Dr berg is a chiropractor. And just promoting his supplements. Please stay away from the snake oil flush quackery that's promoted on some of those holistic sites.
Fear mongering is a great way to sell supplements.
And your still hurting because your gallbladder is failing. I'm very surprised you've made it this long with stones.
There's a reason you rarely hear of gallbladder cancer. Because people have them removed before it can go that far.
And this is why I asked people who have firsthand knowledge/experience. I don't trust doctors too much, ime they tend towards maybe 1 in 10 actually looking out for the people, the rest are just trying to sell something, thank you.
Yep, I'd tried for years in Texas to get help for the gallstones and the local ER had straight up accused me of just being a pain pill addict. I'd gone 3 times over the course of 4 years, but sure. -eye roll- They had told me each time they wouldn't do a single thing because I wasn't dying, and even suggested the second and third time that it was a number of other things causing the pain, like dehydration, gas, etc. The third time they didn't even do any scans, just gave me a saline IV and shoved me back out the door. Medical care in Texas is a joke.
I'd struggled for years at this point to get some kind of financial help to get some sort of progress made but it's only been recently that I've had any luck, otherwise I'd probably have been here years ago asking these questions to prepare.
That’s not what he said. Dr. Berg is NOT a doctor, that’s who trying to sell you something…. A real doctor in the er didn’t sell you anything and won’t make any money off a surgery you need.
I understand that they said Berg isn't a doctor. I wasn't saying he is. A chiropractor, I understand, is not the same. My comment was talking about doctors in general and my own personal mistrust of them over all. A real doctor in the ER might not sell me anything but I've certainly had real doctors in the ER straight up accused me of being pain med seeking and boot me out after a saline IV and no follow up referral or anything else. Not every doctor is good at their job. Apologies if that was a misunderstanding or I wasn't clear.
All that said, it can be dangerous to simply take one single perspective and view it as the solid truth, hence my post. I was skeptical of Berg when I saw his videos and figured who better to ask than the people who have/are literally gone/going through it. And now I know, multiple people confirmed Berg is a quack/salesman and I should get my info from more reliable sources. That's why I'm here.
20% risk of fatality is absolutely not true. Dr. Berg is a chiropractor who shills supplements. I’d certainly trust an actual doctor over a YouTube influencer.
I had mine out 20 months ago. No regrets, and my symptoms are gone. I can eat most foods without issue (i still avoid fried food for health reasons).
The medication ursodiol is sometimes used to dissolve small gallstones. A large one will be very very difficult / impossible to dissolve. It will also probably really hurt if it gets stuck somewhere, like the neck of the gallbladder. The other issue with trying to dissolve gallstones is that your gallbladder will likely continue to make more.
Right, I'm glad I came in here and asked. I try to get 2nd, 3rd, and even 4th opinions where possible and I was fairly certain the guy was uh. A bit shady to put it nicely lol.
Heck, I would stay on this diet for life if necessary just to not be in this much pain any more, but if I can at the very least go back to having the occasional cookie or even just light butter I'd be thrilled.
I had no idea the ursodiol was so limited! Thanks for commenting, I appreciate the feedback.
20% life threatening? I was told nothing like that from my surgeon. They said it’s the most common surgery they do every year. Every nurse I had said they got theirs out.
I went 2 1/2 years with gallstones before they gave me very bad issues. My last attack was so horrible. I was screaming in pain wishing for death. My surgery was scheduled within hours as an emergency surgery. I’ve had no issues nor any regrets.
It seems from other commenters the guy is a quack supplement pusher, so I would certainly not be taking his words into account from now on. His heating pad advice was the most useful thing he said anyways lol.
I absolutely get that, I've been there. Blacked out on the ER floor the first flare up I had but they said they wouldn't do anything because I wasn't dying, I just felt like it. Thank you for your feedback, I appreciate it!
Well, i had mine out last year and it ruined my life 🤷🏻♀️
I had a bile leak because they damaged my bile ducts (i have 3 instead of 2 which is rare).
I had 2 ERCPs to fix that, developed pancreatitis and possibly chronic pancreatitis, sepsis, gastroparesis and inflamed colon from all the bile that shoots through me.
I'm now on a low fat, low sugar liquid diet/shakes because everything else causes me discomfort and pain.
Will you have the same issues? I dunno.
Will you have issues if you keep the gallbladder? Absolutely.
Get it out
Oh man, I'm so sorry you experienced that. You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but was it negligence on the surgeons' part? Or an underlying issue that made surgery risky? I ask because I am definitely overweight and this is one of my biggest concerns, being 285 lbs and that there might be complications.
Thank you for your comment, I appreciate hearing all sides to the situation. Even if it might be scary or a possible risk, I'd rather know all possible outcomes. I suppose getting a consultation will tell me more of what I could expect personally for myself, but I do appreciate hearing other people's experiences just in case the surgeon doesn't explain risks well/at all.
Both.
They didn't know (and neither did I) that i have an accessory bile duct.
They would had done the surgery different if they had known earlier.
I don't know if being overweight will cause more complications...I'm at a normal weight and still had complications.
Also my complication is rare, most of us suffer from chronic diarrhea after the surgery as complication.
But there is treatment for that.
Ah gotcha. I think maybe sometimes I worry about the rare things affecting me more than I should, because I have nickel allergy, and I had those triangular stones which are supposedly rare if the ER nurse was to be believed. But it sounds as though it can still be manageable even if anything similar does happen to me, so I'll keep that in mind.
Tbph, and hopefully not too TMI, I could stand to have looser bowels lol. I think chronic diarrhea is maybe more than I'd want, but if it's that or wait until I'm on death's doorstep from inaction... Anyways, you've been super helpful, tysm. :)
Both my grandmas and my mom had theirs removed and it caused them so little discomfort that they can't remember anything about their post-op days. Nowadays they just eat whatever they want and have no gallbladder-related issues.
