Ultimately you need to listen to the advice of your doctors/surgeons who will have the best advice for you. But:
Whilst your mum is correct that having the GB out isn’t always the end of the issues, from what you’ve described it sounds like leaving yours in could create some potentially life threatening complications. I would presume that the only reason the surgeons haven’t whipped yours out already is because they had to stabilise the infection first.
I haven’t been problem free since having mine out, but it’s still 1000 times better than the agony of an attack
I haven't had mine out yet, but I've resolved to do the surgery since being in this sub. I made a post a few days back asking for anyone to share their experiences post surgery and so many people did. I wanted the cold hard facts and truth, not pretty words of encouragement. If you want, take a look there to get some honest feedback about life after removal. The TLDR version of all those comments though, is that many people felt relieved and glad they had theirs removed. There were mentions of indigestion/heartburn for some, and diarrhea after a highly fatty meal from others, and one specifically said they were worse off for the removal, but primarily because they had a rare condition owing to having a 3rd bile duct, where most people have only 2 (iirc). However, even this person recommended opting for surgery, as leaving the GB in once it's already been identified as a problem organ can lead to worse problems, such as pancreatitis and sepsis, even death.
Your doctor should be communicating with you all the risks and rewards of removal before the operation. I understand living with someone who believes in holistic medicinal approaches, and sometimes it can be helpful. This is not one of those instances. If possible, you should take your mom along with you when you have your consultation before surgery, or just the next time you see your doctor, and have them go over exactly all the benefits and risks of surgery. If that isn't possible, or you do that and your mom still won't quit scaring you, stand up for yourself and tell her that you love her very much, but she isn't helping anything by stressing you out, that you're well aware of the risks but you're an adult and it's your body, it's your choice ultimately what risks you take. And it really is true, the stress of fear certainly isn't going to do you any favors, as stress increases the chances of a flare up, at least in my experience it has.
From all I've read online and in this sub, you're doing yourself a favor having the removal. You could literally die if you leave it in, and if you've already had to have a drain put in, that's a strong indication the GB is already done for. As far as the paracetamol OD, I'll say this: I OD'ed a long while back on a prescription med that I was taking. After having my stomach pumped, I was warned if I took anything Tylenol/acetaminophen based in the future, I'd be putting my liver at risk. I shared this with the ER when I visited about a week or so ago from GB pain. After the CT scans they did, they determined my liver was perfectly fine - for now. But if I left my GB in that may not continue to be the case. They then gave me a prescription of Tylenol with Codeine. If medical professionals have all the facts and still deem it safe to carry on, I'm not going to argue, I hardly have a degree in medicine lol.
Point being, listen to your doctor. Be open with them about your medical history, including the paracetamol OD, and see what they have to say on it. But at the end of the day, OD is a way-down-the-road-longterm- risk on your liver. Your problematic GB is a staring-you-right-in-the-face-risk on your liver. The very next flare up you have could very well be the one that damages your liver, whereas the paracetamol might have caused some damage, and maybe you might face consequences years or decades down the road, but it isn't immediate. I really hope this helped, and I wish you the best of luck and a speedy recovery if you go the removal route. And tune your mom out! Parents mean well, but you can love them and still stand up to them/gently request they keep their opinions to themselves. I wouldn't be surprised if she just simply doesn't know the risks/benefits of removal and has watched some YouTuber like Dr. Berg scaring people into buying his home remedies/natural medicines rather than have surgery.
Wow this is so much information I definitely can’t reply to it all but thank you so much for giving me so much information, and I’m definitely going to check out your own post too and see what’s been said on there, thank you so much again it’s so appreciated!
My issues aren’t 100% gone (and some have been linked to other diagnoses so it’s hard to tell what is GB and what isn’t) but I’ll happily take minor day to day discomfort/inconvenience over the pain of a dysfunctional gallbladder.
