Short version: I had my gallbladder removed. Diarrhea for a year now. I have tried a bunch of things to stop the diarrhea (some independently and some with my main doctor). I want to try a bile acid medication like cholestyramine. What kind of specialist should I be consulting? A gastroenterologist? Some other specialty?

Long version:
* I had always had the ability to digest anything. Almost never had an upset stomach.
* I started having a complete loss of appetite some evenings, occasional queasiness, and diarrhea a couple times a week. A scan showed I had gallstones.
* I had my gallbladder removed in March of 2021. So it's been a year since surgery.
* After the surgery things got worse and stayed worse. I’ve had daily diarrhea unless I was constantly taking loperamide and/or Pepto Bismol (and sometimes I’ve had diarrhea even though I was taking anti diarrhea medication).
* I found a daily level of loperamide that made me regular, but at that dosage the side effects were too much. I dropped the loperamide dosage to what I could tolerate, and it’s not enough but helps.
* Tried eating very low fat. Did not help.
* Tried smaller servings, did not help.
* Tried eliminating caffeine. That may have made a very tiny difference, but barely enough to notice.
* My doctor had me try citrucel fiber. Just made my daily diarrhea start earlier in the day with more urgency.
* My doctor had me try hyoscyamine ER 0.375 mg 2x a day. That was awful. Much worse diarrhea and lots of side effects.

I had my gallbladder removed about 12 years ago and still have daily diarrhea. I go about 3 times before noon and then I am fine the rest of the day. Doesn't matter what I eat for breakfast or even if I don't eat. I am so sick of this.

My gallbladder was removed during a liver resection for metastatic colon cancer so I really can't say. I was pretty screwed up generally speaking. No telling what was what. After a few years dealing with the problem, I decided to try and narrow things down a bit. My GI doc was no help, he just said "try Imodium." The advice about the journal came from the Nurse Practitioner at my family doc's office. It has helped.

Good Morning, Everyone! I rather lost my place here and have just found my way back to all your kind and helpful suggestions. I had upper and lower GI tests with normal results; symptoms abated, but I still went ahead with the surgery for gall bladder removal on Tuesday, March 15. Doc said all went fine. Home now with some sharp pain around the belly-button, some normal bowel movements, some not...trying to be patient with the recovery process. I have a nasty time with depression following surgery and while I know it will pass with time it's a struggle for today. Thank you each one for taking the time to connect at this site - it's hearwarming, encouraging, and so appreciated. Sincerely, Theresa

I had my gallbladder removed about 4 years ago. I started having severe diarrhea more than a month ago. I had my stool tested and now I have a diagnosis of Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI). My Pancreas does not produce an enzyme used to aid in digestion. I am now waiting on my GI doctor to get me an appointment to do SOMETHING! This has been a nightmare!

My gallbladder was removed about 5 weeks ago. I have had no digestive issues since surgery, luckily. I have had liver-area pain that prompted an ultrasound and MRI to check for stones in the common bile duct. (Ultrasound saw a stone in the CBD but the MRI did not.)

3.5 days ago I had some popcorn . That night, an incredibly painful bloated stomach that woke me up. The next morning diarrhea. I was surprised because I have had popcorn since surgery with no issues. I'm on day 3 of diarrhea. I've been living off dry toast and Gatorade.

Is it possible that after 5 weeks of zero digestive issues from my gallbladder removal, I can suddenly have them? Or could this be another issue entirely? My diet is fairly mild. Little to no fried foods. Normal BMI. Not sure if any of that matters.

Hello, I am 28 year old female, I have been battling with a very strange case of chronic pain that the specialists at the hospital cannot seem to diagnose, I have had numerous tests, CAT and MRI scans and have been in intense chronic pain for the last year. The pain I have is a gallbladder pain, intense pain in the stomach and back, when the pains come I also have vomiting.

In October 2021 I had my gallbladder out as they suspected it could be that however since having it out the pains are worse and more frequent, the symptoms seem to appear when I miss a meal or am hungry, 70% of the time when I eat when the pains appear they seem to disappear however on occasions it doesn’t matter how much I eat the pains don’t go away and I end up vomiting, when I have vomited what seems like bile, the pains stop.

My doctors have run tests to see if I have stones lodged in the conduct, sphincter of Oddi, H pylori and they are all negative. Also, the pains appear regardless of what I eat, it’s the quantity that triggers the pains, if I eat a small quantity of food a few hours later if I don’t eat anything else the pains are triggered, since my surgery I have not slept a whole night without waking up with pains. My pains appear around 4 times a day. Does anybody have any suggestions? Thank you in advance

I had diarrhea for 3 years after my surgery. I went 8 to 16 times a day.

I am coming up on a year since gallbladder removal and still have diarrhea on the daily. I tried cholestyramine (not really helpful) and now I'm trying colestipol pills - easier than the powder to take by far, but don't think it is helping much either. I've about decided to stop those pills and see what happens by just watching intake of fat content, greasy food, etc only.
I realize my message is not providing any news or help to those here, but mostly wanted to say that it's a weird kind of comfort to know I'm not a lone ranger out here! Thanks to everyone that posts on this topic!

Gastro doc no help here either. She wouldn't get me two test that would verify if I have BAM. So got my regular doc to do it. Waiting for that to all take place. Gastro just gave me colestipol pills to try. Well I'm not one for meds so inquired about a natural way and doing those tests to prove that's what i got. not much help with any thing natural. aka extra fiber, low fat etc. just kinds shrugged her shoulders and said yeah try it but no guidance.
So am on my own. for one week now i've been taking 2 scoops of Sunfiber (a guar gum soluable fiber) with 6 grams of fiber in each scoop. on in morning with breakfast and one at lunch. plus working on getting more fiber with food in. so far I've been able to reduce the diarrhea down to only 35% coming from 50%. Will continue this and see if it maintains at least that reduction.
If I can't get it below this % i will then move into either increasing fiber intact even more and or reducing how much i eat that has gluten (gluten sensitive is suspected also). Also reducing sugar intake.
In all my research and personal journey it seems everyone is different there is no one solution for any of us. Some have said the meds work perfect others not at all. So I thinking finding what it is that triggers you and taking it from there is the best solution.
good luck everyone on your journeys!