9 1/2 months out and Gall Bladder surgery :(

[Lisa's Hope 421]

Have an appointment on Monday with my surgeon to talk about getting my gall bladder removed. Ugghhh.. not happy about this at all. I've been having these awful painful attacks for a few months now but nothing like yesterday. It was so intense and hurt so bad. The best way I can describe it is a leg cramp in your throat, chest, stomach , right side and then back. Oh.. it hurt!! I was just praying it would go away. I've not been nauseous though. That right there is a blessing.

I went to the ER on Feb 18 and was told I had sludge in my gall bladder but they couldn't find stones but also they couldn't see very well. So today I called my PCP and she suggested I call my surgeon and see if he wants to take it out. After talking to the nurse, she said that most likely he will and made me an appointment for Monday. She also said it is pretty normal after wls to have this done. I really don't want to though!!! I never wanted to go through another surgery!

So friends if any of you have had your gall bladder out post sleeve, please let me hear your experience. It will help me so much!!

Thanks !!!

[TES 858]

sending good thoughts!

[Webchickadee 716]

So sorry to hear about your GB troubles!

I can understand your pain though........

I had a terrible motorcycle accident in 1999 and about 1 month after (while I was still in hospital recovering), I started developing extreme abdominal pain repeatedly over 2 weeks. They did not diagnose it properly and discharged me to a rehab hospital. 3 days after arriving, I woke up one morning with intense lower back pain that progressed into excrutiating pain by the mid-afternoon. I was curled up in the fetal position on my bed waiting for the transfer ambulance to take me back to the hospital! Lovely green bile vomit in the ambulance and several more hours in the ER while they figured out what was going on. Then Fentanyl (yes, the meds they give women in labour!) to control the pain.

They told me my GB was inflamed and once it was under control with antibiotics, I could go home and recouperat from the accident and GB attack. Elective surgery "in a couple of months".

The next 3 days were a fog of morphine, at which point I was woken by the head trauma surgeon to tell me they were taking me to the OR. A "quick" 40 min laparoscopic cholecystectomy turned into a 4 hour procedure. It seems they missed the fact that the intense pain 3 days earlier was due to my GB exploding! Another 12 hours and I would have become septic and probably died!

The good thing was I recovered EXTREMELY quickly after the surgery. They discharged me after 4 days (and that was super cautious on their part, seeing as they had almost killed me..) and I was back to my old self in a couple of weeks!

They figured I must have had a small asymptomatic GB stone that impacted into the wall of the GB from the force of the accident. Left there to fester, it became infected and eventually ruptured the wall of the organ. Not at all your typical GB scenario.

I did note after that surgery that I had some significant digestive difficulties that never really resolved completely. Any fatty foods (even only slightly fatty or deep fried) would cause very sudden unpleasant loose bowel movements approx. 30 min post-meal. This continued right up until my VSG last year, and now I very rarely eat fatty foods and almost never anything deep fried, so it's much much better now.

No problems with pain, nausea or anything else that is symptomatic of GB issues. Eating more healthy meals, in much smaller quantities has essentially given me back a normal digestive cycle (with the exception of bowel movement frequency which is still only 3-4 days due to the small quantity of food I now eat).

Ask your surgeon if he can re-use your VSG incisions! They will be a VERY close match to what you need for the GB removal. If you have reasonable scarring and not to many adhesions, you should find the GB surgery fairly straight-forward!

Good luck and please let us know how things are going!

[NerdyMHC 76]

I have to start this post by saying that my experience is not typical...I just had a freak occurrence so don't go by my story...I am just happy that my gall bladder is out and I don't have to worry about the pain anymore!

I had my WLS in October and my gall bladder went South quickly! I had it out in January. I had the horrible pains and then the really horrible attack that caused an ER visit. I had an ultrasound that confirmed that I had biliary sludge and stones. A week later, I had my gall bladder out. It was an outpatient surgery and it hurt way worse than my sleeve surgery! I was very sore. To be fair, I had no pain after my sleeve surgery though so I guess I am not a good source for that.

I was sore for a week and then I had a horrible allergic reaction to the stitches. My stomach was so red and itchy! My surgeon prescribed hydrocortisone cream to help with the itch. AND THEN...lol...The incision above my belly button would not heal...

