Gallstones - Appointment with Surgeon on Thursday

[Barnesy90]

Hi,

I've been struggling with gallstone pain for a couple of years despite numerous visits to my GP.  In April of this year I had a particularly bad attack so I went to see my GP again determined that I wouldn't let him fob me off with gastric flu diagnosis again.  He reluctantly said that he would refer me for an ultrasound scan which I had in June, and it was such a relief when I had my scan to find out that I actually had quite a few gallstones - with the lack of support from my GP, I had really begun to doubt myself.

I have an appointment with the surgeon on Thursday and I'm keeping everything crossed as I really want him to say that he will put me on the list to take the gall bladder out - there is no way I can continue with the awful painful attacks.

The only good thing that has come out of having gallstones is losing weight.  After the attack in April, I decided I had to do whatever I could to try and prevent future attacks so I've been following a very low fat diet and keeping to approximately 1200 calories a day.  It hasn't totally stopped the attacks but they haven't been quite as bad or frequent as before and I'm over 28 pounds lighter but having to watch everything that I eat isn't living a normal life so the sooner they take the gall bladder out the better.

For those of you who have had their GB removed, how long did it take you to recover and go back to work etc ?

Thanks,
Anita

[starbeach811]

I guess everyone is different in the way they heal.  I had mine out many many years ago the old fashion way.  It took quite a while for me to feel better but my husband had the new updated procedure and he got better a lot quicker.  It was definitely worth getting done.  I could not stand the pain any longer and the low fat diet was not helping.  Just don't wait too long to get it done.  My husband waited too long and had a awful attack that rushed him to the ER.  Hope all goes well and good luck.  

[Christopher R Watters, MD]

I remain amazed at how many patients have to force their PCP's to do what is right and seems so obvious. I guess I get frustrated having to deal with many folks like you when they are sitting in the emergency room with a complication rather than electively multiple months before when they complained to their docs with pretty classic symptoms and had no further evaluation.