Good Morning everyone,

Since I've been browsing these boards, I've seen a lot of people having issues with their gallbladder and even having them removed during surgery.

Does WLS surgery cause issues for your gallbladder?

Thanks in advance!

It can cause the issues. Something about losing weight quickly. I know someone on here can answer your question in more detail than that, but that's what I've heard.

I think someone also posted something at one point about a high protein diet being one factor in developing gallstones. Not sure though.

The first surgeon I met with, was sure I had gallbladder issues based on my answers to his questions and sent me for an ultrasound. It turns out I did have gallbladder disease and that was the explanation for the sharp pains I would feel. From what I've read, being obese increases the risk of developing gallstones. My insurance approved me to have the gallbladder surgery and I was planning on having it at the same time as my wls, but once I went on an Atkin's style diet AND cut out a lot of fat from my diet, I no longer felt pain. I guess rapid weight loss also releases excess estrogen into our bodies and leads many people to have problems with gallstones after surgery. My current surgeon told me it used to be the norm to remove the gallbladder during wls, just because of this. Well, in the end (after weighing the pro's and con's) I decided to hold off on the gallbladder surgery until I had pain. I'm so glad I did wait, because he ended up having to repair a hernia before he did my surgery and I'm not sure my husband would have survived me being under anesthesia for three surgeries at once:-) One month I thought I was having attacks and was sure I'd have to schedule surgery, but I didn't.

It's the low fat diet that causes it. When I was 16 I went on a fat free diet for 4 months where I got almost no fat at all, and at 17 had to have my gall bladder removed.