Gallbladder & Acid

NotSoLittleMermaid · November 29, 2011

Hi just checking to see if anyone has had acid issues or their gallbladder removed before or after surgery. I have acid reflux with Water, no food, etc. other than avoiding coffee, egg yolks and bacon, diet doesn't seem to help. My ultrasound showed gallstones. 2/3 of my doctors feel like getting my gallbladder removed will solve the acid issue. Tums, Pepcid and even 2 PPI Previcaid a day do not stop the burning, I've heard that if the acid pills don't help it is gallbladder. Even on an empty stomach, my stomach burns. Drinking water on an empty stomach burns. Eating seems to help. I can eat most fatty foods with no problems or pains (most of the time I eat low fat anyway.) Sometimes I have pain off on the right side, or in the back on the right hand side, but mostly it is acid burning from a few inches above my belly button, to burning throat. I explained this to the gall bladder surgeon, and he ordered an Upper GI, barium test. The test showed acid refluxing throughout exam. 2 of the doctors still think I'd be helped by getting my gallbladder out, but the 1 the gallbladder surgeon seems to now think I will need something more serious to address the acid. Would love your feedback on whether or not your acid went away after gallbladder removal.

chowchows · November 29, 2011

Oh my, can I tell you about what I thought was acid reflux, and instead turned into a horrible gallbladder mess! Here are the threads concerning my saga:

My trip to the ER

questions about surgery

back in ER and had surgery

Feel free to ask any questions. This is just my opinion, but I have never heard of gallbladder issues getting better. I am 1000% better since I had it out. I am two months out from surgery and the few issues I had with digestive problems shortly afterwards are gone. I eat what I want and do just fine. If I had it all to do over again I would have insisted they take it out the first time I was in the hospital! Hope you find the answers you need to get to feeling better. Gallbladder issues are no fun! I have heard from more than one person that a gallbladder attack is worse that labor with no pain meds...and when you are having one a week it gets old quickly! Oh, and turns out that what I thought was acid was pain extending out from pancreas and gallbladder...I have no more 'acid issues' now that my gallbladder is gone!

NotSoLittleMermaid · November 29, 2011

Oh my, can I tell you about what I thought was acid reflux, and instead turned into a horrible gallbladder mess! Here are the threads concerning my saga:

My trip to the ER

questions about surgery

back in ER and had surgery

Feel free to ask any questions. This is just my opinion, but I have never heard of gallbladder issues getting better. I am 1000% better since I had it out. I am two months out from surgery and the few issues I had with digestive problems shortly afterwards are gone. I eat what I want and do just fine. If I had it all to do over again I would have insisted they take it out the first time I was in the hospital! Hope you find the answers you need to get to feeling better. Gallbladder issues are no fun! I have heard from more than one person that a gallbladder attack is worse that labor with no pain meds...and when you are having one a week it gets old quickly! Oh, and turns out that what I thought was acid was pain extending out from pancreas and gallbladder...I have no more 'acid issues' now that my gallbladder is gone!

Thank you so much!

chowchows · November 30, 2011

Was just looking back over my posts, and realized these might be helpful also so I wanted to put links all in the same posts. When the pain first started I thought it might be a leak but my doc thought it was acid reflux. After a few days that seemed to make sense as it would come and go, and I decided that I had developed horrible acid reflux that I would have to live with. This went on for almost two months and then I passed my first gallstone, but I thought it was dumping syndrome. My experiences were somewhat different from the stories I read on the vertical sleeve board, and it would make sense that our bodies are slightly different and therefore might react differently (and each individual person might react even more differently), so I thought linking to these might help Mermaid, or anyone else having these kinds of issues. Of course, pain might be something totally unrelated to acid or gallbladder, so talk to your doctor.

NotSoLittleMermaid · December 18, 2011

Hi Chow Chow, how long after your gallbladder removal did take for acid to stop? I had mine out 5 days ago and the acid is still awful. Same story, Water doesnt help. bread does temporily. Acid reducer didnt help either. so frustrated.. Really dont want to have to have a nissan wrap.

chowchows · December 26, 2011

Sorry for the delay in writing, I don't come on this board much anymore. I felt kind of bad for a month, then just ok for another month, then I felt normal again after that. How did the actual surgery go? I would definitely give yourself time to heal. I felt immensely better post surgery, but compared to where I was that wasn't saying much. I look back now and realize that it is still a healing journey for a couple of months after surgery. Did they tell you how your plication looked while they were in there? Hope you get to feeling better fast!

NotSoLittleMermaid · December 27, 2011

Thank you so much, Chow Chow.. I think my plication has stretched but I still have more restriction than before wls surgery. Gall bladder surgery went fine, the nausea and back/chest pain has gone, and I think most of my starving, gnawing hunger pains are gone. Inially, it made my acid reflux much worse, but they told me to give it a month. It seems to be getting better and better. I am glad that you posted it might even take longer..it is good to have hope! I still have little pains on right but I would take those over the starving pains or anything else I had before.

chowchows · December 28, 2011

Thank you so much, Chow Chow.. I think my plication has stretched but I still have more restriction than before wls surgery. Gall bladder surgery went fine, the nausea and back/chest pain has gone, and I think most of my starving, gnawing hunger pains are gone. Inially, it made my acid reflux much worse, but they told me to give it a month. It seems to be getting better and better. I am glad that you posted it might even take longer..it is good to have hope! I still have little pains on right but I would take those over the starving pains or anything else I had before.

The pains on the right side were pretty intense the first month or so. If I eat a lot of fat nowadays, I get pains over there sometimes, but not always. That's really the only side effect I still have these days. Glad you're feeling better!

NotSoLittleMermaid · December 28, 2011

The pains on the right side were pretty intense the first month or so. If I eat a lot of fat nowadays, I get pains over there sometimes, but not always. That's really the only side effect I still have these days. Glad you're feeling better!

Thanks so much! I guess I spoke too soon. Today was a bad day. I think I have an ulcer.. but don't know. Pain, burning in the stomach/esphaguas all day. Weird because they've ruled out H Pylori and I've been on Cafate for ulcers. I hope to find an answer someday. Meeting with GI on 13th. Have a good one, thanks ALWAYS for your response and help, and congrats on your weightloss!

chowchows · January 7, 2012

I actually had a bad night this week..lots of pain in gallbladder/liver area and lots of acid. Overall though (95%) of the time I feel fabulous and my acid is much less and I have no issues with GB or anything I eat. I thought I had an ulcer too, but they said no. Hang in there and please let us know what the GI says! Have you had an endocscopy?