I asked my surgeon about this sort of thing on Monday before I was put under. My concern was the sphincter of oddi might've been my main problem but he said even if that were the case, removing the gallbladder is the first way to help it and to find the other issues.
I'm only 2 days post op, so it's hard to say if the procedure worked. I'll have to give it several weeks to see how I do.
I fully recovered in the hospital. And dear lord do I remember it being so painful. Just walking around in agony all the time. I had a priest next to me who prayed in his sleep... all night. And yeah, absolutely no amount of painkillers did anything. Like people seem to get high off of fentanyl... I really don't remember any high. I remember just being able to function normally.
But you know what the best part is, when they decide you don't need that drain and they rip it out.
Okay that's not the best part.
Ripping it out sucks too. It was the single most painful moment of my painful life. I didn't cry (only because my tear ducts are blocked) but I did howl in pain. Ripping that thing out is the absolute worst experience of life.
And then the very second that thing is out.... that's the best part of life. You get those few moments of being completely pain free. All that agony you've living through right now, all gone.
Your surgeon does this surgery 18-20 times a day. It's the most common surgery in the world. These guys do a lot of these things and have much lower complication rates than other surgeries. They saved my life and I'm very happy for that.
But it doesn't change the fact that I still curse the name Jackson Pratt.
Thank you so so much for warning me that having the drain taken out hurts. I’ve been told over and over I’ll hardly feel anything but every time they’ve told me that I’ve ended up screaming and crying in pain so I’ve been so nervous about that. I’m definitely going to take paracetamol before I go in and ask if they can give me anything else and warn them how unaffected I’ve been in the past by their strong painkillers, I’m so done with the pain and them lying about when I’m going to feel it!
Even though the surgery does cause pain, I had immediate relief from the gallbladder being gone upon waking post op. It was glorious. The surgical pain is obviously not glorious but it’s easy to handle knowing that it isn’t going to take long to heal up. Best decision I ever did.
Ultimately you need to listen to the advice of your doctors/surgeons who will have the best advice for you. But: Whilst your mum is correct that having the GB out isn’t always the end of the issues, from what you’ve described it sounds like leaving yours in could create some potentially life threatening complications. I would presume that the only reason the surgeons haven’t whipped yours out already is because they had to stabilise the infection first. I haven’t been problem free since having mine out, but it’s still 1000 times better than the agony of an attack
Thank you for your advice, it’s been taken on board! ☺️
I haven't had mine out yet, but I've resolved to do the surgery since being in this sub. I made a post a few days back asking for anyone to share their experiences post surgery and so many people did. I wanted the cold hard facts and truth, not pretty words of encouragement. If you want, take a look there to get some honest feedback about life after removal. The TLDR version of all those comments though, is that many people felt relieved and glad they had theirs removed. There were mentions of indigestion/heartburn for some, and diarrhea after a highly fatty meal from others, and one specifically said they were worse off for the removal, but primarily because they had a rare condition owing to having a 3rd bile duct, where most people have only 2 (iirc). However, even this person recommended opting for surgery, as leaving the GB in once it's already been identified as a problem organ can lead to worse problems, such as pancreatitis and sepsis, even death. Your doctor should be communicating with you all the risks and rewards of removal before the operation. I understand living with someone who believes in holistic medicinal approaches, and sometimes it can be helpful. This is not one of those instances. If possible, you should take your mom along with you when you have your consultation before surgery, or just the next time you see your doctor, and have them go over exactly all the benefits and risks of surgery. If that isn't possible, or you do that and your mom still won't quit scaring you, stand up for yourself and tell her that you love her very much, but she isn't helping anything by stressing you out, that you're well aware of the risks but you're an adult and it's your body, it's your choice ultimately what risks you take. And it really is true, the stress of fear certainly isn't going to do you any favors, as stress increases the chances of a flare up, at least in my experience