chronic watery diarrhea and weight loss....

[jerseyot]

I'm a 37 yr old woman and had my gall bladder removed 5 months ago.  I started experiencing diarrhea about 2-3 weeks after surgery and have had chronic watery (often yellow) diarrhea as well as weight loss (14 lbs to date) ever since.  I'm tall and fairly thin (now weigh 124 and was 138 a few months ago) so the weight loss is quite apparent to those who know me.  My appetite is pretty much poor although i'm constantly drinking fluids to keep hydated due to the diarrhea.  I'm wondering if this is just something to live with or if it might be something more serious since i've been losing weight without dieting.  I would really appreciate any thoughts.  I have an appt with the GI who did my gall bladder surgery next week to discuss.  THANK YOU

[flagal66]

I just had my gallbladder out about a month ago and suffering daily with the same problem and now the surgeon is doing a colonoscopy on me the end of this month to find out if something else is going on. Im down to 105 lbs and cant afford to lose anymore weight. Deb

[jerseyot]

thank you CalGal....actually i do eat pretty low fat in general - an occasion treat here and there but otherwise a healthy eater.  The problem is haven't been hungry and with feeling so crummy, food doesn't always look so good to me.  I eat bananas and yogurt every day to try and help with the diarrhea and immodium on really bad days, but otherwise nothing really works.  I'm hoping for some relief and to stop losing weight soon so i'll ask the doctor about questran.  I'm also wondering if it might be a malabsorption type of thing at this point too - i don't know.

[CalGal]

If you're not following a low fat diet you may want to consider that. Many people unfortunately experience diarrhea after GB surgery and fats can sometimes have a lot to do with it. In addition, if you can't bring it under control, ask the doc to try something questran, a bile-binding resin. It may be helpful.