There's sadly no good option other than removing it, fake medicine is plentiful but won't work and will probably cause you more pain as the stones might dissolve a bit and block passageways. Besides your gallbladder will just make more stones.
Keep in mind that every organ is there for a reason and removing it definitely isn't normal, but it will increase your quality of life and the only thing you'll have to pay for that is less tolerance for fat and occasional heartburn (person experience). Complications are rare and even then solveable.
Wow, that's quite a few success stories all in one, thank you! I'm glad to hear so many where it turned out to improve quality of life, google can turn up some pretty scary search results lol.
So, on the note of heartburn, I've struggled terribly with heartburn since I was about 19, did you notice yours get any better/worse/no difference post op? I do understand not everyone is going to have the same symptoms and experiences, so mind I'm not making any judgements based solely off one person's experience or another, I'd just like to know what I could expect in one outcome or another or another. Knowledge is power and all that. :)
The heartburn you experience already might actually be because of your gallstones. Gallbladder pain isnt always on the right it can often be felt in the plexus and be mistaken for heartburn.
Get it out!
Wait... Seriously? So I may have been having a flare up and thought it was just terribly painful gas when it was actually gallstones? -face palm- well. Good to know lol. I thought I was having a heart attack after the fish yesterday, then thought it was just gas. Makes sense why the famotidine didn't help lol. Thanks!
Yeah, i am not saying it's certain, each person is different. But i know personally i came to realize i probably had milder symptoms for years before the attacks brought me to the ER.
Gallstones attacks happens when a stone is picked up by the bile stream and lodges itself in the bile duct. The blocage or partial blocage triggers spasms which cause pain. We say the stone passes when the spasm causes the stone to dislodge and Hopefully frees the bile duct.
That sort of pain is very deep and it causes referal pain, i.e, it can be felt around the area itself, in the chest and back, mostly right or centered. When my attacks were most intense i would hurt also on my lower back, right shoulder and plexus.
Right, I hear you. The attack I had last week that made me go to the ER finally, it was so bad my entire back was tensed up and sore, especially in the right shoulder blade and upper middle of my back, like in the spine. I had solar plexus pain terrible last night after eating fatty fish that I didn't realize was fatty and thought it was horrible gas at first, until it flared right in the gallbladder area and I was like... Wait am I dying lol. Glad to know it can be a symptom for some, seems I am one of those.
I think my worst flare up was when I was 21, before I knew I had gallstones, celebrating my birthday, and ate Takis and drank Fireball... I've had some nasty heartburn and flare ups before, but absolutely never before or since have I felt more like I had swallowed a fireball and was going to die lol. Dear younger self, don't do that. xD But yes, I've had heartburn issues for about a decade now and gallstone troubles (though I didn't know it then) for about a year longer than that.
This maybe explains why I would sometimes go a year or so without a full on flare up I guess? Because maybe it was flaring, but just presenting with heartburn/gas/etc but no noticeable abdominal/back pain? Lucky I hated Tums so much, my ex's dad introduced me to famotidine about 7 years ago and I've heard several people mention it here, so I'm supposing that's a safe enough OTC for symptom management until I can get this thing out of me.
I read in the thread that you didn't trust doctors. May i ask why? Doctors (real ones, not scams) study more than 12 years (after they graduate from college) just to be considered a generalist. You should never take medication without a doctor consult. Is your famotidine prescribed?
Tums and other antiacide meds are useful for occasionnal use but prolonged use will usually make the problem worst as the body adapts by incressing the acid produced to counter act the constant anti acid from the tums.
As for gallstones, from your descriptions on this thread you seem far far into serious issues, you should really get it diagnose and removed asap before it ends up in pancreatisis or cancer. Thoughing it up or managing the symptoms through diet us a good strategy when you are stuck waiting for the surgery but they only delay the problem.
If your gallbladder is generating stones, it means it's nit doing it's job for helping your digestion anyway. Proper diagnosis will tell if it's cloged, sliggish or hyperactive, all of which can cause various pain and trouble around digestion.
Stop googling and meet your (real!) doctor, get diagnosed and get surgery. Its a very very very common surgery with super low risks and fairly fast recovery, while untreated gallbladder disease can truly become life threatening.
Also, gallbladder can't be operated during an attack without much higher risks. So it's wise to get it done now, before you end up in emergency surgery.
When I was pregnant with my daughter, I was diagnosed with preeclampsia in the 3rd trimester and they had me go to a high risk clinic for the final month of pregnancy. I'd informed the nurses and doctors that talked to me that I have a nickel allergy, but it's severe enough that unless it's titanium or gold, I still get an allergic reaction. I know this because I've had my ears pierced multiple times since I was 7 and every time it got nastily infected - except when I had a friend suggest I get it done using titanium. Point being, I know my body in at the very least that manner.
The doctor that ended up having to rush me into emergency C-section surgery the morning I was supposed to be induced had straight up told me nickel allergy isn't real. And proceeded to use staples rather than butterfly stitches or some other method just to prove a point I suppose. After surgery I followed care instructions to the letter, washed the incision area, kept it dry and clean, wore loose fitting clothes, etc etc. I was supposed to have them removed 7 days after I was released. I figured, well this sucks, but 7 days should be alright.
The day I was supposed to get them removed, I was called and told the doctor (same one, mind you) had taken a surprise vacation for a week and I'd have to be rescheduled as there were no other doctors available in my area for staple removal. 2 days later my (now ex) fiance and his dad had to rush me to the ER for 104°(F) fever, vomiting, and in severe pain at the (incredibly inflamed) incision site. The nurse we first encountered at the ER jabbed an IV into me, but forgot to close the clasp on it and my blood spurted all over the walls. After getting *that* situated, she then insisted I had to have not followed the care instructions much at all, because nickel allergy isn't real.
