Too much bile?

[SuperMomOfTwo]

In 2005 I had my gallbladder removed, never had stones, just a very diseased gallbladder. This year I was hospitalized with severe pain (they thought it was my gallbladder until I told them I didn’t have one).  Turned out after a week they finally did something I remember them calling it a “Sphynxectomy”, where they cut the muscle that controls the flow of bile through the bile duct. I was told I had billary sludge and may have had a gall stone in there when I first came to the hospital and that this minor surgery would fix that, allowing everything to free-flow through.

In the meantime, over the past year I’ve also had lots of diarrhea, very yellow fluid.  I have heard, and been given the impression, it could be over production of bile, but my doctor quickly dismissed it. He eventually diagnosed me as having IBS (which I hear sometimes can be “I don’t know what’s wrong with your digestive system so let’s call it IBS”.  I’ve tried a pill to stop spasms of my intestine, that didn’t do anything for me. He then prescribed a new pill for the same thing, only for me to find out from the pharmacy that that pill isn’t even made anymore (yes, I’ve lost confidence in my dr.)

I’ve been doing more of my own research into this whole problem, as I’m getting very tired of always having to make sure I know where the nearest bathroom is, and its to the point where I don’t want to eat if I know I have a work meeting after lunch for fear of having to leave the meeting. So I’ve found a few interesting things, like estrogen can reduce the production of bile (is this true, I was on birth control for a while, and I was actually a little better). I’ve also heard there are pills to lower the production of bile, but then I read into it and they are cholesterol reducing pills which reduce the re-absorption of the bile, and reduce diarrhea.  I’m confused.

Any dr’s out there with any information, or any other websites which have info on this specific problem (possibly bile overproduction)?? Thanks!!!!!!

[toltec]

http://www.news-medical.net/news/2005/10/11/13697.aspx#comment. this is a link to a new hormone discovered for the production of FGF.  Medical News link suggests that.. When fats are sensed by the intestines FGF regulates the production of bile from the liver.  Maybe there is a deficency in this hormone that leads to to much bile being produced and thus causing problems.  FGF hormone seems to act as 'go between' for  gut and liver.

[myauntiem1]

Welchol is just one  such a pill as you describe.  It does reduce cholesterol levels as well as helps people with blood sugar problems.   (Questran, I would stay away from though it does the same thing... it just is a terrible to get down) Bile Binding is an off label use which is just fine.   Too much Bile does give you a yellowish diarrhea.  IBS is only diagnosed when all other possible reasons have been eliminated.  I hope that anyone who reads this will be blessed as I was to find Welchol.  

[myauntiem1]

3 years ago I was in a car accident where I ended up having the end of my sm. Int. removed. Bile began to pour into my colon which in turned into  continuous  and acidy diarrhea.  I was soooo sick and couldn't eat without having to run to the bathroom every 5 minutes.  I had pain, fatigue, nausea.   Long story short, they first game me Questran ( I believe that was the name) to bind the bile … I could hardly GAG it down because of the Sandy Texture.... Fortunately, my daughter who is a PA did research on optional medication.  Welchol binds bile, which is an off label use.  It is AMAZING... but expensive.  I believe they now have a generic form of it.  My gallbladder was removed several years before this and I didn't have trouble until they took the end of my small Intestines.

[sapidshelly]

You need to see another dr.
University of Utah Gastroenterologist Dr. Adler, If you are on the east coast, Dr. Bolt, he is the dr. they made the series, House after. Dr. Bolt is the complete opposite of Dr. House. You can find him online.
Seattle Washington has a reasearch hospital my sister sees for her bile duct surgeries.
Stop listening to doctors like they are intelligent, intelligence comes with specialists..keep looking.
https://www.cancertherapyadvisor.com/gastroenterology-hematology/sphincter-of-oddi-dysfunction/article/596592/
Talks about excess bile, SOD..common bile duct sphincter muscle that spasms when you eat or take opioids or have your gallbladder removed.
Please send this around.

