Life Without Gallbladder

Sinulog 2012 – Viva Pit Señor

ken — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:00:03 +0000

Viva Pit Señor!!!

Happy Fiesta, Cebu…

Happy New Year 2012

ken — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:00:24 +0000

Have a Prosperous New Year, everyone…

Welcome to the Year of the Dragon!

Merry Christmas 2011

ken — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:00:36 +0000

May the spirit of Christmas bring you smiles and inspiration this holiday season.

Have a Blessed and Merry Christmas to all!

To Pop or Not to Pop Popcorn?

MuddPie — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 04:04:49 +0000

I am 8 days out of surgery and so far doing pretty well. The first half of the week i ate a lot of fat free crackers, canned peaches, and English muffins and had a couple of nights of very painful bloating and some diarrhea. These last few days I’ve been able to eat rice, tilapia, steamed veggies, oatmeal, french toast made with low cal bread, egg substitute, and I Can’t Believe Its Not Butter Spray, and small amount of syrup. I also had half of a chocolate chip cookie from McDonald’s (which tasted like heaven) and saved the other half for the next day. I’ve had what I consider to be minimal bloating compared to those earlier nights. The last day or so I’ve been craving popcorn, which has been a frequent snack for me before surgery. I usually always eat either air popped popcorn with I Can’t Believe Its Not Butter Spray or 94% Fat Free Microwave Popcorn. Does anybody know what the consensus is on popcorn whether others have been able to eat it and why it is bad, if it is? Also, popcorn at the movies without butter bad too?

Thanksgiving and my gall story

Roland — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 09:47:21 +0000

Hello again, I posted here in July shortly after I had my surgery. I didn’t however tell my story of how I ended up needing the operation yet, and since it’s thanksgiving (in Canada) I thought I’d come talk about how I’m doing now and how the first big holiday meal went without a gall bladder. A bit of a warning, this turned out to be a lot longer than I thought it would, so if you decide to read it, thank you XD if not, no problem lol

So first my horror story -_- the first time I noticed a problem was in 2007. I had a particularly unhealthy weekend starting with pizza with some scotch on friday which gave me some stomach pains 20 minutes or so after eating that ended up going away in a little while. Saturday the same pain after my meal but it went away. I wasn’t yet too worried and thought I just had a bug or something. Sunday however was different. I had a spaghetti meal and after 20 minutes that pain came back again, only this time it didn’t go away, it got worse. So I layed down, and it got worse, so I paced around, and it got WORSE, then I was sick and with the pain being so intense, realized it was time to go and wait for hours in the emergency room. My dad gave me a ride there and while waiting in the ER the pain mostly went away. I ended up going home with some percs and a scheduled ultrasound exam for the morning, which my family doctor revealed those results to me, being that I had sludge in my gall bladder :/ so I went on a diet of rice and veggies for a year -_-.. that sucked loll I couldn’t really have a whole lot else without getting pain. After that however it seemed I was cured. I was back to eating and drinking what I pleased.

Fast forward to christmas 2010 and I got the pains again, which rally bugged me because I knew what that meant.. change my diet again for a year.. I was pretty put out thinking I was done with that. So I tried that for a while and it seemed to be going ok. Then, in June 2011, I agreed to go on the annual fishing trip some family and I try to go on regularly. I knew I had to watch my diet so I brought a lot of my own food. I think where I messed up was not being a part of the guys that cooked, or noticed what they were cooking with.. most everything was being cooked in butter X) now I should mention where we were here. We weren’t at a sort of camp site near much civilization, we were at an old hunting cabin in the bush, where we had to load our gear up on a boat and get out to from the river. It takes several trips to get all the stuff across the river to the cabin that is itself out in the bush from the river. So when at 1am one night I started to get pain, I was pretty worried. I tried to stay calm and tell myself “if I just relax and let this happen it should pass in time”.. nope. I fought the pain in bed till the sun came up then went down to the river to walk around and get fresh air. We had a black bear destroy our BBQ late at night the one year so I didn’t want to be going out there at night with a flashlight just for some air. So, I was down by the water and started throwing up all the water I had been drinking trying to help me out through the night. After that was gone from my stomach I was throwing up bile. I was sick more times than I could count -_- and the pain was getting worse. I was screwed. I honestly thought I was gonna die out there lol. So thanksfully for everyone else’s sake this was our last scheduled day out there and we were basically packing up and leaving that day. So I didn’t ruin anyone’s trip too badly I hope. But everyone had to scramble to get things together and boat to the cars and pack up the trailers and start the driving trip down the bumpy old logging road to the main road, which takes about 40 mins to an hour to get to from that damn logging road. After that it’s a 5 hour trip home. We could have gone to a closer hospital probably 100km or so from where we got to the main road but it would have been a real hassle I think, it’s 4 hours drive from where I live. So we went all the way home, then to the hospital -___- so I suffered with that attack for 15 hours before getting to the hospital, where I was sick again while waiting in the ER and finally got in there and got a shot of some sort of anti-inflamatory that took a lot of pain away. I then had another ultrasound and they found stones this time in my gall bladder. So I think it was roughly 2 weeks later I had surgery and thank the lord that thing is GONE. Which I hope means I’ll never have to go through something like that ever again. so far that seems to be holding true, I had few post-surgery problems in late July but that went away and since then I’ve been ok to eat basically anything. The only things I’ve noticed now are that; 1, I can’t seem to handle orange juice, it makes me feel nausiated so I am just avoiding it for now. I’ll try it in a few months again. 2, if I go a long time without eating, the next time I DO eat, I’ll be having some explosive toilet adventures accompanied by the typical stomach pain anyone would get with that sort of thing X( but I can handle that happening from time to time compared to what a gall attack is like.. good lord.