After the butterfly tape came off, It kind of gaped open. No amount of band aids, creams, or gauze would make it heal up. Finally, a month after surgery, I asked my husband (a nurse) to check it out and he started probing it with a q-tip and the q-tip went IN about 2 inches and a whole bunch of clear Fluid came out. I freaked! My husband called my surgeon while I was crying and hyperventilating and she said it was called a seroma. She said that the Fluid that came out was sterile and had just resided in a tunnel underneath the skin. She said not to worry about it and that it would heal on it's own and about a week and a half later, it did!

Now I am doing well...The only problem that I had was the really loose bowels that I had for a couple of weeks...And when my stomach started rumbling, I had to make sure I was near a bathroom or I would have been sorry! A week after having my GB out, I had some coffee before a movie with a friend. I spent about 45 minutes of that movie in the bathroom! lol

Don't worry too much! You will be glad you got it out!

[notmeanymore 629]

I actually had mine out before surgery but wanted to wish you luck. I actually had more pain after my gall bladder surgery then I did with the sleeve but then my sleeve was single incision and gall bladder was 3 incisions done laproscopically like most sleeve procedures are done. But the healing is a LOT faster. I was only out for a week from work. I felt like I did a million situps, that was the extent of the pain. Youll be glad to have it out. Good luck to you

[MichiganChic 3,262]

. After talking to the nurse, she said that most likely he will and made me an appointment for Monday. She also said it is pretty normal after wls to have this done. I really don't want to though!!! I never wanted to go through another surgery!

Sorry, I don't have an experience, just a question. Just curious - did you take Urso Forte or anything after your surgery to prevent gall stones? I have to take until I'm 6 months post op, and I see you are over 9 months out. Good luck to you, hope all goes well for you!

[devichan 79]

I haven't had my sleeve yet, but I have to tell you that having gall bladder surgery 12 years ago was one of the best things I ever could have done for myself.

I'd been having gall bladder attacks since my 20s. As a lifelong fat person, no one really wanted to look too closely. I was told I had an ulcer, GERD, and to take Prilosec (before it was available OTC). The one thing everyone was sure about was that it was not a heart attack.

Finally, after one night spent in agony to the point I couldn't sit still (and I was at work, too!), a wonderful, kind doctor at an Urgent Care Doc-In-The-Box told me he was sure it wasn't an ulcer. He recommended I get chcked for H Pylori, and if not get an ultrasound to check my gall bladder. Sure enough, I was H. pylori negative... but I had a single gallstone the size of a dime. In six months, I would have had too much scarring to have laparoscopic surgery. They took the whole thing out.

Before the surgery, it wasn't just fatty foods that I couldn't eat. I could have lived with that. But chocolate, tomatoes... finally even garlic were setting off that darn thing. After surgery, I could eat just fine. I didn't have the loose bowels issue that a lot of people do. Even more, though, was that I had been in constant, low-grade pain for YEARS that I never noticed.

My sister was even worse - like Webchickadee, she had it badly infected. It didn't even show up as inflamed, but she was in such pain they did exploratory surgery and the thing was a mass of ick.

I know you're scared, but I gotta tell ya, I have fewer than zero regrets and I hope in a year you'll feel the same.

[Lissa 2,631]

BEST thing I've ever done after the sleeve! I'm about a month post-op on my gallbladder removal and I'm amazed at the pain it eliminated! Have it out. You won't regret it.

[Lisa's Hope 421]

So sorry to hear about your GB troubles!

I can understand your pain though........

I had a terrible motorcycle accident in 1999 and about 1 month after (while I was still in hospital recovering), I started developing extreme abdominal pain repeatedly over 2 weeks. They did not diagnose it properly and discharged me to a rehab hospital. 3 days after arriving, I woke up one morning with intense lower back pain that progressed into excrutiating pain by the mid-afternoon. I was curled up in the fetal position on my bed waiting for the transfer ambulance to take me back to the hospital! Lovely green bile vomit in the ambulance and several more hours in the ER while they figured out what was going on. Then Fentanyl (yes, the meds they give women in labour!) to control the pain.

They told me my GB was inflamed and once it was under control with antibiotics, I could go home and recouperat from the accident and GB attack. Elective surgery "in a couple of months".

The next 3 days were a fog of morphine, at which point I was woken by the head trauma surgeon to tell me they were taking me to the OR. A "quick" 40 min laparoscopic cholecystectomy turned into a 4 hour procedure. It seems they missed the fact that the intense pain 3 days earlier was due to my GB exploding! Another 12 hours and I would have become septic and probably died!

