Post Gallbladder removal years down the line

I had my gall bladder removed a few years ago, I didn't have stones, but often had pain and nausea so stopped eating and lost a lot of weight. The surgeon said it was the gall bladder and it had to go.

As it was explained to me to me at the time- and bearing in mind I'm not a medic, so this may be a very simplistic recollection - when we eat fatty foods the gall bladder essentially floods the stomach with bile to break down the fats. After the gall bladder has been removed, it's more of a drip, drip of bile. So the body isn't as efficient in dealing with some foods and I have controlled the amount of fats I consume ever since. We need fat as part of a healthy diet, but perhaps the gall bladder needs time to adjust?

I made an appointment with a nutritionist. She cut my diet down a lot, so I began to reintroduce foods to test them and to add some variety to my diet. I too am on gluten free foods, but there's a wide variety available now. Not good with seeds and spicy foods either.

Sorry you're feeling unwell, but why not keep a diary of what you're good on and eliminate things which trigger the bloating and discomfort. Good luck!

I have a condition called Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI) whereby my pancreas has stopped producing digestive enzymes. I run an online support group for this and we have nearly 8,000 members across the world.

Many of our members (although not me) have had their gallbladders removed and then developed EPI and the two do seem to be connected.

EPI can be diagnosed from an Elastase Stool Test, and replacement enzymes are prescribed.

I had mine out around 20 years ago so grateful to be rid of the horrendous pain. I was in and out of hospital in under 24 hours and felt fine if not a little stiff.
No problems since I can eat normally although I have found in the last few years red meat and garlic don’t stay around in my system very long.

My husbands gallbladder let him know suddenly that it wasn't happy while we were on holiday in Barcelona about 15 years ago. I cannot praise the Spanish healthcare system enough. He was in hospital there for 12 days. When he went to hospital (ambulance with blue lights) they filled him with antibiotics, told him he was not going home on a plane the next day as he would die if he did. They removed two large stones.

When we got home his U.K. doctor told him that it would happen again and compared it to a time bomb, and therefore he had his gallbladder removed in our local hospital. They do warn you that stones can escape when they remove it.

It was a couple of years later when problems from one of these attempted to kill him again.

Eventually, now aged 93, he is happy with the results of all of gallbladder problems and eats everything he should .... and then everything else as well.

I developed various problems after having mine removed too. From speaking to others on online forums, it seems very common to have issues afterwards, unfortunately.

As above, not sure if my symptoms are connected though.

I had mine removed 4 years ago and have had dreadful problems with bowels ever since.
Not sure that there is a connection though but feel desperate sometimes,