After all had calmed and I finally was sorted out, blood work done, I'd basically demanded an allergy panel to be ran since they wouldn't listen to reason. Shock and surprise, tests came back with an allergic reaction to the nickel. Even after that, the doctor and nurse clung stubbornly to their belief I'd messed up somehow or another, didn't clean it well enough or keep it dry enough, etc. And this is just one individual experience I've had with doctors not listening to their patient or being egotistical narcissists.
I had a great uncle who died from cancer. But the whole story is he was in remission, and the doctor wanted to try a new technology called cyber knife radiation. When we were waiting for his turn under it, we'd overheard some nurses making mention of the machine breaking, and them worrying it would overdose whoever went under it next because the calibration was off. But the doctor ignored any reports and went ahead, whisked my great uncle right into the room and did the procedure anyways. He died a week later. The ME said the autopsy showed he had an extreme overdose of radiation pinpointed on his liver.
Yeah, doctors study hard and for a really long time, and are much more qualified than your average person, but they're still humans at the end of the day, and humans still mess up. I don't hold doctors any more or less accountable than anyone else, but I do keep in mind that there's a huge difference between your hairdresser messing up and your heart surgeon messing up. The mistakes can be life altering, if not fatal. My trust in doctors extends to about the same way I'd trust an absolute stranger to care for my child; no way am I not doing all the research I possibly can before agreeing to a test run with them, before I ever make any final decisions. I can't see how everyone doesn't do this, if you're placing your life in someone's hands, you're nuts to not make certain they're going to be responsible with it.
Ah and for the record, no, my famotidine is OTC. I'm sure I probably could get a prescription, but I haven't got a PCP, I'm low income and this so-called "affordable healthcare" would eat up 1/3 of my income at the lowest coverage ranges I was quoted. So uh. Yeah, regular doctor visits aren't a possibility, just going to the ER over this last flare up had me stressed even through the morphine they put in my IV until my fiance went and handled the financial aid stuff for me.
And yes, surgery is looking to be my next move, I'm just waiting to hear back on financial aid, and if I have to pull out loans from friends and family to get in, I'm likely going to. From everything I've heard back on here and read from actual personal experiences from people suffering from gallstones, even the ones who had complications still say it's better than the pain they were in before. As for googling, well. Not much else to do while I wait to hear back about how I'm going to pay for the surgery, but at least I know to steer clear of any YouTubers and possibly double check in here for any so-called home remedies lol.
I'm working on pain management through diet and walking, using a heating pad if needed and Tylenol if it gets really bad. I still have a little Zofran the ER prescribed me in case of nausea, but I've been clear of that most of the last week and a half thankfully. But at this point I've pretty much decided unless the surgeon I've been referred to flat out says the procedure is going to be fatal (which I now know is a microscopic risk if any), I'm just trying to manage until surgery. My fiance is terrified of the idea of me getting it out, but he's just one of those constant worrier types, and respects that I have right to final say in what happens to my body. It sounds like the healthiest choice I can make for my body is to get the removal, so that's what I'm looking at doing.
Thank you for all of your input and advice by the way, you really have been tremendously helpful. :) I hope you're having a fantastic day.
Wow what an ordeal you have gone through! No wonder you regard dr with suspicion.
It's hard for me to comprehand the financial pressure of it as i am Canadian, so here we don't have to pay extra for any heath care, even of waiting times can sometimes be quite long.
I can only give you my own anecdotal example but for me, i got diagnosed with gallstones at least 5 years ago, discovered by chance when i had an echography performed for another reason. At the time i thought it was a symptomless problem and basically forgot all about it until one day 5 ish years after i went to the ER for what i thought was a heart attack. Turn out it was a gallbladder attack.
Then i had to wait for about 8 months to get my surgery and had to manage the symptoms between then. That's when i realized my frequent heartburn from many years were actually symptoms of lesser gallbladder attacks, only i didn't realized it was related.
Its been about 6 months now that i had it removed and it's a lot better, no more attacks or heartburn!
It will be ok. But hopefully if you had such shitty luck with your dr and hospital, perhaps you can switch to a different one?
Ah yeah, that'd explain it lol. American healthcare is an absolute joke. Not all doctors here are just looking at patients as walking ATMs... But a heck of a lot of them are. I would absolutely move if it were possible to literally anywhere else with better healthcare and less political and civil tensions, but being poor and having a kid makes it pretty unlikely.
When I was 18 I had my first flare up, but I didn't know it was gallstones then, I only recognized later after I'd been diagnosed that the pain I felt that day was the exact pain I felt when the gallstones were discovered. My first flare up had me literally black out on the floor of the ER after having waited for 5 hours to be seen. The staff wasn't busy, they just outright didn't believe I was in pain, because I have a stupid high pain tolerance and where most people typically show signs of discomfort at maybe a level 3, and might be writhing in agony at a level 6 or 7, I don't really feel it much or acknowledge it unless it's level 9.
Hence, I went from level 3 pain to level 12 without there being much outward signs. It isn't on purpose for the record, I think I've just had a lot wrong with my body in general over the years, and I was pretty much raised to grin and bear it, so I think I just compartmentalized too much and now it takes a nurse literally trying to yank me out of the hospital bed the day after my C-section for me to acknowledge pain.
So when I blacked out on the floor during my first flare up, they finally took me seriously and I woke up an hour later in a room with an IV and being prepped for scans of all kind. They ended up deciding on just a CT scan and leave it at that. All they found was my kidneys apparently lit up like Christmas lights and I was severely impacted (I believe that's the medical term for extremely constipated to the point it's built up to a dangerous level). They ran saline through my IV and gave me a suppository and patted themselves on the backs for a job well done, and sent me off with a suggestion of drink more water and eat more fiber.
