Gall bladder removal..For D S ? Big mistake

I am now wishing my Dr would have told me i can not digest fats and you need the gall bladder for less complications.There was nothing wrong with my G B

I have been 90 days out and i can not get rid of very explosive diareah. It is horrific. My Dr says I must eat fats  alot !  I need my gall B to help stop the diareah and handle the fats. I had a 3 stool test and ...no problems with anything. Dr has tried Welchol , Questran , cholistermine , lotimil and lots of immodium and even tried calcium carbonate and calcium citrate. Do I need to wear diapers again  and be totally disabled ?Will this finally go away or is it a life time thing ? I had to continue disability as there is no way I can go to work like this . The only way I can sort of control this is dont eat and drink less and lots of immodium which only helps 3 hours until the next episode..I do 30 carbs a day but it seems to help a little when I have more carbs....doesnt make sense . Has any one else have this problem and is all this due to having no gall bladder ? Is this going to go away ? Should I took a chance and kept my G B or is this a common event with the D S ? I sure wish my Dr would have explained this. I wish like hell I would have researched this B 4 surgery !

Please share if you have or had this problem. 

A desperate man indeed

Gary

Hi Gary. I don't have diarrhea unless I eat too much fat or don't take my calcium. I know we need fat but a lot makes me have issues. If you have the orange oil in your stools, that's the fat going right through you. Have you tried cutting back on the fat? How many grams of fat are you getting? Somewhere around 50 seems to be ideal for me. But I'm sure men react differently too.

I also had diarrhea when I took probiotics. Not sure if you're on those. Lastly, I've heard that magnesium (I think that's the one) can cause that. There was a good post on here awhile back. I'll see if I can find it and post a link.

An elimination diet might be worth a shot too. Search for that on here. Basically you cut out all food and add them back just one at a time. That will tell you if something is triggering it. Oh, that reminds me, milk became the devil for me too. If you haven't cut that out, maybe you're lactose intolerant.

Hi Luckylady . Glad to hear from you again.I'm getting about 80 fat grams a day . I have been taking proibotics to .I did not know that would cause the D .I had to quit doing protien shakes cause they really made diarreah so now the more protein i take of course the more fat . A losing battle !

G

Which protein shakes and what did you make them with?

You could be lactose intolerant (which is most whey based shakes) and that can cause diarrhea.

 

I tried Soy,  Whey isolate and Unjury ...they all were bad

Try an egg based one and make it with water not milk.

Here's the post. It is magnesium citrate. http://m.obesityhelp.com/forums/DS/4636370/Bowel-Issues-FYI/

I've heard of Flagyl being prescribed too. But that might be one you've already tried.

I hope some vets chime in with more advice. Best of luck!

I had the diarrhea also.  I was a miserable witch for 6 months!  Here is what I did.

1.  Make sure you are on your vitamin plan.  Take your calcium citrate pills one at a time - you absorb just 500-600 mg every 2 hours.  Don't lob them all in your mouth at one time.  Spread them out over the day.

Make sure you are getting your iron pills in - with 500 mg of Vit C only.  No other vits.  They will help bind you up also.  And don't take any more Vit C than that.

2.  Stop eating fat.  It doesn't matter what your doctor says.  Drop the fat out of your diet.  

3.  Stay off the carbs and sugar.  Stay below 50 carbs a day.  Don't put real sugar or fruit into your mouth right now.  Your carbs should come from complex carbohydrates like a little rice or a little sweet potato.

Do not eat sugar free stuff for 2 weeks and see how that impacts you.  Some brands of sugar substitutes give me the trots.

4.  Go to your nearest health food store and look at probiotics.  Get the kind that has the largest number of different strains in it, and the largest amount of live cultures of those strains, per serving.  This is a case of Bigger Is Better.  It won't be cheap, but do it.  I started taking Garden of Life probiotics (you keep them in the frig - hint, look in the refrigeration section for the really good ones), and my diarrhea dropped to nothing. 

5.  If you still have diarrhea after these steps, then something in your diet isn't sitting well with your new intestinal configuration.  That happens.  This is the time to start your elimination diet.  Strip it all down to boiled chicken breasts and every 3 days add something new. 

Fortunately for me, I cured my diarrhea going through steps 1-4.  I know what you are going through though.  I was scared to eat, and I almost messed myself at work several times.  I still go 3-4 times every morning - but then I'm free the rest of the day.

Keep the faith.  It's hard now at 3 months, but as time moves on you are going to get better at balancing your food, your vits, your probiotics, your protein drinks, your sugar free snacks - and they all balance each other out for the day. 

 

You are awesome Jashley for explaining the way you did. You need to be my personal Doc ! Thank you and I will take your advice

Maybe you need more colestid and PPIs. I have to take a colestid pill morning and night.  I also have to take omeprazole morning and night (prescription so it is regular release, not the extended release you normally see OTC).  I also do the probiotics.  This helps me 80% of the way. Eating less fat is probably a good planAnd as a last resort I do a round of flagyl every few months.  Actually I do the flagyl before I go on trips and it is a Godsend but of course you can't use it all of the time. It will get better with time, so hang in there.