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My 79-year-old mom is having her gallbladder removed this Friday. She’s been diagnosed with functional gallbladder disorder. She’s been symptomatic for a long time but just received the diagnosis. Anyone here on the fire had their gallbladder removed?





P

My hired man did.


Has to stay away from greasy foods is about it.

Wife had same issue with greasy foods she was still in her 30's when hers was removed. She recovered quickly and she could eat anything she wanted after-wards.

10 years later mine started giving me issues for several years then finally had it removed in 1996 when I was 42.

Had mine removed 8 years ago.

It definitely changes your diet.

I had mine out on Valentines day. Mine had been hard to get a differential diagnosis on. The surgeon thought I might have developed a food allergy. I went gluten free really low fat and seemed to get better for awhile and then it came back with a vengeance. The 3rd test finally showed gall crystals (not stones) which justified removing the gallbladder.

The surgeon was able to get it out with laparoscopic surgery. No big incision 5 small ones.... kind of looked like I been attacked by an octopus.

I may have jinxed myself by watching too many You Tube cooking/food porn clips. I had missed eating so many kinds of food while on the restrictive diet.. I put a lot of thought into my return to a more enjoyable diet. My digestive system apparently is not as eager to return to a fuller menu.

The surgeon is a friend and he swears "This is not the new normal". Apparently lots of folks are able to eat pretty normally soon after the surgery. It's been 4 Months for me now and I can eat more than I could a few Months ago, but it's kind of Russian roulette (I could have said "a crap shoot" but that would be crass right ) I seem to be able to eat a food one day and then wish I had't the next....

laparoscopic surgery is a pretty amazing thing. I bet your mom will come through her surgery well and be among the majority that are able to eat pretty well again quickly. No triple cheese burgers but well in general. You might want to suggest that she does not spend a bunch of time watching gourmet cooking shows though....

The sudden and violent firestorm from an infected gall bladder caught us by surprise one evening and I wound up driving 320 miles as fast as possible in the wee hours to get my wife to a good hospital and surgeon. The ER folks sedated her enough to put out most of the fire while the tests/visuals were being done and until the surgeon went to work about 24 hours after the onset. He was able to perform the removal using laparoscopic (sp?) techniques, which meant three or four small incisions rather than a big one and the related healing issues.

We were grateful for that and the pain/upset were gone as soon as she got past the effects of the anesthesia. Not to be dramatic - these things do happen - about 10 hours after the surgery ended her heart rhythms went haywire from the anesthesia/trauma/surgery and we spent four extra days in the hospital until some meds (Diltiazem, etc., I think) got the rhythms converted to normal. No heart issues since and no gall bladder to worry about. She eats a greater variety of stuff without it.

Had mine out first part of April. Was load the Rhino on the trailer to go Turkey hunting the next day when it hit. Dropped me to my knees and the wife called for an ambulance while friends unloaded the Rhino. Local hospital sent me by ambulance to John Muir hospital which could perform the surgery of getting a dozen stones out and removing gal bladder the day after doing the stone surgery. Great hospital and staff. Daughter drove me home three days later. Lost a quick 25 lbs in ten days after but now have gained 10 of them back where I would like to stay. Another positive note is my blood pressure has never been this good in years so maybe it helped that also. Have 4 little holes in my stomach area which sure beats the old method of gutting you to remove it. I'm 81 so it should be a piece of cake for your Mom. Wish her the best and speedy recovery.

My son had his removed laproscopicly seven years ago. Post op he has what they call dumping syndrome. He can never be more than 15 minutes from a bathroom after each meal. Diet is difficult. What didn't bothered him today may cause problems tomorrow. He has found a few foods he can usually eat without problems.

He still has pain.

For some reason I can eat venison chili again... we use lean cuts of meat but are not holding back on the spice. I eat about 1/2 chili and 1/2 corn bread and knock on wood it does not hurt me.... Sherbet apparently is low enough fat that I can eat it too. I was down close to 30 pounds. I've gained 8 or 9 pounds back.... probably mostly from the sherbet. Anything chocolate is a major no no. That sucks.... but I am glad to be back in (relatively)"skinny jeans" again.

My wife had hers out Monday. Quite a bit of pain at first, seems to be getting better. Urged to take the pain meds to stay ahead of it. Also quite a bit of nausea, doesn't want to eat much. She's close to your mom's age. Time will tell about her food tolerance and diet.

