nausea after gallbladder removal

i'm 22 years old and i've had gallbladder removal 5 weeks ago. today i'm feeling very nauseated and i feel very bloated is this normal i have also missed a period which i'm assuming is due to operation as i am on contraceptive pill. my boyfriend gives up as i was so sick before i got my gallbladder removed and now the sickness is just creeping back in some days i feel i could eat a horse and others i can't contemplate food at all??? any one else feel like this???

Post/op: 8/28/09:

Date of surgery 8/24/09: 4 incisions. Post/op symptoms include:

- fever on 8/26-27. Very painful headache. Switched from pain med (to reduce amount of acetaminophen ingested which brought on frequent -- especially during a bowel movement -- and extreme hot flashes) to 'Motrin' - dose: 3 tablets (200mg.) every 4-6 hours. Now, after almost 24 hours on Motrin, no fever/no hot flashes.

- loose/liquid stools almost immeditely after attempting to eat. No solution except to not eat much at the moment and won't be taking 'Milk of Magnesia' (recommended as a stool softener in case of constipation from pain med). Not needed at this time.

- intermittent nausea. Ginger Ale doesn't help; aggravates stomach/acid reflux. Am trying Gatorade and plain water to keep hydrated. Nausea comes and goes. Will request anti-nausea prescription if this continues into next week.

- headache (low level) since this a.m. Intermittent incision discomfort and back pain. Using Motrin to manage pain.

- gas. (Trying to lay on side (left) for a few moments and pull up legs as much as possible)<------ was not able to try this until yesterday; stomach very sore from incisions.

- tired. Sleep is erratic (i.e. such as waking up attempting to shift position on bed; feeling nauseated). When in bed, I lay on my back propped up by pillows w/hands at my sides. Seems to help a bit.

Am going to attempt a brief walk today: Friday 8/28/09. Part of my post/op release instructions: no driving for one week

Menu for today (@ chez nous): 1 - banana; 1 - slice of watermelon; Gatorade and water.

I had my gallblatter removed on July 4rth. I still have some nausea in the mornings sometimes. The Doctors have said I am fine. Why the nausea and how long can it last?

I had my gallbladder removed almost a year ago. It was one week before Thanksgiving in 2008. Since my surgery nothing has changed. I am nauseated on a daily basis and have loose stools every 2 to 3 days. The doctors have told me I have IBS, but I should be able to eat normally. I am basically starving myself because of the nauseated feeling I get. With the diarrhea it doesn't matter what I eat. I had some peanut butter with wheat crackers and some dried fruit and nuts today and was running to the bathroom. Then I become nauseated afterwards. The doctors have done all the test and have looked into my stomach and they say I'm fine. I feel miserable and am wondering if I will ever feel normal again or be able to eat normal again. I was wondering if there is a special diet I need to go on or if anyone else has had these same problems. I am only 31, but I feel much older being I don't like to leave my house, I don't like to go out to eat and its even taking a toll on my ability to hold down a job. What else can I do?

I went in orginally for a Bone Marrow Biopsy last September 2008. HUGE surgical mistake which lead me to lose my gall-bladder two weeks after. Now realize, I went into this with not only an A-Symp gall-bladder Pre-Surg but came in with a completely healthly one. They started to remove it Lap and ended up lacerating my hepatic portal vein and had to end up opening me up. Repaired it and continued to the removal my gall-bladder. Three days later, after crying and screaming, "something wasn't right". Finally C-Scan, emergency surgery...they left two bile ducts open and I was full of Bile and Blood in my abdm. Four drains later, 6 months pass, 60 lbs down. I was reassured that with all what had been done, all had been "fixed". I would regain my weight, be able to get back to my normal diet and function again. (not soo much! :( )

One month after my last drain was removed, I started to have this left shoulder pain, along with a larger spleen then when we started (ie. the original reason on why I went to the hospital 13 months ago). My right side, lower lobe of my lung-region is tender still. They have found fluid now located behind my spleen. Decided to check myself in at JHH and they believed that this fluid may be a result of some fluid from my liver or scarring from all those surgeries with and around my liver, PO 9 months. Ended up getting the Liver Transplant Team involved. My emezyes were 1130 and 875. Blood test showed no Hep's were on board or any other blood diesease of the Liver. After Exploratory Lap and biopsy, they stated their not sure where the fluid is coming from. The bile ducts looked like it was healing as well as the Portal Vein.

