I have been having stomach pain for a few months now and for the last week I have had it everyday after eating. Sometimes it is a minor annoyance and sometimes I am curled up on the floor. It usually goes away after about an hour or two.
I scheduled an appointment with my doctor but couldn’t get in until next week Friday, but this morning I was in a lot of pain so I called and begged to get in sooner. After listening to my symptoms the nurse said it sounds like a gallbladder attack and I now have an appointment at 4:15 today. So I am googling gallbladder and I don’t like what I see. According to the sites, it sure sounds like what I am experiencing, but I have been doing everything right to avoid gall stones or gallbladder trouble…I am a normal weight, I eat lots of fruit and vegetables, I exercise regularly. I guess I am female and fertile, supposedly increasing my risk. This is annoying since I never had any trouble until a few months ago and I have really been attending to my health lately, even losing some weight. I am supposed to be feeling better, not getting sick!
Now my husband and I have a big vacation planned in 2 1/2 weeks, our first real vacation together, and from what I can tell I am not going to be feeling well, but damnit I am going. I have been looking forward to this for months.
Has anyone had gallbladder problems that can tell me what they did to feel better temporarily? I will find out more from my Dr. this afternoon but any options are not looking good to me right now and I am just kind of pissed off at this whole situation. It’s not like even with a sure diagnosis I can have surgery and be totally recovered enough to leave the country in 2 weeks. But what can I do - eat only saltines until then? I don’t eat high fat meals often at all.
GAH! Sorry this is whiny. I need to vent and worry about this.
It’s possible that some foods make the attacks worse than others. For some reason, chicken was the worst for me, as well as anything high-fat, obviously.
I felt much recovered a week after surgery, and fantastic two weeks after. So if there’s a chance of getting tests & surgery ASAP, having it done before your trip might be an option? I guess it depends how quickly they could do an ultrasound and schedule surgery. I think there are also non-surgical treatments, but I don’t know how effective they are.
It was “elective” surgery. Just don’t eat ANYTHING fatty (especially pork) or anything with caffeine (including coffee, tea, soft drinks and CHOCOLATE) and you should be okay.
My mother and aunt both had to have their gallbladders removed when they were relatively young (30 and 22). I think it’s outpatient surgery now, which isn’t exactly fun but is much better than it used to be.
Thanks - I just got back and my Dr. says it sure sounds like gallstones. He got me in the first ultrasound slot for tomorrow morning to find out for sure, but he also seemed to think that if it is confirmed as stones and I have surgery ASAP I might still be able to go on vacation! He did say that with the symptoms I am having it would be better to have the surgery and go than wait to have the surgery until after the vacation, in fact he did not think my surgeon would let me leave the country with the symptoms I am having. Risk of the stone moving and needing emergency surgery and all that. So now I am crossing my fingers that I have gallstones and will be having surgery in the next few days. Odd thing to hope for but there you go.
I am trying to avoid anything with fat but it seems like almost anything will set me off now. Saltines are about the only really safe option. And on top of everything I just threw my back out picking up my toddler son. Oh Joy!
[Homer Simpson] So my plan is, get diagnosed with gallstones, have surgery, recover, then it’s off to the Dominican Republic fresh as a daisy.[/Homer]
Can anyone who has had the surgery tell me if you would feel up to traveling 2 weeks later or less? I will mostly be lounging by the ocean once we are down there. As a precaution we did just call our travel agent and buy the insurance on the trip, but man it would be a pain in the ass for a lot of people if we postpone this.
I had my gallbladder removed laparoscopically on a Thursday, and I could have gone back to work on Monday. I opted for the whole week off because I could, but it wasn’t a difficult recovery at all. And I was over 40 and overweight! The worst of it for me was discomfort lying down the first 2 or 3 nights after, so I slept on a recliner. No big.
You should be fine. But I echo what everyone else has said - avoid fatty foods!
Unfortunately, when I had my gallbladder removed years ago, the laparascopic procedure used now was fairly new, and not an option for me. So my surgery was “open”. That meant a long recovery, and I felt like crap, and have a huge scar (the good news is the surgeon is going to use the same scar for my weight loss surgery, so I won’t have yet another one). So my recovery was weeks long. But my MIL had hers out laparascopically several months ago. She could have travelled two weeks later, and she’s 85! So, good luck! Have fun with your trip. Look at it this way, if they give you good drugs for recovery, it might be “trippier” than you anticipated!
I have had several friends get their gallbladders out (one at 18…age really doesn’t have much to do with it) and it is not the big deal it once was. You will be fine.
I don’t have any bad gallbladder experiences, but know several people who have had laparascopic surgery and recovered very quickly. Anastaseon had hers out very recently; maybe she can stop by and add information.
My daughter, who is in her early 30s, had her gall bladder removed last month. She was fine within a week. The only post-op problem she had was nausea for a couple of days.
Thanks for the encouraging replies. I had an ultrasound this morning but the technician wouldn’t tell me anything, so I have to wait for the results. I am going to call my Dr. later to see if they can speed things up a little. I am afraid that the ultrasound won’t show anything and then I will be back to square one trying to figure out what’s wrong with me.
It’s not like I love having surgery, but at least gallstones have a cure, unlike other digestive troubles I have read about - I am afraid of having this be something I have to live with.
On the plus side I guess, I will be a slim young thang on the beach since I have lost 3 more pounds from not being able to eat. The problem with gallstones (if that is what I have) is that in between attacks I feel fine and hungry. So I am either hungry or in pain.
My wife very recently had gallbladder surgery. She recovered very quickly and was picking up kids after 5 days. She seems to have no ill effects after the surgery, but her body is still adjusting to not having a gallbladder.
A good friend of mine had gall stones and instead of surgery, he followed a recipe very similar to this one for a gallbladder/liver flush. He hasn’t had problems since then.
If it were me and the pain was anoying but not too bad, I would try the flush first, and if it didn’t work, then I would do the surgery… but that’s just me.
I would suggest that you stay out of the water, but other than that, have a great time!
I had my surgery a little over a year ago. I had mine done on Friday and was back to work on Monday. The worst part was that one of my stitches was a tad tight and I really felt it if I sneezed.
When I found out I had stones, I asked my surgeon if I could do this or have the stones broken up by ultrasound. He said that while this could be done, stones usually tend to recur, and if the gallbladder is irritated long enough, the person can run the risk of developing gallbladder cancer.
My Dr. told me the same thing as Amazon Floozy’s, that stones tend to recur. It is bad enough now that I have pain every day, even if not eating a fatty meal at all. It usually starts in the afternoon and gets worse until evening or until my stomach is empty. I am usually ok with a light breakfast in the morning but yesterday I had an attack after an english muffin and yogurt. So I really want an end to this.
Clotahump why do you suggest staying out of the water? For the stitches? Just ocean water or pools too? It is going to be hot.