[cp01]

About four years ago I, too, began having chronic hives, joint pain, muscle cramps and swelling.  Prednisone took care of it, but was not a solution I wanted.  I had a delayed reaction to almost every prick on the allergy test.  Using an elimination diet, I found that if I eliminated two categories of food, I could control about 99% of the symptoms - something I could live with.  As to why my immune system broke, nobody has any theories.  It did coincide with being post menopausal.  Would love to know if you've found any solutions, or how you're doing (I know it's been a long time since you posted this...).

[vsbraun]

be careful with the estrogen.  I had "non-invasive cervical cancer which was not found in a pap but during a d & c to stop the clots and heavy bleeding.  That is when they found stage I cervical cancer.  This dr. knew I was full of polyps cysts and tumors in my uterus so when I started bleeding and clotting again after 8 months, he forgot about the many tumors that were found and prescribed me an estrogen based birth control to stop the bleeding.  I was send to the ER by another specialist for emergency surgery because unbeknownst to me estrogen is like food for the Gods to feed and grow tumors.  They could not even remove the tumor since it had grown to fill my uterus 3/4 up.  They gave me a lupron shot to stop al my hormones so it would shrink enough for them to remove it safely without me bleeding out.  I had to wait six months now knowing if it was cancer.  The specialist assumed this thing had been growing for years but I just had a full scraping only 8 months prior.  Thank God it was not cancer but I know that can never take anything estrogen based since I am prone to cysts and tumors throughout my body.  Good Luck, God bless.  What stopped my bleeding ulcers were pantaprozanole, the equivalent of a pepsid ac, bentyl for ibs but stomach and intestinal pin, and probiotics.  Ihave a rare liver disease called primary biliary cirrhosis where an antimichondrial anitobody randomly attacks organs and settle on my liver.  I is rare but thank goodness the dr. I had found the culprit.  No curethough.

[vsbraun]

be careful with the estrogen.  I had "non-invasive cervical cancer which was not found in a pap but during a d & c to stop the clots and heavy bleeding.  That is when they found stage I cervical cancer.  This dr. knew I was full of polyps cysts and tumors in my uterus so when I started bleeding and clotting again after 8 months, he forgot about the many tumors that were found and prescribed me an estrogen based birth control to stop the bleeding.  I was send to the ER by another specialist for emergency surgery because unbeknownst to me estrogen is like food for the Gods to feed and grow tumors.  They could not even remove the tumor since it had grown to fill my uterus 3/4 up.  They gave me a lupron shot to stop al my hormones so it would shrink enough for them to remove it safely without me bleeding out.  I had to wait six months now knowing if it was cancer.  The specialist assumed this thing had been growing for years but I just had a full scraping only 8 months prior.  Thank God it was not cancer but I know that can never take anything estrogen based since I am prone to cysts and tumors throughout my body.  Good Luck, God bless.  What stopped my bleeding ulcers were pantaprozanole, the equivalent of a pepsid ac, bentyl for ibs but stomach and intestinal pin, and probiotics.  Ihave a rare liver disease called primary biliary cirrhosis where an antimichondrial anitobody randomly attacks organs and settle on my liver.  I is rare but thank goodness the dr. I had found the culprit.  No curethough.

[GIgerder]

scubaOR your symptoms sound close to what Ciguatera poisoning is. Do you eat fish? I had been diagnosed with Ciguatera in 2008 after eating fresh fish (grouper) at a  local restaurant. Fast forward to 2015 and I have been told I need to get my gallbladder out due to stones but am leery of doing that based on the negative aftereffects of doing so. So far no Doctor has told me that Ciguatera poisoning is related to my ongoing GI issues but I suspect it all is.

[Robbb3]

I took Colestid and it seemed to help but gave me heartburn. Started to take Pepcid with it and eventually noticed that just the Pepcid helped a great deal and that is all I currently take.  Works most of the time for me and is over the counter.

