Gallbladder Removal Recommended

[Guest BERNESES]

I think that mine were caused (if I had to guess) by rapid weight loss. I had gained a lot of weight (60 pounds) on a medication and then when Celiac's hit I lost like 80 pounds in one year. They found mine in a CT scan and then again in an ultrasound.

Honestly, I would opt not to have the surgery if I wasn't trying to get pregnant because I'd just wait to see how things went. But I don't want to risk an attack at 8 months pregnant like MyKidsMom (you poor thing). A big hug to you, B

[DonnaD]

This is interesting, I saw a new Doctor today and amongst other things he said I may have a problem with my Gallbladder. I do have a lot of pain in my right shoulder but had a dx of 'partial impingement' and had the tendon injected with steroids and botox in the trapius (sp) muscel (neighter worked much). I don't eat much fatty food now but if I do I get terrible heartburn which I thought was caused by gluten. I was a bit uncomftable when he palpated my stomach but nothing too painful. My lower right sided pain does not seem to be in the right place for gallstones. I will be spending a lot of time on the net tonight I think! Gallstones was one thing I hadn't thought of! Have any of you who had stones had any weight changes and if so where? and any other odd symptoms not mentioned elsewhere?

Thanks,

Donna

[Smunkeemom]

I had mine removed last June. It had just quit working for no reason whatsoever. I had the lapriscopic surgery done, I got to go home the same day and the next day I was back to normal activity. It didn't hurt too bad.

*although I should mention that when I had my c-sections I was back to normal activity minus heavy lifting like the same day, so my family says I have a high pain tolerance, my mother who has zero pain tolerance had the same gall bladder surgery and was okay in a week.

[Jen H]

I had a laparoscopy for endometriosis and it took me 1 month to completely recover. I was also dealing with undiagnosed celiac at the time, so I was probably not feeling great because I wasn't on the gluten-free diet yet. Good luck if you decide to do the surgery.

[Smunkeemom]

after talking to my husband he reminded me that I did have some pain the day after from the gas bubbles re-absorbing, I don't remember it, but he said that I put a heating pad on my tummy for a while and it was better. I do know that the day of, I slept a lot. I didn't need the pain pills they sent home, though.

[Mr J]

I would look into flushing the gallbladder/liver out. If it's full of stones that's the way to go. Don't cut anything out of your body please since it's needed...

as mentioned in my earlier post I've done the liver flush...

apologies, previously replied late last nite and didn't properly test my reply with a link to my post on the yahoo gastroparesis group - doesn't work unless logged in as me so here is the full body of the text

some irrelevant content regarding my car engine, but an otherwise detailed account of my experience.

cheers,

Mr J.

I mention this coz the 253 component of my online name is the cubic capacity (in

cu

inches) of the V8 engine in an old Holden Monaro I once owned and rebuilt in Oz.

Aven

would know what car i am talking about.

Ok just to add to your bile info, i have encountered an understanding that the

strictest of

GP diets is bad for the gall bladder due to its lack of fat. Fat stimulates the

gall bladder to

release its load and helps things flush out. A bit like the idea that ancient

cars like my old

Holden (1975 model) when running on the nasty leaded petrol liked a nice long

blast down

a freeway to clean the carbon buildup out of its cyclinder heads. So there is

the idea that a

gall bladder needs to be stimulated every so often to keep things clean and

running

smoothly. Partly for environmental reasons the first bit of work i did on my car

was to get

rid of the petrol tank and convert it to run on compressed gas which burns

cleaner

anyway. Likewise i make sure that i'm ingesting some good fat in my diet. I know

fat slows

motility, but i try and get a clean burn by only ingesting it with carbs - my

protein meals

are super lean and i have an enzyme with a large amount of lipase for fat/carb

combo -

surprisingly carbs and fat both handle the same PH environment well, whereas fat

and

protein combo is bad news for the digestively impaired like me.

