Gallbladder functioning at 8%

[overtheriver]

I had a Hida-scan and my gall bladder is functioning at 8%.  I do not have gall stones.  I am experiencing exhaustion, and my blood work shows no other major issues like anemia, lyme, thyroid, liver issues.  My surgeon tells me that I can live with it at 8% until such time as I feel crappy all the time, then I should get it out.  But it's optional.  So - do I just stay feeling crappy all the time - or - take the leap and have it out?  Seems there are lots of possible side effects of getting it out - and I don't want to be in further hot water.  Thoughts?

[christy859]

It is actually dangerous to keep it at that level. I had mine removed last year it was functioning at 6%.  It can cause pancreatitis and other issues. my skin had actually become a gray color. It is an outpatient surgery so you will go home that same day. Friends and family were like wow because my color had already come back that same night. I did not even realize was a symptom until they told me.

[GhostOf1901]

Your situation sounds a lot like mine. However, can you define "feeling crappy all the time"? Gallbladders don't usually stop working for just any reason, and usually there's another reason underlying which you would be well to consider confronting. That's not to say your gallbladder would ever heal or that you'd never have to take it out, but if you can repair it, why the heck not?

For the record, here's what happened to me (as of what I know now): I have a section of my back which has been spasmed for years. This caused a big misallignment in the celiac plexus area of my back which caused damage to my gallbladder. The gallbladder, in turn, reflexed to the back in the same area and damaged the nerves there. Suddenly, I had a turnstyle of numbness  and pain in my back (visceral-somatic/somatic-visceral reflex). This damage increased over the years to the point where the gallbladder's EF is now 19%. In addition, the nerve damage was so extensive that it started slowing my digestion. This took an even bigger hit when my allergies started going haywire after I got my dog and I got sick for a few months. My continually lowered defenses allowed a viral infection to attack my nervous system, particularly the part which controls digestive speed. In addition to all the mucus from my allergies, my heartburn went haywire, since due to my weight (I used to weigh 320 lbs) my LES losened and I got GERD. (I'm now at 245, by the way. Still have about 50 lbs to go.) I'm working now with a gastroenteroloigist, a chiropactor and an acupuncturist to help heal all of this damage. It took a long time to create (over 15 years) and may never fully recover. I may lose my gallbladder as a prerequisite to improvement, since once the visceral-somatic/somatic-visceral reflex gets going it's hard to stop, but the root cause was my back which, had it been left unattended, would eventually wreak all forms of havoc on my system.

With all that said, try to dig down (1) the extent of the damage by seeing whether your digestion has been at all impaired, and (2) the root cause of the damage. Maybe it's your diet, maybe it's stress, maybe you have an autoimmune disease... whatever. The point is that if this is your first clue, you may be catching whatever it is early enough for it to not do any real damage.

Take care.

[nadine7169]

I had my gall bladder out in June '08. I had to push for this to happen as my surgeon did not want to do this.  I to had a HIDA scan, but showed that my gall bladder was functioning very normally, my blood works were all normal, all other scans and ultrasounds I had all normal.  But I just kept getting sicker and sicker. Tired all the time, of my food, my skin was terrible, pains in my right side of my abdoman generally feeling like I was going to die.  I told the surgoen that my mother, sister and brother all had the same symptoms before pushing to have their gall bladder's removed. In the end mine was removed, only to find a perfect looking gall bladder on the outside , but a very diseased one on the inside. That was secreting toxicins into my body.  So much so, that my surgeon admitted that I would have been dead in 2 years from blood poisioning from it.     SO PLEASE IF YOU ARE FEELING WELL WITH IT .  HAVE IT REMOVED. ALL MY SYMPTOMS FROM IT HAVE GONE.