Gall bladder - ThinnerTimes

IpsieDixie · 04-01-2006, 01:52 PM

Hi Everyone,

Why does rapid WL affect your gall bladder? How do you know if your gall bladder is in trouble? What are the symptoms to look for?

Dixie

michelleJC · 04-01-2006, 04:48 PM

A sudden, massive weight loss and a high protein diet, can cause the formation of stones in the gall bladder. My surgeon automatically removes the gall bladder during his surgeries. I had already had mine taken out 11 months prior to my WLS.

fatnomore67 · 04-01-2006, 06:58 PM

I just had mine out 3 weeks ago. I lost 150 lbs in 10 months and it stopped working. People have different levels of symptoms. Mine were:
1) Pain in the lower chest, right side upper abs. I thought I had pulled a muscle but the pain lasted over 2 weeks, puled muscles are only1 week pain.
2) Nausea - every time I ate I was nauseated. This can get confused with finicky pouch nausea, but for me it happened everytime I ate, so I knew something wasn't right.

Other people have "attacks" which are high pain and really scary from what they told me. There is a pill that can be taken to help prevent the formation of stones, but it only helps not a guarantee.
Many surgeons remove the gallbladder when they do the WLS but it depends on how healthy the person and the gallbladder are at the time. I was perfectly healthy except for the weight, so they left mine in.

I hope this helps.

Matthew
416/252/199
Open RNY 5-11-05
Open GB surgery 3-10-06

brookscn · 04-01-2006, 09:11 PM

When I went for the required gallbladder ultrasound for the surgery approval, it was then that I was told I had stones (I didn't have any symptoms). My surgeon originally talked about removing the gallbladder at the same time, but he said that recent studies show that the Actigall is doing a good job of breaking down the stones (there's a 50% chance that it will). He said that adding the gallbladder removal to the GBS added more time under anesthesia (obviously), and it was a bit tricky. My husband and I decided that I should opt to keep the gallbladder, but we gave the surgeon the right to remove it when he got in there, if it looked bad. He found that it looked pretty healthy, except for the stones, so I got to keep my gallbladder. I'm kinda glad - this was my first surgery every, it's a doozie in itself, and if I would have incisions on my right side, as well, I wouldn't have gotten to where am I right now as quickly.

Now, the the darn thing starts to act up, I may be singing a different tune!

coptergirl · 04-02-2006, 07:33 AM

The gallbladder issue is one of the reasons I opted to have my surgery open - I knew I would end up getting stones with my luck, and didn't want to have to be put under again. My surgeon removes it during all open procedures, but in lap he only does it on an "as needed" basis...

NewMel06 · 04-02-2006, 09:10 AM

I had a cat scan to see the size of a ventral hernia I had, the doc found it then. He was amazed I didn't have symptoms due to the size of it. He did say that gall bladder problems are very common to women of childbearing age (actally having or have had babies) due to the hormone changes. I was surprised that rapid WL had anything to do with the gall bladder. WOW, we learn somehting new every day. I didn't pay too much attention to that part of the orientation since Idon't have mine any more.