Semi-OT: Post Gallbladder Surgery Diet

TheCatinTX said:

As kind of a surprise to me, I had gallbladder surgery
last Friday. It was a laparoscopic procedure, and I'm
doing fine but I what to eat and what will or will not
make me sick has become an unpleasant daily event. Right
now I'm living on cheese toast and chicken broth. (Seems
incongruous, I know.)

I was wondering if anyone here who has had the surgery
could tell me how long this dietary uncertainty lasts and
in what ways, if any, they have had to modify their diets
permanently.

Thanks in advance. -CatinHouston

Well, I hope you're feeling better. I cannot believe your
doctor didn't refer you to the staff nutritionist. You need
to talk to someone. Call them and tell them what you told
us. That is inexcusible.

All I know is that someone I worked with had gall bladder
removal, she could not eat butter, oil, like that. I can't
imagine melted cheese would be much of an improvement. I am
*not* a medical professional in any way shape or form, you
need to talk to people who know. There must be something
like alt.support.gall-bladder or something, no?

Good luck to you, you'll feel better when you get advice
from professionals, okay?

nancy

"TheCatinTX" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

As kind of a surprise to me, I had gallbladder surgery
last Friday. It

was a

Quoted message said:

laparoscopic procedure, and I'm doing fine but I what to
eat and what will

or

Quoted message said:

will not make me sick has become an unpleasant daily
event. Right now I'm living on cheese toast and chicken
broth. (Seems incongruous, I know.)

I was wondering if anyone here who has had the surgery
could tell me how

long

Quoted message said:

this dietary uncertainty lasts and in what ways, if any,
they have had to modify their diets permanently.

Thanks in advance. -CatinHouston

Hi, I'm not a regular poster, but a longtime lurker. I think
I can answer a few questions. I can relate, the same
happened to me last August. One thing, go slow starting on
real food. I had a few bad days right after because I ate
too much. Also, go low fat and avoid caffeine. Both fat and
caffeine will aggrevate your system and you know what that
means. My doctor told me that it could take a year for the
body to get used to not having the gallbladder and digesting
fats easily. I still have problems, so expect it to be a
while. I found that most of my problems were in the morning,
so the low fat diet in the morning is especially helpful. On
the plus side, it did encourage me to loose a few pounds. 🙂
You can slowly add fats to your diet and see how it goes,
but it's the best to eat low-fat foods in the beginning. Be
patient, eat low fat, and don't lift anything heavy for a
while. It does get better, hang in there!

Shelley

(TheCatinTX) said:

As kind of a surprise to me, I had gallbladder surgery
last Friday. It was a laparoscopic procedure, and I'm
doing fine but I what to eat and what will or will not
make me sick has become an unpleasant daily event. Right
now I'm living on cheese toast and chicken broth. (Seems
incongruous, I know.)

I was wondering if anyone here who has had the surgery
could tell me how long this dietary uncertainty lasts and
in what ways, if any, they have had to modify their diets
permanently.

Thanks in advance. -CatinHouston

I still have my gallbladder, but both my mom and my SIL had
theirs removed. Neither of them had to modify her diet at
all since having the surgery. (My mom and I were just
talking about this the other day, in fact. She seemed
surprised when I mentioned that I had heard other people say
that they had to make modifications to their diets since
having their gallbladders removed.)

Please talk to your doctor and/or a dietician.

Hope you feel better soon.

Mary

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

As kind of a surprise to me, I had gallbladder surgery
last Friday. It was a laparoscopic procedure, and I'm
doing fine but I what to eat and what will or will not
make me sick has become an unpleasant daily event. Right
now I'm living on cheese toast and chicken broth. (Seems
incongruous, I know.)

I was wondering if anyone here who has had the surgery
could tell me how long this dietary uncertainty lasts and
in what ways, if any, they have had to modify their diets
permanently.

Thanks in advance. -CatinHouston

I had that surgery four years ago, so I can sympathize with
you. My best wishes for a speedy recovery. The good news is
that the laproscopic surgery has a much speedier recovery
than the old fashioned slasher type surgery did - you should
be feeling better by the day.

