Pregnant with Gallstones - please help

[PreggoJunie]

I am 6 mos. pregnant and have just been diagnosed with Gallstones. I have had 4 attacks that only lasted no more than 5 minutes each time (and suddenly disapear) over the past 3 months.  My OB told me that I just have to eat a very lowfat diet b/c there is nothing they can do until after I deliver. That, for the most part is fine since I tend to eat lowfat 80% of the time.  

I am going to be asked to be referred to a specialist but in the meantime, does anyone have any wisdom as to why the following might have happened? The inconsistency of my attacks are making it hard to try to manage and predict what might be causing them.

I had my 4th attack on Friday (b-4 the dx was made)after eating a VERY lowfat salad, a few spoonfuls of a spicy soup and a1 cookie. Since the attack came without eating what I thought was a lot of fat, I assumed that the DX would come back negative for gallbladder.  So I went to town on Sat. & ate bacon, a donut, McDonalds, Pizza and Jalapeno poppers.  All greasy **** and no discomfort at all.  Can anyone explain why I had no attack after all that **** yet when I was being good on Friday, I had one?  Could spicy be a culprit?  Friday's lunch was accompanied by alot of belching and indigestion prior to the attack.  Of my other attacks, one happened in the middle of night (I can't remember what I ate) and the others were after a fattier than normal breakfast.  

Also, it seems that 2 of 4 attacks were when I ate without drinking H2O with them.  Has anyone found that a correlation to drinking H2O and avoiding?  Any help would appreciated. Thanks!

[Meg111]

My attacks were similar to yours when I was pregnant.  It wasn't until my gallbladder got severely infected that the symptoms were consistent.  I think that with stones...they cause pain sometimes and sometimes they don't.  At times...even 1 tsp of butter on white rice would cause pain...so very small amounts of fat will cause bile to increase.  Get your gallbladder out after you have the baby...hopefully you can have the easy procedure.  Mine had gotten so infected that they had to do open gallbladder surgery and now I have a very ugly scar.  No connection with or without water.  I do know that water helps the pain go away though.  Good luck!

[jean22]

I had gallstone surgery 4 years age. I was trying to aviod the surgery because I was think to have a child at that time. I discussed my situation with my doctor who is a professer at Johns Hopkins. He suggested me to have the surgery before becoming pregnant. He said it is not a good idea to have surgery during last trimester of pregnancy.

My point is you should try to avoid the surgery until your baby is born. No body could perdict what happen during surgery. I had an open surgery because the special position of my stones. It took me more than 2 months to recover from that. I don't think a
pregnant women could handle it.


Try to walk around when you first notice your sympton or you just feel you are going to have an attack. Don't lay down or sit.
This worked very good for me.

Good luck.

[stina9]

hello, i was six wks pregnant when they diognosed my gallbladder attacks you almost have to eat nothing but vegs or boiled chicken and baby food drink water eat rice not butter.boiled eggs,no coffie lay off caffine drinks the make your gallbladder spasm.thats about all you can do.youll continue to have attacks just ride with them.not much ealse you can do. i know i had my baby the 24 of july mygallbladder removed the 25.

[tammy1806]

A related discussion, gallstones and pregnant was started.