thats just theory, but i have conducted an experiment/remedy known as the

"liver flush"

on myself. did this about 3yrs ago during my desparate search for what was

behind the

decline of my digestive system - some of the symptoms of faulty gall bladder

seemed to

fit -eg my inability to digest anything but the simplest of meals - i hadn't

heard of GP back

then nor found this group. Term "Liver Flush" a slight misnomer - bile flush

would be

more descriptive.

from memory the following is the recipe for the "Liver Flush". its only

approximate and

there are many recipes out there on the net so anyone interested should just

stick it into

google to find a more accurate one.

its not for the faint hearted and carries risks - i've seen posts by ppl who

said it brought

on a bad case of candida, others reported that it just lodged their gall stones

even firmer

in the ducts. fortunately i came out of it in good shape and there is a need to

be in

reasonable shape before attempting this coz it involves some starvation combined

with

overdosing.

here is what i can remember:

1. Pure carb breakfast. No protein, absolutely no fat. What this does is it

causes the gall

bladder to retain its bile. During the day the bile store will increase and even

build up

pressure in the gall bladder.

2. water only in the morning or just some liquid with no protein and no fat, i

think sprite

or stuff like that might be ok, but i just abstained, water only.

3. absolutely nil by mouth after mid-day or risk failure of this procedure.

4. in the evening ingest a measured dose of epsom salts solution (can't remember

amount)

plus timing critical, - need to look up on net if anyone seriously wants to

attempt.

5. final dose is a massive quantity of liquid fat (olive oil is what i used) 1/2

a cup!!! shaken

up with juice from one fresh grapefruit into an emulsion all mixed with another

dose of

epsom salts. This is absolutely foul and takes a lot of willpower to force it

down ones

throat. Straw recommneded, plus i followed a tip which said take sips of chilled

ginger ale

in between gulps of the salt/oil mix.

7. go to bed and try and sleep - will be feeling ill

8. I lined my bed with a poly tarp for fear of the uncontrolled laxative effect,

but it wasn't

needed.

9. Next morning, don't eat, won't feel like anyway and wait....

10. Result: explosive need to go to toilet, don't go far from one! All the bile

that has built

up under pressure together with the duct opening effect of the epsom salts will

flush out

the gall bladder. Many ppl expel large marble sized stones, just about everyone

pushes

out some green lumps of solid but soft bile/cholesterol (I did - just a handful,

some the

size of peas). Some will dump "chaff" - fine hardened bile salts - in my case a

little bit of

sandy sized granules. Results of my experiment all indicated that my gall

bladder was in

fact healthy - ie. no stones, (conversely pushing out nothing at all might

indicate a

blockage.)

good that my gall bladder seemed healthy, bad that i hadn't found the cause of

what i now

understand to be GP.

i think this experiment supports the idea that some fat in the diet is needed to

keep bile

system running properly.

cheers,

Mike

--- In gastroparesis@yahoogroups.com, "Stacie" <stacjeep@h...> wrote:

> Wanted to let you guys know that I have been doing ok with my regime of

> my IV Zofran until I had 2 lines (PICC in arm & Porta Cath in left side

> chest)get Sepsis and landed in hospital for 6 days--I had my severe

> nausea & constant vomiting under great control until this

> infection...so as of Tuesday Oct. 4th I will be doing another (3rd

> time) EGD balloon diallation with Botox to see if this helps--but today

> while talking to my Motility specialist (Thanks Dr. T!) he brought up a

> good point for some of us to ponder---although we have out Gallbladders

> out, because some of us don't get to eat solid foods or on IV

> replacements, our Bile Duct can still forma nd TRAP stones, and sludge

> that can cause marked nausea, vomiting and upper gastric pain--so

> wanted to pass on the info and to remind us all that even thought he

> nasty little part is gone--we can still get stones and stuff trapped

> other places--guess I eill be getting an EGD AND a ERCP!! Will let you

> guys know what they find!! Happy tumms to all!

> Stacie

[Guest BERNESES]

Wow! Thanks for the info but that sounds like way more than I'm willing to take on right now. I think I'd only consider doing the flush under the care of a naturopath. Interesting stuff though.