Post-cholecystectomy or gallbladder removal surgery

Posted by msb18 @msb18, Dec 11, 2018

Hi – I had my gallbladder removed 17 years ago and have chronic, sharp back pain behind the port incision. That incision was in my upper left abdominal quadrant; the pain is felt in my back, directly behind the incision. It is thought that I have an adhesion in my upper left quadrant. Is it possible that nerves are trapped and that it causes referred pain in my back? The pain is nauseating and hasn't improved. I have been on anti seizure medication and a pain killer that isn't a percocet-type medication. I am curious if anyone else has persistent pain in their back following gallbladder surgery. If so, how is your pain treated.

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Profile picture for JerryP @jfperrone

After a very painful event I had surgery to remove my gall bladder. Surgery took 2.5 hours. Follow up seems ok except I have uncontrolled diarrhea. I am living on imodium . I am weak as a baby with no aid in sight. The doctors offer no real help except telling me what to eat or not. Any similiar experience or advice.

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I take digestive enzymes from health food store. Just discovered your Dr can prescribe them which is a lot cheaper. Enzymes help some

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Profile picture for susanmaria @susanmaria

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

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NOW Super Enzymes, also at the health food store, works for me. When I remember to take it.

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Profile picture for dbwhitted @dbwhitted

Sorry...I've never discussed nor do I have knowledge about bile acid malabsorption (BAM).

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I had this issue after gall bladder removed. My surgeon prescribed Welchol and it's helped SO much. I hope you feel better soon!

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Profile picture for Lisa Lucier, Moderator @lisalucier

Tagging a few members who've talked about bile acid malabsorption (BAM) to see if they are familiar with or taken liraglutide @barjar @sb4ca @yokio @darb @jeepgrl @dlc1953 @blackscarecrow @dbwhitted.

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Sorry...I've never discussed nor do I have knowledge about bile acid malabsorption (BAM).

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Profile picture for pennies1221 @pennies1221

I am 12 days post surgery (laparo) for gallbladder removal and I do not feel any better. Constant nausea, pain where the GB was , stomach spasms. I was was misdiagnosed for 6 weeks before they realized it was the GB. The rushed me into surgery. I can barely get out of bed. Am I struggling because I was so sick prior to diagnosis???

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I'm so sorry you are struggling. My husband had his removed 6 weeks ago and the pain he had prior to his gallbladder removal has never gone away. We have been back and forth to the ER 3 times all the tests and scans come back negative. Our daughter works for HR thru a medical clinic she works for so she got my husband an appointment tomorrow for pain management. We will see how that goes and hopefully they can help him with his pain cause he can hardly get out of bed without hurting so bad. I pray you can get some answers on your situation as well. It's so crazy how many people are struggling after gallbladder removal. Makes me wonder what really goes on in surgery as to why so many are in worse shape after.

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Profile picture for mrsclaus @mrsclaus

Maybe try the cholestrymine first

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I am on cholestrymine and a low fat dairy free diet according to my last colonoscopy Crohn’s free but still suffered from diarrhea and that was prior to having gallbladder removed. Added the psyllium husk yesterday hoping for good results. Would love to off cholestrymine.

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Profile picture for JerryP @jfperrone

After a very painful event I had surgery to remove my gall bladder. Surgery took 2.5 hours. Follow up seems ok except I have uncontrolled diarrhea. I am living on imodium . I am weak as a baby with no aid in sight. The doctors offer no real help except telling me what to eat or not. Any similiar experience or advice.

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I had the same issue after my gallbladder removal many years ago. I almost died because I lost so much weight and I couldn’t even drink water without getting diarrhea. I went back to the hospital and they put me on a medicine that removed the cholesterol from my stomach acid or whatever – sorry I can’t remember the details. I believe it was cholestyramine. I’m not positive about the name, but it started with CHOLE. I took it for nine weeks and it worked and I was able to eat and then I became allergic to it and had to stop it and was on a very limited diet for many years, but my stomach slowly got better. I hope that’s helpful. Good luck.. I see your post is from several years ago, so I hope you’re doing OK.

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Profile picture for donnabe @donnabe

Thank you. I need to try the psyllium husk again. I felt like it just bulked up and increased the volume of my diarrhea episodes so i stopped taking it without really giving it a chance.

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Maybe try the cholestrymine first

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Profile picture for steelerfanjoe @steelerfanjoe

with that low of a number on the gallbladder it should have been removed and when it is you run a chance of Gastroparesis which my surgery the Dr. damaged my vagus nerve now living hell and can not do anything about it can ease some of symptoms but in the end the food is not moving in my digestion and am constantly constipated to both ends of the spectrum

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How did you find out your doc damaged the vagus nerve?

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Profile picture for JerryP @jfperrone

After a very painful event I had surgery to remove my gall bladder. Surgery took 2.5 hours. Follow up seems ok except I have uncontrolled diarrhea. I am living on imodium . I am weak as a baby with no aid in sight. The doctors offer no real help except telling me what to eat or not. Any similiar experience or advice.

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I've fought the explosive diarrhea as I call it for over 5 years and have learned to live with it. However, recently I have discovered eating a non sugar yogurt (60 cal) with blueberries after dinner has helped immensely. Some days it’s completely gone. A friend's wife had a similar problem and yogurt helped her also. I can only assume my gut bacteria is out of sync. I recently had a test conducted by Genova Diagnostics, (a GI Microbial Assay Plus) that proved that and revealed that I have leaky gut. My focus will be on fixing my gut bacteria from the damage caused from taking Omeprazole and other medication. Hope you find something that works for you.

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