Dealing with symptoms after Gallbladder surgery

Posted by roisemaire @roisemaire, Nov 30, 2017

Hi is there anyone out there that suffers from nausea and pain almost 4 weeks after gallbladder operation. Every time I eat anything i get pain in site of operation. And tired all the time no energy

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@bertbiz

Hi Roisemaire. I am sorry you had to have gallbladder surgery. Was your surgery laparoscopic? I am about 8 weeks post surgery. I had some pain at 4 weeks. Some achy-type pains, some shooting pains. I called the doctor and was told that was expected. After the surgery, your nerves have to "wake up" as they are reattaching and rerouting themselves. It is certainly uncomfortable to say the least. I didn't experience nausea. I was very careful with what I chose to eat. I didn't eat anything high fat (cheese, ice cream, cream cheese, etc). I ate a lot of rice, potatoes, baked chicken or turkey. I ate a lot of eggs and introduced vegetables like spinach and other leafy greens at four weeks. I had four small incisions that took a while to heal. I had to be careful what kind of clothes I wore so that they wouldn't tear at the sutures. Getting up from laying down was tough, but finally got better around 4 weeks. I'm a pretty good patient, but not a patient patient. You know what I mean? Remember, you've had surgery, whether it was laparoscopic or otherwise. Your body goes into "shock" for lack of a better term. If you are having a lot of pain and a lot of nausea best advice I have for you is to call your doctor or surgeon's office. They can give you something for the nausea. I didn't use any narcotics during the surgery or for pain killers afterward. I don't metabolize narcotics very well. If you are taking pain killer (opioids) that may be contributing to your nausea. At 8 weeks post surgery I am feeling really great. I'm eating what I want (except for fried foods, fried chicken specifically, darn it!!). I am eating smaller portions. I find that eating to the point where I feel "full" makes me feel sick instead of sated.
I hope what I've written has helped you. I am here if you have any more questions. Thank you, Coleen, for connecting us.
Bertbiz

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Hello @bertbiz

Thank you for sharing your experiences with @roisemaire. Recovery from surgery is a very individualized thing. No two people recover the same!

Teresa

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Exactly. If my experience helps someone, I'm more than happy to share.

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@bertbiz

Hi Roisemaire. I am sorry you had to have gallbladder surgery. Was your surgery laparoscopic? I am about 8 weeks post surgery. I had some pain at 4 weeks. Some achy-type pains, some shooting pains. I called the doctor and was told that was expected. After the surgery, your nerves have to "wake up" as they are reattaching and rerouting themselves. It is certainly uncomfortable to say the least. I didn't experience nausea. I was very careful with what I chose to eat. I didn't eat anything high fat (cheese, ice cream, cream cheese, etc). I ate a lot of rice, potatoes, baked chicken or turkey. I ate a lot of eggs and introduced vegetables like spinach and other leafy greens at four weeks. I had four small incisions that took a while to heal. I had to be careful what kind of clothes I wore so that they wouldn't tear at the sutures. Getting up from laying down was tough, but finally got better around 4 weeks. I'm a pretty good patient, but not a patient patient. You know what I mean? Remember, you've had surgery, whether it was laparoscopic or otherwise. Your body goes into "shock" for lack of a better term. If you are having a lot of pain and a lot of nausea best advice I have for you is to call your doctor or surgeon's office. They can give you something for the nausea. I didn't use any narcotics during the surgery or for pain killers afterward. I don't metabolize narcotics very well. If you are taking pain killer (opioids) that may be contributing to your nausea. At 8 weeks post surgery I am feeling really great. I'm eating what I want (except for fried foods, fried chicken specifically, darn it!!). I am eating smaller portions. I find that eating to the point where I feel "full" makes me feel sick instead of sated.
I hope what I've written has helped you. I am here if you have any more questions. Thank you, Coleen, for connecting us.
Bertbiz

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Hi Bertbiz
Thanku so much for sharing your experience. I went to see my surgeon today and he told me I had a very inflamed gallbladder and it had to be scraped from my liver during surgery which I didn’t know about. He told what I am experiencing is normal and prescribed Nexium for 3 months. He said it would take 2 to 3 months before I begin to feel better

