I had my galbladder removed 7 years before my j pouch surgery and I don’t think it has any impact on my digestion or diet. It could be just my case though. I was fine after, just the colitis that’s bothered me. 

I had my gallbladder removed 12 years before my j-pouch surgeries and I don’t see that it makes any difference without it.

You might ask your dr about taking a bile acid sequestrant.  Sometimes these are given to jpouchers to reduce a acidity of output.  Taken as a powder in water. 

im on my second jpouch and my gallbladder is filled with stones. I have been putting it off for over 2 years. My GI also stated it can cause more digestion issues. I leak sometimes and don't want to end up in a diaper.. lol. also since I have had 10+ surgeries and a hernia repair with mesh the gallbladder surgery is a little more risky especially with all the scar tissue

I had my gallbladder removed 11 years after my j pouch surgery. Due to adhesions it was an open surgery with 9 inch scar. I recall excessive diarrhea and acidic output for a few months, but then my body calmed down. This was in 1996.

I still have my GB but thought I would share my experience in case it proves helpful to anyone.

I believed for nearly the last few years or so that I needed to have my GB removed due to multiple stones viewed on ultrasound.  I was having symptoms of nausea and vomiting. No dilation of common bile duct was present and no stones seen in duct either. However, I was symptomatic two to three x a year with colicky pain in upper r abdomen leading to severe nausea and vomiting followed by watery diarrhea. I’ve also had hx of what I and my physician believed to be GERD. Tried PPI’s with only minimal relief. The GB symptoms usually happened a couple hours after going to bed in evening and lying down.  The past 18 months the symptoms were getting more frequent. 

I’ve had regular pouchoscopies every 2 to 3 yrs and coincidentally for the past 10 years the GI could not get past a stricture near top of pouch to access the upper pouch for biopsy which was never an issue for the previous 25 yrs. before. This time I had an upper endoscopy (egd) along with pouchoscopy. Doctor found copious bile in my stomach which he believed was causing irritation to the stomach lining and increasing my GB-like symptoms.  Also, during the pouchoscopy, he was able to get past the stricture near top of pouch.

Anyway, the doc believes that the stricture in the pouch was causing bile reflux and a backup and slower emptying of my food. When lying down in bed, that made it even worse with bile lying in stomach and causing pain and irritation.

Presently taking carafate a few times a day along with a H2 blocker 2xd. Have to wait an hour before I can eat after taking the Carafate. It can interfere with other meds as well. It’s a juggling act but so far attacks have subsided. 

Just wanted to share my story because I was convinced I had to get my GB removed and it turned out it’s not my GB after all.

Madelyn posted:

I still have my GB but thought I would share my experience in case it proves helpful to anyone.

I believed for nearly the last few years or so that I needed to have my GB removed due to multiple stones viewed on ultrasound.  I was having symptoms of nausea and vomiting. No dilation of common bile duct was present and no stones seen in duct either. However, I was symptomatic two to three x a year with colicky pain in upper r abdomen leading to severe nausea and vomiting followed by watery diarrhea. I’ve also had hx of what I and my physician believed to be GERD. Tried PPI’s with only minimal relief. The GB symptoms usually happened a couple hours after going to bed in evening and lying down.  The past 18 months the symptoms were getting more frequent. 

I’ve had regular pouchoscopies every 2 to 3 yrs and coincidentally for the past 10 years the GI could not get past a stricture near top of pouch to access the upper pouch for biopsy which was never an issue for the previous 25 yrs. before. This time I had an upper endoscopy (egd) along with pouchoscopy. Doctor found copious bile in my stomach which he believed was causing irritation to the stomach lining and increasing my GB-like symptoms.  Also, during the pouchoscopy, he was able to get past the stricture near top of pouch.

Anyway, the doc believes that the stricture in the pouch was causing bile reflux and a backup and slower emptying of my food. When lying down in bed, that made it even worse with bile lying in stomach and causing pain and irritation.

Presently taking carafate a few times a day along with a H2 blocker 2xd. Have to wait an hour before I can eat after taking the Carafate. It can interfere with other meds as well. It’s a juggling act but so far attacks have subsided. 

Just wanted to share my story because I was convinced I had to get my GB removed and it turned out it’s not my GB after all.

I have gallbladder full of stones, MRI shows my common bile duct to be 9mm dilated. My GI said it could be a stone in the bile duct that the MRI didn't see, said an ultrasound in 6 months will get better idea.  Of course I start googling and think I have PSC now. But GI said my liver enzymes are perfect and MRI doesn't make her suspect PSC. But if a stone isn't in the common bile duct then what could be causing that issue??

Thank you everyone....sort of scares me because I have heard from several people who had their j-pouch removed first and then their gall bladder after that is when they run into problems.  What will happen will happen I suspect...if I can go through all these surgeries for my j-pouch and recover and have it since 1994 I can tackle anything!  Thanks for all your information.

Yeah my GI at Cleveland Clinic stated it can cause more digestive issues when removed, not to mention its not a simple surgery for me as ive had about 10 in total so lots of scar tissue