The good thing was I recovered EXTREMELY quickly after the surgery. They discharged me after 4 days (and that was super cautious on their part, seeing as they had almost killed me..) and I was back to my old self in a couple of weeks!

They figured I must have had a small asymptomatic GB stone that impacted into the wall of the GB from the force of the accident. Left there to fester, it became infected and eventually ruptured the wall of the organ. Not at all your typical GB scenario.

I did note after that surgery that I had some significant digestive difficulties that never really resolved completely. Any fatty foods (even only slightly fatty or deep fried) would cause very sudden unpleasant loose bowel movements approx. 30 min post-meal. This continued right up until my VSG last year, and now I very rarely eat fatty foods and almost never anything deep fried, so it's much much better now.

No problems with pain, nausea or anything else that is symptomatic of GB issues. Eating more healthy meals, in much smaller quantities has essentially given me back a normal digestive cycle (with the exception of bowel movement frequency which is still only 3-4 days due to the small quantity of food I now eat).

Ask your surgeon if he can re-use your VSG incisions! They will be a VERY close match to what you need for the GB removal. If you have reasonable scarring and not to many adhesions, you should find the GB surgery fairly straight-forward!

Good luck and please let us know how things are going!

Thank you so much for sharing your story. Seems you had a nightmare of a time! So glad you recovered so well. Sounds horrible.

I've been lucky so far not to have the nausea. When they did the ultrasound, they could only see sludge but the pain I had yesterday was crazy! I know I need to get it out.

My post is a little misleading. My consult is on Monday, then I will get a date for surgery. I am to go on my vacation on the 15th. I'm so afraid I may have a problem while gone. I hope not!

Thanks again! I will surely let you guys know my surgery date and outcome.

[Lisa's Hope 421]

Sorry, I don't have an experience, just a question. Just curious - did you take Urso Forte or anything after your surgery to prevent gall stones? I have to take until I'm 6 months post op, and I see you are over 9 months out. Good luck to you, hope all goes well for you!

No I didn't. I've read where some people do take meds after surgery to prevent the gall bladder from going bad. I'm not happy, he didn't give me meds either. I will certainly asked about that to. Even though, it is too late.

[maharet111 544]

I have to take Urisodol twice a day for six months after being sleeved since gallstones are a risk from rapid weight loss.

[Azurdee Miller 0]

Hi! This is my first time posting. I've been having some painful attacks the last few days in my upper abdominal area, and I'm very concerned it is from gallstones. I went to my doctor today. We did some blood work, which I'm waiting on results, and we have an ultrasound schedules on Wednesday.

My question for you guys is...how far out in your weight-loss journey did you all start having gallstone symptoms?

I started my weight-loss journey at the beginning of August 2012, lost 40lbs pre-op, had surgery on 11/5/2012, and I've currently lost 99lbs. So I'm 4 months post-op, but 7 months out on my weight-loss journey. Is it too soon for gallstones?

[Lisa's Hope 421]

Hi! This is my first time posting. I've been having some painful attacks the last few days in my upper abdominal area, and I'm very concerned it is from gallstones. I went to my doctor today. We did some blood work, which I'm waiting on results, and we have an ultrasound schedules on Wednesday.

My question for you guys is...how far out in your weight-loss journey did you all start having gallstone symptoms?

I started my weight-loss journey at the beginning of August 2012, lost 40lbs pre-op, had surgery on 11/5/2012, and I've currently lost 99lbs. So I'm 4 months post-op, but 7 months out on my weight-loss journey. Is it too soon for gallstones?

No, it isn't too soon. I think some people have problems way before. If you are having pain it is most likely the gall bladder. I sure wish I didn't have to have surgery again but I am really tired of this pain.

[Lisa's Hope 421]

Thanks everyone for your responses. Reading your experiences is helping me a lot. I know I have to have it out. I guess I'm just so concerned because my brother had such a hard time when he got his out. He almost died, but he waited way too long. I have to rely on my faith and get through this. I know I will if God sees fit that I should. Thanks again.

[Groovinchikin 49]

I'm having mine out Wednesday. Nervous, but thanks for starting this thread! It's really reassuring that other people have had both surgeries and done well.