Today I returned to my parent’s place to celebrate Thanksgiving, my first holiday without my gall bladder, and I didn’t hold back. I had a plate of so much food I’m not sure how I got it all in there. I felt a little bit of a “possibly gonna need to get to the bathroom soon” pain, but it went away and I’ve been fine. This was 7 hours ago or so, so I think I’m good I already can’t wait for christmas dinner X)

15 years old and gall-less

groatesk — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 16:23:31 +0000

November 1999. I woke up thinking I was very hungry, and knowing that I had to travel 2 1/2 hours that day to play a soccer game. It was a different type of hunger feeling, I thought, a slight bit of pain. I wasted no time getting out of bed, ate a bowl of “Oreo-O’s” (remember that dumb cereal? I didn’t even really like it but I ate it), and proceeded to get prepared for my away soccer game while still having that slight pain. We were to meet at a local McDonalds to carpool with my teammates. As dedicated to the game of soccer that I was and my love for playing, the onset of intensifying pain didn’t cause me to do more than simply mention it to my parents as I was getting into the car for them to drop me off to meet my team at McDonalds. This is when it began to hurt. And now it was excruciating. By the time we were getting ready to exit the neighborhood, I told my dad that I didn’t think I could go to the game. He knew something was wrong. Now our destination was the hospital.

They gave me an x-ray, didn’t expect to see something in the location of my gall bladder because of how young I was (15 years old), thought there was something on the lens so they cleaned it and gave me another. Sure enough it was still there, so I got an ultra-sound to confirm that I had gall stones, stayed over night so they could monitor my food intake so that early in the morning they could inject me with a radioactive substance reactive to the machinery to read if my gall bladder was infected and needed to be removed entirely rather than removing just the stones. It was a bad one! I got scheduled to get a laparoscopic cholecystectomy two weeks later. NEVER wait that long to get your bladder removed if you can help it. That period of time was during Thanksgiving, which ended up being my demise. Funny story about that night was that after dinner, I walked over to my girlfriend’s house who lived a block away from where my family were gathering for Thanksgiving. We were young and it was complicated to get together so this was a good time to meet up…so I thought. Soon after I got to her house I could tell the pain was coming again, and I knew I needed to leave for sake of not rolling around on the floor with sudden pain, fever, and erratic yelps of terror in front of her parents. It had happened a total of two times prior, that first morning before soccer and another after eating buttered popcorn at a movie (the butter did not occur to me as a problem for some reason). I remember it really starting to hurt as I was trying to formally make my exit without anything seeming strange. As soon as I left, I went back to my family’s Thanksgiving, and found a couch to roll around on, grimacing in pain. All the while knowing that the knife in my gut and my high fever would subside within about an hour (the gall stone would finish making its way through a duct).

So I got it out with no problem. I remember my uncle visiting me in the hospital and making me laugh, which sucked because of the laugh flexing my stomach muscles aching that chop-shop of my gut: one hole above my belly button for the camera, below it for the removal tools (or vice-versa), and two drainage holes on my side to release the gas that inflated my abdomen. It also sucked vomiting out all of the anesthesia.

For about a year, my digestive system suffered from getting used to not having a gall bladder. I would get painful hunger pangs in the middle of the night and have to grab a snack. I would have varying acid-reflux and get a prescription to diminish the discomfort of that. Sometimes the acid-reflux burning was so bad I would throw up or breathe so heavy to the point of hyperventilating. Around this time I wouldn’t eat spicy or acidic foods late in the day, or drink orange or grape juice before going to bed, stuff like that. I never took high precaution because I feel like I tried watching my diet before and it still didn’t make much of a difference.

Now, almost 12 years later, I am fine for the most part. My only frequent procedure due to my gall-less-ness is Tums, which I keep next to my bed just in case. The most discomfort I’ll get now is just what feels like the gentle beginnings of an acid-reflux occurrence. Tums works well for me in that case. I am still active, and restrict myself from foods much less than I used to, and from what I’ve learned I watch my diet much less than most people without a gall bladder. It all might come back to me in the years to come, though… :::knocks on wood:::

My Journey

Terry — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 07:40:02 +0000

I began experiencing severe pain after eating fried food and throwing up. On August 24, the pain was so severe I went to the ER. When it was decided it wasn’t my heart I was ignored for 4 hours in pain and still throwing up. I finally left and went back home only to return to a different ER 6 hours later. They gave me morphine every two hours then sent me home with a prescription for pain pills. I called my Dr. and saw him August 26. A HIDA scan was scheduled for August 28. Nothing could be seen during the HIDA scan. I was unable to reach my Dr. the next two days. Our clerk at school was extremely worried and got an appointment for me to see an internal medicine Dr. He immediately referred me to a surgeon ASAP and told me if the pain intensified to get to the ER.

