5 days post-op and all foods bother me again!

[KodeMaster]

Hello:

35 year old female here. I had my gallbladder out (lap) due to biliary dyskinesia (5.5% EF, pain/bloating no matter what I ate/drank including water). Though I have recovered to the point where I no longer need narcotic medication to control my pain, and can sleep on my right side without it hurting, I feel I am having digestive issues again:

Eating is starting to wipe me out again and give me pain/pressure in the area where it did before surgery, as well as nausea. This started two nights ago after I ate and happened again last night. In fact, I did not eat all day (no appetite) yesterday until 6:30 PM and was fine until I ate. Again, wipeout, nausea, pressure, pain, maybe a little bloating too.  I don't understand why I am having these issues if I have no gallbladder. I thought the surgery would fix all this.

Though what I ate yesterday and the day before was not the best choice (microwavable breakfast sandwich with veggies, cheese and a small amount of meat), I tried different, healthy things today and still had no luck feeling better. Two small apples this AM, a pear this PM, a mini bagel here, a mini bagel there and one bowl of oatmeal for dinner. Nothing agreed with me; it all bloated me up, caused pressure pain and made me feel like lying down all like I did before surgery.

The surgeon did say that the surgery may not fix the issue and mentioned that there may be more going on at the beginning of my consult...I had an upper endoscopy prior to surgery and nothing significant was found...just some inflammation and a small hiatal hernia which was not considered worth the trouble of repairing. The ultrasound done a few months ago was normal.

I see him on Tuesday for my follow up. What should I do in the meantime?

Thank you,

K.

[laura7934]

reading your posts was like reading myself. I am now 5 days out and feel the same way. The only difference is I still have a high white count and elevated platelet count after 4 rounds of high doses of antibiotics. He is doing a retest (cbc) in 3 weeks and then may send me to a hematologist. I am very curious if you are better maybe I can get a lil hope.

[KodeMaster]

Another thing to add:

I figured out that my energy drops feel more like hypoglycemia attacks than anything else. I have PCOS (poly cystic ovary syndrome) and got them a lot before I lost 100 lbs from my 2011 gastric bypass. I have not had this issue again up until this past Wednesday. Now it happens daily...

[KodeMaster]

Hello and thank you for you replies.

Regarding Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction, I have indeed researched it. The testing for it includes various forms of cholangiograms; I had one done during my operation and it came up negative.

Because of the above issues, and because I felt like did when I was getting anemic after my last surgery, I saw my primary care provider yesterday.

She:

1. Scheduled an appt. with my GI ASAP instead of having me wait. His first available is 7 May.
2. Switched me to a stronger proton pump inhibiter.
3. Scheduled me an appt. with a nutritionist per my request
4. Ordered a CBC to check for anemia, etc. This came up negative for anemia.

She said that, because everything I have been consuming was bland and causing me the same problems as before surgery (even spring water!) that she felt it was something inside of me, as opposed to what I ate, that was the issue. Therefore, it was up to the GI specialist to determine the cause.

I will keep you all posted.

A.

[Sarsi]

Hi there,

Like you I am a 35 year old female, and have had continuing pain and nausea issues after my gallbladder removal. (mine was also lap, in 2009)

I would recommend to do your research, and perhaps look up sphincter of oddi dysfunction, which is what I have been diagnosed with....
There are, of course, other conditions which may contribute to your bloating, pain and nausea, and also the fact that you are only a short time out of your surgery....you may need to give your body time to heal and adapt to not having a gallbladder.... (I am 3 1/2 years out and still have watery steatorrhea bright yellow stool)

I hope that you improve and can get some answers from your doctors.

Regards
Sarsi

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

If the HIDA scan done prior to your surgery reproduced your symptoms, then it is more likely that with surgery there will be an improvement in your symptoms. There is about a 5% incidence of watery diarrhea immediately following removal of the gallbladder that is thought to result from bile salt irritation in an empty GI tract. It usually responds well to resins that bind these bile salts (cholestyramine) so they won't irritate the intestine. Most commonly the intestine adapts such that these agents can be weaned off over several weeks.

Discuss this with your doctor when you happen to meet him next time. In the meantime, try to take plenty of high fiber diet and cut down on fatty food.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.