I had my gallbladder removed in March 2011 after experiencing several horrible, painful, terrifying "attacks". Things went well with surgery and for a while afterwards. Seven weeks after gallbladder was removed, I experience another "attack". I was fine one minute and the next was dry heaving, not able to stand, cold sweat, severe pain under center of rib cage and to the right side, around my back and into my shoulders. Went to the doctor the next day, had bloodwork done, my liver enzymes came back 2 1/2 times higher than normal. She gave me meds for nausea amd an anti-spasm medication. Rechecked bloodwork last week and everything looks "fine". Had an MRCP and everything looked "fine". How can I be experiencing these things if everything is "fine"? What can it possibly be? I am fatigued all of the time, afraid to eat - only eating very low fat, and not much at that, constantly thinking about this and worrying. I made an appointment for myself at the Mayo Clinic but cant be seen until August! Any suggestions, anyone else going through anything similar?
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I've dealt with those spasm/nausea spells for years on but it comes and goes.
Now, when you have those moments, don't lay down. Sit on your bed with pillows behind you and stretch your legs, keep cool and controlled. Start taking slow deep breath through your nose and expell them through your mouth but be careful not to hyperventilate! Keep it slow and deep, if your breathing increases, hold it for a few seconds and release it. Keep your eyes closed and try to relax. Once they are calmer, grab a book, watch a movie, listen to music, something to get your mind off of it, just try to stay calm and relaxed in your bed.
As a matter of fact, you ARE fine, weird huh? You need to give your body some time to adapt to the changes the removal of the gallbladder causes to the rest of your body. It can take weeks, months or years, don't give up though!
Other symptoms you might(but hopefully NOT) experience, for future reference:
Diarrhea or bile-ish stools
Hyper-Digestion (it's not a medical term, I made it up, I think O.o) which means that you'll eat something and minutes later, usually in the middle of your meal, you'll have to go to the bathroom.
Slow digestion episodes: Your digestion will be slow and might cause light nausea. Drinking a lot of water after an heavy meal should manage the problem. If not, try keeping to soups like vegetable and low fat chicken noodle soups when you see that you are easily becoming nauseous after meals. Add to it a few fresh and easy to digest vegetables, a few crackers to avoid heartburns or a slice of plain bread to top it off. Avoid dairy products during these episodes.
Weight loss or weight gain, depends on people. I'm personally steady while my cousin lost a ton of weight
Learn to listen to your body, it WILL talk to you, definitly! Once you know the language, you'll be able to diminish the side-effects.
Keep a low fat diet at ALL times, it's very important. Eat small meals more often during the day, like a pregnant woman would. Small breakfast, a healthy snack, small dinner, another healthy snack, small and LIGHT supper.
for example:
Breakfast: One egg (preferably brown), a slice of bread with jam or whatever, a black coffee or tea or juice of your liking.
Snack: A fruit like an apple or an orange
Lunch: Sandwich, a steak, salmon or whichever you feel like. Afternoons are personally easier on me so I can eat whatever I want so long it's nearly fat-free
Snack: a vegetable or a fruit again. I like carrots and cauliflower more!
Dinner: Salad with a little dressing and trail mix (nuts and dried fruits, it's good in salads!) or a soup. Nothing heavy if you can avoid it because to me, it tends to make me sleepless and nauseous for the entire night.
Snack: a slice of bread or a few saltine crackers to keep the stomach acid down during the night.
Over time, you can adapt a diet that will suit you best but that's what I can tip you with. You can try it out and see, play with it and change it to your liking and calm the anxiety at any cost because it'll only make it worse. The bad stuff goes away with time, you just got to be patient and let them go when they show up. Definitly DON'T do a fixation on them
Good luck!
Now, when you have those moments, don't lay down. Sit on your bed with pillows behind you and stretch your legs, keep cool and controlled. Start taking slow deep breath through your nose and expell them through your mouth but be careful not to hyperventilate! Keep it slow and deep, if your breathing increases, hold it for a few seconds and release it. Keep your eyes closed and try to relax. Once they are calmer, grab a book, watch a movie, listen to music, something to get your mind off of it, just try to stay calm and relaxed in your bed.
As a matter of fact, you ARE fine, weird huh? You need to give your body some time to adapt to the changes the removal of the gallbladder causes to the rest of your body. It can take weeks, months or years, don't give up though!
Other symptoms you might(but hopefully NOT) experience, for future reference:
Diarrhea or bile-ish stools
Hyper-Digestion (it's not a medical term, I made it up, I think O.o) which means that you'll eat something and minutes later, usually in the middle of your meal, you'll have to go to the bathroom.
Slow digestion episodes: Your digestion will be slow and might cause light nausea. Drinking a lot of water after an heavy meal should manage the problem. If not, try keeping to soups like vegetable and low fat chicken noodle soups when you see that you are easily becoming nauseous after meals. Add to it a few fresh and easy to digest vegetables, a few crackers to avoid heartburns or a slice of plain bread to top it off. Avoid dairy products during these episodes.
Weight loss or weight gain, depends on people. I'm personally steady while my cousin lost a ton of weight
Learn to listen to your body, it WILL talk to you, definitly! Once you know the language, you'll be able to diminish the side-effects.
Keep a low fat diet at ALL times, it's very important. Eat small meals more often during the day, like a pregnant woman would. Small breakfast, a healthy snack, small dinner, another healthy snack, small and LIGHT supper.
for example:
Breakfast: One egg (preferably brown), a slice of bread with jam or whatever, a black coffee or tea or juice of your liking.
Snack: A fruit like an apple or an orange
Lunch: Sandwich, a steak, salmon or whichever you feel like. Afternoons are personally easier on me so I can eat whatever I want so long it's nearly fat-free
Snack: a vegetable or a fruit again. I like carrots and cauliflower more!
Dinner: Salad with a little dressing and trail mix (nuts and dried fruits, it's good in salads!) or a soup. Nothing heavy if you can avoid it because to me, it tends to make me sleepless and nauseous for the entire night.
Snack: a slice of bread or a few saltine crackers to keep the stomach acid down during the night.
Over time, you can adapt a diet that will suit you best but that's what I can tip you with. You can try it out and see, play with it and change it to your liking and calm the anxiety at any cost because it'll only make it worse. The bad stuff goes away with time, you just got to be patient and let them go when they show up. Definitly DON'T do a fixation on them
Good luck!
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