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Gallbladder removal: Anyone still having complications?
Digestive Health | Last Active: Dec 3, 2023 | Replies (43)Comment receiving replies
I am a 33yo F. I had my gallbladder removed four months ago after losing 30lbs (I was originally 148lbs) in a month and a half. I couldn’t eat without pain under my right rib and nausea. I was in and out of the ER for weeks. No imaging or labs or tests showed that it needed to come out. The surgical team left it up to me to decide if I wanted it out or not. I was so sick I decided to have them remove it. They removed it laparoscopically. The pathology showed chronic inflammation. My recovery was absolutely brutal and now, four months post-op, I’m still having pain in the surgical site and feel unwell. I’m getting nausea, bloating, and a burning internal sensation under my right rib, in the gallbladder site that radiates around to my back. Ice packs on my abdomen helps, and a short course of low dose prednisone seemed to help as well. I’ve been to GI and Rheumatology and no one seems to know whats wrong or how to help me. I have Hashimoto’s, autoimmune inner ear disease, and PCOS. I had Covid three months before my first symptom. Symptoms seem worse when I’m on my period, and in the evenings. I was tachycardic for three months after surgery. Has anyone experienced some thing similar to this?
Replies to "I am a 33yo F. I had my gallbladder removed four months ago after losing 30lbs..."
Hello @angdickinson
I would like to join @colleenyoung in adding my welcome to you. This is a very helpful forum for meeting others with similar health issues. As you read the posts of others, I hope you will find something that you can relate to. In addition to the discussion group that Colleen mentioned, here is another one that might assist you,
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/recent-gallbladder-surgery/
It sounds as if you have numerous health issues, and the gallbladder surgery added another group of symptoms. As you mentioned, autoimmune disorders, perhaps you will find the following discussion helpful as well.
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/autoimmune-and-methods-for-gut-heal-please-share-stories/?
As you did not mention the type of surgery you had, I'm wondering if it was an invasive surgery or was it laparoscopic?
Hi, @annako , I think you mentioned both PCOS and Hashimoto's? I've heard of a supplement called inositol recommended for PCOS. So I wondered if anyone had said inositol may be either beneficial or contraindicated for Hashimoto's. It seems like at least a few people think that inositol may be helpful for some people with Hashimoto's.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30506520/
"clinical studies have shown that after treatment with Myo-inositol plus seleniomethionine (Myo-Ins + Se), TSH levels significantly declined in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism due to autoimmune thyroiditis. The treatment was accompanied by a decline of antithyroid autoantibodies. After treatment serum CXCL10 levels declined, confirming the immune-modulatory effect of Myo-Ins. Additional research is necessary in larger population to evaluate the effect on the quality of life, and to study the mechanism of the effect on chemokines."
I don't know how you feel about supplements. I have tried a few myself, and I've found a few that are very helpful to me. What works for one person won't necessarily be good for another, though.
On a different note, I think I've heard that a low-fat diet can help both before and after gall bladder removal. I have slowly learned to make my diet lower-fat, and I feel like it helps me.
One more idea: Have you ever asked for a test to see if you may have trouble digesting gluten? Either celiac disease or gluten intolerance? I think that maybe there are genetic tests for it, too.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9612360/
@angdickinson
Have you had any recent testing done by the Gastroenterologist?
I developed pain and nausea quite a while after the gallbladder surgery.
I had an MRCP- MRI of the bile duct and the opening into the intestine- that showed “sludge” in the common bile duct- making it difficult to empty out into the intestine. I then had a procedure- ERCP- to widen the opening.
Connect
Welcome @angdickinson. I moved your message about complications after gall bladder removed surgery to this existing discussion:
- Gallbladder removal: Anyone still having complications?
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/gallbladder-removal/
I did this so that you can easily connect with other members like @fourof5zs @jtlang55 @sam325 @t98 @magan1993 @astaingegerdm and others.
You may also be interested in these related discussion:
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/search/discussions/?search=Gallbladder+removal