Experiences of recovery after gall bladder removal?

[HILG]

How long does it take for your body to adjust to no gall bladder and the continuous stream of bile into the gut? What are other peoples experiences.

I am a 62 years old and reasonably active. I had my gall bladder removed ( cholecystectomy) in March this year. 2 months after the operation ( laparoscopy) I started to to get re-flux, gerd, and have similar symptoms I experienced with the malfunctioning gall bladder. I have been taking omeprozole for 5 weeks , 20 mg a day, and occasionally 40 mg a day..

I am sleeping upright, Eating little and often, ( minimal fat) ,taking slippery elm with aloe to soothe the lining of the gut, and psyllium husk with a probiotic, to combat constipation.

I am also recovering from polymyalgia and am currently taking 2.5 mg of prednisolone and hope to have completely come off the steroids by Xmas 2020. could this be impacting the gall bladder recovery?

I would like to hear from others who have experienced similar problems. How were your problems resolved?

[SheffieldJane]

I wonder if there is a more appropriate health unlocked site for you? I nearly had that operation when I was a young mother. I think I had strained muscles at the base of my ribs, carrying heavy shopping home. Try a search and see. I am glad that you seem to be approaching remission with PMR. I hope that you obtain better relief, very soon. It is more likely that PMR symptoms are triggered by your lack of recovery from gall bladder removal.

[tangocharlie]

Had mine out Dec 2013. It took me a few months for my digestive system to settle down, to the surgeon's surprise, he said it would be 2 weeks. I remember the anaethetist told me to take extra Pred for a few weeks because an op is a trauma on the body, nobody else mentioned that. Things were normal after 2-3 months and I can eat fat again no problem. I wasn't on anythig else except Pred so don't know if the things you are on complicate things.

[SnazzyD]

When I used to work in surgery as a nurse I would see patients operated for their cholecystectomy and then sent off cheerily by the surgeon as if all was fixed. As a practice nurse I saw that as per usual with surgery, the recovery times were optimistic and problems downplayed. The patients would come in distressed because it didn’t fit with what they expected. Surgery, especially when you tinker with the abdomen, takes time to settle. You might have been asleep but your body knows everything and when you remove bits, a new way of working needs to develop. The bile from the liver is now going straight into your intestine instead of a handy little storage facility for when it is needed, so logically you might under or over produce at any one time for a bit. You might also try looking up post cholecystectomy syndrome.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to SnazzyD]

It is the case so often - Daughter No 2 was treated like rubbish by the surgeons who assumed that once a "simple" stent was removed/replaced she would be out of the door and pain-free. Luckily the nurses were rather more realistic. "Take paracetamol" - MIU used morphine to get things under sontrol...

[tangocharlie in reply to SnazzyD]

Thnaks SnazzyD that's useful info to know. I also read a FB post recently where someone had to have a second op years later as stones had built up again in the bile duct itself. It is interesting that me and several other people I know had to have their GB removed after losing lots of weight, I wonder why? I'm fine nowadays and can eat normally and even eat high fats no problem (except hummous but I think tht is the histamines in it)