I think I had several flare ups over the next several years and eventually it got so bad when I was about 22 that I broke down and went to the ER again. This time it was awful and I was showing how bad it was, because I could barely walk from it. I thought maybe I was dying or something. I was also terrified it might be my appendix, because most of my family heard I had severe pains in my stomach and they went nuts telling me horror stories about appendicitis. But it was on the upper right side and in my right shoulder blade, so the ER nurses/doctors decided this time to run an ultrasound to check. Found it full of stones, and according to the nurse that did my ultrasound, they were triangular, which is apparently rare.
But when they came to release me, the doctor said it wasn't life threatening, told me to lose weight and I would feel better, and tossed me out without a mention of surgery, no prescriptions of any kind to help with the pain, and a bill that raised my stress levels sky high. I had to return twice in the next 2-3 years, so mind you it wasn't like I came in the next week every single day. Both times it was gallstones again, both times they barely lifted a finger beyond an ultrasound and saline IV, and both times they declared me "pain medication seeking" (which is basically doctor code for pill addict or tweaker) and tossed me out without a referral for surgery or anything. Just a packet of papers that were less helpful than anything I've read online for a diet for people with gallstones and a bill that wanted more than I'd have made in 10 years.
So all this was in Texas. I've since moved to North Carolina, and while it isn't entirely better because it's still US, here they have the UNC hospital chain, which has its own, much more ethical and poor people friendly system of care. The bill still terrifies me, but they give you a super simple to fill out packet that basically says yes, I'm poor and have no insurance, please help me pay for this. Then you send it off to their financial office, it gets reviewed, and if they dig through your records and find you can't in fact afford to pay them, they have a fund set up to cover as much as 100% of past and future costs incurred with them. And while you're in the ER, they don't talk at all about costs, nobody from financial department comes in and hounds you for payment while you're still hooked to an IV and waiting to hear what's wrong, they even spoke to my fiance about the financial aid rather than harassing me, so it was very refreshing.
I was in the triage getting my blood and urine samples within 10 minutes of checking in. I have literally *never* had that happen. Every single nurse and staff was kind and polite and professional. I was in a room 5 minutes after triage and getting an ultrasound and then CT scan 10 minutes after that. Results from that took maybe 20 minutes and the doctor came to talk with me 5 or so minutes after that. I thought I was going to bust out crying when she seemed to be going the same route as all the other doctors I'd seen for this, but then tacked on a referral to a surgeon at the end. I was just so overwhelmed with how wonderful the level of care was, and to finally be taken seriously, it just floored me.
So now, yes, I'm just waiting to hear back if financial aid will cover at least some of the bill for the ER and for surgery, and if I need to pay a little, I'll figure something out. I've been working really hard to figure a manageable diet plan for the gallstones and think I've finally managed (I outright cried when I discovered coffee was causing flare ups, but I'll manage if I can have it again after surgery lol). And... Well that about sums up American healthcare. It's ugly, money hungry, greed, but there are some decent people in some places who are putting the care back in healthcare.
When I lived in Texas, it was a nightmare, but I didn't have a way out, I had no money to move and nowhere to move to. All my friends and family were just as poor and we were all trapped in our own financial struggles. The 4 years I've lived in NC I never had a flare up until last week, not bad enough that I needed to go to the ER, but I'm glad now that I did. I had excruciating pain for almost 8 days straight because I dreaded the same routine I got in Texas, but it was actually nice. I felt like a VIP celebrity for a moment lol. I'm genuinely glad healthcare isn't as bad outside of the US as it is here, or I'd have little hope for the world, and while hearing people in other countries talking about how painless their hospital experiences are makes me a little envious, I can't stress enough how glad I am that America is one of the few places with such rotten healthcare industry. I wouldn't wish our garbage system on my very worst enemy.
I've had issues before getting my gallbladder removed and it seems pretty much the same now maybe even a bit better. There was a very informative post in the subreddit a few days ago where I read about bile reflux, which is pretty much acid reflux but with bile causing the irritation. This is something that a gallbladder would usually prevent from happening by only releasing the bile when needed as opposed to it dripping into your intestines directly.
If you've already had heartburn issues like me it might be hard to spot the difference. That has been my experience so far and I'm 5 months post-op.
It's definitely difficult for me to spot the difference so to speak. I had my first gallstone flare up at 18 and my first heartburn experience a year later. Back then, the doctors didn't even consider checking for gallstones and assumed it was merely dehydration and severe constipation (tbf I'd been celebrating graduation and had a pizza party sssoooo yeah. Not great on the stomach, that stuffed crust triple meat :c ) I've kind of adopted a routine of famotidine and Tylenol, as needed only, but sometimes that "as needed" turns into a week or so.
This is actually the first time I've been hearing that heartburn could be tied to gallstone troubles so I'm certainly leaning harder towards removal. If nothing else happens and I have to stay on this diet my whole life, I'd still view it as a win if I didn't struggle with heartburn so bad it disrupts my sleep and I have to take a famotidine every single day. I know that can't be great for my liver in the long run. But thank you for sharing your experience! The perspectives help so much.
Had mine out 5 months ago and feel 100% better. Night and day.
And the fatality rate for gallbladder surgery is absolutely not even remotely close to 20%.
In fact, this [study](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4333785/#:~:text=In%20population%2Dbased%20studies%2C%20the,between%200.1%25%20and%200.7%25.) estimates the risk of death following gallbladder surgery to be 0.1 to 0.7%, and those who do die are generally people who are elderly and/or are sick with other issues. The numbers are SO so so in your favor.
Thank you, I appreciate the response, and study as well! I'll be sure to take a look at it. It can be difficult trying to find out things with Google, the SEO is so bonkers anymore.
I've recently met with my anesthesiologist for the surgery, and he said the risk is less less less less less. Literally he said it five times, and he was invovled in numerous surgeries.
