Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire who has had their gallbladder out?

I had mine out in May,along with part of my liver and I had Pancreatitis(or however you spell it).
Because I ignored my symptoms,it almost killed me.
My blood work was bad enough that the Doc told my Mom that I,more than likely,had Pancreatic Cancer. Scared the $hit out of her.
My body was shutting down by the time they put me in the hospital. My fever was 103 and my blood pressure was low enough that they gave me two IV bags of fluids to try and get my BP up.
I was in the hospital for 13 days and I was in pain for a couple of months.
The moral of the story is don't ignore what your body is telling you. I did because I was raised to work through the pain... Like I previously said...It almost killed me.

There was no problem I can remember, Rattler.

Had mine removed 7 years ago at age 46. No gallstones, mine just quit functioning. Went in for surgery at 8am and was home by 1pm the same day. Only had to take one pain pill the next day, & went back to work 3 days later. No pain after a week, and it took about 2 weeks for my stomach to adjust to not having my Gall Bladder anymore. Scars are all gone, too. Mine was removed laparoscopticly. Best thing I ever had done, as I was sick as a dog before they took mine out. I'd rather have gall bladder surgery than a fricking root canal any old day!

had mine out in '05

after a gall stone attack that had me seeing stars, speaking in tongues and praying for death, so it was a vast improvement over the status quo ante

laprascopic surgery was easy, one day in and out. I made the mistake of getting up and trying to do my normal stuff the next day because I felt so good....that was a mistake. have her take it easy for a while.

I had no digestion issues without a GB, although I've heard some people do.

I'll be joining the crowd in a couple of weeks... have a gall stone that is about an inch in diameter....

My experience was similar. It sounds like you were farther along the same path I was on. Lots of guys think it is no big deal because theirs was but in some cases it certainly can be.

My experience was similar to Steve_No's.

Had mine out laproscopically under general anesthesia a couple of years ago. Three incisions, probably 8 steel staples. The staples were a pain and I was happy to have them removed several weeks later.

Surgery was handled as outpatient. Got to the hospital at Zero Dark Thirty in the morning. Was out in time for dinner. I ate dinner with no problems. Whatever drug they used to wake me up had me up until about Noon the next day. I needed no pain pills. I took a couple of days off and pretty much resumed my life. The only pain being from the frickin staples.

My abdomen did seem to lose muscle tone for about a day, making the lower digestive organs seem to shift. After a day, muscle tone returned.

A few problems with diarrhea for the first couple of months. Then that problem faded away. No restrictions to my diet at any point.

Possible serious problems mentioned by the surgeon included those from general anesthesia, and nicking of other organs or the bile duct. If the bile duct had accidentally been severed, the surgeon said that he would have called in a liver transplant team to repair it.

The surgeon also was pleased that I was fairly thin as being overweight had occasionally made the procedure difficult. Of course, my thinness was due to the fact that I couldn't eat anything due to the pain.

My experience was that the surgery brought complete relief from the pain, and that I had few problems. (Did I mention that the frickin staples were the biggest problem? ) I am glad that I did it.

Howdy BB,

I can almost appreciate what you went thru. You offer some dang good advice. I think you should celebrate your victory over your GI crisis with.......a small drinking glass, a big bag of ice, and a fifth of Wild Turkey 101.

I got scoped at both ends yesterday after 20 years of GI crapola plus a summer of all kinds of stuff (viruses, pancreatitis). The verdict? Diverticulitis, 7 intestinal polyps removed and several samples taken for biopsy, Barrett's esophagus, and stomach sample taken for testing for H Pylori after several months of stomach pain and puking. Now I gotta suffer the next week wondering if the biopsies will come back malignant or not, so I'm not done yet. Took me 2 full months to get scoped in this backlogged healthcare industry.

Like you....used to having GI pain and problems (BAD IBS & Gastric Dumping Syndrome).......so I waited too long to go see the specialist again. My fault.

