Gallstones post sleeve gastrectomy?

Agree re the shoulder pain Mum!
I did have it after the sleeve but it was much worse after the gall bladder and I too was very bloated! The shoulder pain was bad enough that if it wasnt after surgery I would have thought I was having a heart attack.......
I used the stick on heat packs and kept them on pretty well for 3 days. But did recover really fast and went on a cruise 9 days post op!
Linda

I had my gallbladder out two days ago by my wonderful sleeve surgeon. I'm finding the pain quite bad, I never had the shoulder tip pain from the trapped gas with the sleeve but have it now in abundance. Walking and hot showers seem to help a little but never realised it could be so painful. Feel so bloated and fat too, looking forward to getting on the scales tomorrow to reassure myself that it is just gas!

I just found this website about Galbladders which might be of interest to people.

http://www.gallbladderattack.com/gallbladder.shtml

I had gallstones for years with no problems, BUT that said now they are playing up,, I am having them removed....
I know that the rapid weight loss stirred them up, though I say rapid with my tongue in my cheek.

Will be glad when they are gone a I am too scared to eat for fear of nausea and pain!

Linda

Hi Sweetie!

Apparently a large proportion of the population carry gallstones around with no ill effects. My daughter is 21, and NOT overweight, and she has them, but they cause her no problems. (They were discovered when she had an ultrasound for an emergency appendectomy)

I had my gallbladder out, pre-sleeve in 2004. I had ONE attack where I thought I would DIE, thinking it was a heart attack, was rushed to hospital, and had the thing whipped out!

It is key hole surgery, and the surgeon who did my sleeve actually re used the same entry points (About two) for my sleeve! Some 'old fashioned' Doctors may opt to give you a big scar. I was lucky, mine did not!

I only had two scars from the gall bladder, one for the drain, and one for the surgery, both on the right side.

It is a fairly simple procedure. I was in hospital for two days. They encouraged us to be up and about the next day. There is some pain involved in recovery, but it is controlled with medication. The afternoon after my op, I felt well enough to go home with some panadol.

Although it does not always happen, some people with the sleeve often have to have their gall bladder out as well! Surgeon's sometimes opt to do both procedures at once, especially if their patient has a history of gall attacks and gall stones.
It is not ALWAYS due to sleeve surgery that you will have to have gall bladder surgery! But gall stones are a by product of a poor or fatty diet, and sleeve surgery may just upset the system and trigger the until then dormant symptoms.

Hey everyone,

So after what can only be described as the worst pain of my life, I have now discovered that I am the not so proud owner of many gallstones and need to have my gallbladder removed.

I am very hesitant about the surgery and have a few questions for everyone. Firstly, how long is the recovery time post-surgery? I am scheduled to have mine on the 16th of January and I am a teacher and need to go back to school on the 18th. I really don't want to have to take much time, if any off. How long do you think I will need? Also, will this surgery impact on my weight loss at all? How did things change for you when you had your gallbladder out? I have considered trying natural therapies but after another painful attack last night I think I just want the sucker out.

I wish my surgeon pre-warned me about this sort of thing. I doubt it would have affected my decision, but it would have been nice to have a heads up you know.

Thanks in advance - Erin

Recovering ok, still sore. Gallstones were big and large so have 2 inch incision across middle of my belly. I seriously have so many scars on my stomach it's unreal.
Nicola.

Good luck with the surgery, I am sure you will have a speedy recovery. Yep, had my gallbladder removed in February, similar symptoms as you, scan showed that I had many small gallstones and a few quite large ones. My Gastric Sleeve surgeon did my op (key hole), only had 1 day in hospital and week off work, quicker recovery than the sleeve op.

hope your recovery goes well for you sweetie

hugs

Op went well, rather sore. Came home today.

Good luck for tomorrow Crysalis.