On a pain scale of 0 to 10...I have consistantly been a 17! The left shoulder pains me when I eat certain things, yet my pancer emzem haven't been elavated. My shoulder pain, pains me when I sneeze, cough, vomit and even at times when I take a deep breath. I vomit 97% of what I eat when I feel like eating. I was placed on TPN to force some nutrition into me for three months. I now tolerate, maybe a small bag of chips and maybe a glass of water a day and on a good day a few popciles. Hey, they say "eat what you can keep down!"

I am now 13 months down, 4 Teams of different specilites with ZERO ANSWERS !

Anyone that doesn't have a MD behind their name...have any input or could share their 'similiar' issues with their gall-bladder removal or any bile duct damage when having it removed?

I had gallbladder surgery on May 18th after being diagnosed with an non-functioning gallbladder (it took about 7-8 weeks to diagnose as my only symptom was extreme nausea attacks after I ate fatty foods.) After the surgery, I had nausea similar to morning-sickness for 6-8 weeks. It was worse in the morning and I forced myself to eat or drink. I finally had an endoscopy and found out I had mild gastritis and was put on Aciphex and a bland diet. I thought that the nightmare would never end and then finally, at about 4 months after my surgery, I started feeling better and now can eat normally. I'm off the Aciphex! I do have occasional flareups of slight nausea but treat with Pepcid AC.

I never had gastritis before my gallbladder surgery. I keep reading that it can take 4-6 months for the GI system to normalize. Luckily, I did not have the side-effect of diahrrea that some people have for months on end. If you are out there after gallbladder surgery, play it safe and have an endoscopy. It takes a while for the acid reducers to work, so have faith, eat bland-(no coffee or alcohol either!)

Good luck! In some of us folks, gallbladder surgery is not a piece of cake like everyone says it is.

I really agree with the physian ive noticed if i eat a fat free diet i dont feel as sick to my stomach. if i eat fatty foods i feel realy sick and its only been one week an half for me. if you eat a fat free meal you will feel the difference believe me its true good luck to yhou all. XD

"had my gall bladder removed over three months ago, and I, too, am still suffering from nausea. Nausea, by the way, was my main symptom before I found out that I had a diseased gall bladder. I thought all the nausea would disappear after having the surgery but I was wrong. I have some good days but the nausea always starts to creep back in after a few days."

Me too! After years of intense nausea I had my gallbladder out on January 4th. I was nausea-free for about two weeks and was thrilled. But for the last couple weeks I've been getting nauseous really randomly, and it doesn't seem to be a result of anything I eat or drink. I was getting scared because I thought the surgery would solve this problem. But finding these responses makes me worry less, it seems it's just a part of the healing process.

I had GB removed Jan. 5th 2010. Was sick as a dog prior to it for a few months. The surgery itself was a cake walk, pain didnt even require an advil or anything. However, I have had at least 3 nasty bouts of what felt like another GB attack even though its gone and half a dozen other attacks lasting for 3-5 days at a time with nausea and abdominal discomfort. Doc said it can take up to 6 months and after seeing the posts in here I guess I can take that. I have been given Zantac for the acid reflux c**p I have developed. But its hard to eat or take pills when you feel miserable. The only time I feel great is when I'm sleeping, lol. Anywho, I had 108 stones and the GB removed. Checked a few weeks later for additional stones and none. All my bilirubin level tests have been normal. I know it has to get better...I can't live like this forever. Seriously, I cannot. I need to be able to work. So far I have been unemployed with this c**p for over a year. I can't hold a spot when I am sick every other week for days at a time. Considering getting on SSI or disability or something. Doc said I'm not crazy, but depressed and I can go along with that too. Gave me an anti depressant to take now. Gonna start it this week. Blarg. This is not fun. Sex life is down the drain cuz of feeling like c**p all of the time. Marriage is suffering now. What the hell are we supposed to do? If I am not doing better in 3 months, what then? Sorry needed to vent a bit.

hello i just read the article you posted about your problems with your gall bladder removel. i realize that you posted this a couple years ago. your story describes my issues too the T. i am curious too know how you are doing at this time.. Has your nausea gotten any better. Do you have any suggestions that may help me cope with this? Anything may help! Is there any hope?



thanks, shawn

I had my gallbladder out 9 days ago and feel worse than ever. I had a low functioning gallbladder and the doc said it must come out. I suffere from SEVERE nausea and can hardly get out of bed. Please tell me if you got better and how long did it take. Thanks.

how long did it take you to recover? i just had mine out and now am dealing with severe nausea. so badly that i can hardly get around. please tell me you are healed.

Did you ever get better? I just had mine out due to a diseased gallbladder and have severe nausea. I am on anti-nausea meds and they are not helping. I feel worse than I did before the surgery. Please let me know if your doctor ever found anything and how long it took you to recover.