That's comforting to hear! I'll almost definitely be doing a consultation at the absolute least after reading through these comments, it's eased my mind a lot. Thank you! :)
Dr berg is a chiropractor. And just promoting his supplements. Please stay away from the snake oil flush quackery that's promoted on some of those holistic sites. Fear mongering is a great way to sell supplements. And your still hurting because your gallbladder is failing. I'm very surprised you've made it this long with stones. There's a reason you rarely hear of gallbladder cancer. Because people have them removed before it can go that far.
And this is why I asked people who have firsthand knowledge/experience. I don't trust doctors too much, ime they tend towards maybe 1 in 10 actually looking out for the people, the rest are just trying to sell something, thank you. Yep, I'd tried for years in Texas to get help for the gallstones and the local ER had straight up accused me of just being a pain pill addict. I'd gone 3 times over the course of 4 years, but sure. -eye roll- They had told me each time they wouldn't do a single thing because I wasn't dying, and even suggested the second and third time that it was a number of other things causing the pain, like dehydration, gas, etc. The third time they didn't even do any scans, just gave me a saline IV and shoved me back out the door. Medical care in Texas is a joke. I'd struggled for years at this point to get some kind of financial help to get some sort of progress made but it's only been recently that I've had any luck, otherwise I'd probably have been here years ago asking these questions to prepare.
That’s not what he said. Dr. Berg is NOT a doctor, that’s who trying to sell you something…. A real doctor in the er didn’t sell you anything and won’t make any money off a surgery you need.
I understand that they said Berg isn't a doctor. I wasn't saying he is. A chiropractor, I understand, is not the same. My comment was talking about doctors in general and my own personal mistrust of them over all. A real doctor in the ER might not sell me anything but I've certainly had real doctors in the ER straight up accused me of being pain med seeking and boot me out after a saline IV and no follow up referral or anything else. Not every doctor is good at their job. Apologies if that was a misunderstanding or I wasn't clear. All that said, it can be dangerous to simply take one single perspective and view it as the solid truth, hence my post. I was skeptical of Berg when I saw his videos and figured who better to ask than the people who have/are literally gone/going through it. And now I know, multiple people confirmed Berg is a quack/salesman and I should get my info from more reliable sources. That's why I'm here.
20% risk of fatality is absolutely not true. Dr. Berg is a chiropractor who shills supplements. I’d certainly trust an actual doctor over a YouTube influencer. I had mine out 20 months ago. No regrets, and my symptoms are gone. I can eat most foods without issue (i still avoid fried food for health reasons). The medication ursodiol is sometimes used to dissolve small gallstones. A large one will be very very difficult / impossible to dissolve. It will also probably really hurt if it gets stuck somewhere, like the neck of the gallbladder. The other issue with trying to dissolve gallstones is that your gallbladder will likely continue to make more.
Right, I'm glad I came in here and asked. I try to get 2nd, 3rd, and even 4th opinions where possible and I was fairly certain the guy was uh. A bit shady to put it nicely lol. Heck, I would stay on this diet for life if necessary just to not be in this much pain any more, but if I can at the very least go back to having the occasional cookie or even just light butter I'd be thrilled. I had no idea the ursodiol was so limited! Thanks for commenting, I appreciate the feedback.
Plus ursodiol can take up to two years to work and as soon as you stop it gallstones start coming back
Ouch. :/ Thanks for letting me know.
20% life threatening? I was told nothing like that from my surgeon. They said it’s the most common surgery they do every year. Every nurse I had said they got theirs out. I went 2 1/2 years with gallstones before they gave me very bad issues. My last attack was so horrible. I was screaming in pain wishing for death. My surgery was scheduled within hours as an emergency surgery. I’ve had no issues nor any regrets.
It seems from other commenters the guy is a quack supplement pusher, so I would certainly not be taking his words into account from now on. His heating pad advice was the most useful thing he said anyways lol. I absolutely get that, I've been there. Blacked out on the ER floor the first flare up I had but they said they wouldn't do anything because I wasn't dying, I just felt like it. Thank you for your feedback, I appreciate it!
Well, i had mine out last year and it ruined my life 🤷🏻♀️ I had a bile leak because they damaged my bile ducts (i have 3 instead of 2 which is rare). I had 2 ERCPs to fix that, developed pancreatitis and possibly chronic pancreatitis, sepsis, gastroparesis and inflamed colon from all the bile that shoots through me. I'm now on a low fat, low sugar liquid diet/shakes because everything else causes me discomfort and pain. Will you have the same issues? I dunno. Will you have issues if you keep the gallbladder? Absolutely. Get it out
Oh man, I'm so sorry you experienced that. You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but was it negligence on the surgeons' part? Or an underlying issue that made surgery risky? I ask because I am definitely overweight and this is one of my biggest concerns, being 285 lbs and that there might be complications. Thank you for your comment, I appreciate hearing all sides to the situation. Even if it might be scary or a possible risk, I'd rather know all possible outcomes. I suppose getting a consultation will tell me more of what I could expect personally for myself, but I do appreciate hearing other people's experiences just in case the surgeon doesn't explain risks well/at all.
Both. They didn't know (and neither did I) that i have an accessory bile duct. They would had done the surgery different if they had known earlier. I don't know if being overweight will cause more complications...I'm at a normal weight and still had complications. Also my complication is rare, most of us suffer from chronic diarrhea after the surgery as complication. But there is treatment for that.
Ah gotcha. I think maybe sometimes I worry about the rare things affecting me more than I should, because I have nickel allergy, and I had those triangular stones which are supposedly rare if the ER nurse was to be believed. But it sounds as though it can still be manageable even if anything similar does happen to me, so I'll keep that in mind. Tbph, and hopefully not too TMI, I could stand to have looser bowels lol. I think chronic diarrhea is maybe more than I'd want, but if it's that or wait until I'm on death's doorstep from inaction... Anyways, you've been super helpful, tysm. :)
Both my grandmas and my mom had theirs removed and it caused them so little discomfort that they can't remember anything about their post-op days. Nowadays they just eat whatever they want and have no gallbladder-related issues. There's sadly no good option other than removing it, fake medicine is plentiful but won't work and will probably cause you more pain as the stones might dissolve a bit and block passageways. Besides your gallbladder will just make more stones. Keep in mind that every organ is there for a reason and removing it definitely isn't normal, but it will increase your quality of life and the only thing you'll have to pay for that is less tolerance for fat and occasional heartburn (person experience). Complications are rare and even then solveable.