R,

I had a Laser Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy in 1992 after 6-8 months of problems. Used to feel disseminated pain inside, waking up at 3:00AM with my stomach hurting so bad I'd get up and eat a bowl of cereal to stop it. Also felt like I had the flu all the time. After ruling out ulcer.......which took 3 months....and several negative ultrasounds (grrrr) for gallstones....my Gastroenterologist said 'pick a surgeon and I'm referring you'. My chosen surgeon (like most of 'em) didn't wanna yank my gb for fear that it wasn't the problem and I'd sue him. This is quite common.

The surgeon tried to get me to try another pill for awhile........and I whipped out my checkbook and said 'I WANT MY GB OUT NOW AND WHO DO I MAKE THE CHECK OUT TO'? He relented, and they rolled me into the ER a couple weeks later as I was cheering them on.

If you have gallstones, then you pretty much have to have it removed. I have 4 poke holes in my stomach which were sore for a few days but nothing serious.

I have bloating (which is common after this surgery)..........intestines filled with gas and you feel like your 15 waist sizes larger than normal........after eating a fatty, greasy meal. The purpose of the gb is to inject a digestive enzyme into the intestines to aid in fat digestion.........and if it's not there than the gut struggles a bit to get this done after fatty, greasy meals. I've had this situation ever since.

I and others have gone thru months or years of gb problems when ours didn't produce gallstones. It's called chronic cholecystitis versus acute (when stones are present). Folks who have a sudden attack of acute chole and get their gb yanked the next day don't know how lucky they are.............

It's interesting to read the individual recoveries as there are differences in how people respond and some digesting adjustments to be made without the gallbag there to do its part.

Pancreatitis is a serious illness sometimes associated with cholecystitis (inflamed infected gallbladder) and cholelithiasis (stones in the bag) and surgery is not done at all electively until that problem is solved with antibiotics and hospitalization.

My perspective of course is a very short and an acute one--seeing the patient, readying them for the OR, giving the anesthesia, and delivering them to PACU (recovery) sleepy but waking.

The laparoscopic technique has been revolutionary in making this and other surgeries much, much easier to recover from by eliminating the huge upper amd lower abdominal incisions. Bowel resections, hysterectomy, and others as well as cholecystectomy (taking the old gallbag out) can be done this way.

In gall bladder surgery, a general anesthetic is used (completely asleep). After "lift-off", the table is positioned in a head-up attitude to assist the chitlins in sliding south to the extant they can. Then through three to four small (1-2 cm) incisions the various instruments (light source, cautery, graspers, etc) are inserted. Before work can be done one's abdomen is instilled with C02 until it domes up to about "6 months pregnancy mode". This gives the surgeon room between the the abdominal wall and the liver and gallbladder to work and manipulate the instruments. He usually needs at least one assistant holding the light source/camera while he holds the operative tools. Usually this is a tech; some times another surgeon assists if more than the usual difficulty is expected.

Obviously, the duct from the gallbladder to the bowel must be dissected out and cut usually before the body is dissected out from under the body of the liver. There is another duct, the common duct that must not be cut and is a surgeon's serious faux pas if it is. That is the beginning of another, later, long problematic process.

If a stone is suspected to have packed up and moved downward through the gallbladder's duct into the CD, they may do a procedure and study called a CD exploration and cholangiogram with some dye and x-rays. If there is one there and it's uncooperative, you might be sent later to a GI specialist for a ERCP, a procedure whereby it is fished out without major, incisional surgery.

At the end of the procedure, an attempt is made to evacuate all or most of the C02 out of the abdomen, though it has continually been slowly absorbed and excreted out of the lungs during the procedure. One of the things we gass passers monitor is end tidal C02 and we always see at least subtle increases during any laparoscopic surgery. If some gets trapped under the diaghram, before it's finally absorbed, it can cause rather severe shoulder pain in the recovery room. This isn't common but not rare either, happening maybe 10% (a guess) of the time.