About 10 pm on August 31, I began having stabbing pains and off I went to the ER. Once again they gave me pain meds and sent me home. I saw my surgeon 7 hours later after an ultra sound and he scheduled surgery for 4:30 pm. It was to be lap chole. One he began the procedure, he had to do open instead. My gall bladder was full of stones, inflamed, infected, and had adhered to my liver. He said it was the worst he had ever seen. I was admitted to the hospital Sept 1 and came home Sept. 4. I am doing much better now although the staples are beginning to really bother me and itch. Looking back, I did have symptoms but didn’t realize it was my gallbladder. Thank God for my surgeon.

My Story – Without Gallbladder

skaboyy — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 15:31:20 +0000

I am new here so I am going to tell everyone a bit about myself and my stomach problems. I am now 31 years old. When I was younger I was allergic to lots of foods (dairy etc.) but nothing actually bothered me too much. Beginning in my last year in law school (approx. age 27) I began having weird stomach problems. Mostly consisting of bloating and immediate rushing to the bathroom after meals. I saw 10+ gastro doctors and had every test under the sun – nothing was found. I tried every herbal and prescription med out there. In the end they diagnosed me with IBS and Gerd – because they had no idea what it was.

Fast forward, in Nov. 2009 I went to another gastro doctor. They ran one more test – scan of my gallbladder and found it was functioning at 14%. The next day they took it out. And if I thought my stomach problems were bad before it was taken out – I had no idea what was in store for me!

For the first 3 months after the surgery (lapro) I had immediate dumping syndrome to everything I ate – from bread to crackers – everything! I tried everything under the sun again for bile reflux – nothing really worked.

About 2 months ago I started researching more items and came across an item called BioGest – its an herbal pill that has digestive enzymes coupled with some other goodies that i would take after every meal (1-3x a day) and it helped. No more killer stomach ache after meals and i could function somewhat. However, if I took the pill and ate a small meal – sometimes it would actually be more pain from the pill.

I then started drinking Kefir once a day and I felt somewhat normal again.

This was my routine everyday for the past 6-8 weeks. However, I will admit I had major bloating – but I didn’t care. I was able to go to the gym and eat everything – cookies, everything!

Starting about 2 weeks ago I started getting really really really itchy! I suspect that the kefir has become a problem and/or my skin is getting so dry from the combined stuff that I cannot function. I want to scratch everywhere until I have no more skin. I did find when I cut out the kefir I was less itchy so it may be the culprit.

So I guess i’m now looking for something to replace the kefir because taking the BioGest alone helps after eating but does not keep my stomach calm during the day. I would still say if I don’t eat breakfast and start with lunch no matter what I have only a few minutes to get to the bathroom.

Anyways, I have tried and researched everything under the sun and I am happy to give any advice that could help others but am also open to hearing others opinions.

No Gallbladder: Eating Too Hot & Spicy Food

ken — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 03:54:42 +0000

Eating Very Hot & Spicy Food Without A Gallbladder

The other day I brought a local Cebuano food – Paklay for my lunch. It looks yummy and this is one of my favorites.

The Paklay (tripe stew) that I brought was made of pork innards – tripe, liver and heart, pork skin, and bamboo shoot. It was sautéed and cooked with ginger and chilies. It also contains strips of green and red bell peppers, and carrots.

I thought it was not that hot and spicy.

My first few spoons was good and I felt the regular hot and spicy flavor of the Paklay. But during my second serving of rice, I slowly felt that it was very hot and spicy. My colleague even noticed as I often blow some air. As I continue eating, I felt the sweat on my forehead – this is my sign that I eat too hot and spicy food. I finished my meal with cold water.

I’m solved.

So I thought but not at all! After a few minutes, I felt some grumbling in my stomach. I felt some stomach discomfort. I was thinking it was just the natural reaction after eating a hot and spicy food. Though, that was not my first time to eat Paklay after my gallbladder removal operation. But it was my first time to eat that hot and spicy, a very hot and spicy Paklay after my gallbladder surgery.

And the result of eating a very hot and spicy Paklay with no gallbladder – a few minutes in male restroom cubicle.

New to this – No Gallbladder

Roland — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 01:33:36 +0000

Hi all, so I had my gall bladder out on July 5th, I’m not doing too bad now, I think the recovery process is finally really coming along. I’m still having some gas issues causing some pain but it isn’t bad, and is getting better. I make sure I walk each day and I’m sure that is helping a lot. My incisions are mostly healed though, the worst part is that there was a bandaid used on my arm that I’m allergic too, so it’s been itchy. lol

I’m trying to mostly stay away from fatty foods though as I’m sure that wouldn’t help with the gas stuff. I’m hoping that goes away in time as I think it’s still pretty sensitive right now. I usually feel the pain the most when I go for those walks.