It looks like it has been several years since you had your operation. our story is similar. Are you still suffering? Did you find out what casued the nausea? My is horrible. I too, am worse now than before I had the gallbladder removed.

I had mine out jan 25th, 2010 and its been months since ive been able to go home. i stay in a hotel across from duke, as i end up at the er there or at chapel hill almost every other day...sometimes evey day or even twice a day. its flared up my crohns disease a couple times too. i get nausea constantly and am always dizzy or feeling like im going to pass out or just die. ive had an ultrasound via an endoscope, catscan, 2 colonoscopies and another regular endoscope, to check for ulcers, gerd, anything...

all my labs are always good they say, although i have had many lipase levels around 300-500. my pancreas was checked out with that endoscopic ultrasound and found to be fine. im tag-teaming hospitals, getting a second opinion, but mostly, i wait for these far off appts with these specialist gi docs, only to be temporarily maintained at the er with zofran for nausea and or dilaudid for pain...sometimes morephine.

my husband comes up often, but we'll lose our insurance if he loses his job, so i have to take care of myself solo and its been scary. when the dizziness comes or the pressure/twisting pain, straight through to my back come, its impossible to sleep lying down and i find it scary to sleep as sometimes (a lot) i wonder if i will wake up...its that bad. some docs blow me off now as i have seen all the er docs in both facilites so much, that i know them all and the nurses and the valets...its just unbelievable that in this country we're being dealt with this way.

Ive even had a couple er docs tell me theres nothing they can do for me, in a mean way, and that i "cant be helped", as i come there so often.

ive been given a halter monitor for my heart/chest pain. i truly think it could be an adhesion, maybe kinking up my intestine as when i get the crohns flares, the pain in the middle area lightens or disappears...maybe because nothing is going through there as its blocked down further in the intestine.

but the middle area of pain and nausea, right between the ribs and slightly under the ribs is the cause of my crohns flares. i can tell it is. the bile-diarrhea makes me so incredibly sick and ive had it everyday for the most part. basically, i wake up, struggle to the hotel restaurant for food down the hall from my room, eat, get sick, lay there in bed for hours and repeat that senerio all day long. walking to my docs office is a huge struggle. i drive, feeling like im passing out, to her ofc across the street where i make it walking about 50yards or so, usually ending up getting someone from another clinic to call for me a wheelchair. i try to walk a little everyday to keep from getting bloodclots, but its a major feat and i hurry back to my room feeling like i should be calling an ambulance.

no one is taking this seriously and im astonished, as is everyone i know. there is something horrific going on in my stomach and no one cares.

ive been told its ABDOMINAL MIGRANE, a term they say is very real and i get scolded for not trying "CYMBALTA" AN ANTIDEPRESSANT. i even have been made to talk to a psychiatrist in the er to make sure im not suffering from depression to which they found i was behaving normaly for someone in pain who was recieving no answers.

the catscan i had was a while ago and ive been told they dont want me subjected to radiation as i could get cancer in ten yrs but i dont care about ten yrs...ive lost 30lbs and i wonder if i would make it ten yrs like this.

ive also been asked why im staying here in town (Im from a rural area and it takes 3 hrs to get here) and what hotel im staying in and the most bizarre insulting questions about my home life. its so degrading and it infuriates me.

when i started getting sick in mid december...major diarrhea (more than with my usual crohns diarrhea) and so sick i could move out of bed hardly, i came to a surgeon at chapel hill who had done a great job on my crohns, and i asked him to help me as my little hospital told me i had pancreatitus and needed my gallbladder out, he said he'd take it out in a few days. i asked him if he was sure it was the gallbladder and he said he would take it out either way and i didnt need it anyway and that if the problem still presented itself late, that we would tackle that issue then...well, its then and its been then for months and im going broke trying to survive this and still no one is offering a solution other than telling me im hypersensative to pain and i need cymbalta to shut down the pain my nerves are sending out...

i want a diagnosis that has evidence.

i dont believe that is causing nausea and dizziness and pain and twisting wrenching in my gut. ive read so much stuff online and there are probably thousands of us, and to just blow us off as THE UNLUCKY ONES...leaving our livesin ruins, is cruel and inhumane.

i pray for us and ask for all to pray for us and to pray for our doctors that they find compassion and wisdom in treating or healing us. but mostly i pray for immediate responses to our plea.

everyday is groundhog day for me, as im sure it is for you.

im surrounded by, supposedly, the best and brightest and told if there were something wrong, theyd know what it was....