For a month now I've been having chest and back pains. It has been decided that all my misery is due to my gallbladder. The ultrasound showed 'a little sludge.' A week and a half ago I changed my diet and a week ago I started seeing a chiropractor. I'm actually feeling better. A little nasua and pain, but nothing to horrible. I don't know if my relief is due to no fat or greasy eating, no salad, or even the chiroprator. I am supposed to have that nuclear test done next week to check gallbladder function, and the removal surgery is scheduled for May 16th. I know that the surgeon wants to take out the gallbladder regardless of the test results. I need help from everyone who has been through all this! I need to know what the long-term effects of cholecystectomy are? Does bowel frequency go up? can I drink? can I have fast food (albeit not regularly)? Can one have a Gallbladder attack, where symptoms are horrible for awhile than go away? How long may this remission last?
What can I do besides removing the gallbladder? ie: charcoal? flushing proceedures?
Does it make sense to have the gallbladder out even though i'm starting to feel better.
I keep reading on the internet about what the gallbladder's jobs are in the body and why i should try to keep it. The doc's say it is a useless organ, whose removal will have little impact on my life. I don't know what to do. I'm scared to have another 'proceedure' especially one I have mixed feelings about. Yet, in a strange way I keep thinking that maybe the surgeon will fix other stuff while he's in there making it all worth it. Am I crazy? Please give me some input everybody, the more honest the better. Maybe i should just never expect to feel perfect, maybe I'm scared to get on with my life and I've gotten used to being sick. I don't know. Right now I just want school to start, and I don't want to have problems when it does.


Hey, while reading this i just drank a beer, and I don't want to puke or scream!

If you have chronic, simmering symptoms of cholecystitis or evidence of obstruction of the common bile duct, then removing the gallbladder makes sense.

Of course, you know that it is not correct that the gallbladder is a useless organ. Obviously, it has a use, just like your colon did. It is useless in people with inflamed or cancerous gallbladders, but not when functioning properly. Sure, you can live without it, but it does serve a purpose. In your case, perhaps the inflammation has gone on so long that the organ has lost its ability to function properly, and that may be what your surgeon means.

No one can guarantee that a remission will be long lived. But, you can have a gallbladder attack that does not return. It all depends on what is going on in there. I have had known gallstones for years. Nobody has told me that I need my gallbladder removed because I feel fine (at least in the gallbladder department).

The ball is in your court. It is up to you whether or not to proceed with surgery. But, do not expect the surgeon to do anything but remove your gallbladder (particularly if it is laparoscopic). There are always risks of complications. I am a less is more sort of person and will avoid surgery unless it is a last resort. But, it is your choice and you need to decide if you are really improving or are just getting cold feet about surgery. If your symptoms are persisting, then it probably needs to come out. If not, then you can postpone to wait and see.
Jan

I had my gallbladder removed 2 months before my colon was removed, so I can't say if it causes more frequency or not with the jpouch. I don't think I have had any ill effects not having my gallbladder. I eat and drink the same things that I always have. I had mine taken out laproscopically and was back to work 2 days later. An open removal will require more recovery time.

Becky

I've already been told by the surgeon that there is only a 50% chance that they'll be able to do it laproscpically. Part of me just thinks it's gonna come out eventually, so I might as well do it now. Is this good judgement or accurate?

Fear not. When Thomas had two very painful gall bladder attacks at age 11, two years after his take-down, they did not hesitate to remove it. According to our doctors, it wasn't going to get any better. It also was found to have sludge and small stones, rather than large ones. After surgery, a nurse who got all weepy on us when I told her his history, warned that he would have to really watch his diet from then on. She was overly dramatic on both counts: he has not noticed much if any difference at all without it. I notice that his stool sometime smells strongly of bile, but I don't know if that's due to loss of the GB or not.
He was in surgery all day. His surgeon tried for an hour to do it laparoscopically but found too many adhesions--basically everything is stuck to everything; and his GB was huge. Nevertheless, he was out in less than a week and recovered faster than from any of his previous 4 surgeries.

We used to joke that we had no idea he had so many expendable organs and wondered how many more there were.

I had basically the same symptoms as you,the doctors could'nt figure out if it was my gallbladder, pancreatitis, or from the imuran. So they flipped a coin and took out my gallbladder. Six weeks later I had step one of three. So with the colon and j pouch surgeries I don't know if it makes a difference not having my gallbladder. If you can live with the gallbladder attacks then keep it, mine were very severe and often, and with my uc completly out of control at that time it was a blessing not have deal with gallbladder attacks also.
good luck, bill

One thing to consider, a small percentage of people can develope chronic diarrhea after gall bladder removal.

