[Closed] Gall Bladder Removal. Any hints and tips?

Keep the gall bladder, apparently they sell for a fortune on the Chinese herbal medicine market.

Frankly, if you're having to ask for hints and tips on here, you probably shouldn't be practising surgery...

Rachel

Bloke I used to work with had his removed.

He was quite concerned it would really limit what he could eat afterwards - I seem to remember something about having to stick to a really low fat diet & massively reducing the amount of meat he consumed.

But, I think he slowly re-introduced stuff to see how his body reacted & came to the conclusion there was very little he couldn't eat & just ended up carrying on as normal.

I had mine out a few years ago.

As a general rule, keep it low fat.

Frankly, if you’re having to ask for hints and tips on here, you probably shouldn’t be practising surgery…

Don't you know we've had enough of experts. In this post Brexit Dystopia, DIY surgery is all the rage....

Had mine out a few years ago. Affects different people differently of course but general rule is not too much high fat (greasy food, processed cheese, etc.), not too much spicey food, not too much alcohol (for me that means no spirits, beer/cider OK in moderation).
He may find he needs to pop to the loo soon after eating. He may get abdominal pain after eating/drinking the wrong things (to excess).

He'll be glad to have it out though. They say the pain is as close as a bloke gets to childbirth. Don't know about that but gall stones was the most severe pain I have ever experienced (and I have quite a high pain threshold)

any hints and tips re eating, drinking, etc without one?

Pretty much any ordinay tableware, plate, bowl, cup, glass or container will be fine... for really difficult things use a straw but I wouldnt use hands unless it was a final option.

Had mine out a few years ago. Affects different people differently of course but general rule is not too much high fat (greasy food, processed cheese, etc.), not too much spicey food, not too much alcohol (for me that means no spirits, beer/cider OK in moderation).
He may find he needs to pop to the loo soon after eating. He may get abdominal pain after eating/drinking the wrong things (to excess).

He’ll be glad to have it out though. They say the pain is as close as a bloke gets to childbirth. Don’t know about that but gall stones was the most severe pain I have ever experienced (and I have quite a high pain threshold)

Pretty much this^

I had mine removed through key hole surgery, however mine went very wrong with infection and nicked abdominal artery causing internal bleeding. Lots of operations and some big nasty scars and I'm still not 100%.

The bilary colic pains caused by the gallstones are crippling and I wouldn't wish it on anyone so still recommend the surgery despite mine going so wrong. The after effects are dependent on what you eat as bile can no longer be stored and is instead produced on demand. Fatty foods can go through you like greased lightning and with little warning. He will find this out with what he can and can't get away with eating so can change his eating habits to avoid a night out were he spends all night searching for toilets. Alcohol on its own has never caused an issue but in combination with fatty food is like playing Russian roulette.
Stomach upsets become more severe too.

If the after effects become too bad he should ask his doctor for Colesevelam, which is a cholesterol lowering drug but also neutralises bile.

I had mine out a few years ago.The pain caused by the gallstones are crippling and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone i had keyhole surgery a 6 hour operation as i had a 20mm stone trying to get up a 5mm tube The after effects for me are indigestion heartburn & wind.As for foods low fat & Alcohol i cant drink lagers so it as to be Ale but you know about it next day but on the plus side iv'e never had a hangover since having it out

I had mine out, and was told to follow my normal diet without restrictions. I haven't noticed any side effects whatsoever.

The gall bladder simply stores (and concentrates) bile, its removal doesn't stop it from being produced. As a species we used to store bile for times of feast vs famine.... in other words, as I understand it, we had a large reservoir of bile for when we managed to come home once a month with a geet big fatty meal like a mammoth, which we'd then proceed to eat in one sitting. The stored bile would be useful for these sorts of scenarios, but the bile produced normally by the liver is sufficient to deal with the sorts of meals we now tend to enjoy.

My mum and my partner have both had it removed and as far as I'm aware have changed nothing in their diet as a result or had any issue with any food types since.
So I guess the answer is everyone has to find out for themselves.

Had mine out about 11 years ago after gall stones caused me to spend 10 days in hospital with pancreatitis..... and I completely agree with what the others have said regarding the pain 🙁

I was also told to keep off the fatty food but actually I found that it doesn't make a difference 90% of the time. There are occasions when the need to get to the toilet pretty quick after a meal but this is quite rare.

Frankly I'd suggest your BIL just carry on as before (within reason) and see what happens - as already said, everyone has different reaction to the op.

Had mine out several years ago by keyhole surgery. Avoided fatty foods to start with but reintroduced slowly over many months. Alcohol does effect me somewhat but never a big drinker so these days I don't bother apart from an odd glass of wine. As above experiment with fatty foods very slowly ( I still don't eat fish & chips though).
One other thing is the awful bloated feeling after the operation. This is due to the air they pump into your body. Couldn't sleep laying down in the bed the first night so dozed in a chair. Day 2 I went for a walk but only managed half a mile holding my stomach. Day 3 was 2 miles & day 4 3 miles eventually increased to 6 by end of first week. The walking definitely helped in getting rid of the bloating. I think I shocked the nurse who rang to see how I was getting when telling her my 'training' method. Most people haven't left their house during the first week lol.
Best of luck to your BiL

Had mine out in 2015.

Be prepared for bad pain in the shoulder caused by the air they pump into you. I found walking around the back garden shifted it after a few days.

Pharmacist in the hospital advised me not to eat very large meals. Foods high in animal fat cause me discomfort, cheese and creamy sauces are a no no.

No discernible difference.

Had mine out a few years ago. Apart from cold shivers when coming round from the operation, I was up and about as if nothing had happened the day after.

Held off exercise as a precaution (for the stitches) for a week but otherwise same as.

