Anyone having Gall Bladder issues? Help!

Hi all - I'm starting to have pains in my upper right side after I eat something with fat in it. The other night my husband ordered a pizza and I had my usual half a slice with a salad and I almost doubled over with pain for about 45 minutes. It passed but left me with 'post traumatic stress disorder' LOL - I don't want to have that happen again! I'm not doubting that it's my gall bladder or that it will have to come out eventually, what I'd like to know is if anyone else has had it done already and how long they were 'out of commission'. How long will I not be able to be active after I have it done? Does anyone know how long of a hospital stay is required? I've heard rumors that WLS patients are requred to have a gall bladder removal done OPEN and cannot be done laproscopically? Does anyone know if this is true? Any info will be MUCH appreciated. Thanks!!!!

Hi! I am not an expert but I had to have my gallbladder removed after my surgery and mine was an open surgery. They said it was from the rapid weight loss and change in diet. I had mine done (gallbladder) laproscopically outpatient. It took me a couple of days to recover, not too big of a deal figuring you went thru this major surgery. I think when they are doing weight loss surgery they will remove your gallbladder because of the rapid weight loss and the diet however if it doesn't look bad I don't think they remove it. That was what happened in my case. I felt crappy for months before i found out about me having gallstones. Hope I've helped. Heidi

My surgeon let us know in the open meet that if our gall bladder showed signs that it was going to need surgery in the future, he would just give us a twofer and remove it at the time of surgery. Mine was removed during my open RNY. And yeah - grease or fat will make me sick. But other than that, I don't miss it!

Hi Sheri! This sounds exactly like what happen to me several months ago. I ate the cheese topping off of a slcie of pizza and then I got the most terrible pain and it knocked the wind out of me and last about 40 minutes. I had an ultrasound and Hida Scan done and I developed gall stones. Needless to say I had mine removed lap and was out of the hospital the same day. I was under the weather for about 4-5 days and then I felt pretty good. However, no one mentioned to me the awful diarrhea that we can get if we eat foods high in fat! But I was glad to have the surgery done and over with and it has been just over a month for me and I no longer worry about when the pain is going to start. My only worry now is where is the nearest restroom in case of emergency.

Yep had mine out about two months ago. They did it as an outpatient and it was done laproscopically. I felt good in about 5 - 6 days. I was not supposed to do any lifting for about two weeks but ya know how that goes if you want something done you have to do it yourself... Good Luck.

Hi. I have a friend who had her RNY 7/03. She had to have her gall bladder out in about April or so of 2004. She was only out of commission for about 2 weeks, although she was up and about within a few days. You CAN have it removed laproscopically, also. What you heard was not correct. Even if you had RNY lap, you can still have gall bladder out lap.

I had my gallbladder out 2 months after my WLS. Unfortunately, it took me longer to heal and get out and about. I was able to have my surgery done lap, but had to have a larger incision up around my bra line. Since I was only 2 months post op from the WLS, it took me longer to heal. I was out of work for a little over 3 weeks. And the larger incision took forever to grow back together! I was in the ER from 11pm (Wednesday****il 5 or 6 pm (Thursday) when they finally moved me to a room. I didn't have my surgery until Friday afternoon and left the hospital Saturday evening (against doctor's best wishes). I just had to be out. My experience wasn't very well. I think that since they now that you could have gallbladder problems from the WLS, that they should take it out when in there. This was the 2nd (or maybe 3rd) fallen out that me and my WLS surgeon had. It does sound like it is your gallbladder. So, I would contact either your surgeon or your PCP. Best of luck, Kristy

At the end of May I woke up one day out of the blue with this horrible pain. Could not stand up straight. This happened on a Saturday so my normal doctors were all off. I went into Acute care and they found nothing wrong. Three weeks later, 7 trips to the emergency room in 3 different towns, one 3 hours away, 9 visits to 4 different doctors, numerous tests, 8 days in the hospital,the diagnoses of an ulcer, I finally raised some hell and demanded to talk to hospital administration. After another days worth of tests they discovered it was my gallbladder. It had passed a stone into my pancreas and caused some damage and cause it to become very upset. The removed my gal bladder finally. They did not have to do it open, in fact the doctor only added one new hole, and used the same incisions that I had for my Lap. bypass. I was in the hospital for only 2 days after they removed my gall bladder, I probably would have been out after one, but they wanted to make sure I was eating okay because in the 3 week ordeal I dropped from 165 pound to 145 pounds. I think the pain after the gall bladder surgery was worse then my bypass. After my bypass I was up ready to go, after the gall bladder it was about 6 weeks before I really felt up to doing much of anything.