Good luck for tomorrow Nicola,
What a relief it will be to be free of the pain at last. I'll be thinking of you.
Hugs - Carrie

Gallbladder comes out tomorrow. Rather worried as I'm on heparin injections for the blood clots in my lungs.
Nicola

Thanks Steph, symptoms sound similar. The pain is unbearable, worse I've ever had. My appointment has been brought forward to this Wednesday and provisionally booked in for 15th June. How long did you have off work?
Nicola

Hi Chrysalis

I developed gallstones (around 40 of them) and had my gallbladder removed late last year. I had 3 attacks and the first one I was driving my car to pick up my daughter from school and was just about to pull into carpark of shopping centre when I developed this excrutiating pain in my right rib area which radiated all over my stomach and back. I just managed to park my car in pain and luckily I had my 19 year old son in the car with me as I couldn't move and he helped me out of the drivers seat and I had to lay in the back of the car. He drove home (without his P's on the car as they were in his car) and had to carry me into the house and into my bed. He got the laptop and was looking up the symptoms. The pain was too unbearable that I wasn't able to move or breathe. He then rang an ambulance but while he was on the phone to them it eased off (I actually took some Mylanta and wondered then if it was extremely bad indigestion?). Anyway that was that and a few days later around 11.30 at night I had another attack and rang my partner who was 70k's away and he drove down and insisted I go to hospital. There they thought I was having a heart attack. Did all the tests and kept me in over night and all next day before telling me it wasn't a heart attack and my heart was very healthy. The heart specialist suggested it might be gall bladder and told the staff to check that but by then I was tired of being in the hospital and the staff weren't doing anything to arrange this and besides it was when swine flu was so prevalent and I was surrounded by infected people in emergency and just wanted to go home.
I did my own research about gallstones and kept note the next attack where the pain originated which was below my ribs on the right side and then through to my back and the whole of my abdomen. At the end of this attack I rang my sleeve surgeon and he said it did sound like gallbladder and booked me for an ultrasound the next morning which confirmed gallstones and the next day I was in hospital having my gallbladder out.
The day of surgery I called him in the morning and said was there a way I could control it with diet but he said that eventually if it was left I would end up having open surgery rather than keyhole surgery if I put it off.
There are a few other threads on gallstones if you do a search.
Good luck for your appointment and I hope you don't have any attacks between now and then.

steph

I had my ultra-sound scan on Thursday and I have a gallbladder full of gallstones one of which is in the neck of the gallbladder.
Seeing surgeon on 10th June.

chrysalis wrote:

Has anyone developed gallstones post sleeve gastrectomy? What were your symptoms and how long after op did you get them? I'm having severe upper abdominal lower chest pain and having abdominal ultrasound next week to check for gallstones. Just wondered if they are more common after surgery?
Nicola

I have had problems with gall stones for a few years - hopefully the problem will remain manageable. I am generally able to identify what brings on an attack - sometimes it is fatty food but sometimes it can be a kind of food - for example, nuts set me off once. I find an attack can last for 4 to 8 hours before fading. Pain is much as you describe, accelerating and intensifying over a period of hours, remaining at peak for several hours and then fading. At its worst the pain induces vomiting. By watching what I eat, I have kept attacks down to a couple every six months. Interestingly, I have never had an attack when I drank red wine, regardless of what I ate. I would have had them out years ago but my size and shape made keyhole removal problematic - hopefully in six months it will not be an issue - if they give me grief then, I will have them whipped out in a jiffy.

Good luck

The stats are off the top of my head and not going back to check 15% of those who have weight loss surgery go on to needing their gallbladder out. this is not from the surgery itself but from rapid weight loss.

I had my gallbladder removed at the same time I had my sleeve as I had problems with it before when I lost weight and did NOT want to feel like that ever again.

The syptoms are so varied with gallstones, the pain can be in the abdomine or the chest or the back. Most people say it is the worst pain they have ever experenced once it gets going. It is a very good idea to have an ultra sound as soon as you first experence any symptoms to get it diagnosed and then removed BEFORE that severe pain gets to be a regular event.

I found HOT showers on my back helped a little untl the attack eased. Avoid fatty food as this can also be a trigger.

You should hear from more people on here as I swear all 15% are here hehehehe

applesauce

Has anyone developed gallstones post sleeve gastrectomy? What were your symptoms and how long after op did you get them? I'm having severe upper abdominal lower chest pain and having abdominal ultrasound next week to check for gallstones. Just wondered if they are more common after surgery?
Nicola