Who here has had gall bladder problems or had to go on a low-fat diet?

[Cricket]

I finally saw the doctor about the persistent, nagging pain on my upper right side. He said it was either a stress ulcer or gall bladder. He's leaning towards gall bladder because fatty foods really trigger some nasty pain. He put me on Zantac but said if I'm not 100% in a week, then I need an ultrasound on my gall bladder.

 

Now I have to start a low-fat, no caffeine, no soda, no late-night snack diet. Is it really possible to homeschool without chocolate or caffeine?!? Any tips for making this diet work would be appreciated! Mayo and butter are staples of my diet!

 

ETA: I've read that I should also be on a low-fiber diet because bile is needed to digest fiber. That would rule out beans instead of meat as an option. ???

[anissarobert]

Hi,

 

When I was pregnant with my son, I started having severe gallbladder attacks. The pain was overwhelming, but I did not want them to operate, because I was 7 months along. I ended up spending the next 10 weeks eating a limited diet. (Of course, he was late in arriving!) If I ate anything with fat, I would have an attack. The more fat I ate, the worse it would be. I didn't have to limit anything but fat. I'm a vegetarian, so I eat a high-fiber diet and caffeine didn't bother me, but I was not drinking it too much because I was pregnant.

 

I had my gallbladder removed when my son was 2 weeks old. It was an adventure, because the hospital was not used to having moms with nursing babies in for surgery. I only missed 1 feeding though! The surgery was not bad at all, I recovered quickly. Of course, two weeks after 24+ hours of back labor with no drugs, anything would have seemed easy! They do the surgery with the laproscope now, so if you end up having it, you should be OK quickly.

 

Good luck!

[Alexandra]

I think it was the McDougall Diet. I think that she ended up having the surgery anyway but you might pm her to get more info. I think that Mcdougall is pretty starch-heavy and if you are interested in diet, you mightlook into something like Eat to Live. Abbeyej is the one to talk to about that. (It just goes to show you that I pay close attention to the diet threads!)

Hope you feel better soon!

[Anne Rittenhouse]

A low fat diet will not solve the problem. It will only make the attacks less severe. If it is your gall bladder, have the tests done and have it out. Don't mess with this. I was able to manage the attacks for 10 years, but not really. The complications due to untreated gall bladder disease almost killed me and they have left me with a 50% chance of having pancreatic cancer. No one wants to live with that little shadow sitting on your shoulder every year. I hope that I'm in the other 50% or I pray the cancer waits for my son to graduate from high school.

 

See your doctor, gall bladder surgery is easy, the complications are not.

[GSMP]

Hang the diet. Get it out.

 

The surgery is don laproscopically now. I totally garfed that word.....:D

 

Your turn around time and healing is next to nothing...well normally. It isn't bad at all.

 

Even when you have it out though you may find problems and need to watch the amount of fatty and fried foods that you eat.

 

You may even have some difficulty with red meat. Some do, some don't.

 

You can do what you can to minimize the attacks but once the gall bladder goes.....it is pain unlike any pain with the exception of the bone and skin graft I had. I'm not sure which one was worse....

 

If you can find a doc who will remove it....tell it good bye.

 

Here's a :grouphug: because I didn't really answer your w question.

[Quiver0f10]

I did a low fat, high fiber diet to ward off having my GB removed. I lost over 100#s and felt great, but did end up having it removed because it was too late. They say once you start having trouble it's too late and diet may help, but eventually you will have to have it out.

 

You want to eat a low fat diet with lots of fiber ( the more fiber the better) and drink plenty of water. Tea should be fine, but coffee really bothered me.

 

As far as the surgery it really was a breeze! I was in and home within 3.5 hours and up and about that night. I wish I had done it sooner as I am having trouble now that I think is retated to waiting too long.

[Quiver0f10]

I think it was the McDougall Diet. I think that she ended up having the surgery anyway but you might pm her to get more info. I think that Mcdougall is pretty starch-heavy and if you are interested in diet, you mightlook into something like Eat to Live. Abbeyej is the one to talk to about that. (It just goes to show you that I pay close attention to the diet threads!)

Hope you feel better soon!

 

 

I started with just a low fat, high fiber diet and eventually switched to something close to McDougall, but I am not 100% McDougall.

[A home for their hearts]

I have started having problems with mine last November and didn't find out until June, because I didn't see a doctor until then that it was my gallbladder. I go back and forth on having it removed. Some say you need it and shouldn't have it removed others say get it out. I would really rather keep mine but I still have yet to figure out what causes my attacks. It seems like I can eat fat one day and be fine but then then the next time I eat fat I'm in pain.

 

Here's a link that might help you figure out what foods to avoid and what you should eat.

 

:grouphug: I feel your pain, and know what you are going through. Hang in there and good luck to ya!