Gall Bladder Removal DEPRESSION?

Guest · Guest

I'm a 35 year old male in very good shape. Before surgery I worked out 5 days a week which included at least an hour of cardio. Then I had to have my Gall Bladder removed. Like everyone else here, I seem to be having the same digestive symptoms... and I'm fine with that. All except for one strange thing... I am SEVERELY depressed all of the time ever since the day after surgery. It really confuses me because I have nothing to be depressed about! I'm normally a very happy-go-lucky person, but I swear... I'll just cry at the drop of a hat for no reason. It's hard to get out of bed because I feel so sad.

Has anyone else heard of this? I'll call my Doc monday and ask him, then post what he says... but having my Gall Bladder removed is the only thing that has changed in my life, so why would that make me depressed? God knows I don't miss the pain it was giving me! lol

Could it be simply coming off the pain killers? I stopped taking them cold-turkey and haven't had any since (for about a week now.) My surgery was 2 weeks ago. But I WAS taking them for over a month due to the severe pain I had, waiting on the insurance company to approve the surgery.

Guest · Guest

I too have a similar problem, unfortunately mine took me 4 years to recognize. I am curious to what the doc said and has your depression lessened?

I hope you feel better.

nyingje · Newbie Joined: 04 Jul 2007 Posts: 3

It is just over 2 weeks since I had my gall bladder removed. I am a 36 year old female.

I tried to clean my gall bladder through Chinese medicine and Natural (Western) flushes followed by colonics. While this did remove a lot of the stones, the pain of the attacks finally sent me in to get it removed. (I took over 2 months to finally go for the surgery).

Since I have been home and off the morphine since I left the hospital (cold turkey), I do use Extra Strength Tylenol from time-to-time, I have found that I am depressed and my memory is shot.

I can easily get confused and am incredibly forgetful as if my short term memory is almost non-existant.

Please post what your Doctor said. I see mine again on Friday so I will post here with his comments as well.

I saw my Surgeon today but he didn't have any answers for this.

Thank you for posting because I thought I was alone in this!

nyingje · Newbie Joined: 04 Jul 2007 Posts: 3

My apologies for the delay.

After being told I was suffering from depression, I did some research. All four of the books that I took out of the library mentioned to check your Thyroid levels. Underactive Thyroids can result in the same symptoms as depression.

Furthermore, I have learned that it can take a few weeks for anesthesia to leave your system. The symptoms of confusion, forgetfulness, etc., could also have been a result of the anesthesia still in my system.

While I still have good days and some not so good ones, my memory is coming back to 'normal' and I can see improvements daily.

Guest · Guest

I had my gallbladder removed almost 6 weeks ago...it was open surgery that resulted in a 9 1/2 inch incision down the middle of my stomach...I also have 4 other small incision sites because they tried laporasopy, but the gallbladder was too diseased to remove it that way. Anyways, I too am experiencing extreme depression and did have major loss of memory, but that part seems to be getting better. I almost feel like I have been assaulted legally and that I somehow have cheated death, but shouldn't have. Sad

Guest · Guest

Hmmm, thought I was alone in this area!

I'm a 57 year old male and had my gallbladder removed laparoscopically in 2004. The surgery was uneventful with no complications and minimal post-surgical pain. In addition, I've generally avoided the typical digestive issues that many have once the gallbladder's removed.

However, within a couple days of the surgery, I experienced both a loss of memory and a very significant drop in motivation. My surgeon and the gastroenterologist were clueless. Another doctor suggested POCD (post operative cognitive disorder) but I'm too young for that and the surgery just didn't last that long to be suspect (only took 1 hour). After almost 4 years, the memory has improved only slightly and the motivation is still gone. Work's an ongoing challenge (I write software for a living) and to add insult to injury, I still have no interest in the things I use to do when I wasn't working (playing guitar, kayaking, working on cars, etc.). It's tough.

I've tried a range of antidepressants, but the side effects have just been impossible to live with. And while I've been on a regular multi-vitamin/mineral regime for years, I've recently tried additional nutrients and thought I had an answer with choline bitartrate (was taking 1 capsule per day of Vitamin Shoppe's house brand, about 650 mg per dose). It definitely gave a mental boost but after 2 months, I suddenly experienced unrelenting gas and loose stools and had to give it up. I'm guessing the choline had a positive impact on my acetylcholine levels and plan to try other related nutrients (DMAE and CDP-choline) to see if I can get back the good results but without the digestive downside.

Sorry I don't have any real answers, but hopefully we can come up with something if we keep talking!

Gall Bladder Removal DEPRESSION?

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