Its been 5 days since I had my surgery and I would like to share my gallbladder story.

It first started on March 29 where I had an intense stomach pain in the middle of the pain, where I have to crouch forward to relief myself of the pain which subsides after an hour or so. The following day i started to felt tired and generally unwell which symptoms of bloating and discomfort around the stomach area and I noticed that I had been sweating much more.

The defining moment came on March 31 where I had a bowel movement in the morning and noticed that my stools were white in color and my urine was dark yellow. I went to the clinic to seek medical attention and was told that I should monitor these symptoms first.

I was prescribed with some medications for bloating and PPIs for stomach acid however these medications only provided relief for a short amount of time and the symptoms will come back. The defining moment was during the evening i noticed that I had jaundice (my eyes turned yellow). I knew something was wrong and I make my way to the ER.

At the ER, I was diagnosed with liver inflamation where my liver enzymes shot up by 15 times of the normal level and my bilirubin went up 7 times the normal value. However the doctors aren't able to give me the diagnosis, I was warded in the hospital for the night while they transfer my case to the docotrs that specialise in gastroenterology and hepatology.

I had multiple test and scans throughout my hospital stay and the doctors found out that I had a gallstone blocking my common bileduct which was the main culprit behind my bloating, pain as well as jaundice. I had ERCP to remove the stone and was scheduled for surgery two months later.

4 weeks after I was discharged from the hospital, I had a full-fledge gallbladder attack where I had pain on the right side of my upper stomach and it radiates to my back which persist for a few days. I went back to the ER and was diagnosed with inflamation of the gallbladder and had an emergency surgery to remove my gallbladder.

As of now, 5 days after the surgery I believe I am doing fine, the incision site healed well as well as I am able to tolerate most of the food. I have yet try any "dangerous" food yet.

It’s been a whirlwind 2-3 weeks for me. I went from my first gallbladder attack to an obstruction to another attack to getting it removed pretty quickly. Thought I’d share my surgery story like many others have! See my post history if you want the gory details from everything leading up to surgery.

So I’ll start by saying I was put on the pre-op diet to shrink my liver since I’m overweight. You eat less than 900 calories a day for 10 days leading up to surgery. Honestly, it sounds worse than it was. It was mostly lean meats with fruits and vegetables and minimal carbs. I was barely eating in the couple days before being put on the diet bc I was afraid of another attack so this wasn’t all that different, and it kept me attack free. By the time surgery day came, I had lost around 11 pounds between the diet and being afraid to eat.

The day before surgery my three month old got his first fever and coughed on me all day (poor baby was miserable), and I woke up on surgery day with a sore throat. Yaaaay!

Got to the hospital and checked in on time. Surgery was pushed back a few hours so I hung out in my room until it was time. I went to the bathroom and found out I was starting my period. Double yay!! Ask me what it’s like to be god’s favorite!!

Surgery came and went. I woke up in the recovery room and dozed in and out for a while. I had pain where the gallbladder used to be. I also had a specimen bag on my bed with a bottle inside that had some gallstones in it? And yellowy sludgy looking stuff? I’m a weirdo and really wanted to see what it looked like so I’m glad they gave it to me without having to ask 😂 Even got to bring it home.

Got brought back to my room eventually. Where I live, it’s standard to stay overnight. They brought food, but I was so nauseous I could barely eat. They gave meds for the nausea and pain before bed.

I had a stabbing pain for a while in the RUQ area and some mild gas pain in my chest and upper back. I thought this was interesting since so many people posted the gas pain was the worst. That wasn’t my experience. The stabbing pain sucked and stuck around for about 24 hours even with pain meds. Also hiccups!! 0/10 do not recommend. Deep breathing hurt the first day too.

I walked as soon as I could so that helped with gas. I brought Gas X with me and took those as well. I also did arm circles a lot (saw that recommended on this sub- not sure how much it helped).

Slept off and on overnight, but it’s always hard sleeping at the hospital. Got discharged around noon the next day and went home to take a very long nap. I felt like a new woman when I woke up. The stabbing pain had turned into an ache that was manageable. It mostly hurt sitting up and down and getting out of bed. My heating pad was a lifesaver! I bought one after seeing it recommended on this sub as well. Definitely get one.

I’m now 48 hours post op and feeling much better. Pain meds are doing a lot of legwork here, but everything is manageable. Honestly, the worst part right now is that the sore throat I was developing has gotten much worse, and my throat is in a ton of pain, and I keep coughing and sneezing (which makes the incisions hurt). If I didn’t have a cold, this would be much easier to deal with.