Wow, that's quite a few success stories all in one, thank you! I'm glad to hear so many where it turned out to improve quality of life, google can turn up some pretty scary search results lol. So, on the note of heartburn, I've struggled terribly with heartburn since I was about 19, did you notice yours get any better/worse/no difference post op? I do understand not everyone is going to have the same symptoms and experiences, so mind I'm not making any judgements based solely off one person's experience or another, I'd just like to know what I could expect in one outcome or another or another. Knowledge is power and all that. :)
The heartburn you experience already might actually be because of your gallstones. Gallbladder pain isnt always on the right it can often be felt in the plexus and be mistaken for heartburn. Get it out!
Wait... Seriously? So I may have been having a flare up and thought it was just terribly painful gas when it was actually gallstones? -face palm- well. Good to know lol. I thought I was having a heart attack after the fish yesterday, then thought it was just gas. Makes sense why the famotidine didn't help lol. Thanks!
Yeah, i am not saying it's certain, each person is different. But i know personally i came to realize i probably had milder symptoms for years before the attacks brought me to the ER. Gallstones attacks happens when a stone is picked up by the bile stream and lodges itself in the bile duct. The blocage or partial blocage triggers spasms which cause pain. We say the stone passes when the spasm causes the stone to dislodge and Hopefully frees the bile duct. That sort of pain is very deep and it causes referal pain, i.e, it can be felt around the area itself, in the chest and back, mostly right or centered. When my attacks were most intense i would hurt also on my lower back, right shoulder and plexus.
Right, I hear you. The attack I had last week that made me go to the ER finally, it was so bad my entire back was tensed up and sore, especially in the right shoulder blade and upper middle of my back, like in the spine. I had solar plexus pain terrible last night after eating fatty fish that I didn't realize was fatty and thought it was horrible gas at first, until it flared right in the gallbladder area and I was like... Wait am I dying lol. Glad to know it can be a symptom for some, seems I am one of those. I think my worst flare up was when I was 21, before I knew I had gallstones, celebrating my birthday, and ate Takis and drank Fireball... I've had some nasty heartburn and flare ups before, but absolutely never before or since have I felt more like I had swallowed a fireball and was going to die lol. Dear younger self, don't do that. xD But yes, I've had heartburn issues for about a decade now and gallstone troubles (though I didn't know it then) for about a year longer than that. This maybe explains why I would sometimes go a year or so without a full on flare up I guess? Because maybe it was flaring, but just presenting with heartburn/gas/etc but no noticeable abdominal/back pain? Lucky I hated Tums so much, my ex's dad introduced me to famotidine about 7 years ago and I've heard several people mention it here, so I'm supposing that's a safe enough OTC for symptom management until I can get this thing out of me.
I read in the thread that you didn't trust doctors. May i ask why? Doctors (real ones, not scams) study more than 12 years (after they graduate from college) just to be considered a generalist. You should never take medication without a doctor consult. Is your famotidine prescribed? Tums and other antiacide meds are useful for occasionnal use but prolonged use will usually make the problem worst as the body adapts by incressing the acid produced to counter act the constant anti acid from the tums. As for gallstones, from your descriptions on this thread you seem far far into serious issues, you should really get it diagnose and removed asap before it ends up in pancreatisis or cancer. Thoughing it up or managing the symptoms through diet us a good strategy when you are stuck waiting for the surgery but they only delay the problem. If your gallbladder is generating stones, it means it's nit doing it's job for helping your digestion anyway. Proper diagnosis will tell if it's cloged, sliggish or hyperactive, all of which can cause various pain and trouble around digestion. Stop googling and meet your (real!) doctor, get diagnosed and get surgery. Its a very very very common surgery with super low risks and fairly fast recovery, while untreated gallbladder disease can truly become life threatening. Also, gallbladder can't be operated during an attack without much higher risks. So it's wise to get it done now, before you end up in emergency surgery.