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@bertbiz

Hi Roisemaire. I am sorry you had to have gallbladder surgery. Was your surgery laparoscopic? I am about 8 weeks post surgery. I had some pain at 4 weeks. Some achy-type pains, some shooting pains. I called the doctor and was told that was expected. After the surgery, your nerves have to "wake up" as they are reattaching and rerouting themselves. It is certainly uncomfortable to say the least. I didn't experience nausea. I was very careful with what I chose to eat. I didn't eat anything high fat (cheese, ice cream, cream cheese, etc). I ate a lot of rice, potatoes, baked chicken or turkey. I ate a lot of eggs and introduced vegetables like spinach and other leafy greens at four weeks. I had four small incisions that took a while to heal. I had to be careful what kind of clothes I wore so that they wouldn't tear at the sutures. Getting up from laying down was tough, but finally got better around 4 weeks. I'm a pretty good patient, but not a patient patient. You know what I mean? Remember, you've had surgery, whether it was laparoscopic or otherwise. Your body goes into "shock" for lack of a better term. If you are having a lot of pain and a lot of nausea best advice I have for you is to call your doctor or surgeon's office. They can give you something for the nausea. I didn't use any narcotics during the surgery or for pain killers afterward. I don't metabolize narcotics very well. If you are taking pain killer (opioids) that may be contributing to your nausea. At 8 weeks post surgery I am feeling really great. I'm eating what I want (except for fried foods, fried chicken specifically, darn it!!). I am eating smaller portions. I find that eating to the point where I feel "full" makes me feel sick instead of sated.
I hope what I've written has helped you. I am here if you have any more questions. Thank you, Coleen, for connecting us.
Bertbiz

Jump to this post

I'm so glad you saw your surgeon. I hope you feel better soon.

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@bertbiz

Hi Roisemaire. I am sorry you had to have gallbladder surgery. Was your surgery laparoscopic? I am about 8 weeks post surgery. I had some pain at 4 weeks. Some achy-type pains, some shooting pains. I called the doctor and was told that was expected. After the surgery, your nerves have to "wake up" as they are reattaching and rerouting themselves. It is certainly uncomfortable to say the least. I didn't experience nausea. I was very careful with what I chose to eat. I didn't eat anything high fat (cheese, ice cream, cream cheese, etc). I ate a lot of rice, potatoes, baked chicken or turkey. I ate a lot of eggs and introduced vegetables like spinach and other leafy greens at four weeks. I had four small incisions that took a while to heal. I had to be careful what kind of clothes I wore so that they wouldn't tear at the sutures. Getting up from laying down was tough, but finally got better around 4 weeks. I'm a pretty good patient, but not a patient patient. You know what I mean? Remember, you've had surgery, whether it was laparoscopic or otherwise. Your body goes into "shock" for lack of a better term. If you are having a lot of pain and a lot of nausea best advice I have for you is to call your doctor or surgeon's office. They can give you something for the nausea. I didn't use any narcotics during the surgery or for pain killers afterward. I don't metabolize narcotics very well. If you are taking pain killer (opioids) that may be contributing to your nausea. At 8 weeks post surgery I am feeling really great. I'm eating what I want (except for fried foods, fried chicken specifically, darn it!!). I am eating smaller portions. I find that eating to the point where I feel "full" makes me feel sick instead of sated.
I hope what I've written has helped you. I am here if you have any more questions. Thank you, Coleen, for connecting us.
Bertbiz

Jump to this post

@roisemaire

I'm so glad that you let us know! You must be relieved to know that this is what is normal for your situation.

Will you keep in touch and let us know how your recovery is going?

Teresa

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@bertbiz

Exactly. If my experience helps someone, I'm more than happy to share.

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@bertbiz, Welcome, and thank-you for your response. I know how helpful it is to receive a firsthand account from another patient who has gone through the same experience.
Rosemary

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Hello, I have a question. Is weight gain a common thing between people who have gallstones?
And doea it get worse after the removal of the gallbladder?

