How many of you developed Gallbladder issues after surgery? What exactly about the VSG surgery would cause Gallbladder issues? The types of post op diet, lack of certain foods? How to avoid this?

Thank you.

My sister-in-law developed issues after banding. Her doctor told her it was common for people with rapid weight loss. I don't know......mine was taken out three years ago and the attacks came from nowhere

Gallstones are created from cholestrol and bile salts.....and are usually formed when the gallbladder is not used often enough. The bile mixture sits in the gallbladder and stones precipitate out of the bile.

So what happens when we diet? We don't eat very much or often - therefore the gallbladder does not contract and flush bile in/out as often as it needs to. Stones then form over time and if you get too many or too big...they clog a duct and BLAM.....gall bladder attack. It's happens to lots of people who fast or yo-yo diet....not necessarily because of your surgery.

It's really all about the chemistry in your body more than anything - couple with the fact that if you are not eating much and what you do eat...does not need bile...its bound to happen.

If you are concerned about gallstones ask your surgeon about getting on Ursodial. It can be taken for the first 6-9 months after surgery and stats have shown a major decrease in the # of people who develop complications with gallstones.

Hope this helps.

My doc has put me on Gall Stone medicine immediately after the sleeve surgery. It's to prevent them from forming. I'm sure you can inquire with your doc. I need to take it with every meal - I think for 6 months or so. I guess rapid weight loss can cause gall stones, so this is a preventative measure.

It's because you lose weight so quickly... My doctor gave me some medicine for it. But, honestly I haven't taken it like I should of o.O

I think a lot of people have problems with their gallbladder afterwards. One reason is due to the quick weight loss, as others have mentioned. Another possible reason is because many are on very low fat diets after surgery. I have read where some are told to stay below 5g fat per day. When I was on a diet program before my surgery, I was told by a dietitian that you should consume a minimum of 20g of healthy fat each day for healthy gallbladder function, otherwise you may experience gallbladder problems. Still, from what I have read, it seems the quick weight loss is the main culprit.

I already knew my gallbladder was bad and had it removed during the VSG surgery. So glad I did to! Evidently my gallstones were quite impressive. When I woke up from surgery so many people asked me if I was told about my gallbladder. The stones were HUGE; all of them were larger than avocado seeds. My doctor had to crush most of the stones and cut my incision wider because they were too large to pull out.

I knew I had gallstones going in, so I also had mine taken out with my VSG surgery. After was told I had golf ball sized stones!!!

That medicine you take to avoid gall stones is hard on the liver.

I had my gall bladder out. So did my daughter. She had gastric bypass and I had the band then the sleeve. It's from rapid weight loss.

It actually has nothing to do with your actual weight loss one way or another - it has to do with your calorie intake (or lack thereof) combined with a lower fat diet. If you aren't eating very much then your gall bladder isn't being used much and stones form.

I had my gallbladder removed at 8 months post-VSG, and after 120ish pounds lost. I never ate low fat during my losing phase either, but I was doing super low carbs, and only between 600-800 calories per day.

I refused to take Urisidol/ACtigall because it carries some contraindications for liver enzymes. During rapid weight loss, our livers are working double time, and there is NO guarantee they will prevent gallstones so I wasn't willing to task my liver even more with only a small decrease on losing my GB later on.

I'm 8.5 months out and no problems yet *knock on wood.* I pretty much expected to have gallstones, too, as I had issues with gallbladder sludge in childhood. And just like Tarain suggested, I was NOT trying to eat low-fat after the surgery, and my calories weren't crazy-low, either. I was definitely closer to 1000 after 1 month, and 1200-1500 later on. So maybe it IS true that eating more fat will help prevent stones from forming. It certainly makes sense to me, as long as your gallbladder is regularly contracting to expel bile so you could absorb the fat from your diet, you are taking away one of the 3 crucial elements of stone formation - bile stagnation.

I was reading on my insurance's policy bulletin on obesity surgery and they claim this:

"Cholecystectomy:As a high incidence of gallbladder disease (28%) has been documented after surgery for morbid obesity, Aetna considers routine cholecystectomy medically necessary when performed in concert with elective bariatric procedures."

This is definitely something I am going to ask my surgeon about. Has anyone had it removed simply for prevention?

I just had my gallbladder removed on Friday. My surgeon said that it was because of the rapid weight loss. Honestly, this has hurt much more than my sleeve, but I wouldn't change a thing!