8 Month's Post-Op Gastric Sleeve, due for gallbladder removal

[Amelie2016 116]

I didn't think I that had lost weight "too quickly" to develop gallstones, or "sludge".

I was losing so slowly in fact, that I went on phentermine for a little while to get through some stalls. My first blood screen three months ago came back fantastic, having met all nutritional requirements and normal cholesterol levels. I've been eating (some of you will not approve, but oh well) food from small organic farms. Instead of Protein shakes, I make my own raw milk Kefir (it consumes all the lactose as it ferments, so no- to- low sugar of any kind) which is a super power probiotic. I've had wild fish, organic cold brewed coffee, seaweed, bone broths, raw cream in my coffee (my god that stuff is so thick it will hold a spoon in it) taking Vitamins, injecting B Complex. So, I have a more varied diet than that, but this is mainly what I eat. Grass Fed meats, raw egg yolks, Almond bread maybe only once a week, a slice (low carb) made by the farmer, almonds raw from Sicily. Roasted leeks, some salads. See, I'm trying to tell you that I felt like I was doing everything right as far as getting in as much nutrition in my tiny meals.

BUT. What I have NOT been proactive about, is taking that god forsaken "Ursodiol" regularly, and it is given to us to help us avoid developing sludge and stones. It is a HUGE pill and it had really bothered my stomach. I hated taking it. It's in a giant capsule and it burned, at least me. So I would take it with food and ride it out. But then, I forgot about it altogether.


I don't want to lose my gallbladder. I can't find good info out there. Most "articles" are VPNs trying to sell a product.

So if any of you have suffered through this, please please let me know. My surgery is scheduled for Oct. 10th. I don't want to have it removed, I want it to heal. But I don't know if that's possible now that I have stones. My mother just lives with hers. However we developed them in different ways. She didn't lose weight, she was never obese. Me ... I guess I've lost over 80 pounds.

I don't know what to do. My attitude is wrong. I am beating myself thinking I could have avoided this. I'm taking the Ursodiol daily NOW until surgery time. What if I can reverse this if I just stay on top of the medication? However ... I still have 100 pounds to lose ideally. That may or may not happen in reality.

Ok. Thank you for reading, and I hope to hear from you all!

Lisa

PS I'd say I've lost 89 pounds of fat (muscle scan still looks good-I'm getting new labs next week, but my husband is also getting the gastric sleeve on Monday, huge stress right now too) since I started this journey.

Other than this new development ... I have come to truly enjoy being free of my former food obsession and exiting the SAD way of eating and living.

Edited September 8, 2016 by Amelie2016

[sc101071 398]

You gave up 4/5 of your stomach. Let the gall bladder go. It could rupture and put your life at risk.

[laceemouse 631]

I am currently waiting for my approval for VSG, however, I had my gallbladder our 15 years ago (I am 53 years old)

I was never morbidly obese before a couple of months ago. 15 years ago I was overweight, maybe low end "obese".

My gallbladder started hurting after losing a whopping 40 pounds on Weight Watchers. At the time my goal was like 60 pounds or so, total, so I was more than halfway there.

I did not lose quickly, just the recommended 1 to 2 pounds per week. I was eating well and exercising.

So, the stones don't have anything to do with losing too quickly. Nor do they have anything to do with the method of weight lose (I have seen a lot of people on these boards blame it on the surgery, I have heard that WW, Jenny Craig, etc have been sued by people who lost weight and ended up with stones because they were not warned before hand, method of weight lose doesn't matter)

My surgeon said I had probably had the stones for years, even during my last couple of pregnancies.

I am glad I had it out, it was an easy surgery. Way easier than VSG. And then it's done.

Don't blame yourself for not taking that medicine to prevent this. I have never even heard there WAS such a medicine before I started coming to these boards. And I KNOW for a fact that MOST doctors don't even give that medicine to their WLS patients. Some people get stones, some don't, some people who aren't fat get them, some doctors take the gallbladder out when they do WLS, so many variables.

I am not sure if you can "heal" your gallbladder. The stones won't go away. I do know people who just live with it like your mom. I was in too much pain to even consider that an option but only you know how you feel.

[laceemouse 631]

Also, as @@sc101071 says, it could be dangerous. By the time I got mine out I had a stone stuck in some duct which caused jaundice. I was yellow for like a week. You can't just let that go and hope it will heal on its own.

[KristenLe 5,980]

@@Amelie2016 You may be the only person who cares about losing their gallbladder. :-) Mine almost killed me - and I had to have emergency surgery to remove it. I let it go way too far and wouldn't recommend keeping it if you already have stones.