[ed4483]

I had my gallbladder out a few years ago and experienced the exact same symptoms afterwards. Bad diarrhea every time I ate. I actually lost about 30 lbs because I was too afraid to eat especially before and during work. I would wait to eat anything until I got home because i knew It was going to be bad news about 15 minutes after. Anyway, The Dr. prescribed Cholestyramine. Its a pwder packed you add to water before eating. I mix about half a small packet in water every morning before I begin the day and 95% of the time I am absolutely fine now. My Dr. said I would probably use this medicine the rest of my life. I am totally fine with that. It was an absolute miracle from God when i started taking this. I finally felt normal again.

[Aly_set]

Wow! same for me but after taking the powder for 4 years I am with severe rocesa and vatamin deficien because a dr told me it works great for binding the acid and food it also does not allow vitamin absorbed to the body from the food because it just bulks everything up... I am desperate as of now!! I have tried many natural ways after he told me that with no results I am interested to see how long have you been taking it?

[ineedhelppain]

Sorry about all that you have been through. You say you have constricted bile ducts did that show up in an imaging test? If so which one? Thanks

[justsharinginfo]

My doctor put me on Pristiq to slow the production of bile and it has worked. I have suffered from IBS?! or overactive Bile since 1992 and Pristiq keeps things under control. I still have to watch how much acidic foods and/or spicy foods, but daily living is much better. Fried foods are a no-no. I hate being on Pristiq as you can not just stop it when you want, but it does help my stomach and I do not need a map of restrooms.

[justsharinginfo]

My doctor put me on Pristiq to slow the production of bile and it has worked. I have suffered from IBS?! or overactive Bile since 1992 and Pristiq keeps things under control. I still have to watch how much acidic foods and/or spicy foods, but daily living is much better. Fried foods are a no-no. I hate being on Pristiq as you can not just stop it when you want, but it does help my stomach and I do not need a map of restrooms.

[scubaOR]

I started out with the bile burps.  Burps meant that an attach was coming.  I would have bad bile breath and burps and then came the diarrhea.  The last solid stool and then the rest came out violent and spraying.  I would also be nauseous and vomiting on some attached but not all.  What also made these attaches interesting was that they occurred approximately every three weeks and usually began at night/early morning.  I at first thought I was having food poisoning but then when it began to repeat I thought later that I was having a pork sensitivity as that seemed possible but nope through trials I proved that wrong.  Then I learned I had a diseased gall bladder and had it removed.  The attacks continued post surgery.  I was told by a doctor to eat better.  Some tested me for lactose sensitivity.  I can eat cheese by the pound without issues.  Again my attaches are cyclical.  Then later I was diagnosed with cryptosporidium.  That is interesting is that the life cycle of cypto is about 3 weeks and my body was trying to purge itself of the parasite.  After treatment I still had attaches.  I learned that maybe I would need another round, which the doctor would not give.  I later changed doctors and he gave me another round.  I had at that point can cameras up my butt, down my throat, intestines imaged with barium, and later a CAT scan and physically all looks okay from what they have looked at.  Lately I have thought maybe I have had attaches so long that my body cannot shut itself off of these attaches.  So my doctor gave me Desipramine as a way to try turning down the volume and help my body to stop the attaches; in other words this might at this point be psychosomatic.  So far I have ramped up and have not stopped my attaches.  Actually my attaches were every 3 weeks of nausea, vomiting, and explosive diarrhea.   Then after I started the Desipramine my attaches have changed to once a week.  They are getting less explosive.  I still might or might not vomit.  The shower is my home during attaches as all is contained there.  As the diarrhea is so acidic with bile I find the water from a showerhead to be a gentler way of cleaning instead of wipes or toilet paper and causing pain from all the roughness.  So at this point my attaches are lesser.  I have a multi hours lag phase where I know it is coming and then the body purges.  I end up purging 6-10 pounds of lost solids and fluids.  Attaches have lasted about as short as 12 hours and some of the few worst up to two days.  Normally I am good in less than 24 hours so attach for 12 hours and recovery.  So at this point I am on an antidepressant that does not seem to work but did in fact change my body’s behavior.  So when I come off the meds do my attaches go back to 3 weeks or am I stuck at once a week normally on a Saturday night/Sunday morning.  This has for the most part been kind of predictable and cyclical bile over production to purge my body.  I have also thought about my liver.  I have been drinking a lot of cranberry juice and also taking Liver Detoxifier and Regenerator from NOW.  I have lately upped my water drinking being lately 0.5-1 gallons a day.  Any thoughts?