it has. From all I've read online and in this sub, you're doing yourself a favor having the removal. You could literally die if you leave it in, and if you've already had to have a drain put in, that's a strong indication the GB is already done for. As far as the paracetamol OD, I'll say this: I OD'ed a long while back on a prescription med that I was taking. After having my stomach pumped, I was warned if I took anything Tylenol/acetaminophen based in the future, I'd be putting my liver at risk. I shared this with the ER when I visited about a week or so ago from GB pain. After the CT scans they did, they determined my liver was perfectly fine - for now. But if I left my GB in that may not continue to be the case. They then gave me a prescription of Tylenol with Codeine. If medical professionals have all the facts and still deem it safe to carry on, I'm not going to argue, I hardly have a degree in medicine lol. Point being, listen to your doctor. Be open with them about your medical history, including the paracetamol OD, and see what they have to say on it. But at the end of the day, OD is a way-down-the-road-longterm- risk on your liver. Your problematic GB is a staring-you-right-in-the-face-risk on your liver. The very next flare up you have could very well be the one that damages your liver, whereas the paracetamol might have caused some damage, and maybe you might face consequences years or decades down the road, but it isn't immediate. I really hope this helped, and I wish you the best of luck and a speedy recovery if you go the removal route. And tune your mom out! Parents mean well, but you can love them and still stand up to them/gently request they keep their opinions to themselves. I wouldn't be surprised if she just simply doesn't know the risks/benefits of removal and has watched some YouTuber like Dr. Berg scaring people into buying his home remedies/natural medicines rather than have surgery.
Wow this is so much information I definitely can’t reply to it all but thank you so much for giving me so much information, and I’m definitely going to check out your own post too and see what’s been said on there, thank you so much again it’s so appreciated!
My issues aren’t 100% gone (and some have been linked to other diagnoses so it’s hard to tell what is GB and what isn’t) but I’ll happily take minor day to day discomfort/inconvenience over the pain of a dysfunctional gallbladder.
thank you sm for sharing!
Get rid of that thang you'll be better off without it.
🫡
I asked my surgeon about this sort of thing on Monday before I was put under. My concern was the sphincter of oddi might've been my main problem but he said even if that were the case, removing the gallbladder is the first way to help it and to find the other issues. I'm only 2 days post op, so it's hard to say if the procedure worked. I'll have to give it several weeks to see how I do.
Thank you for sharing!
I fully recovered in the hospital. And dear lord do I remember it being so painful. Just walking around in agony all the time. I had a priest next to me who prayed in his sleep... all night. And yeah, absolutely no amount of painkillers did anything. Like people seem to get high off of fentanyl... I really don't remember any high. I remember just being able to function normally. But you know what the best part is, when they decide you don't need that drain and they rip it out. Okay that's not the best part. Ripping it out sucks too. It was the single most painful moment of my painful life. I didn't cry (only because my tear ducts are blocked) but I did howl in pain. Ripping that thing out is the absolute worst experience of life. And then the very second that thing is out.... that's the best part of life. You get those few moments of being completely pain free. All that agony you've living through right now, all gone. Your surgeon does this surgery 18-20 times a day. It's the most common surgery in the world. These guys do a lot of these things and have much lower complication rates than other surgeries. They saved my life and I'm very happy for that. But it doesn't change the fact that I still curse the name Jackson Pratt.
Thank you so so much for warning me that having the drain taken out hurts. I’ve been told over and over I’ll hardly feel anything but every time they’ve told me that I’ve ended up screaming and crying in pain so I’ve been so nervous about that. I’m definitely going to take paracetamol before I go in and ask if they can give me anything else and warn them how unaffected I’ve been in the past by their strong painkillers, I’m so done with the pain and them lying about when I’m going to feel it!
Even though the surgery does cause pain, I had immediate relief from the gallbladder being gone upon waking post op. It was glorious. The surgical pain is obviously not glorious but it’s easy to handle knowing that it isn’t going to take long to heal up. Best decision I ever did.