Hey everyone! I'm 9 months post op VSG and have lost about 105 pounds so far (including pre-op liquid diet). Everything in general has been good so far, except for the past two weeks I've been experiencing a lot of abdominal and side pain after eating, and also some really terrible bloating, gas, nausea, and constipation. Did an ultrasound a few days ago and it turns out I have a contracted gallbladder full of stones.

I know that the only way to get rid of gallbladder problems is to do gallbladder removal surgery, but I've been doing a lot of research and I've been finding that A LOT of people have been complaining that they experience uncontrolled weight gain after gallbladder removal. Despite eating healthy, exercising, and limiting the consumption of fats, people seem to rapidly gain huge amounts of weight, especially in the abdomen, and find it impossible to lose it. As a bariatric patient this of course scares the heck out of me! I don't want to do this surgery and ruin what I've worked so hard to achieve with my weight loss, and I still have so much more weight I want to lose until I hit my goal.

What should I do? Has anyone else had gallbladder removal after wls? Did it impact your weight loss or give you any unwanted side affects after surgery? I'm so scared of having to do this surgery. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

First of all the gallbladder will only become a chronic problem or may become acute and emergent. I know lots of people who have had them removed and have not gained weight. Fats have to be controlled as they require more bile to break them down...if you are having symptoms they will likely only get worse so I would follow the doctor's recommendation...you will be just fine.....Good Luck!

I suspect what happens is this:

Food only comes in three varieties..protein, carbs, and fat. After gallbladder removal, fats are usually limited, leaving people with protein and carbs. Protein is usually pretty stable in people's diets, so they increase the carbs..

Voila.. weight gain.

The way to minimize this is by replacing fats with veggies. But it's worth considering not getting rid of fats completely, rather just spreading them out a bit thinner through the day.

You can ask the Dr. if Actigall might help. It's good for prevention and treatment of gallstones.

I didn't gain any weight after my gallbladder was removed. I just changed the way I eat my protein until my gallbladder-free body accepted things. Dairy, which had been an issue since my sleeve is now an absolute no-go except hard cheese. But shifting to baked protein, away from sauces and to more fish for two months did the trick.

Now I only have an issue if I eat a rich sauce or very fatty meat. And I'm sensible - I knew, at nearly 7 years out, that just because I can't eat certain meats that I can't go stuffing myself with pasta and bread instead.

Balance. Have the surgery. A few gallbladder attacks writhing on the floor in agony like I had with stones lodged in your duct (which precipitated my surgery) aren't worth the fear of bad choices we can avoid.

Good luck, and good health.

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