Lack Of Gall Bladder, Or Celiac? Husband's Symptoms...

[chewymom]

My DH had his gall bladder removed in 1984, due to gall stones. (His spleen was removed about a year before.) I met him in 1985, and he has always had some weird symptoms, which I assumed were related to the lack of a gall bladder. Sorry if this is TMI, but here goes.

He has always had explosive BMs that look like diarrhea. When he has to go, he has to GO--and if he has to wait too long, he messes up his underwear. He has these weird itchy patches on his forearms that appear intermittently--I had always assumed they were seasonal rashes, but I really don't know if that's true, because now I can't pinpoint an exact season when they appear. He is REALLY spacey--he earned the nickname "Cloud" in high school. I've always accused him of having ADD. He is overweight and lost weight quickly and felt great on the Protein Power diet (similar to Atkins, but not as strict). He has since gained it all back.

His family history on his mom's side is that one uncle died of lung cancer (non-smoker), one uncle had an early heart attack, and his mother has Parkinson's.

I'm just wondering if all of these, but especially the BM issues, add up to the possibility of celiac? Or are the BM symptoms typical of those w/o a gall bladder?

[queenofhearts]

I don't know much about gall bladder issues, but the symptoms sound suspiciously Celiac to me, & Celiac can be triggered by an unrelated health event like surgery. I'd say it's definitely worth looking into especially if his rash resembles Dermatitis Herpetiformis (you can search for pix on google).

Leah

[SueC]

I had my gallbladder removed and have none of those troubles. Sounds more like a bowel problem....whether it is celiac or something else. I would definately encourage him to see a doctor.

The skin rashes could be DH. It usually looks like little blisters that are very itchy. I can tell I am getting one before I can see it.

Good Luck and I hope he gets some answers.

[Ursa Major]

Somebody here asked a few months ago, how many of us had their gallbladder removed. It was amazing how many had that problem (including me)! Gallstones and gallbladder disease are so common to people with celiac disease, it really can't be a coincidence.

I used to get horrible reflux and heartburn before my gallbladder was removed more than ten years ago (which got much better after the surgery). I had on and off diarrhea and constipation all these years, and after going gluten-free and avoiding everything else I am intolerant to, I rarely have diarrhea any more (unless I have been glutened). I very much doubt that having his gallbladder removed causes the diarrhea. I agree, it sounds suspiciously like celiac disease to me. Besides, it wouldn't surprise me if the celiac disease caused the gallstones to begin with.

[chewymom]

Actually, the reason for the gallbladder removal, according to what we've been told is this. He and his identical triplet brothers have a rare blood disorder--hemalytic anemia caused by a pyruvate kinase deficiency. His hematologist always suspected that removing the spleen would help with this. And then he had a car wreck in high school and ruptured his spleen. Sure enough, his blood disorder improved. Based on that, they removed his brothers' spleens, but he and one of his brothers developed gall stones, and they were told the spleen removal caused that. So within about a year of having his spleen removed, he and one brother had their gall bladders removed. The third triplet still has his gall bladder, but has similar diarrhea problems as the other two, which is what got me suspicious, the more I've learned about celiac. I mean, if the bowel issues are related to the gall bladder, why doesn't the third have symptoms?

Thanks for the input. I wonder if I can convince my husband to get tested. I had my daughter tested through Enterolab, and I'd like to test myself. He smiles and goes along with it all, but I think he really thinks I'm a cute littly hypochondriac!