INALOTOFPAIN]

.....................I wish you could have had taken a different approach at solving your stomach troubles. Quite often I read that gallbladder removals are not exactly the best course of action, in fact, removing one's gallbladder generally exarcebates the pre existing conditions.

[Romy]

I have met a lot of people however who claim that gallbladder surgery has greatly improved their lives.  It all depends, I guess.  

Romy

[TRain]

I had my gallbladder removed 3 years ago and still suffer from the diarrhea problem, usually soon after I eat.  I have been on all kinds of medication, including Cholestlist and Questran Lite.  Nothing helped.  I have noticed that when I tend to drink Slim Fast the diarrhea subsides greatly.  I am guessing it is the high protein and fiber in it.

I asked my gastro why the meds didnt help me and he said that this is a common problem in 15% of the patients and of that 1% of them the meds dont help.  I am the lucky one to fall in that 1%.

I decided long ago not to let this control my life.  I avoided eating out, eating infront of friends even road trips.  Now I just say the heck with it and go.  Pack some slim fast for the road trips and I am fine

[Kat2u]

I had diarrhea before my GB surgery, for months and months. After my GB came out, I continued to have it for a few weeks. I get an occasional occurence of it, maybe once ever 4-5 days. But its  nothing like the horrible diarrhea I had before the surgery and it continues to improve as time goes on. My surgery was March 23.

[arbor]

I had my gall bladder removed in early February. I had diarrhea, like you describe, for the first week. Things seemed to settle down after the first month, and now, I am not having significant digestion problems. It's certainly a lot better than it was before the surgery.

My doctor said that diarrhea is a commone side effect of gall bladder removal. But in most patients, the diarrhea subsides within 6 months. The doctor said that a small number of patients (she said about 5%) have persistent, recurring bouts of diarrhea.

[JANEB]

I had my Gallbladder removed by laproscope in September 1992.  Since that time I too suffer from diarrhea.  My consultant told me that was one of the side effects of Gall Bladder reomoval.  I have a great urgency to go to the toilet within half an hour of eating my meal, so unfortunately 10yrs on I am still suffering.  I also notice on the odd occasion that a bm will contain a lot of bile.

[Kat2u]

Has your Doc even tried you on Questran? Also, I have heard some people with your problem have great luck with Caltrate (calcium) in the purple box.

[damelo]

i had gb removed 4 yrs ago. no diarrhea or constipation. everything will be normal so not to worry.

[basket lady]

Has anyone every heard of leaving gall stones in the abdominal cavity after gall bladder surgery.  I had my gall bladder removed in 1993 and have had fifteen large stones removed since then from different areas of my abdomen.  I also suffer from scarring of the bile duct.  Any comments would be appreciated.

[15 Years of lifechanging inconvenience]

I had my gallbladder removed 15 years ago. Prior ro the surgery, I defecated only once a day.

Since then, I have needed to defecate an average of 10 or 11 times a day. Although I sometimes have diarhhea, more often it is close to firm, or firm. I need to defecate almost immediately after waking up, and do so another 2 or 3 times during the next hour (usually full-size movements, not dribs and drabs). As soon as I eat breakfast, it gets worse, with a couple of more movements during, or right after the meal.

Another movement after lunch, and a few more after dinner (my biggest meal). Even more if I eat high-fiber foods (which I never do when I am out of the house).

Every day I spend most of the first 3 hours I am awake either defecating, or knowing that another bowel movement is imminent.

I am lucky to have a job that does not require me to be at work until noon. If not, I could not work a normal job with normal hours.

Questran helps a little, but not nearly enough. That means "only" seven or eight times a day (at least it has lowered my cholesterol, rather than 10 or 11 times.

When I have to do public speaking as part of my job (a nightmare accident waiting to happen), the combination of Diphen/Atrop (generic for Lomotil) first, then 30 minutes to 1 hour later, I take Questran, which binds, and renders weak, or useless any medication you take for 4 hours after you take it, gives me a few hours of mostly dependable relief (while eating low-fiber food during that time, or the problem returns). The catch is that the Diphen/Atrop is not intended for daily long-term use, and probably has bad side-effects.

This is a terrible way to have to live my life!!!! I feel like I am short-changing my wife and my child with all of the things I can't do, and with all of the places I can't go. I also feel like life is short-changing me.

Nobody has a name for this, much less a solution. I noticed that one man e-mailed with similar symptoms, and the "expert" doctor from Henry Ford was clueless, guessing that maybe he had changed his eating patterns. That certainly was not true for me. The only variable that changed in my life was the gallbladder removal, followed by this problem. A specialist I saw was mystified, as is my family doctor.

Can somebody, anybody PLEASE help???

Sincerely, 15 years of lifechanging inconvenience

[AussieSue]

I had my gall bladder removed by laparoscopy in Feb 02. Since then, like most of you I have suffered bouts of "explosive" diarrhea - it starts with the first warm drink of the day & continues on from there, sometimes I am a prisoner in the bathroom for most of the morning (ruins a good weekend sleep in). Unfortunately I have found that the most effective 'cure' is to avoid alcohol, chocolate, soft drinks (with sweetener), orange juice & coffee - all of which I am rather partial to - and to take 50mls of aloe vera each morning and night (mixed with anything you can find to make it more palatable) this seems to keep things under control.
If however, I do surrender to my wicked alter ego, and eat drink & be merry, I find that a quick cure is to take 60mg codeine, which seems to slow down intestinal workings long enough to rid my system of the forbidden nasties.
FINAL POINT: Medics seem to doubt that diarrhea can be a direct result of Gall Bladder Removal, and want to submit you to a barrage of tests to 'rule out' any other causes (they also love to hang the IBS tag around your neck) - please DO NOT REFUSE these tests as it is important to make sure there are no obvious medical causes for your symptoms.