I may be unusual, but I've never had any problem with fat in
my diet since I had my gallbladder removed. The first few
days I was out of the hospital I just didn't feel like
eating anything, cause I generally felt like [censored], but once
I healed, I've been able to eat absolutely anything I want.

I suggest you talk to a nutritionist at your health care
provider and get some information which will assist you, if
you're at all uncertain about what you can and cannot eat.

Good luck!
--
Donna A pessimist believes all women are bad. An optimist
hopes they are.

CatinHouston said:

I was wondering if anyone here who has had the surgery
could tell me how long this dietary uncertainty lasts and
in what ways, if any, they have had to modify their diets
permanently.

The "uncertainty" lasts forever, I think.

I had my gall bladder out three years ago, and then
immediately took a vacation in Las Vegas. I stress-tested
my digestive system by eating all kinds of wonderful food,
and had no problems at all. But when I went back to Las
Vegas last year, I found that eating a meal which was
OBSCENELY high in fat laid me up with diarrhea for the
entire next day. For the record, the meal was at Emeril's
Delmonico Steakhouse in The Venetian. The meal was their
foie gras special (shared), a Caesar salad (shared), a bone-
in rib steak, garlic mashed potatoes (shared, but I ate
80%), an individual pecan pie, and half of some decadent
chocolate dessert.

In general, I can eat whatever I want, as long as I don't go
ridiculously overboard on the fats. But if I have the
temerity to eat pizza, there's always that uncertainty I
mentioned.

I think your attitude is too timid: Your gall bladder is
GONE! You're FREE! Nothing you encounter these days will be
as bad as biliary colic. So eat whatever you like, and if
you discover that it causes you a problem, THEN avoid it.

Bob

TheCatinTX said:

As kind of a surprise to me, I had gallbladder surgery
last Friday. It was a laparoscopic procedure, and I'm
doing fine but I what to eat and what will or will not
make me sick has become an unpleasant daily event. Right
now I'm living on cheese toast and chicken broth. (Seems
incongruous, I know.)

I was wondering if anyone here who has had the surgery
could tell me how long this dietary uncertainty lasts and
in what ways, if any, they have had to modify their diets
permanently.

Thanks in advance. -CatinHouston

I've never had the surgery, but everyone I know who has
claims they could eat anything as soon as they left the
hospital. Are you due for a post-op checkup? Tell the Dr.
and sk if they checked for stones in the common bile duct
which is a not-uncommon problem.

gloria p

Quoted message said:

As kind of a surprise to me, I had gallbladder surgery
last Friday. It was a laparoscopic procedure, and I'm
doing fine but I what to eat and what will or will not
make me sick has become an unpleasant daily event. Right
now I'm living on cheese toast and chicken broth. (Seems
incongruous, I know.)

I was wondering if anyone here who has had the surgery
could tell me how long this dietary uncertainty lasts and
in what ways, if any, they have had to modify their diets
permanently.

Thanks in advance. -CatinHouston

After the surgery, I could never eat dairy again. ~Kat

"The early bird gets the worm, the second mouse gets
the cheese."

TheCatinTX said:

As kind of a surprise to me, I had gallbladder surgery
last Friday. It was a laparoscopic procedure, and I'm
doing fine but I what to eat and what will or will not
make me sick has become an unpleasant daily event.

Define sick. Diarrhea? Vomiting? Flatulence? Cramps?
Heartburn? Headache? Cough? I've had more patients than I
can count with the gb out, and only a very VERY very few
related long term problems. Of those, I cured three by
suggesting a lactose-free diet. I think they got lactose
intol. right around the time their gb came out. Two more
responded to cholestyramine, as their loose stools were not
related to fecal fat (I checked their 24 hour fecal fat) but
do "bile colitis", and those two people had had previous
operations shortening their small intestine. As for the old
idea that the gb had to contract and squeeze out a
bladderful of bile in order to digest rich food, many
gallbladders are stone-filled or atonic by the time they
come out and have been falling down on the job for years. Or
so I recall from school. Not that everything I learned in
school is correct. blacksalt hoping to keep hers

I can eat whatever I want, nothing bothers me. Other people
have to avoid high fat foods.

