For those who have had your gall bladder removed, what was post-surgery like?

Most people are up and around in a day. My husband was in the hospital for 4. He thought they had left something inside of him he was still in so much pain. We finally realized the antibiotic they were giving him had horrible side effects for him. He was constipated also, which didn’t help. Once he was off of that drug he could get up and walk around more, which helps move the gases out and his digestive system woke up.

@JLeslie: Thanks. Does he have to be careful about his diet now?

Not at all. He seemingly has no changes. He had the surgery over 10 years ago.

So he can eat pizza, ice cream, hard cheese, etc? Obviously so.

Everything. Pizza, ice cream, cheese, donuts, fried chicken, baby back ribs, bacon, bread with butter, cheesecake, chocolate cake…hahaha…probably would have been better for his health if he couldn’t.

Shoulder pain in from the “laparoscopic” which means CO2 was used to fill the abdominal cavity to do the procedure. The shoulder pain is a result of this. It responds well to ketorolac (Tordol).

He needs to walk around to move the gases out. Farting is the cure.

@kscrna: Thank you. Good to learn causal relationships. Unfortunately my relative is a delicate flower and needed an anti-nausea pill and shot in order to leave the hospital yesterday. Toradol is another NSAID, I believe.

Apparently, if he vomits, he also gets bad and weird side-effects.

However, I will pass this on to my relative’s wife. Thanks.

Toradol is an NSAID but may be contraindicated if renal function is not optimal. Check with their doctor. I agree with walking around because it gets the gas moving and out is better than in so let it rip! Whether a delicate flower or not, anesthesic gases cause nausea. There isn’t a fool-proof drug. Post-operatively, they need fluids (i.e. water, juice) I wouldn’t worry about poor appetite so early.

I had my gall bladder out seven years ago. The recovery was pretty quick – about five days to feel like I was human again. The shoulder pain is from the gas – have to move around to get it out.

In the years since the surgery, I am not near as sick near as often. But, I do still occassionally get sick. It’s weird, though, I could eat the same things five days in a row, and on the sixth day I will get sick. I work with two women who’ve had the procedure and both deal with continual sickness. One of them won’t even eat during the workday because he reacts to negatively to so many different foods. Seems like the concencus of those I’ve known who’ve had it done experience a higher quality of like for having had the surgery, if the constant illness isn’t curtailed drastically.

*she *so

I was doing great for the first week or so, and then I started to have some annoying side effects.. Mainly I have to go to the bathroom almost immediately after every meal. I have to be careful on where I am at when I eat because sometimes it hits so quick you have little time to get to a bathroom… Other then that, life is pretty much normal.. just some GI problems.

I felt rather ill for a while after my surgery (and my shoulder still hurts now and then to do this day, 5 years ago), but after a few weeks I got better than I was when my gall bladder was still present and dysfunctional.

Unfortunately I developed IBS, and also have pretty severe reflux that is set off by certain foods. If I miss a few hours sleep, have caffeine or complicated foods in the morning, or am stressed I am prone to nausea and soul-searing pain that starts on my right side and migrates to the center. Bacon is one of the foods I can’t have, it causes 24 hours of reflux without fail even if it’s just a small piece. Reflux was a symptom when I still had my gall bladder, but IBS started after it was removed.

At least now I won’t get another gall stone, and perhaps I’m only complaining because I was lucky enough not to have an emergency / life-threatening gall bladder issue to begin with. I have heard most people who have their gall bladders out do not return to normal GI functioning, contrary to what I was told by my doctors beforehand. It may be that positive or negative thinking can skew the results, as the GI tract is highly responsive to emotion, but it did not work in my case.