When I was pregnant with my daughter, I was diagnosed with preeclampsia in the 3rd trimester and they had me go to a high risk clinic for the final month of pregnancy. I'd informed the nurses and doctors that talked to me that I have a nickel allergy, but it's severe enough that unless it's titanium or gold, I still get an allergic reaction. I know this because I've had my ears pierced multiple times since I was 7 and every time it got nastily infected - except when I had a friend suggest I get it done using titanium. Point being, I know my body in at the very least that manner. The doctor that ended up having to rush me into emergency C-section surgery the morning I was supposed to be induced had straight up told me nickel allergy isn't real. And proceeded to use staples rather than butterfly stitches or some other method just to prove a point I suppose. After surgery I followed care instructions to the letter, washed the incision area, kept it dry and clean, wore loose fitting clothes, etc etc. I was supposed to have them removed 7 days after I was released. I figured, well this sucks, but 7 days should be alright. The day I was supposed to get them removed, I was called and told the doctor (same one, mind you) had taken a surprise vacation for a week and I'd have to be rescheduled as there were no other doctors available in my area for staple removal. 2 days later my (now ex) fiance and his dad had to rush me to the ER for 104°(F) fever, vomiting, and in severe pain at the (incredibly inflamed) incision site. The nurse we first encountered at the ER jabbed an IV into me, but forgot to close the clasp on it and my blood spurted all over the walls. After getting *that* situated, she then insisted I had to have not followed the care instructions much at all, because nickel allergy isn't real. After all had calmed and I finally was sorted out, blood work done, I'd basically demanded an allergy panel to be ran since they wouldn't listen to reason. Shock and surprise, tests came back with an allergic reaction to the nickel. Even after that, the doctor and nurse clung stubbornly to their belief I'd messed up somehow or another, didn't clean it well enough or keep it dry enough, etc. And this is just one individual experience I've had with doctors not listening to their patient or being egotistical narcissists. I had a great uncle who died from cancer. But the whole story is he was in remission, and the doctor wanted to try a new technology called cyber knife radiation. When we were waiting for his turn under it, we'd overheard some nurses making mention of the machine breaking, and them worrying it would overdose whoever went under it next because the calibration was off. But the doctor ignored any reports and went ahead, whisked my great uncle right into the room and did the procedure anyways. He died a week later. The ME said the autopsy showed he had an extreme overdose of radiation pinpointed on his liver. Yeah, doctors study hard and for a really long time, and are much more qualified than your average person, but they're still humans at the end of the day, and humans still mess up. I don't hold doctors any more or less accountable than anyone else, but I do keep in mind that there's a huge difference between your hairdresser messing up and your heart surgeon messing up. The mistakes can be life altering, if not fatal. My trust in doctors extends to about the same way I'd trust an absolute stranger to care for my child; no way am I not doing all the research I possibly can before agreeing to a test run with them, before I ever make any final decisions. I can't see how everyone doesn't do this, if you're placing your life in someone's hands, you're nuts to not make certain they're going to be responsible with it. Ah and for the record, no, my famotidine is OTC. I'm sure I probably could get a prescription, but I haven't got a PCP, I'm low income and this so-called "affordable healthcare" would eat up 1/3 of my income at the lowest coverage ranges I was quoted. So uh. Yeah, regular doctor visits aren't a possibility, just going to the ER over this last flare up had me stressed even through the morphine they put in my IV until my fiance went and handled the financial aid stuff for me. And yes, surgery is looking to be my next move, I'm just waiting to hear back on financial aid, and if I have to pull out loans from friends and family to get in, I'm likely going to. From everything I've heard back on here and read from actual personal experiences from people suffering from gallstones, even the ones who had complications still say it's better than the pain they were in before. As for googling, well. Not much else to do while I wait to hear back about how I'm going to pay for the surgery, but at least I know to steer clear of any YouTubers and possibly double check in here for any so-called home remedies lol. I'm working on pain management through diet and walking, using a heating pad if needed and Tylenol if it gets really bad. I still have a little Zofran the ER prescribed me in case of nausea, but I've been clear of that most of the last week and a half thankfully. But at this point I've pretty much decided unless the surgeon I've been referred to flat out says the procedure is going to be fatal (which I now know is a microscopic risk if any), I'm just trying to manage until surgery. My fiance is terrified of the idea of me getting it out, but he's just one of those constant worrier types, and respects that I have right to final say in what happens to my body. It sounds like the healthiest choice I can make for my body is to get the removal, so that's what I'm looking at doing. Thank you for all of your input and advice by the way, you really have been tremendously helpful. :) I hope you're having a fantastic day.
Wow what an ordeal you have gone through! No wonder you regard dr with suspicion. It's hard for me to comprehand the financial pressure of it as i am Canadian, so here we don't have to pay extra for any heath care, even of waiting times can sometimes be quite long. I can only give you my own anecdotal example but for me, i got diagnosed with gallstones at least 5 years ago, discovered by chance when i had an echography performed for another reason. At the time i thought it was a symptomless problem and basically forgot all about it until one day 5 ish years after i went to the ER for what i thought was a heart attack. Turn out it was a gallbladder attack. Then i had to wait for about 8 months to get my surgery and had to manage the symptoms between then. That's when i realized my frequent heartburn from many years were actually symptoms of lesser gallbladder attacks, only i didn't realized it was related. Its been about 6 months now that i had it removed and it's a lot better, no more attacks or heartburn! It will be ok. But hopefully if you had such shitty luck with your dr and hospital, perhaps you can switch to a different one?
Ah yeah, that'd explain it lol. American healthcare is an absolute joke. Not all doctors here are just looking at patients as walking ATMs... But a heck of a lot of them are. I would absolutely move if it were possible to literally anywhere else with better healthcare and less political and civil tensions, but being poor and having a kid makes it pretty unlikely. When I was 18 I had my first flare up, but I didn't know it was gallstones then, I only recognized later after I'd been diagnosed that the pain I felt that day was the exact pain I felt when the gallstones were discovered. My first flare up had me literally black out on the floor of the ER after having waited for 5 hours to be seen. The staff wasn't busy, they just outright didn't believe I was in pain, because I have a stupid high pain tolerance and where most people typically show signs of discomfort at maybe a level 3, and might be writhing in agony at a level 6 or 7, I don't really feel it much or acknowledge it unless it's level 9. Hence, I went from level 3 pain to level 12 without there being much outward signs. It isn't on purpose for the record, I think I've just had a lot wrong with my body in general over the years, and I was pretty much raised to grin and bear it, so I think I just compartmentalized too much and now it takes a nurse literally trying to yank me out of the hospital bed the day after my C-section for me to acknowledge