Appears to be little or no side effects and eat all I want, with the exception of drinking spirits and in particular strong red wine. They cause strong heartburn almost instantly, although not sure if this is linked to the lack of a gall bladder or not.

For those who have had their gall bladder removed, how many biliary colic attacks did you have before having the op? I've had 4 attacks so far (hospital for 2 of them) and have to avoid fatty foods because of the sludge in my gall bladder. GP seems to think that I need to have a lot more attacks before they would consider taking the gall bladder out, but as has been said the pain from the colic attacks is crippling................

Partner had hers out last year by keyhole and it doesn’t seem to have affected what she can and can’t eat at all, and her diet isn’t particularly healthy (loves cheese, curries, wine, crisps, cake etc). Guess she got lucky. As mentioned already, Biliary Colic pains caused by the stones were horrific, and she had them on and off for a few weeks while awaiting the op, and had to go to a totally fat-free diet when it was diagnosed and until the op (and we had a 4 month old baby - it was basically hell for her). We both got a dose of food poisoning recently and it did affect her far worse than me - not sure if that was related to her lack of a gall bladder.

For those who have had their gall bladder removed, how many biliary colic attacks did you have before having the op? I’ve had 4 attacks so far (hospital for 2 of them) and have to avoid fatty foods because of the sludge in my gall bladder. GP seems to think that I need to have a lot more attacks before they would consider taking the gall bladder out, but as has been said the pain from the colic attacks is crippling…………….

Mine started the night of my Christmas do, I had around half a dozen attacks that would have me doubled in pain before I had one in mid January and my wife had to take me to hospital as it was continuous attack. The doctor diagnosed it gastroenteritis and only as I was been wheeled out of the hospital did a nurse stop my wife and get a second doctor, a specialist, to look at me who instantly said it was biliary colic and dosed me up with morphine. He explained the problem and that Rennie tablets I had been taking were making the symptoms worse. I was given pain killers to go home with and told to avoid fatty food. The specialist informed my doctor, who then had to make an appointment for with the same specialist, don't ask me why. A few days later I they tried to break up the stones with ultra sound but that didn't work so was told I would need surgery with a six month waiting list.
Near the end of January my wife had gone over to her parents and I had another bad attack, drip white, sweating and throwing up whilst it felt like I had fist inside me squeezing my inners tighter and tighter. I was able to call my brother who took me to hospital and was dosed up on morphine again then put on a ward. Whilst I was on the ward the specialist had seen me again and I was going to be discharged to wait for surgery but then I got Jaundice so they tried to stent the bile duct, which failed the first time and the second attempt caused an infection. The rest went downhill from there.

Bloody hell craig.... sounds like a right mess! My Dr also misdiagnosed it as just gastric reflux even though I said I knew that that was like and this was nothing like it!

Last attack came one evening and didn't stop like the others after about an hour - spoke to my sister (Pharmacist) and she said to get straight to A&E by which time I was doubled up.
Quick blood test shows massively high amylase levels showing pancreatic fluid had entered my blood stream and started breaking stuff down.
From there I was on morphine and zero food for 5 days to get my pancreas to calm down. The cause was a stone impacted on the junction of the pancreatic and common bile ducts and only gall bladder removal would fix it. Only issue was earliest they could do was 8 weeks away and another attack could happen at any time.
I ponied up and had it done privately the following week.

I'm surprised they tried to break the stones up - I thought that while they were in the bladder they were OK - it's when they get out they can cause problems.

I had mine for around 12 months and probably 10 or so pain incidents. First one started at work and I had to go home early as the pain developed.

Got nasty, had me in bed and then just eased and went away totally a few hours later.

From then on I knew when the pain was coming and also when it was going to subside. Very strange, but the pain was almost worth the elation when it went suddenly - 95% of the time during the early morning hours.

GP said it was trapped wind and it was only through persistence and a stand in gp that I finally got a scan, which found stones. 8 days later I had the gall bladder removed using private medical with work.

the pain was almost worth the elation

Maybe you should get into S&M!! I'm normally so exhausted that as soon as the pain subsides I fall asleep. I think I'll leave mine in for a while and try to deal with it through reducing fats in my diet. Hope you manage to get things sorted Craig.

GP seems to think that I need to have a lot more attacks before they would consider taking the gall bladder out

If you go go back and read my post you'll see that an impacted stone can lead to Pancreatitis.
My consultant went to great lengths to point out (a number of times when I wanted to leave hospital as I felt fine) that this can lead to multiple organ failure, as the Pancreatic fluid in the blood starts breaking down everything. If this happens you die.

Reducing the fat will help as bile is ejected from the gall bladder to break down food and especially fat - but it's no guarantee that it will fix it because they do not just disappear.

Personally I wouldn't trust a GP on this and from my experience I would be looking into getting it removed privately. Messing with your Pancreas is not good.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pancreatitis/multimedia/pancreatitis-caused-by-gallstones/img-20007560

I had a few small one's over a 12 month period with one large one was taken in hospital for a week with jaundice then sent me home then same again nearly 12 month later same symptoms in which time one off the stones was 20mm so keep badgering your doctor. There was a bloke in at same time with the same thing and they slashed him and stapled him up he never moved out of bed for a week he was still in when i left 4 day later he'd already been in a week. I was lucky surgeon said he would try mine keyhole but may have to slash. keyhole took 6 hours surgery my surgeon even gave presentation on my case.

I think the bigger the stones are the safer it is as they will not fit in the bile duct. The smaller ones can be tried to be pushed through. I say try as the bile duct is only the diameter of a Biro pen ink tube, then your body decides to try and push a stone through it. I have my stones in a jar and they were only around 5-6mm in size, but damn they do cause some pain.

Hopefully the OP's BIL is out of surgery now and on the road to recovery.