Becca

On Thu, 27 May 2004 21:05:14 GMT, Donna Rose <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

As kind of a surprise to me, I had gallbladder surgery
last Friday. It was a laparoscopic procedure, and I'm
doing fine but I what to eat and what will or will not
make me sick has become an unpleasant daily event. Right
now I'm living on cheese toast and chicken broth. (Seems
incongruous, I know.)

I was wondering if anyone here who has had the surgery
could tell me how long this dietary uncertainty lasts and
in what ways, if any, they have had to modify their diets
permanently.

Thanks in advance. -CatinHouston

I had that surgery four years ago, so I can sympathize with
you. My best wishes for a speedy recovery. The good news is
that the laproscopic surgery has a much speedier recovery
than the old fashioned slasher type surgery did - you
should be feeling better by the day.

Yep! Same for me. I was back to work at my desk job in six
days. Not feeling great but oK.

Quoted message said:

I may be unusual, but I've never had any problem with fat
in my diet since I had my gallbladder removed. The first
few days I was out of the hospital I just didn't feel like
eating anything, cause I generally felt like [censored], but once
I healed, I've been able to eat absolutely anything I want.

I had the same experience you did. I didn't feel like eating
and so got ill from the pain meds, but once I got over that,
I was fine and I'm able to eat whatever I want. So I guess
the bottom line is, you're just going to have to figure out
what works for you as an individual, there is no "one way"
to recover and live with this.

--
Siobhan Perricone "This isn't right. This isn't even wrong."
- Wolfgang Pauli, on a paper submitted by a physicist
colleague

"Puester" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

TheCatinTX said:

As kind of a surprise to me, I had gallbladder surgery
last Friday. It

was a

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

laparoscopic procedure, and I'm doing fine but I what to
eat and what

will or

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

will not make me sick has become an unpleasant daily
event. Right now

I'm

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

living on cheese toast and chicken broth. (Seems
incongruous, I know.)

I was wondering if anyone here who has had the surgery
could tell me how

long

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

this dietary uncertainty lasts and in what ways, if any,
they have had

to

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

modify their diets permanently.

Thanks in advance. -CatinHouston

I've never had the surgery, but everyone I know who has
claims they could eat anything as soon as they left the
hospital. Are you due for a post-op checkup? Tell the Dr.
and sk if they checked for stones in the common bile duct
which is a not-uncommon problem.

gloria p

I had the slasher style surgery and after a weeks stay in
the hospital for initial recovery I was allowed anything I
wanted to eat - no problems except a terrific case of
indigestion while my digestive track tried to remember what
to do with solid food. BTW - my bile duct was packed with
rocks which was what precipited the major operation (7 1/2
hours). You should be back to normal in a week or less. If
not do seek medical advice. Ken. Ken.

"Nancy Young"

Quoted message said:

All I know is that someone I worked with had gall bladder
removal, she could not eat butter, oil, like that. I can't
imagine melted cheese would be much of an improvement.

Nurse speaking here:

The long-standing belief that post-gall bladder removal
patients had to eliminate most fats from their diets was
based in fallacy has and since been revised.

Now that your gall bladder is gone, the only difference in
how you'll digest fats is that bile (the oily substance
that emulsifies ingested fats in the small intestine) now
gets dumped straight into the small intestine and doesn't
get stored. That makes it available in the digestive tract
constantly. As long as you produce bile, you can digest
fats with little trouble. As with most people, however, you
must be careful and not inundate your digestive tract with
large amounts of fat at once. THAT will give you distress
and make you sick.

Thank you for all the responses and support. For the record,
I never had binary colic, they found stones during a scan
for something else and the I was told the protocol was to do
the surgey. It turns out I had only two stones (the size of
gumballs, however) so not much worry about smaller ones
being elsewhere. Things are a little better, I've graduated
to chicken and rice.

I appreciate all the feedback. - Cat

"TheCatinTX" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

I appreciate all the feedback. - Cat

Something like 10% of the population after gallbladder
removal have troubles with high fat meals. I have to avoid
sausage, fried foods - things like that (which I should
avoid anyway). I found a way around troubles with pizza by
ordering meatless and always asking "light on the cheese".
You'll learn what you can tolerate and even that will
improve slightly over time.

From one "cat in tx" to another,
--
Catbird

"Oh-oh, her schizo is about to phrenia" - Bob Hope