Gallbladder removal: warning for others

[Katariina 35]

I had my bariatric bypass done about 7 months ago. I have lost about 85 pounds and everything has gone really well except that I still have trouble eating certain foods. A few days ago I suddenly got very severe stomach pain. First I thought that I just had too much to eat but the pain got really bad really quickly and I had to be rushed to the nearest hospital. It turned out that I had developed gallbladder stones and a few of them had traveled to my pancreas and caused a severe inflammation. My gallbladder was full of stones and had to be surgically removed. My surgery was 2 days ago and still my liver and pancreas blood work numbers are really bad. I am writing this to you to warn other people. I learnt that rapid weight loss often causes gallbladder stones and because of this surgeons used to remove gallbladder everytime they did bariatric bypass. Now since my gallbladder has been removed it is going to be somewhat harder for me to digest fatty food (not that I ate so much of them anyway) and I am afraid that a few of these sones are still floating around inside of me and may cause problems if they land on a place where they can block a way to pancreas etc. The pain associated with this problem was the worst pain I have every experiences. I gave birth to two boys without making a sound but I was screaming all the way to the hospital a few days ago. Please be smarter than me and ask your surgeon to remove your gallbladder during the bypass if possible. This organ is not necessary and can cause huge problems for you if you lose the weight fast like I did and can even cause life treatening infections in vital organs like liver, and heart. I am not writing this to scare people unnecessarily but to educate all of you so you don' t have to experience this.

[Apple203 1,314]

Wow, sorry to hear that, glad you got it out. Every time I get a pang on my right side I worry about it being GB stones.

[Creekimp13 5,841]

Had mine out 15 years ago. Have never missed it:)

Some folks will have sensitivities and issues digesting certain things after losing their gallbladder.

I didn't. Noticed very little difference at all.

But yeah, bigtime....gallbladder stones and kidney stones are very common problems after bariatric surgery. Gotta keep an eye out for both.

Ruptured gallbladders can be fatal. Liver infections and Pancreatitis resulting from a chronic gallbladder issue can be life threatening, too.

Very important to get your follow up labs done, and not ignore new symptoms.

Edited May 12, 2018 by Creekimp13

[sammi123 116]

Will surgeons take it out upon request?

[Bryn910 519]

23 minutes ago, sammi123 said:

Will surgeons take it out upon request?

I asked my surgeon this and he said there is no medical reasoning to take it out at the time of bariatric surgery. For them to do it, it would have to be medically necessary.

I am sorry for the OP that you had to go through this. I fear this as well.

[Frustr8 7,886]

Well,i have another story to tell, honestly not every life experience leads me to,pist,it merely sees that way.
Way back,in the Bad Old Days, 34 years ago I had my gall,bladder removed. Now every abdominal operation in that time was open and I was no exception. Most people have what is called a right subcostal, diagonal, about 2-3 mm below the ribcagen not me. I'm so speciall, I had a right paramedian, right to the ringt of the navel, 3 inchs a above, 3 inches below, a nice white fine scar, except slightly wider at the top,where the JP type,drain was.
The year before,my,mothers had been removed and when I mentioned I was having symptoms also I was told I was merely envious. When mine was finally removed I had many more stones, pointed instead of round in appearance and they had so abraded the inside of my gall bladder to the point it would have ruptured soon. Jealousy-Shmelousy, I said I was sick!
Many years later in May 2015 I awoke in absolute mis3ry and pain. Never had i had such pain and I trust I never shall,again. I had 3 over 9 lb babies, natural and unmedicated, no pain like this!
And the vomiting made morning sickness minor league.
Told my son to call our local transportation company for they had a wheelchair lift, I had managed to pivot to,my whe3lchair left over from my,last knee replacement and I couldn't stand again.
Turned out I had acute pancreatitis. And I was also out of the ordinary. there too. Most cases are caused by wayward gallstones traveling into the pancreatic duct,or alcoholism. Nope neither of those, so it is charted as idiopathic, this is physicanlanguage for," I don't know WTF caused it either!"
So I cannot help but think,5he pain of a RnY will,be the difference between jumping into a volcano and a garden party. As the,little mouse said "Bring on that cat, 'I M Ready!"

[Smaller in NC RNY 3]

Sorry you had to go through this. I just had my post op appointment on the 8th of May and they told me they will not take it out unless they see any issues when they go in to do my bypass. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

[Katariina 35]

They use to take it out everytime but not anymore. Yet, like I stated rapid weight loss is a common cause of gallbladder stones. Thus, it is more than likely that you don't have anything wrong with your gallbladder when you are getting your surgery but you will in 6 months. This is a very common problem among people who have weight loss surgery. I know the surgeon may not remove it upon request but at least talk about it and familiarize yourself with the symptoms. The pain is horrible!

[LISleever 3]

I had sleeve surgery on April 4, and the doctor prescribed Ursodiol (actigall) to start when I graduated to soft foods (2 weeks ago). They said that because stones are so common with rapid weight loss, that this would be a prophylactic for stones. I hope it works!

[FluffyChix 17,418]

Dang! So sorry to hear this. How awful! Thank you for warning us, and hope that they got all the stones and you're able to heal quickly. ((hugs))

[mylighthouse 782]

I am so sorry that you had this happen!

I had my sleeve surgery 11/14/16, then started having problems/lots of gallbladder pain almost a year after that. Trips to ER before they finally discovered it was the good old gallbladder. I had probably lost around 100 lbs when it started giving me big probs...had it taken out about 13 months after sleeve surgery.

Some people will have issues after rapid weight loss, others will not. It is definitely something that people need to be aware of.

Posting/replying to OP because I can relate, but also, hanging out in gastric bypass topic because I will be having a revision soon

I hope you feel better real soon and that everything clears up for you quickly.

Thanks for sharing.

[angyplus5 470]

I had to have mine removed 3 weeks after my wls surgery!!! It sucked!!!

Sent from my SM-G930VL using BariatricPal mobile app

[Melly75 4]

My doctor has me on Ursodil to help prevent gallstones and said I would be on it until I reached my goal weight.

[newmebithebypass 713]

I already have galstones so I’m hoping they remove the damn thing while they are in there but appendicitis is god awful just like being hit with a Mack truck but man dalaudid is amazing

[shelly420 59]

I never noticed any difference when I had my gallbladder removed (years before my bypass), except the horrible pain I was having prior to it was now gone. Hopefully you'll experience the same.

Edited May 27, 2018 by shelly420