Post Gallbladder Removal Problems
Please note that this is all personal experience and not official medical advice. Please speak with your own doctors and consultants regarding post gallbladder removal problems.
I had gallbladder removal surgery in April 2024 after suffering with problems for around a year. I only started to talk about my health issues when I had my surgery date booked as I wanted advice from others and was finally ready to share. I kept it private for a long time as it was a lot to deal with, so now I’m putting all the information of before and having the actual gallbladder removal surgery and now talking about problems afterwards.
I’m purposely putting them into two posts because not everyone has problems afterwards, I’ve talked to hundreds of people that are absolutely fine, but I’ve also talked to hundreds of people who are not, and this one is for anyone who’s having problems, maybe something from this post can help. Remember you can absolutely go to your doctors and ask to try specific things out or be tested for things too, you can advocate for yourself if you think there is something wrong.
It’s not easy but sometimes we need to do this with lesser known problems, like post gallbladder removal problems seem to be.
Timeline:
April 2023: Stomach pains started, a burning across my stomach, extremely painful where I’d need to burn it with a heat pad for any relief.
July 2023: A&E via ambulance for severe pains & vomiting all night.
July 2023: Ultrasound confirming gallstones, I had both a private scan (I was too worried to wait) and then a NHS scan, between these two appointments I went from 1 large gallstone to 3 in the space of two weeks. I don’t know how many I ended up with.
August 2023: Referral sent to Surgery team.
September 2023: Consultant appointment with the Surgery team, here I was told it’s a 12 month wait for surgery.
February 2024: Asked to expedite, I had absolutely had enough and was an utter state.
April 2024: Gallbladder Removal Surgery
May 2024: Bad episode over a weekend, where they think stone left in bile duct passing, extremely painful stomach pains.
July 2024: Pains started on holiday and haven’t stopped to the present day. I have on ongoing burning across my general stomach area, as well as very specific sharper pain where my gallbladder used to be.
Things that did help BEFORE removal:
- Extremely low fat diet, no diary, no red meat.
- No caffeine
- Plain chicken and vegetables mostly but not cooked in oil.
- If having a bad episode, cucumber sticks.
- Water only
- Small meals
- Milk Thistle Tablets
- Omeprazole
- Sadly, skipping meals when it was really bad.
Eating only chicken and vegetables doesn’t sound terrible but you have to be careful what things are cooked in too, not too much oil or fat, preferably grilled chicken without any breadcrumbs.
Post Gallbladder Removal Problems
I honestly recovered so well from surgery, I felt amazing really early on and I never expected it. They tell you to move around as much as possible because the gas they inflate you with can be extremely painful, if you’ve experienced Gallbladder Shoulder pain, it’s like that. After nearly a year of wanting to rip my shoulder from my body, there was no way I was going to let this happen, so I started moving around a lot and didn’t experience any gas pains at all!
My first problem was an infected site wound, it was pretty easy to deal with, I simply rang 111 as it was out of hours and was prescribed some antibiotics that cleared it up really quickly. It wasn’t a huge infection but they say any signs of yellow then it’s best to go on antibiotics just in case because it can lead to bigger problems.
After that I was mostly fine again, I never returned to eating normally though just out of fear. I stuck to chicken, vegetables, salads, fruit, no coffee, dairy, red meats etc.
In May I had a really bad weekend where I nearly called an ambulance, the pain was so severe but I had left over morphine from my surgery and my heat pad so I made it through. I was seen by the consultant, as I was still in their care, a few weeks later and after an ultrasound and blood tests showing nothing, he discharged me and said it could be scar tissue.
I wasn’t too mad at the time as I hadn’t had any pains since, until we went on a spontaneous holiday to celebrate my dad’s 60 and because I was doing so well after surgery. The pains started on day 1 and haven’t stopped since.
I’ve got severe stomach cramps, all day every now, and I have to go to the toilet 2-4 times after any food.
It’s thought that there’s excess bile acid and/or stones stuck in the bile duct. Lots of people who have been through similar are saying bile acid malabsorption which I’m going to speak to the consultant about and I’ll update this with what happens.
The only thing that is helping is not eating, and there’s only so long during the day I can do that for so I’m having to plan anything for early mornings and not eat beforehand.
Recommendations:
- Not to take Omeprazole anymore, if it’s excess bile it can make things worse
- Not to take Codeine (100s of people said it doesn’t agree with them after removal)
- Buscopan
I’m also trying Nefopam and Peptax liquid for the pain and indigestion.
My surgeon has been in contact with my GP to suggest some things including, Colestyramine Sachets. I’ve had loads of messages saying that these are absolute game changes so I’m very excited to be trying them. It binds the excess bile and lots of people say it stops the stomach cramps too, only time will tell.
Update 2025: Taking binders actually meant that I was on the path of being diagnosed with Bile Acid Malabsorption and I just didn’t know it yet.
I hope this can help in someway, I’m very open to hear your experiences and if you have any advice so do feel free to pop up for a chat!