Ressurect_again,

I had my colon removed on august 9th of last year. On the night of september 6th, I had some sharp pains just below my sternum that I thought was just gas. Boy was I wrong. I woke up around 3 AM with excruciating pain in the same area. I vomited several times for the next two hours. My wife heard me, got up and took me to the ER. They did an ultrasound and found that I had acute pancreatitis due to a blockage caused by a gall stone; also, my gall bladder was full of sludge. The pain was unreal. They called the surgeon that performed my colectomy and he wanted me rushed to his hospital. He wanted to treat the pancreatitis and then remove my gall bladder. Treatment for pancreatitis is nothing to eat or drink by mouth for five days! NOT FUN. I was given morphine for the pain. I was told that if my gall bladder wasn't removed that it would just release more stones and I could get pancreatitis again. That decision was a no-brainer. Since then I haven't had any problems although I don't eat greasy or fatty foods. I should point out that I had chemo treatments from october to march. The chemo causes nausea and diahrea so I don't know if not having a gall bladder would have caused that. I hope this helps you out. Good luck.

more and more I keep thinking that I should hold off until the pain gets worse. It gets a little better every day. And as wierd as this sounds, I think the chiropractor or at least the related massage is helping. Less spasms and urgency when I stand up. I feel wierd. I've been pressing the surgeon and GI doc, trying to find diagnosis and fix, now they've given me both and I have really mixed feelings. I am not a low key patient anymore, too much fear and self-centeredness
Lori, i've read alot about the diarreah possibilities too. I have enough problems in that area, i don't want more.

My other question is that some of this maybe due to my depression. the gallbladder stuff started right around when i stopped taking the anti-depressant because my manicness was driving people around me nuts.

I've had my Jpouch since 1992 and just recently had my gallbladder out on february 2, 2007...prior to the gallbladder removal I ate everything and anything I wanted (including salads, etc)...ofcourse I had diarrhea but it was tolerable and managable...my surgeon was able to do it laporascopically and the procedure went well...but I have to tell you that I do have more diarrhea now...I've actually had to start really looking at what I eat and I have started using citrucel to bulk my stools...there is definitely a difference without my gallbladder...but I am told this is normal and that it takes time for the body to adjust...anyone who has had theirs out will tell you that...while I didn't want another surgery, I was in too much pain to keep my gallbladder...oddly enough I can tell you that I have had chronic pouchitis for the last 8 years or so (on and off cipro) and for whatever reason I am now in remission since the surgery!!! I have been off cipro for 3 months, the longest time ever...don't know if there is any correlation but I'm certainly hoping there is...anyway, good luck and I hope things get better for you...

Sara, I don't have any answers for you. I just wanted you to know I'm thinking about you and hoping things get better soon. I don't know much about gallbladders, but I know people that had the surgery and they have felt much better once it was gone. It's a tough decision you have to make. If I can help, or you need to talk, let me know.

janna

Hi I was having my gallbladder checked having some simular problems as you are when my yearly colonscopy was done. Gallbladder had some clodded ducts and not draining right colon had cancer for second time in two years. I'm doing fairly I DONOT tolerte fresh fruits , veggies or fatty foods well if I eat them once a week I'M good. It's very livable and no pain or discomfort from gallbladder attacks. But you must decide what is to be done and when.
GOD Bless hope all goes well
Bill

I have UC and still have a colon, Had gall bladder out about 10 years ago due to sludge, it looked like a bean bag. Anyhow had lapro, not too bad. No real change in bowel habits your body adapts. Pain was so bad wanted it ripped out fast. I have not had indigeston in the past 10 years.
Without a gall baldder the incidence of colon cancer is higher, due to the constant flow of bile from the liver. Mike
PS: Your dog looks like Super Opus when he was younger.

Thanks for your input everyone.
I had a wierd experience yesterday. I walked in to a small branch while walking my dog and I felt like I'd been belted with a log. If I simply touch my right side I could feel my eyes tearing. Later the GI doc called and said the spot I mentioned was where the gallbladder was located. It's wierd; how can my symptoms have changed so entirely, yet be related to the same problem?
Anyway the doc had called to say I'm having that nuclear gallbladder function test tomarrow(HIDA, i think).
Anyone ever had it? What's it like?

How can the symptoms change so fast.
One week I was fine never suspected I had stones, the next week had some bad indigestion, the next week I was vomiting from the pain.
Three days later had it ripped out.
You gall baldder can also get infected, so be carefull. Mike