I've learned that it is a common procedure. Seems like many of the people we know have had it done, mostly with good results and few ongoing problems.

Good luck to your mom.

Paul

Had mine out about a dozen years ago, using the laparoscopic surgery. Didn't really think it was bad enough to come out, and couldn't tell much difference afterwards. As far as eating goes, not much difference before or after. I think the doctor most have needed some quick money.

I had mine out 12 years ago. Had a 25mm stone hung up in it so they pulled the whole thing.

For a while afterward greasy foods caused a bile aftertaste but unfortunately that has gone away.

The wife had hers removed on Monday because an MRI showed that she had a gall stone that had to come out. That is major surgery even though it is out patient and done with laparoscopy through four small incisions. They use glue to close the wounds now instead of stitches which surprised me. They do need to poke around in there so she will be sore for about a week and not able to do much around the house except rest on her back. Go get her a big bottle of real ginger ale and shake it up so there is no carbonation left. It helps a whole bunch with the nausea which will last for about three days. Because those incisions are in the stomach, she will not be able to sit up in bed for about four or five days and will need to be boosted with the pillow behind her to get into a sitting position. About the second day I tied a thick Nylon rope with some hand hold knots in it to the bottom of the bed frame so that she could pull herself up into a sitting position. That saved me from getting up when she had to get up in the middle of the night. A week after the wife is driving, shopping and cooking now, but has limited stamina. No stairs for a while either. So far no issues with eating, but quite a bit of gas. It takes a few days for the anesthesia to wear off and her joints might hurt. Be sure to get her a good stool softener (we used Leader with 100mg Docusate Sodium) because the doc will likely put her on Oxycodone-Acetaminophen for the pain and that is constipating. Mine was on the pain meds for a few days and then we tapered off to half a pill and then to only Tylenol. Have a couple of the gel packs that you put in the freezer to put in a towel to help control the swelling. Good luck with the surgery. Just because it is out patient, it's no walk in the park.

I had three gallstone attacks since late January. The first one hit like a ton of bricks, a solid 8 out of ten, went to the ER, they gave me morphine and when it wore off I was OK, but they had no idea what had happened. It happened again about 6 weeks later, but this time I self medicated with some leftover pain pills, again felt fine once they wore off. The third time, early April, I took two pain pills and after an hour still was writhing in pain, so I chewed another one and that took care of it. After that, I figured I better find out what was causing the pain. They found some stones in the gallbladder, so it is coming out in early August. So now every meal is like Russian Roulette. I've lost about 20 lb so far.

I had mine out about 20 years ago. They did it by making three small incisions that really were not painful at all and I really didn't have any problems. I pretty much ate whatever I wanted to to start out and now too. That might not be the same for an older person. The only thing that was a bit weird is I had a little trouble getting comfortable in bed for a month or two. I think the organs around my missing gallbladder were getting adjusted to not having it there and it felt weird but not really painful.

Gall bladder removals have bought more BMWs for Doctors wives than any other type surgery!!

Not much too it man. It's a quick recovery too. She'll be fine.

I had mine removed 55 years ago by the old gut em method. The incision is about 6" long. About 2 years ago I had to get the incision reinforced because a small piece was starting to bulge (herniate). To the best of my recollection my diet never changed. When I had attacks they gave pain which I had never experienced before or since. When I was young I had a fear of hospitals. After a gall bladder attack they couldn't get me into the hospital fast enough.

Jim

Gall bladder attacks are about the most painful thing I ever had, but I got lucky. I appear to be one of the few people for whom the pain is stopped by the introduction of oxygen. With my first one, I thought i was having a heart attack, so went to the ER and told them that. They got me in immediately and when they put the oxygen on, the pain just seemed to wash away. I told the ER staff the pain was gone that confused them a bit but they kept working to be sure I didn't die from a heart issue. Finding nothing wrong with my heart the doc began asking questions and determined it was my gall bladder most likely and referred me to a surgeon. The surgeon said he had read about oxygen diminishing the pain in a gall bladder attack but never had a patient who claimed it helped them. I asked if he could give me a prescription for O2, and he did, so I used that if I had more attacks and I did. The O2 stopped the pain every time.

Mine was several years ago. No big deal. They did it laproscopicaly . It was out patient surgery I think I took an extra day off.