gastric bypass and gall bladders

Hi I am new to this. I have my surgical class coming up . A friend of a friend told me people end up having problems with their gall bladders and end up having them removed afterwards is this true? if so can you request to have them removed the same time as your bypass surgery?

It's not a guarantee but not uncommon. I ended up having mine removed but I think mine was bad before the surgery. I thought my pain was associated with a very large hiatal hernia I had. Mention your concerns to your surgeon and he can run some tests on your gallbladder. If you show to have some stones or sludge he may want to remove it along with your WLS. If your gallbladder tests show it's healthy then you may not have any problems with it at all.

We were not created with extra parts. GB is an important organ. We can live without it if we have to, but we are better to keep it if we can.

Unless it is bad - keep it. Mine got bad because I followed advice of very low fat post op. I wish I did not.

Losing weight rapidly plus a very low fat diet may cause GB going bad. May - but it does not happen to 100% of us. Keep your GB if you can.

I agree so much with Hala's post above. The gall bladder isn't just some useless organ. It serves a purpose, so unless it's a problem, I cannot see removing it.

Before my surgery, so many people said that I should insist on removing the gall bladder at the same time. Testing before surgery showed no issues/stones -- nor had I had any problems with it before hand. My surgeon was adamant that he does not remove healthy organs without cause -- and I trusted him. He did believe in taking Urisidol for the first 6 months after surgery -- which I did do.

Three years later, I still haven't had any issues with my GB, and I am so glad I didn't have it removed.

You can always have it removed later, but you can't have it put back once it's gone.

I was diagnosed with gallstones when I was still MO, triggered by eating lots of fatty foods (4 chili dogs from Wienerschnitzel is bad???), but once I laid off of those, I haven't had any issues. When I was on a Dr-monitored VLCD, we were put on Ursodiol which was supposed to prevent/resolve gallstone issues. I don't know if it really did, but I haven't had any problems since and I'm guessing my surgeon had a peep at my gall bladder during RNY and I suppose it passed muster! :D

Jen

I had VSG over 5 years ago. At the time my surgeon looked at my gallbladder during surgery bc he also said he wouldn't remove a healthy organ. So he left it bc he said it looked very healthy. I then had my gallbladder removed this past November. I had a lot of medical problems last year and the gallbladder was the last thing to go wrong. I hate I had to have it taken out. (I wonder if genetics also play a part in it bc all of the women in my family have had their gallbladders removed. None of them have had weight issues just gallbladder.) So long story but if you don't need it removed definitely leave it.

I also second Hala's post above.

Gallbladder removal is common in anyone who loses a large amount of weight. It has nothing to do with weight loss surgery itself. Obesity also leads to gallbladders being unhealthy, so it's not just losing weight that leads to them going bad -- it's gaining all that weight to begin with.

Just about every surgeon I've heard of checks the gallbladder during WLS and will remove it if it's already gone bad. I've heard of a couple that removed it no matter how it looked. But most surgeons will not remove a healthy organ. They consider it unnecessary and unethical.

My own surgeon's long term stats on gallbladder issues (stones) are less than 3%. that is pretty low to consider removal of an organ over.

I agree with everyone else on this thread. The moral of the story is friends of friends are not reliable sources of medical information.