I am 6 month post surgery and have been having problems and was just to the doctor and she feels that with my rapid weight loss I probably have gallbladder problems. After blood tests and an ultrasound next week I will know if I need it out or not. Has anyone else had this problem? My doctor says it is common in large weight losses. I would appreciate any input.

I just had my gallbladder out today and am hoping that will solve the problems I was having. The nurse asked me if I was told that this would probably happen as it is so common and I sure wish someone would have told me this. Maybe they should just take it out when you are banded. (lol)

I was banded on June 15 and as of today have lost 88 pounds. His goal for me is another 30 pounds but I would like to go 20 more than that.

It seems that some people have their gallbladder removed during the band surgery. Does the surgeon just check and see that the gallbladder is diseased? Do some surgeons just automatically remove the gallbladder? I sure would not want to have 2 surgeries really close together if I could have them at the same time!

this is what was happening to me

I would get cold.. and soon realize that I had a chill, could not get warm, and got the shakes of shivering..

then I would get a headache, pretty close to a migrane but not quite (i have had less than 10 in my life)

then I would have horrifc nausia and heave and heave but nothing would come out.

then I got diareha (spell?)..

I did not have a fever (that I knew of)

this happened 4 times in 2 months...

and so they gave me an ultrasound and I had gallstones..

But I have not had my follow up appoinment so I am not sure of much else.

If you need to have your gallbladder removed...do NOT put it off. I had g.b. problems and kept putting it off...until I was so sick the Dr. had to do emergency surgery on a Sat. morning. I had severe pain on the right side, and sometimes radiating to the middle. My next phase was pain and vomiting. I finally got to the point I couldn't even keep water down. I would vomit nasty bile. Due to letting things go to long I ended up with a full cut surgery and it was horrible. I had several gallstones, the duct was blocked and stones were found in my liver, not to mention jaundice and infection. This put my lapband surgery off for six months. I just had l.b. last week and it felt like a walk in the park after gallbladder surgery. Good luck and don't put it off so long that you will need a full cut surgery. JR

OK, I need to know if I should be worried about a possible gall bladder problem. I was banded 5 weeks ago. In that 5 weeks I have lost 24 of my excess 100 lbs (YEAH!). I have also started working out 5 days a week (3 cardio and 2 strength training). About a week to 10 days ago, I started noticing severe epigastral pain (right under my ribs on both sides leading toward the sternum, and at the same time, moderate pain in my mid-back. It literally feels like I am impaled on a telephone pole.

The pain comes and goes, but sometimes lasts for more than 8 hrs at a time. I don't think it is a pouch overfill situation, because I can be pain free, eat, feel fine, and then 2-3 hours later the pain comes back suddenly and acutely.

Heating pad alternating on the chest and back seems to help, but I have noticed that if I lie down while the pain is occuring I get nauseous (sp?)

At first I thought it was just either the transition from mushees to solids, although I have had "attacks" after eating VERY low fat foods as much as moderate fat foods, or muscle spasms because I am SOOOO out of shape, and am working on my strength training days with a personal trainer who is pretty rigorous, but it doesn't seem to directly correlate to my workout times either.

What do you all think?

Guys I'm having a similar problem. A pain that seems to be in the upper right of my back... I went to the ER and got a cat scan and X-Rays, and they said nothing was wrong. Would I need a ultra sound to detect this?

Ask for a hyda scan. It tests the gall bladder function, not just for stones. ~Mandy

I always thought it took an ultrasound to detect Gallstones.

OK.. I will, I'll call my normal DR. I've been having this pain (feels like back pain almost, but isn't. Seems to be on the right side of my upper back) for about 2 weeks now. I went to a local ER and got X-Rays and a CAT Scan. They thought they saw some leakage from my band (scary) and transferred me to Livingston NJ, where I had my surgery for lap band. They did an upper GI with the Barium. Band is fine they said. I don't think anyone looked for a Gallbladder problem. I don't know if they would have seen one. Both hospitals discharged me with no reason for my pain. It's just as bad, sometimes it's really bad. I can't go on like this.

I think following up on it is a really good idea. In my case, I had some back twinges for a few months, but I thought they were due to overwork as we were remodeling our basement. Finally, I woke up one with a lot of pain and knew something was wrong. 24 hours later I was emergency surgery to have my gallbladder removed. A stone had blocked a duct, and I had developed a serious infection. The surgeon told me that I probably wouldn't have survived if we'd waited another day.

It's usually not that time-critical, but please go get it checked!

Instead of going in for my six week post op check up after having my band put in, I instead had my gall bladder taken out the day before that was scheduled. A couple of weeks after I was banded I got what I originally thought was the stomach flu that just didn't go away. It was my gall bladder. My ultra sound was negative. The HIDA scan, thank goodness, had more enlightening results. Apparently my gallbladder was absolutely full of tiny little stones. The gallbladder can make you really sick. By the time mine came out if I tried to sit up for more than ten minutes I started to vomit up bile and boy, was I amazed at all the different colors it was. For more than a week before the surgery I put myself on clear liquids because it was all I could handle. At first zofran had helped, but not enough after a while. I lost a lot of weight during that period, at least. So even if it isn't like evereyone elses gall bladder, it could still be that.

I had been in pain for over 3 years, being told it wasn't my gallbladder. My band doc did the hyda scan and removed my GB a week later. I've been pain free for 16 months now. ~Mandy

hi

I was banded 2 weeks ago and have been having severe stabbing pains in the upper right hand side of my breast, sort of 1-2" from the sternum. The pain seems to really intensify at night while I sleep, and when I get up it slowly goes away. I thought my band had slipped because I ate solid foods before I was supposed to. My surgeon said it is not band related and this thread has people who seem to have the same kinds of pain. I see my primary care Dr today, can gall bladder surgery also be done laproscopically?:cry

Yes it can be done that way. That is the way I had mine done.

I was banded on 12/27. I lost 15 pounds before surgery and about 6 lbs. since surgery for a total of 22 pounds. I had no problems for the first 7 days, but on day 8 at 2:30, I ate only a couple bites of cream of chicken Soup, and then the pain began.

It was severe pain and I actually had to go home from work. I couldn't think with that much pain.

I got home about 4 pm, and took pain liquid and gas-x, but it stayed painful until midnight. My fever went from 98.3 to 98.6 to 99.4 to 100.0. That worried me. Then after a couple of hours, my fever went back to 98.3 and then 96.6.

Also, I was having the sweats all over. When I woke up this morning it was better. But as soon as I ate something (an egg) I had the incredible pain again.

Does this sound like gall bladder problems?

Hope someone can help because if I have to have this pain and sweats every time I eat, that won't do.