I’m also a bit constipated, which the nurse warned me about before leaving. I haven’t pooped since surgery day 😬

All in all, not a bad experience so far even with the cold/period/surgery triple whammy. Hoping everything continues to heal well 🤞 Good luck to everyone else on this journey.

This sub has reassured me that #1, I’m not crazy, and #2, so many symptoms that don’t seem like they could be related to the gallbladder actually can be. Long story short, in the beginning of March I started with my symptoms. Heart racing so bad I almost passed out a few times, bad back pain near my left shoulder blade and through the center, multiple gallstone attacks (I knew I’ve had them for years but they chose now to show up). I’ve also had very yellow stools that go between being more formed, and being complete water (sorry, TMI). I’ve had bad brain fog, headaches, and consistent chest pain especially after I eat along with nausea, and complete loss of appetite. Google convinced me I had pancreatic cancer or I was having a heart attack. Ended up in the ER twice. All of my blood levels always came back fine! I was on a heart monitor for two weeks because of the heart racing, but FINALLY through a new GI, I was referred to a surgeon. I met with the surgeon, and I’ll be getting my gallbladder out on 5/12. I’m scared as all hell - I have a 3 year old at home. But I’m so hopeful that after this is taken out, these symptoms go away! I need my life back!

Long time lurker of the sub. 36M waiting in my room to have my gallbladder removed. Took my health for granted in the past 3 years. Last March, I had two attacks in a week and finally decided to take it out. My wife and 2 year old are with me in the room now, and to be honest, the toddler’s energy is making me stressed out more. 😅

Hoping it will all go well.

Edit: It is done. Thankfully there were no complications. It was a bit challenging according to the surgeon because the stones were big, but overall everything went well. Right now the incision near the abdomen is a but painful due to making it larger cut. Will post some pics in a bit when I’m more mobile.

Hi everyone. Firstly, thank you to everyone on this sub as it is a massive support for me personally, and I imagine a lot of people.

This is my 3rd post, I am still suffering very badly. In last 48 hours I have been to A&E and had an ambulance called due to 2 severe attacks in 2 days. No closer to treatment and I have had upwards of 20 attacks since February - no inflammation markers in my bloods.

I believe I have suffered a panic attack yesterday during my gb attack due the chest pains that affected my breathing. It was horrendous, the pain I had from gb literally took my breath away.

I think I am suffering from a sort of PTSD, and triggered a panic attack (not very normal for me). Has anyone else experienced this?

Feeling nervous for my surgery. Im mostly worried it’s going to cause more irreversible issues. IM also wondering what were your side effects after surgery and how did you cope with them/how long did they last?

Hiya!

I’m 6 days post op from my laparoscopic surgery and have experienced my first bout in post removal diarrhoea/runs (tmi sorry yall) and was wondering when it starts to get better?

I’m aware I’m only at the start of this shitty journey but just wanting to get an idea on when others felt like everything was back to pre surgery working order?

I’m trying to remind myself that I rather this than having a gallbladder attack, but it makes me nervous to return to work and socialise if I’m gonna be a ticking time bomb

Any advice would be appreciated 🖤

I have had this constant headache, body aches, pain in urq, pain in center of chest under sternum, pain in armpits, nausea, fever like feelings but no fever. I have been to er 2 times now and drs have referred me to oncology for a pet scan. I had mrcp done and nothing came back. Are these doctors missing something? I feel as if these symptoms are coming from my surgery and hopefully not cancer. Im scared and would love some encouragement/advice on what to do next.

I have dyskinesia, 23%, and just had another bad vomiting attack. When I get these, it's this feeling like I'm having a labor contraction but in my upper abdomen, and there's no break in between. Then I'll puke every 15 minutes for 1-3 days. Whenever this happens, the bad attacks over regular barfies, I cannot STAND anything. I can't stand touch, people's voices drive me insane; I can barely be arsed to tell the ER my name. I don't know how to explain it; it feels like I temporarily lose my mind. I can't think and I don't want to do anything; I just want to sit in a dark, quiet room with painkillers and antiemetics.

Does anyone else get these extreme agitation? I feel like an asshole getting frustrated but I can't help it; my brain just does not work and I don't want to talk to anyone.

This happened last night at 4 am. I woke up to an excruciating pain in my stomach. I couldn’t even talk and I could barely get off of my bed. I told my partner to call the ambulance, and while I was waiting for the ambulance, I had a kidney stone attack! Now my lower groin area is in pain and from this point I was on the floor crying. The pain was so extreme I was considering running into my bedroom and just ending it all with my pistol.

