When to seek medical attention-4 wks post op

[sickerstill]

Hello,

I was reading the posts on pain and bile after gallbladder removal, THANK YOU all!
So much of what I read I am LIVING.  At 4 weeks post op, these VERY sick days and hours are starting to scare me tremendously.  I am all yellow bile now, all day long-worse at night and upon awakening.  The chest pain, irregular heart, tightness, is certainly alarming, but it's the GI stuff that has me nearly chair ridden!  Laying down is often WAY too painful.  My symptoms were fine for almost three weeks post op--as I seem to read a lot here too, 3 week?  Now, every day I worsen by far!  

Here is my REAL question, besides toast and ensure, what else SEEMS to be alright for us now?  Can someone list a half dozen things or so?  I have diabetes, epilepsy, gastroparesis and now Lupus I'm told, and I'm a VERY young 47.  I have my first Grandchild on the way from my Marine son--I fear that I may never play with this child.  The quality of my life is a zero.

Thank you all for reading-I pray a cure for us all!  AMEN.

Jill


This discussion is related to weight loss, nausea vomiting bile after gallbladder removal.

[CalGal]

One of the problems that some people unfortuantely have after gallbladder surgery may be one of handling fats. For whatever reason - and I'm not sure anyone really understands the cause at this point and it may be multifaceted - it may be helpful to severely curtail the intake of fatty foods for quite awhile after surgery and allow your body to adjust.

I'm not sure if I can suggest suggest specific foods since I've not had this specific problem, but I'm hopeful that others on the board will be able to assist you with that since those foods may be slightly different for each person. I know you're probably relying on Ensure as a 'staple' so I hate to suggest that you discontinue its use but I can say from talking with others who have faced the problem that what I've noticed is many people seem to have problems with dairy in any form along with having problems with fats. I'm wondering if that could be contributing to what you're experiencing?????

Have you considered following a gastroparesis diet, in general? As you probably know, that diet is one that limits the use of fat because fats are thought to empty from the stomach 'last' in emptying order, therefore making fats more problematic for those with gastroparesis to handle.

The other thing I'd like to point out is that you're just a few weeks out of surgery. I know docs say anesthesia is extremely short-lived and 'you'll bounce right back,' but that hasn't been my experience. And I believe others have also found that they experience a form of low-grade depression/sadness for months following any form of surgery. So if you're dragging your 'tail' a bit and feeling like things will never be great again, chalk up some of that blahness to the effects of the meds and to the fact that your body has just gone through a major invasion. There is no such thing as 'small' surgery - it's still surgery.

[sickerstill]

Thank you so much for the helpful reply!  :-)

I have NOT been following either diet very strictly and I'm pretty sure you are correct,  Yesterday I was VERY good with my diet and today I am MUCH better.  I can not believe sometimes how seemingly simple the body balance can be, but the American diet doesn't lend itself well there!  So, it's back to the old food processor and a much tighter rein.  I have also learned how bloody VITAL avoiding vitamin deficiency is also!!
My B's were almost non existant I'm told from my blood work.  I am correcting that and so far I may see improvement there too.

But,...the *attack* I had four weeks POST op, (two days ago), was a little worse than the two gallbladder stone attacks that made the Dr's decide to take out the gallbladder.  I read one Gal use my own indictment:  "It was worse than childbirth"!  My entire autonomic nervous system was in code blue it seemed.  Yes, my diet THAT day had been poor.  Now I get to re-learn my eating life as well.  Pain is a GREAT motivator!

Thank you especially CalGal for telling me that the etiology (sp) of this sort of adjustment is unknown.  I also agree with another poster who wished some fresh, idealistic young Gastro person would take this problem up to study conclusively.  I guess my fear is that maybe, just maybe we're supposed to HAVE our gallbladders.  No one attempted to save mine.  I so fear our tendency to cut first-ask questions later.

Again, I was so delighted to get a response--I thank you!

Respectfully,
Jill

[wanttogetbetter]

I had my gallbladder removed on Feb 25 2009 due to gallstones which caused pain, nausea and vomitting.  I felt lousy afterwards and withing two weeks began to have pain in the right and left upper abdomen along with pain in the middle upper abdomen.  All this pain radiates to my back flanks.  The pain is constant and rates about a five every day.  On occasion I have nausea.  As if this isn't bad enough,  about every two weeks I have an attack of severe unbearable pain in that area along with vomiting bile.  I have been hospitalized for the severe pain three times so far.  They give me pain meds, and don't feed me then send me home.
The GI beleives I might have bile backing into my stomach (Gee he must be a genius).  Where do I go from here?  How do I fix it?  I can't be hospitalized every two weeks for two or three days with unbearable pain.  I am a 53 year old female professional that can not keep missing work.  Please help if you have any insight for me.  Thank you.

[CalGal]

You need to have your liver and pancreatic enzyme levels checked. In addition, ask your doc to consider doing an MRCP to look for stones or sludge that could have 'escaped' during surgery into the common bile duct.

If the pain you're having is due to spasms, narcotic-based pain meds aren't going to help. In fact, it may make things worse.

If you've got bile reflux, ask the doc to give you some carafate. It won't cure, but it will help coat your stomach against the damage bile can do to it.

And if you're eating fatty foods consider shifting to a low fat diet. It can be helpful after GB surgery.

[wanttogetbetter]

Thank you for your response.  My liver and pancreatic enzymes have been checked and are normal. The upper abdominal CT scan does not show any escaped stones, etc.  A test was done two weeks after surgery to see if I had a "bile leak" but I don't know the name of the test.  It was normal with no leakage found. Now the GI wants to do another endoscopy (it will be my second since the surgery).  He attempted to do a gastric barostat study on Wednesday but was unable because my gag reflex was too strong. (it was an awful experience). Then he wants to do a hydorogen breath test.  My diet has always been low fat and well balanced.  If my pain is due to spasms....what causes the spasms?  Also, what medicines or procedure would stop the spasms.  Sorry this is so long....but as you can probably tell.....I want my life back.  THANK YOU for your help.

[mgjarrett]

I had my gall bladder removed 3 wks ago today.  All the tests I had done showed my gall bladder was boarder line but I continued to have pain.  Before surgery I asked the doctor about pain in my stomach, horrid pain, that would start in the morning waking me up around 4 am and then had nausea and dry heaving and then chills with no temperature. Also, I would have yellow in the toilet when having a bm.  Sorry to be gross, it is almost foamy bright yellow and when I whip myself it is yellow on the toilet paper.  He said he had no idea.  This has been happening for the sporatically for the past 6 months.  I truly thought I had a sick gall bladder but it wasn't presenting itself during testing.  This morning the pain/diahrea cycle started all over again.  I have had so many tests:  blood work, CT scan, ultra sound, scope in the stomach, hida scan, x-rays, all came back negative.  At this point I don't know what to do.  I am ruining my families life.  I have seen a regular doctor, gastro doctor, and surgeon.  Can anyone tell me where to turn?

Marianne

[Kim2106]

I sit in amazement!!!  I had my GB out two weeks ago...I'm feeling the same symptoms (and worse) as when I had my GB in!!  I'm like all of you...frustrated!  I was hoping the removal would be it!!!  Can't eat anything but toast & crackers...loosing lots of weight...very hungry and just wanting normalicy!!  
It is comforting, yet frustrating to know that others are dealing with this and there may be no end to the problem :(  I don't know how much longer I can go w/o eating??!!
Blessings to all of you,
KG