Hello everyone, I need to hear from you bandsters out there that have had gallbladder problems. I know many of you had yours taken out during your banding procedure, but I really need to hear from the ones that felt the symptoms coming on. Please explain how it feels and what problems you expierenced. Also how long did you wait b4 having it checked out. Thank you in advance for your feedback.

My gallbladder started acting up when I went on Atkins. It rarely acts up now, but does have its moments. Enough so that my surgeon has suggested I go in for the hidda (sp) scan and ultrasound. I'm not eager to jump into surgery for it since the attacks are so infrequent (two or three in the last year), but I keep it in the back of my mind because I know that once they start, it can go downhill quickly.

Please explain how it feels and what problems you expierenced.

I don't really have any problems. It's just pain. It will kick in either shortly after I eat offending food, or late the same night. So I either know (pretty much) right away when it's unhappy, or I find out maybe around 11pm that night. Weird, huh?

How it feels - for me it starts off as discomfort and grows from there. It's near my breastbone, but inside. Sometimes it stays at "mild discomfort", but usually it goes beyond that. What happens most frequently is that I will go to sleep and wake up in pain, or gradually go from discomfort to pain. Generally the pain tends to shift, sometimes being higher in my chest, sometimes lower in my abdomen. There's absolutely nothing I can do to make it better. It often hurts worse if I lay down, and sometimes it brings very, very short relief if I bend forward, but eventually it evens out to a constant hurt. I don't get any "side effects" like nausea, diarrhea, etc. -- just pain. I've tried pain relievers and they don't do a thing. And when it hurts, it hurts for a very long time. On Atkins when I had the attacks more frequently, it could start hurting around 11pm and at 4am I'm still sitting there in pain. It never "jsut goes away"... it's a slow tapering that could linger for a day or two.

Sorry, this is really random, but it's hard to explain.

Oh, I have identified some trigger foods. One is definitely low-carb much of anything, made to reselbme high carb foods. So things like Atkins substitutes, sugar free candies, etc. For a long time I was misreading gall bladder spasms as maltitol/sorbitol intolerance.

meat fats do it to me, also. I can have - say - ice cream or butter or alfredo and be ok, but one or two of those little finger-sized sausages can do me in. I don't know if it's the particular source of fat, or of it's just when I introduce fats that I rarely eat... but there are a handful of things I know will cause spasms when I eat them... and other times I'm left trying to guess what it was I ate that caused it.

Thanks Wheetsin. This has been going on for several weeks and at first it was very mild kind of like a ring of bloating and gas around upper mid section but more prominently on my right side. it didn't last to long at first and it was milder. It was happening every few days it seemed. Now it is getting worse, pain is much sharper. Kinda feels like spasms. I have talked to the doctor and they think I need to have an ultrasound. Like yesterday and today it has happened and I have not eaten anything, but I have had coffee.I just do NOT want to have surgery again. I am so close to goal and I am fearing an unfill and starting over. I just want it to go away. I know that it is probably stupid on my part because when I was 12 my mother's gallbladder actually burst and she almost died. I was just wanting feedback to see if what I am feeling sounds like anyone else when there's started acting up.

Could be your GB. My mother has acute spasms that pretty much renders her incapacitated for an hour or so. Hers kick in around her ribs. My pain floats around in my abdomen. I've heard stories of people having to lay on the floor just to try and breathe. I can't say much as I've had standing hidda orders for about 5 months now, and there they are... still sitting there.

hidda orders?

My gallbladder acted just like wheetsin's. After being on Atkins for 1 year...I had an acute attack, ended up in the hospital with pancreatitus. I had a similar pain after band surgery...under right rib cage......thought I was dying. I had eaten the russel stover sugar free, carb free candy. Even after surgery, you can still have problems.

Go to walmart and get Papaya Extract. It is in the vitamin section. Take it immediately and see if the pain gets better. I took many that 1st day....next day...pain was gone.

Try it...I hope this helps.