[greenthumb333]

I had my gall bladder removed in 2000.  Several weeks after surgery I experienced terrible pain in my right side and was given a strong pain medicine.  That lead to a massive reaction with swelling and problems breathing.  I was  hospitalized and put on prednisone intravenously for a week, then transferred to pills.  Every time I tried stopping the prednisone, I would get the reactions again with hives and itching and swelling. I finally managed to wean myself off predisone in six months.  I have lived on Imodium for years to control the diarrhea.  Six months ago I developed what I call explosive diarrhea and my cardiac doctor discovered I had low potassium.  I just had  tests done and when I prepared for the colonoscopy, the drainage from my colon was a bright yellow.  Cholestyramine is the only thing that seems to help, but my doctor said it isn't  meant to be taken long term.   .  .    

[drcharley]

try PRE-biotics

[goingandgoing]

Have had gall bladder removed and am convinced my body is producing way too much bile.  I get nauseous, headaches and diarrea a lot.  I too am trying to figure this out.  Does anyone know if probiotics might help

[marcmcph]

Try eating organic food, food without any sort of corn or soy product that is Genetically Modified. GMO food has the pesticide genetically put into the plant so it can withstand massive doses of pesticides without dying. So along with it being drenched in pesticides the food actually has poison inside of it. It is currently in almost everything that is processed and has a label.  Kelloggs corn flakes, oatmeal, chips, snack foods, if it has a list of ingredients that you cant pronounce or you dont know what it is don't eat it.  Most countries have banned or require labeling of GMO food but not here in the USA. These companies say the food is safe but they fund all of the scientific studies that they go by. Any private studies into GMO consumption have proven to cause digestive problems and tumors. I have had similar symptoms to most of you and its solved by eating a mostly vegetarian and organic diet.

[persistance]

i have suffered diarrhea for 2 plus years. At a consultation the doctor happened to mention that my problem may be excess bile, but commented no further. As, like many patients i got fed up with not being helped with my problem, i thought i would look into this. The only remedy i initially found was sequestrants, something the doctor had mentioned, although never thought to suggest i might try.  It appears this is only suggested after whats called a SECAT scan, why we couldn't simply try sequentrants is beyond me. Any way, i looked up different types of sequestrants, and yes, prescription only, but then i found one site which suggested psyllium, (the suggestion was that it has been as successful as mezalasine, an antiimflamitory used for colitis) i have used it previously, yes an improvement, but not much better. Then i though, fibrgel, its the same, although described as espagula husks, i'll try. Then i noticed that the sachets were 3.5 grams, 7 times more than my 500mg psyllium capsules. So i tried fibrgel, better than the what i now know as 7 times weeker capsules of psyllium.
I now have 5 fibrgel daily, absolutely brilliant, 2 after breakfast, one after lunch, normally just a sandwich, and 2 after my evening meal. The secret when taking fibrgel, don't use 150ml of water, halve that, make sure you have opened both sachets first,then put into water , both, mix and drink within 30 seconds, surprisingly pleasant, (orange flavour) leave it another 15 seconds, and you are confronted with the thickest wallpaper paste ever. Disgusting, yuk! If the speed of motility is a problem, then use loperamide, 3 or 4 times daily.
It does appear that this is very good for the bowel, and it helps it to recover and heal, the initial wind it creates soon stops, extremely good also for irritable bowel, diverticular and colitis. If i relied on doctors to sort me, i would have given up years ago, but you have to be prepared to try things, especially complementary substances, you must know what you are doing with alternative, or take risks, fibrgel can be prescribed and is complementary, good luck.