Of course the anesthetic technique is a whole other aspect but not one everyone is interested in or asks about that.

That's it in a nut shell,.. Or should I say, "in a bag".

...Chitlins :D,

A good read George.

My son had his GB removed several years ago. Still has mild abdominal pain at times but nothing like before. He does have "dumping syndrome" and must be near a bathroom 30 minutes after a meal.

My symptoms were constant pain up under the ribs on the right side, and weird bouts of throwing up and thinking I had food poisoning. Dropped ten pounds in a few months, and wasn't making any gains or even retaining muscle despite going to the gym.

Took 4 different doctors and 6 months before it was diagnosed. During surgery the doc found that the valve for the bladder was scarred up, and the gallbladder was actually attaching itself to my intestine with scar tissue.

I've never been one that could tolerate rich fatty/oily foods, and I still cannot. My family just loves to saturate everything in olive oil etc and eat a lot of italian food. I eat mostly a german or mexican diet.

Lucky for me no "dumping" syndrome. Cannot eat Cheddar/sour cream ruffles anymore though.

I had mine removed in 2006. The surgery wasn't bad, and neither was recovery. My stomach muscles were pretty sore for a day or two, so I had to think before I got up out of a chair or the bed. The sugery was on a Thursday, and I went back to work the next Monday.

Unfortunately, I have the "dumping syndrome", which really doesn't accurately describe the situation. I was getting diarrhea 5-6 times a day, with about 30 seconds worth of warning. I refer to it as Old Testament diarrhea, because it is so bad, it seems like the kind of thing that God would put on you as punishment for some past sin. I seriously reviewed my life and decided that I hadn't done anything that bad, so it must have just been the gall bladder removal. My Doctor told me that most people's bodies "adjust" to not having a gall bladder after a period of time. Mine did not. After about 8 months and a dose of hemorrhoids, he finally put me on something to bind with the free flowing bile in my system. It was an improvement, but still no walk in the park. I wouldn't wish the "dump syndrome" on anyone.

Chris

Wife had hers removed several years ago, biggest post surgical problem was pain from the gas they pump you full of. It is uncomfortable, the way to get it to dissipate is to get up and move around. She was not willing to until her sisters got her up out of her recliner and forced her to go for a walk. The gas dissipated and the pain subsided. Other than that she's had no problems.

I know where she is coming from about the doc, you go in around here complaining of anything hurting they decide your a R/X drug addict and you are trying to get your fix. Never mind getting an appointment with any local doc takes upwards of 3 weeks, hence why I ended up at the ER with my 1 year old for a fever of 104, ever local office I called told me they could see him the week of November 11th, sorry, rant off.

Almost identical to mine but went in at 7:00 AM and was on the way home by 9:30 AM. It took them 6 years to figure out what it was other than IBS.

well we have to be in Glasgow(45 miles down the road) at 9:30 tomorrow.....going by the blood tests last week and today they think she passed a stone last week which is why she was REALLY miserable but looks like there isnt anything blocking the main duct from the liver at the moment.....if that is still true in the morning they will remove her gallbladder(laproscopically unless she is the 1 in 50 that has issues)....

if however the duct from the liver to the small intestine is blocked or partially blocked then they close her up and we have to go to Billings(300 miles) for an even more specialized specialist to remove the stone from the duct before the gall bladder can be removed.....potential for major problems exist if they remove the gallbladder without the duct from the liver to the intestine being clear....

so if your inclined, good thoughts and prayers her way for the morning and with some luck and someone upstairs looking out for her we will be back home tomorrow evening....

Your first paragraph refers to the hepatic duct; the second refers to the common duct and then the ERCP procedure (esophageal retrograde cholango-pancreatogram--you can see why they call it an ERCP ) I mentioned above.

As to the last, there is a God and He is sovereign and I will pray for her well-being.