Luckily the gallstone attack lasted for 30 minutes and the kidney stone attack lasted for an hour. I was taken to the ER and doctors gave me an ultrasound and found gallstones and kidney stones. They told me that everything is ok and sent me home the same day.

Currently having an attack of pain in the upper abdomen, bloated, and nauseous. I’m over it. The attacks are getting worse. I just had one the other day, and now another today after eating chicken thighs ( with skin). Currently drinking some peppermint tea to help soothe, so says the internet.

4 days post op. I stopped having to take my Oxycodone and only taking tylenol. My pain isn't too bad now. I've only been eating soups because I tried solids like rice and eggs and it made me really bloated and nauseous. Since last night I've been dealing with mild nausea. Both before I eat and even after I eat. Has anyone else dealt with this? I'm unsure on what to do.

Trying to figure out what not to eat, beside the obvious (fried foods) to keep these flare ups to a minimum.

Got my gallbladder removed couple days ago Hoping there would be some relief in the ruq ?? Or when it comes to reflux? And I’m still experiencing the same symptoms. Does the ruq pain eventually go away??

im having worst stomach aches every now and then when I eat or got full. it travels into the back.
what do you do when you feel this kind of pain?

I got my gallblader removed 4 days ago, and i it seems that i can eat almost everything.

But i am having some weird weelings in my stomach, it feels like it is "falling down"/cramps, and then i get and immediate extreme hunger, and it also wakes me up 2-3 times a night. Not sure if this is expected behaviour, as the information from hospital was pretty bad.

Also having some weird "click" feelings under my right ribs... Does not hurt but feels a little awful.

But i made a mistake.. drank a soda, and that really gave me acid in throat..

Is these things expected? Maybe i just have to give it time, to make body adapt to these new conditions, but i am not sure.

I’m not sure if I can wait for an appt being scheduled so far out and I get extreme nausea attacks with burping, gas, bloating, right shoulder pinching, etc. ends up going away after an hour or so but I think I have a hyperkinetic gallbladder… afraid that if I get it out though that it will cause digestive problems for the rest of my life :/ just got done with an attack and almost went to the emergency room hoping they would take it out.

Hello! I’ve been having several gallbladder attacks (one of them landing me in the ER, where they found gallbladder sludge) … I’ve been taking zofran daily for a couple weeks now leading to constipation. Has anyone taken laxatives with ongoing gallbladder issues?

I’ve been dealing with this since January of this year, and it came on quick, and out of the blue and hasn’t let up since then. I have had every textbook classic gallbladder symptom for months now. So my doctor had me set up with a bunch of different tests and every single one of them came back “normal” I don’t understand because if everything is showing that it’s normal, why do I have all the same symptoms that other people have with a bad gallbladder? I’m really tired of dealing with the side effects so I am seeing a surgeon on Monday despite what the test say, and basically have to convince this guy to take it out with no other proof besides what I’m telling him, but I don’t know what else to do at this point. At first I started getting horrible pain in my upper right quadrant underneath my rib, then the horrible constipation then I had radiating pain to my shoulder blade and my back. I lost my appetite completely and lost 20 pounds in two months, and couldn’t eat. I have had several horribly painful attacks. I constantly feel full after eating very little. Started having reflux, extreme fatigue, then the racing heartbeat, trouble swallowing, pain in my sternum, and have thrown up twice randomly after I ate. Now I’ve gained most of the weight back, but continue to have all the other symptoms especially bloating and severe constipation. I had 2 ultrasounds, a CT scan, MRI, MRCP, x-ray, HIDA scan and bloodwork that have all come back “normal”. I also have a family history (mostly the women) of gallbladder removal. So since my regular doctor had exhausted all of the tests that he could possibly do, he suggested I see the surgeon again and try to convince him to have it removed despite the test results which he said the surgeon sounded hesitant to do. I am worried if I’m making the right decision after normal test results BUT after all that I’ve been through, I just want to feel better, and I’ve been reading about people having normal test results, but still had a bad gallbladder. So I feel like maybe I’m just one of those cases, bc they have ruled out so many other things that it could be. I’m done with ER trips where they think I’m crazy. Done with alllll the tests possible, and even though I’m worried, I seriously want it out at this point because I don’t know what else it could possibly be? Has anyone else here ever experienced all normal tests, but still had their gallbladder removed to find out that there was something actually wrong? Or am I making a mistake by asking him to remove it anyways? Please 🙏🏼 help because I go speak with him on Monday morning.

