Gallbladder Removed! PAIN! This Helped Me!

[dcmarie]

I am a 36 yr old that had my Gallbladder removed 1 week after my daughter was born C-sec. I had never had pain until my daughter was born and the pain I had was all in my back. Until the morning I had surgery. I woke up early in the morning doubled over in the worst pain I have ever experienced (and I have had 5 kids). They removed my gallbladder but for 10 months after I was in a lot of pain coming from the gallbladder area and I had chronic diarrhea. I tried low fat but even water caused pain in that site and sent my running to the bathroom because my bowels became so sensitive. I finally went back to the Dr.s and he told me he thought my bile wasn't binding to the foods because of the rerouted duct, so heput me on - Cholestyramine - this med has been a godsend! It is a gritty powder mixed with water and taken 1/2 hr before meals 3x a day. The first dose helped with the pain and stopped my diarrhea, hurray!!!! I do not like to take even an asprin but the dr said I will more than likely be on this for life and that is better than the alternative. If I skip a dose The pain and diarrhea does come back. If you do not have loose bowels becareful as this med could bind you up! Cholestyramine, I believe was intended to lower cholesterol, but it really works! I wanted to share this info with other because I spent many days trying to find help on line when I was suffering. I hope I have helped someone:) Good Luck to you!

[ohiogirl]

I feel like you guys are talking about my condition.  I had my GB removed Sept 06, and after the pain was much worse, more frequent and very regular.  I couldn't believe that I could still be having GB attacks as that's exactly wht they felt like.  Well, after much searching, doctor visits, testing, scanning, etc. I wound up at a speciality GI at Indiana University who diagnosed me (based on my symptoms) as having Sphincter of Oddi Disorder (SOD.)  This is when the bilary duct to the pancreas contracts causing a back-up of bile in the common bile duct and the pancreas.  
There is medicine to try for it, and I say "try" because some do not respond to it, but luckily and still, I did respond.  I've been taking it now for almost a year and a half, and my symptoms continue to stay very much under control.  I am not totally attack-free, but the attacks are much more tolerable, way way way way more liveable.

The only way to "treat" SOD is by ERCP with manometry which is a procedure via scope, the doc measures the pressure in the SO then cuts some of the muscle if they find the measurement warrents it.

SOD is a hard way to go - I hope you guys don't have it.

[dcmarie]

Boy you are living my mirror life. I never had any symptoms until one week before removal and it was an intense backache. When I had it removed I suffered 9 months with everything you describe. I went back in to the surgeon and he ran a MRI checking my pancreas (my sister had almost died 10+ times from pancreatitis  started from a bad gallbladder) so I was insistant they check me over good. Everything checked out fine. I am from a large family and 5 persons in my immediate family have had their gall bladder removed. I am the only one with any of these problems. but again the cholestyramine helped me wonders. My heart breaks for those of us who have to deal with this. It has now been 1 1/2 years since the removal and I still have really bad days. I feel at times I am having gallbladder attacks but how can that be I have no gallbladder. THe med sure has lessoned the pain, discomfort and a lot of the diarrhea. Good luck to you!

[horsewoman6001]

Just wondering..not really having the diarrhea problems....a little soft but it is the pain.  I had my gall bladder removed 10 days ago........I feel as bad now as I did before.  The nurse said around day 5 or 6 that it was just pain from the gas.......but I still have it.  Mainly right below the rib cage in the middle, hard knot, pain, like nothing can go down. Very uncomfortable, worse for several hours after I eat. I can't sleep well, but yet really tired.  I had surgery Jan 17, well back in May had an ultradound for female problems they found stones.....said not to worry unless they bothered me.  Well i had attacks but didn't realize till now that is what they were....just dismissed as upset stomach or something and agfter the attacks passed I dismissed.  Well Jan 1 got real sick, and stayed sick for several days, till I went to the Dr and he sent me to a gastro surgoen.....have to remove your gall bladder.  They acted like no big deal.

I had surgery he said my gall bladder was not normal shape, it had clear liquid in it instead of green colored bile...so had been clogged up for some time or just not working properly.  But he told my husband immediatly after surgery that I had a stone blocking the duct (reason for the clear liquid) but when I went for check up on day 7 after surgery I asked him about the size / quantity of my stones....he said he found no stones.  Not sure if they had all passed already or what was up.  But did tel me about the clear liquid and it was meaning that the gall bladder had either been stopped up ot was not operating properly....still acting like no big deal.

Well I really just don't have a good feeling about this.  I'm not a whinny person...and I guess I go thru more pain and not really do anything about it most time till to late.
But this time, I just really feel bad.  Again, still feel as bad or worse than I did before surgery, pain, discomfort, nasuea off & on, slight fever off & on, hot flashed off & on, tired,
not hungry partly from just no appetite and then also knowing that after I eat I will hurt worse and feel bad so I don't want to eat.  back & shoulders hurt off & on.

Help....is this normal ? Or do you think something else is still wrong ?  Could the stones have passed but be messing up something else...pancrease or something?
Somebody tell me what you think...this is driving me crazy!
Horsewoman

[Tweetypez]

The Cholestyramine works for me too.  I had debilitating diarrhea (explosive) and cramps after meals post-gall bladder removal.  I suffered with this for about a year after the surgery before my doctor prescribed the Cholestyramine light powder daily.  I take one scoop in the morning mixed in my orange juice.  So far, after seven years it's still working wonderfully.  I test going off of it every once in awhile, and sure enough, the diarrhea and cramps come right back.  So it's a minor inconvenience to take it daily compared with the terrible symptoms if I don't take it.