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Hello @rowida,

Welcome to Connect. You may notice that I moved your discussion and combined it with this existing discussion on gallbladder surgery. I thought it would be beneficial for you to be introduced to some other members who have discussed much of what you are experiencing.
If you are replying by email, I suggest clicking on VIEW & REPLY so that you can read through some of the earlier messages and meet some of our other members talking about their or their loved ones' experiences.

I would also like to invite @stephieisabella @smarajit @joannem, along with @bertbiz @roisemaire to share their experiences with gallbladder issues.

@rowida, have you been diagnosed with gallstones?

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@rowida

Hello, I have a question. Is weight gain a common thing between people who have gallstones?
And doea it get worse after the removal of the gallbladder?

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I lost weight before my gall bladder surgery. After the surgery I maintained the weight until I was able to eat more and eat more often. Since last September I have put on about six pounds. But, again, I wasn't able to eat much before the surgery. I hope that's helpful.

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Hi everybody, my name is Jamie and I’ve been diagnosed with gallstones, but this wasn’t my first guess. In December, I caught a bad stomach flu and while 3 other of my family members caught it too, I was the only one who had nausea afterwards. Along with this, I had burping. Some reflux, but mainly after I would eat and lay down so I blame it on that.

I went to the doctors a month later in January and she said it was possibility GERD. This wasn’t my normal doctor, since she was out of town. But anyways, I started getting better slowly by taking a Tums every morning as I woke up.

Fast forward to late February, I was eating meals happily and not worrying about a thing. The only thing that caught my attention was after having a big meal of Domino’s, I had major pain and bloating. Thought I was gonna be sick but turns I just had to BM. Nothing happened until ‘that time of the month’ and I was back to not eating again, dealing with nausea and burping.

Finally went back to the doctor’s, got put on Omeprazole 20mg(?) capsules and went on my way home. Slowly built back up to eating without having to take meds. Then March comes around and on the 18th, I have the worst abdominal pain that I can only describe as labor pain. Started at 2 p.m., went to the E.R. finally at 12 a.m. when the heating pad clearly wasn’t working for me and it went away until I went to do a urine test. Immediately pain through my left shoulder, middle of my chest/abdomen, and nausea full force. Thought I was gonna be sick (and I hate to throw up, I do everything to avoid it.) but I wasn’t. We did a blood test after I calmed down, went to ultrasound and came back around 1:30ish. Fell asleep, they woke me up at 3:30 a.m. and turns out I have gallstones at 16! Prior to this hospital visit, I had another ultrasound at another clinic and the results came back as fine. So?? I’m a bit confused but anyways.

They gave me zofran to take as needed for my nausea but since that attack, I’ve had none. I’ve stuck to a low-fat diet, eating before 6 p.m., and not laying down after I eat. I’ve managed to be healthy this way but we’ve decided on surgery (I have consultation this upcoming Friday) and while I want to prevent another attack, I’m scared to death. I’ve read online that gallbladder surgery and gastroparesis are connected often. My mother had gallstones and the same surgery I’m getting and she’s perfectly fine but I know everyone is different.

So my question here is, what were your gallbladder disease signs? Did the gallbladder surgery help you? Has anyone found themselves with gastroparesis or other illnesses? Is there pros and cons to taking it out?

Please help. My anxiety and depression are having more bad days because I’m scared of this chronic illness happening to me. I just want to get better and feel ‘normal’. Is this selfish of me?

My current symptoms are: bloating, burping, brain fog, general feeling of unwellness, some days loss of appetite, burning gurgly stomach, constipation, orange-colored stools, maybe indigestion??? I’m not sure, I don’t feel full after eating and when I feel that, I normally burp and I feel fine. Nausea comes and goes. Get little bits of pain in my GB area. Wake up in the middle of the night randomly.

The only health issues I have are asthma and low vitamin D. I am also (hopefully) getting a lipoma out at the same time of the GB surgery.

I’ve never had prior stomach issues to this. I caught the stomach flu about three times in my life. But I did have bad eating habits. I’ve been through a lot of emotional trauma in my life as well and stress is not good on me either.

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