Uncontrolled diarrhea after gallbladder removal surgery: Any advice?

@jfperrone That sounds dreadful.

My sister had hers out some years ago. No problems. One of her daughters had hers out recently on an emergency basis. No problems. I had mine out as part of cytoreductive surgery with HIPEC as part of my treatment for stage 4 appendix cancer. No problems.

It sure sounds like something else may be going on here.

I saw the possibility of c-diff mentioned. That’s the sort of thing you may need to look into. I didn’t get it but I have been shocked how many people do get c-diff in hospital as a result of surgery.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/c-difficile/symptoms-causes/syc-20351691

Have you tried a low fat diet ? Fat digestion begins in the gall bladder, so if you avoid fatty foods and fat, you will have less diarrhea. We are too quick to do surgery in the USA. My cousin had appendicitis in Japan. He was given a course of antibiotics and decades later, still has his appendix. Go figure.

I had my gallbladder taken out April of 2024, Everything i eat seems to run thru me. I'm so tired of living like this. My stomach hurts and spasms on me a lot as well..has anyone else had this problem, if so what can i do to help the situation? Thanks

Hi, @barbaraspainhour. Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. So that you could talk with others who've talked about diarrhea after gallbladder removal, I've moved your post here:

- Uncontrolled diarrhea after gallbladder removal surgery: Any advice? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/post-op-diarrhea/

Hoping you can connect with members like @gwenrn74 @isadora2021 @twinkie23 and others.

barbaraspainhour - what did your primary care doctor or the surgeon who performed your gallbladder removal say about the diarrhea and its connection with the surgery? Did they recommend something to treat the diarrhea and stomach pains and spasms?

@barbaraspainhour

I’m so so sorry to hear that. Such a long time to be struggling after gall bladder removal. I was very fortunate that mine resolved fairly quickly after removal on 9 May 2022 with a careful low fat, high fibre diet and eating between 4-6 small meals a day plus Imodium when needed.

I still need to be careful and if I get slack (eg had delicious fatty mutton chops the other day) I’ll get terrible diarrhea and need to revisit my diet and meal sizes.

I see there are medications your medical team may try.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/cholecystectomy/expert-answers/gallbladder-removal/faq-20058481
I also wonder whether you might have some other digestive disorder. Such as c-diff or SIBO? Have you had any tests done?

I had mine taken out in 1988. Three weeks after I gave birth. A gallstone had came out and lodged in my pancreas, and I had pancreatitis and had emergency surgery. In 2006 I was diagnosed with Crohn’s. I already had the bile coming out all the time with my diarrhea. I finally told the doctor recently that I thought a lot of the diarrhea was having was not from Crohn’s, but because of my gallbladder. She gave me colestipol. It says on the bottle take twice a day for diarrhea. It is also a cholesterol lowering medication. It might work for you but for me it gave me constipation. I got so many bottles of that stuff. I can’t wait to get rid of it. What I do is if I get the really bad cramping and cannot get it to stop I take Imodium D. Just one. And that usually does it for me. Right now I am battling because I am going to have to have surgery with part of my small intestines taken out that is full of scar tissue from my Crohn’s. So I go back-and-forth between loose bowels and bowels not moving. The diarrhea started before that. Seems as soon as we move to Pensacola in 1985 the loose bowels started. He thought it was the water. I didn’t know it’s because I had Crohn’s. They know a lot more now about Crohn’s than they did even back then.

My primary Dr sent a referral to the stomach Dr, I'll see him in July.These Dr's in Ga do not get in any hurry to see you...I'm on meds for stomach spasms and nausea, don't seem to help much. I feel like I'm living with a diseased gallbladder again,although I don't won't to complain, I could be terminal right now.

Hopefully I'll have the answer's I need so bad in July when i see the stomach specialist. I do have IBS which is pretty common. I'll look up the 2 you sent me, not sure what they are.

Bless your heart, You have been thru a lot..My CT scans with/without contrast,MRI with/without contrast showed nothing wrong with my gallbladder, i suffered bad for a whole year without help, they finally did a hida scan and that's where they discovered my gallbladder was not emptying completely into my duct, So, they decided to take it out, Good thing they did, It was on the verge of rupturing, it done turned brown in color..the surgeon told my husband I had a diseased gallbladder that needed to come out way before it did.. I didn't have any gallstones. I will say a prayer for you and your surgery coming up 🙏

Try taking oxbile tablets. It is over the counter at the health food store.