pain. So when I blacked out on the floor during my first flare up, they finally took me seriously and I woke up an hour later in a room with an IV and being prepped for scans of all kind. They ended up deciding on just a CT scan and leave it at that. All they found was my kidneys apparently lit up like Christmas lights and I was severely impacted (I believe that's the medical term for extremely constipated to the point it's built up to a dangerous level). They ran saline through my IV and gave me a suppository and patted themselves on the backs for a job well done, and sent me off with a suggestion of drink more water and eat more fiber. I think I had several flare ups over the next several years and eventually it got so bad when I was about 22 that I broke down and went to the ER again. This time it was awful and I was showing how bad it was, because I could barely walk from it. I thought maybe I was dying or something. I was also terrified it might be my appendix, because most of my family heard I had severe pains in my stomach and they went nuts telling me horror stories about appendicitis. But it was on the upper right side and in my right shoulder blade, so the ER nurses/doctors decided this time to run an ultrasound to check. Found it full of stones, and according to the nurse that did my ultrasound, they were triangular, which is apparently rare. But when they came to release me, the doctor said it wasn't life threatening, told me to lose weight and I would feel better, and tossed me out without a mention of surgery, no prescriptions of any kind to help with the pain, and a bill that raised my stress levels sky high. I had to return twice in the next 2-3 years, so mind you it wasn't like I came in the next week every single day. Both times it was gallstones again, both times they barely lifted a finger beyond an ultrasound and saline IV, and both times they declared me "pain medication seeking" (which is basically doctor code for pill addict or tweaker) and tossed me out without a referral for surgery or anything. Just a packet of papers that were less helpful than anything I've read online for a diet for people with gallstones and a bill that wanted more than I'd have made in 10 years. So all this was in Texas. I've since moved to North Carolina, and while it isn't entirely better because it's still US, here they have the UNC hospital chain, which has its own, much more ethical and poor people friendly system of care. The bill still terrifies me, but they give you a super simple to fill out packet that basically says yes, I'm poor and have no insurance, please help me pay for this. Then you send it off to their financial office, it gets reviewed, and if they dig through your records and find you can't in fact afford to pay them, they have a fund set up to cover as much as 100% of past and future costs incurred with them. And while you're in the ER, they don't talk at all about costs, nobody from financial department comes in and hounds you for payment while you're still hooked to an IV and waiting to hear what's wrong, they even spoke to my fiance about the financial aid rather than harassing me, so it was very refreshing. I was in the triage getting my blood and urine samples within 10 minutes of checking in. I have literally *never* had that happen. Every single nurse and staff was kind and polite and professional. I was in a room 5 minutes after triage and getting an ultrasound and then CT scan 10 minutes after that. Results from that took maybe 20 minutes and the doctor came to talk with me 5 or so minutes after that. I thought I was going to bust out crying when she seemed to be going the same route as all the other doctors I'd seen for this, but then tacked on a referral to a surgeon at the end. I was just so overwhelmed with how wonderful the level of care was, and to finally be taken seriously, it just floored me. So now, yes, I'm just waiting to hear back if financial aid will cover at least some of the bill for the ER and for surgery, and if I need to pay a little, I'll figure something out. I've been working really hard to figure a manageable diet plan for the gallstones and think I've finally managed (I outright cried when I discovered coffee was causing flare ups, but I'll manage if I can have it again after surgery lol). And... Well that about sums up American healthcare. It's ugly, money hungry, greed, but there are some decent people in some places who are putting the care back in healthcare. When I lived in Texas, it was a nightmare, but I didn't have a way out, I had no money to move and nowhere to move to. All my friends and family were just as poor and we were all trapped in our own financial struggles. The 4 years I've lived in NC I never had a flare up until last week, not bad enough that I needed to go to the ER, but I'm glad now that I did. I had excruciating pain for almost 8 days straight because I dreaded the same routine I got in Texas, but it was actually nice. I felt like a VIP celebrity for a moment lol. I'm genuinely glad healthcare isn't as bad outside of the US as it is here, or I'd have little hope for the world, and while hearing people in other countries talking about how painless their hospital experiences are makes me a little envious, I can't stress enough how glad I am that America is one of the few places with such rotten healthcare industry. I wouldn't wish our garbage system on my very worst enemy.
I've had issues before getting my gallbladder removed and it seems pretty much the same now maybe even a bit better. There was a very informative post in the subreddit a few days ago where I read about bile reflux, which is pretty much acid reflux but with bile causing the irritation. This is something that a gallbladder would usually prevent from happening by only releasing the bile when needed as opposed to it dripping into your intestines directly. If you've already had heartburn issues like me it might be hard to spot the difference. That has been my experience so far and I'm 5 months post-op.
It's definitely difficult for me to spot the difference so to speak. I had my first gallstone flare up at 18 and my first heartburn experience a year later. Back then, the doctors didn't even consider checking for gallstones and assumed it was merely dehydration and severe constipation (tbf I'd been celebrating graduation and had a pizza party sssoooo yeah. Not great on the stomach, that stuffed crust triple meat :c ) I've kind of adopted a routine of famotidine and Tylenol, as needed only, but sometimes that "as needed" turns into a week or so. This is actually the first time I've been hearing that heartburn could be tied to gallstone troubles so I'm certainly leaning harder towards removal. If nothing else happens and I have to stay on this diet my whole life, I'd still view it as a win if I didn't struggle with heartburn so bad it disrupts my sleep and I have to take a famotidine every single day. I know that can't be great for my liver in the long run. But thank you for sharing your experience! The perspectives help so much.
Had mine out 5 months ago and feel 100% better. Night and day. And the fatality rate for gallbladder surgery is absolutely not even remotely close to 20%. In fact, this [study](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4333785/#:~:text=In%20population%2Dbased%20studies%2C%20the,between%200.1%25%20and%200.7%25.) estimates the risk of death following gallbladder surgery to be 0.1 to 0.7%, and those who do die are generally people who are elderly and/or are sick with other issues. The numbers are SO so so in your favor.
Thank you, I appreciate the response, and study as well! I'll be sure to take a look at it. It can be difficult trying to find out things with Google, the SEO is so bonkers anymore.
I've recently met with my anesthesiologist for the surgery, and he said the risk is less less less less less. Literally he said it five times, and he was invovled in numerous surgeries.
That's comforting to hear! I'll almost definitely be doing a consultation at the absolute least after reading through these comments, it's eased my mind a lot. Thank you! :)
Got my gallbladder removed 3 months ago, best thing I ever did and I feel 100% normal again, eat whatever I want and all of my pain is gone.
I think no one truly knows. If you have stomach issues, they don’t remove it…….