has anyone had their gall bladder removed?

i think i have had 3 gall bladder attacks in the past month. i seem to have the symptoms when i look it up but havent gone to the dr yet.

how do they dignose it? is it with an ultrasound?
and can you tell me wht the surgery nd recovery was like?
also if your life has changed since surgery

thanks

Re: has anyone had their gall bladder removed?

I have.
It's long so I will FM you all the details!

But all in all- the surgery was a breeze for me!

Re: has anyone had their gall bladder removed?

I know the feeling all too well. I ahd mine out almost 4 years ago. I had stones for a while and never followed through but when I was going in for Lap Band the doctor insisted I get the gall bladder done first. Yes, the sono showed stones.
I was in and out of the hospital, no overnight stay. I think I have 4 incisions holes that are tiny tiny tiny. It hurt to get out of bed for a few days because of the belly button incision but you have had a baby so this should be a cake walk.
good luck!!!

Re: has anyone had their gall bladder removed?

I had attacks after having my son. I had all the tests done and they found no stones, but found out my gallbladder was working at 17% of normal. It was removed. Surgery was good and I was back to lifting my year old son two days later (although they tell you to take longer, but my caregiver left me high and dry when my husband went back to work. Long story, I lived.)

One thing they may not tell you is what they are doing during your exams and how it may change your family life. You need to ask exactly what the tests mean and what precautions you need to do after the exam. I was given one specific test, the HIDA scan. Once I did research on it, I heard it was dangerous to be near small children for the first two days after the test. I called the lab before the test and asked about that and they said "Yes, you shouldn't be near small children for 2 days" I asked when they were going to tell me that, being a mother of a one year old, and they said they'd tell when asked.

If you have any specific questions, please FM me. It is random when I come on these boards.

Re: has anyone had their gall bladder removed?

I had mine removed on my birthday in 2008. It was almost one year after I delivered DS. I had numerous post pregnancy complications and they were a result of my gall bladder. I ended up having emergency surgery. Waterspout is 100% right, when you have a HIDA scan you cannot be around children for 48-72 hours depending upon what your doctor says. The ER doc said 72 the ped said 48. I erred on the side of caution and went with the 72. Also you cannot nurse for a while after the HIDA scan as you are radioactive and your milk will be as well. I ended up stopping nursing DS because of this. I had family come stay with us for a week after my surgery to take care of DS and to help me. The following week I sent DS to a babysitter a few hours a day. I had a few other complications. But I am now 100% healed and feel so so so much better.

Re: has anyone had their gall bladder removed?

I had many attacks when I was pg with DS. First things first, you NEED to get to the doc! They need to do a sono right away to confirm if you have stones and how bad. The sono is painless and they get a good idea of what is there. Once you have stones, they don't go away. The pain comes from when one of the stones bounce into your bile duct and make it irritated and inflamed.
For me, my attacks came 1 hour after I ate food and would last anywhere between 1-3 hours.
For starters, ELIMINATE any fried foods from your diet, reduce your fat intake and reduce your dairy intake. Again, once stones are there, they won't go away, but this will stop new ones from forming.
My surgery and recovery were a little different being that I was only 5 weeks post C/S with my DS so I was still recovering from that when I had my gall bladder out. Overall, recovery was fine other than not being able to pickup heavy things for a few weeks.
I can recommend great docs in the Smithtown area if that is where you are.
I could go on and on with my response, but I am trying to keep it short. I really do have tons more to say and lots of info if you have questions though. I am here for you, I KNOW what it is like

Re: has anyone had their gall bladder removed?

I had 12 attacks before I got mine removed.

I had a sono in the ER after a significant attack that showed some stones, but the doctor insisted I was colicky. Idiot.

It was diagnosed with a special test (can't remember the name of it) that determined I had 0% gallbladder function.

The surgery was a breeze. I was fully recovered in a week or so.

My life has not changed one bit.

Re: has anyone had their gall bladder removed?

thank you all so much for your responses. DS's christening is Sunday so i'm gonna get through this weekend and then call the doc to get checked out. Like you all said, i need a sono first and then we can go from there. if its my gall bladder i will be contacting you all for comfort lol

Re: has anyone had their gall bladder removed?

I had mine removed WHILE I was pregnant. Crazy what they can do! The surgery was a breeze and Brady is totally fine (just turned 4 actually). The attacks were 100x worse than the surgery recovery. I used Dr. Schrager in setauket and he was beyond awesome.

Re: has anyone had their gall bladder removed?

My sister had hers removed about 2 years ago. She went to the ER with bad stomach pains and when they did the sono she had 16 gall stones, so they did the surgery right away. She had gall bladder issues for over a year, but when she went for sono's she didn't have any stones at the time and the doctor didn't want to remove it then. When her gall bladder was botherng her she had issues with eating greasy foods because of it and still has those issues, so not much has changed after the surgery.

Re: has anyone had their gall bladder removed?

I had mine taken out lat May. Best thing I ever did. Those attacks were HORRIBLE.

My recovery was OK...I did think it was worse than my c-section but my gallbladder was so bad it was starting to adhere to the walls of my abdomen so they had to do some extra work to remove it The doctor said if I would have waited a little longer they would have had to do the surgery where the open your stomach.

My suggestion is to get it out as soon as possible. Once you have gallstones they don't go away.

Also just and FYI and TMI but even almost a year and a half after my surgery my stomach is not as strong as it used to be. Certain things I eat or drink (like coffee) will send me hauling asss to the bathroom ASAP. I heard this is a common side affect.

Re: has anyone had their gall bladder removed?