[gala48]

I have overactive liver function which was created by working too hard and severely compromising my immune system.  I ended up developing food intollerances which cause rashes and itchy skin. I have identified all heat producing foods and taken them our of my diet. This helps, but the cure is still elusive. The only remedy that helps to some degree are Tibetan herbs which i take every day and which change each month as my condition improves.  A chinese herb doctor might be a good route to go. The underlying condition of course is with the liver-- the liver is where resentment lies . I am working with imagery and other forgiveness techniques to reduce the bile in the liver. Drugs and herbs can only manage the condition to some degree. Deep psychological work needs to be added as a remedy.

[sweetgrl]

Many of you sound like you have symptoms of Shincter of Oddi Dysfunction. The treatment u talked about is a "sphincterotomy". I too have SOD.  You may want to google it and see if ur symptoms fit the condition. Also sudden multiple alergies can be related to liver issues.

[DianeMG]

my doctor had put me on Carafate for a few years due to the increae of bile in my system since I too, had my gallbladder removed many years ago at the tender age of 19 and now I am into my early 50's; but then all of a sudden after being on that for a few years, I began breaking out with rashes ALL over my entire body and boy did they itch like crazy.  They could not find out what was causing this and I was put on prednisone for a bit and thought I wanted to kill either myself or someone on that medicine... never again!   Anyway, finally they did patch testing only to discover that I am allergic to almost EVERYTHING!   There are not many foods that I can eat without breaking out, itching or it making me extremely fatigued.   Till this day they still HAVE NOT really indicated what caused this sudden allergic reaction and they also don't seem to care.  I was bounced from one doctore to another.  I tried asking Dr. Oz but also got no response so here I am STILL suffering from Topical and Food Allergies of Many Kinds..way too many to list..  If there is anyone else out there that may have suffered the same systems as me, please write back to me?  Does anyone know what the cause is and also if there is a cure or do I suffer like this for the rest of my life?    Thank you

[Reola]

I had my gallbladder removed 10 years ago, it' was filled with sludge.  I thought the diarrhea would stop, but it didn't.  I have taken
Questran 1 scoop a day for 10 years but it didn't work all the time.  Then I found Cymbalta 60 mg. once a day and taken with Questran, I have finally found the combination that works for me.  I wouldn't give up my Cymbalta for all the money in China.  
There is still a medicine that I used to take that worked, they took it off the market for awhile, now available only from a Gastro Doctor.  It's called LOTRONEX,  it's a wonder drug.  I used to have diarrhea for more than 25 years when I first found this, but it's back on the market.  Try it, or my Cymbalta it will get you out of the house.

Reola

[Butternut1]

Also...anyone who has ingested 'Splenda'  (Sucralose) should know it it chlorinated sugar.  It has effected every organ in my body.....liver lesions..constricted bile ducts....lung lesions, distention, lack of hormones, lack of vitamin D, hypothyroidism, sleeplessness, loss of memory, loss of concentration, severe abdomen pain, dirrireah, etc.

[Butternut1]

I think were all on the same page with the same problem.  I think getting tested for the FGF hormone (look on wikipedia for Fibroblast_growth_factor).  I took 'Splenda', 10 packs a day for 4 years and have suffered for 8 years of pain, distention, lesions in liver, dirreah, gall bladder constriction, loss of memory, loss of concentration, no hormones in my body, no vitamin D, sleeplessness, etc.  Undiagnosed due to the fact that the medical community does not offer 'chlorine poison' tests, it has been a long hard road.  The article on Wiki fits about FGF hormone.  I just faxed my doctor asking if I could be checked for this hormone because it also effect mucus lining in intestines, repair of tissues, bile, liver, kidneys, etc.  I think this might be the answer to all of our prayers!

[toltec]

Interesting, I have to take Questeran to stop the bile from giving me the yellow diarrhea ( I am diagnosed with crohns). very frustrating not having any answers to why the bile is over producing and making my intestines sore enough to produce diarroheae.  My gallbladder is apparently ok but I wonder if its not working effectively or the duct is stuck open.  No one seems to know!