I lost my gallbladder while I was going through a divorce about 12 years and had lost a significant amount of weight due to the stress. I felt no "oncoming" symptoms - I had severe pain around 3pm on a Sunday and was in emergency surgery by 10:30 that night.

Hell, I didn't even know that I had a gallbladder up until then!

Hepatobiliary iminodiacetic acid scan.

http://www.uwmedicine.org/PatientCare/MedicalSpecialties/SpecialtyCare/UWMEDICALCENTER/Radiology/hepatobiliaryscan.htm

oh ok Wheetsin I was confused thanks for clearing that up. Well I talked to my doc again, he wants me to have an ultrasound so I have one scheduled for tommorrow. I guess we will see. Thanks everyone for responding.

My mother thought she was having a heart attack, my older sister had presistent lower back pain for years. Both were their GB. I am having a HIDDA scan on the 26 to see what is going on with mine. Bet it will show nothing like it did last year. I have a double ya up pain on the right side under my ribs that goes up to the curve of my neck on the right side. The nurse told me that I need to have the HIDDA scan before I can get a fill "just to make sure everything is ok". I don't think it is my gallbladder but S.O.D. Hope to find out what it is soon because I have had 3 attacks this last week, the last one started when I woke up this morning. Sucky day today.

did ya'll that are having hidda scans have ultrasound scans too that didn't show anything?

Yup, and a cat scan to also.

Hi,

I began throwing up profusely. I thought it was nerves as my son was getting married. However, I was fine one moment and then I would throw up with no warning. They did an ultra sound and found a gigantic gall stone. My doctor showed it off to colleagues for a week. I, too was on low carb diet before the attacks. The surgery was a breeze. Much easier than the lap band. I would not hesitate to get mine out again. I even drove myself home from the hospital the next day. I did have a couple of phantom attacks a couple of weeks after the surgery but after those, I felt fine and have never had any discomfort again.

Good luck!!!

well I hope the ultrasound scan isn't a waste of time. My delima is, I only have free fills for my first year, my year is up in June, so if I have to be unfilled and have surgery I dont want to be starting over again with fills when I have to start paying for them. That would really suck!!!

Right now I have been having nausea for the past ten days and every suspects my gall bladder. I went to the ER about a week ago because the nausea was just getting worse and I was retching and I know that is bad for the band and mine is fairly new and all. My ultra sound came back just fine. So I now have a HIDA scan scheduled.

My symptoms: Nausea. Pretty much there is persistant nausea, but it gets much worse after I eat something, about 20 or 30 minutes I would say if I had to guess. I'm talking agonizing... I could be in the bathroom trying to figure out if anything would help, throwing up, bowel movement, gas, etc. Nothing helps but time. Also gas and indigestion. Some lower back pain on the right side. Also it hurts on the right side of my upper abdomen, around the bottom of my rib cage, if someone presses on it. At first I just thought it hurt because it was being pressed on but when the surgeon pressed on the left side to compare, that felt fine, it didn't hurt. Then he pressed on the right side again. Why is it that when doctors find where it hurts, they always want to press on it again? I always want to say, "knock it off, that hurts". Usually i hold my toungue, but didn't we establish that pressing equals hurting the first time around?

My last bowel movement, a few days ago, was greenish. I haven't had one since so I have this laxative my PCP prescribed me the other day because she said the zofran I am on for the nausea can be constipating. I don't feel constipated though, but I don't know. My bowels haven't been consistent since the surgery.

If it is the gall bladder, I get to be cut open yet again... At this point though I am getting a little more anxious that it isn't my gall bladder. We know its not my band cause that looks good on the x ray and it feels just fine and normal to me. So what would it be? I don't want to be nauseated forever. The surgeon said it was likely either my gall bladder or something mysterious that would randomly clear up and never come back. The last time I had stomach problems it was my ovary, but I don't have abdominal pain this time like I did then, so I know its not that. Whatever it is I just want it fixed!

Right now everybody seems inclined to think its probably my gall bladder. My liver enzymes were also elevated, but mine go up whenever I get sick.