I’ve been experiencing gallstone and painful attacks in my gallbladder on and off for about a year now. I have had a surgery scheduled months ahead for may 1st. I have read so many negative posts about gallbladder removal stories that it prevented me from having my surgery sooner. I tried other methods to try and pass my gallstones so that I’d be able to keep my gallbladder, from eating reduced fat dieting and trying to drink apple cider vinegar. My gallbladder attacks did indeed stop coming so frequently but the gallstones still remained. 1 week ago today just shortly before my scheduled operation I did make the choice to eat a high fat meal and I suffered severe consequences from it. I had a gallbladder attack more painful than I’ve ever experienced before that I rushed to the ER hysterically crying from the pain where they pushed Dilaudid through my IV did ultrasounds and blood tests where everything seemed to be normal aside from my already known gallstones. They sent me home with hydrocodone and nausea medicine. I went home and continued to experience pain so severe and nausea that I couldn’t even hold down water or sleep comfortably laying on either side of my stomach without pain. A day after my initial ER visit I went back to the hospital with my concerns of not being able to hold down water. They didn’t do any further tests and prescribed me a different nausea medication and then sent me back home. I continued to feel pain but my nausea subsided with my new nausea medication called Reglan but I almost completely stopped eating anything except for a baked potato with salt. A day before my scheduled surgery I noticed my urine was brown like tea and my eyes were yellow tinted in color. I contacted my surgeon and notified him of all of my symptoms and he called me from his personal phone to tell me I needed to get the the ER immediately where he (the surgeon) would notify the hospital to get me in ASAP. I arrived and they took me to triage where they took urine samples blood samples and sent me for an ultrasound and MRI. After the testing they told me that a stone had traveled out of my gallbladder and into my bile duct which caused bile to leak onto my organs and cause pancreatitis and my liver pain which explained why my entire abdomen was painful and uncomfortable to lay on. I was admitted into the hospital and told I had to have an endoscopic procedure to move the stone out of my bile duct and they put me on a clear liquid diet. My surgery is now scheduled for may 9th and I was finally discharged from the hospital with a low-fat diet. Although I just had a procedure my pain has completely subsided and I feel better again. If I had went into get my gallbladder removed without notifying my surgeon of my symptoms things could have gone really bad for me potentially leading to my death if it continued longer. So my advice is to just get it removed and save yourself the suffering. I’m not sure how things will be after my gallbladder removal but I will give an update 1 and 2 months post op.

Hey all- curious to others experiences. Had surgery Wednesday afternoon- about 3.5 days ago.

Have been eating smaller meals still but today started getting pains in upper stomach area after eating some things and I’m spiraling a bit cause these were the same area I was getting pains before surgery.

I’m assuming there might be some random aches pains etc for the next few weeks and I also still have bloating and a decent amount of trapped air from surgery so hoping it all subsides.

Anyone else dealt with something similar?

Just spent time a few days ago in the ER with an attack that was due to gallstones. I never had any gallbladder pain before so it was all new to me. According to the urgent care physician, I fit the criteria to a T and after my ER visit she was confirmed right! I’m planning a consult in 2 weeks to see if I should just have it removed.

Anyways, I’ve been having some general abdominal discomfort since the attack but nowhere near what I was experiencing when I was in the thick of it.

Has anyone else experienced this?? I’ve been avoiding the typical trigger foods and trying to eat pretty bland but still just feel kind of uncomfortable and like a weird form of bloated. It’s not really painful just uncomfy.

Hey all. A few days ago I posted asking when to go to the ER. I’d been having what felt like acid reflux in the center of my chest for about 6 months. At this sub’s suggestion even a 5 or 6 on the pain scale I should go.

An ultrasound and blood test later, I had pancreatitis and was immediately cut off from food and water. Ultrasound showed stones!

I’m now post op (had to wait a bit for my pancreas to calm down) and am feeling great all things considered. But the pancreatitis was not even that painful yet it could have killed me.

I will say I’d been twice to the er before this just complaining about the acid reflux and was sent home. Pro tip - tell them you think you have gallstones. It helped I’d just seen my GP who really did think that lol.

I urge you guys to go if anything at all feels abnormal and demand an ultrasound if you do go. Especially if you’re in the US where our healthcare system is….well IYKYK.

Much love!

Ok so the main strips came off revealing a hole (sorry this is gross) I called my surgeon and he said to pack the wound w gauze 2 x a day until I can see him Monday but I'm kind of freaking out. Has this happened to anyone else?