Diarrhea and gallbladder

[crissy122]

I am 28 and had my gallbladder removed 3 years ago.  Since then I have diarrhea just about every time after I eat.  There are times when it is normal but just recently about two weeks ago I ate macdonalds and the diarrhea started and hasn't stopped yet.  There has even been a couple times in the past two weeks were I thought I had to pass gas and I had a little accident.  Prior to the last two weeks I was having lower abdominal pains like I was getting my period but it never came since I am breastfeeding.  The doctor sent me for a ultrasound thinking maybe I had cycts on my ovaries but that turned up okay.  He than told me that I am just constipated and too eat more fiber.  Shortly after my ultrasound I started to get pains in my upper abdomin.  He is now sending me for a ultrasound of the area where my gallbladder used to be and a scope of my stomache to see what the problem is.  I am getting nervous, this has been going on for ever and the last two weeks it has been getting worse.  When having this diarrhea over the past two weeks there has been undigested food mixed with the diarrhea like french fries or spaghetti.  Sometimes the diarrhea is bright yellow and really, really watery.  I have no energy and scared thinking maybe colon cancer?!?!.  Any ideas?

[Mazza24]

Hi,

You are not alone. I had my gallbladder removed 5 years ago because I had a stone the size of an egg in it and it was badly infected.

I have had diarrhoea ever since ! and it is yellow (bright) like I swallowed a highligher pen lol. If i eat any rich or greasy food half way through eating a meal I have to drop everything and run to the loo. The pain is extreme to say the least like someone twisting my intestines.

My consultant says this is completely normal as we no longer had our gallbladders our body can't store bile like it used to. Bile breaks down fatty food. So it seems to just go right through you.

Your consultant can try on on Cholecysterine (I think it is called) to calm the diarrhoea. There are a few medications that can help with this problem

I hope this is reassuring to you.

Mx

[CalGal]

Many people are unable to process fats the way they did before the surgery. You may want to consider following a low fat diet to see if that is of help.

There are some bile-binding resins like questran that can be tried, but they tend to bind vitamins that are fat soluble. So if you use the resins you'll need to supplement. The resins also seem to result in cholesterol changes in some people that can be problematic, so be cautious with their use.