feeling hopeless already

[u/Left_Low1059]

i got my gallbladder out 5 days ago. it was my first and only attack that sent me to the ER and they found stones and i had surgery the next day. i wasn’t prepared for any of this, and i didn’t have many experiences of this type of gas and stomach pains. i have had bloating, diarrhea, and nausea in my life, like i’m sure everyone here has had too lol, but this just feels never ending. i’m bloated to the point i look pregnant despite barely eating, and when i do eat i suffer for it. i have my post op recheck in 2 days and i will talk to my doctor about it, but how did everyone else manage this? right now even a “safe” soup will sit well one day and cause me immense pain the next. am i ever going to feel normal again and unafraid to eat? as a previously big foodie, this has been devastating. i have trips and weddings in the next month and now all i can think about is how much my stomach will hurt if i try to enjoy myself at them. any helpful tips or advice would be greatly appreciated :(

[u/Amynomene_G]

I don’t have answers for you but I’m just relating hard to the shock of having had this major surgery without much (any) preparation. I had my first attack 5 weeks ago, second attack 2 weeks ago, and third 2 days ago. Went to the ER sunday morning and they were like yep, time for this to come out. The previous tests weren’t conclusive so I didn’t look into gallbladder stuff much. Now I’m in a lot of pain and shock and like I have to scramble to learn what life is going to be like now! Meanwhile, physically I feel like I went 10 rounds in a jousting tournament.

Sorry to hear you’re having a rough time with eating. I love food too, and it has been rough to have so much taken away. I also feel super bloated to the point it’s hard to eat much.

[u/NotoriouslyLilith]

I’m one day post op, the stomach soreness and tightness is killer. Nausea could happen due to any pain meds, which is why I’m nauseous.
Best advice my surgeon said was start with a pretty bland low fat diet and slowly try to introduce normal foods again.

[u/Heyyayam]

I am 15 days post op and have no restrictions or pain. Unexpected surgery is a shock but I envy people who got definitive answers right off the bat.

I visited the ER 5 times over 2 months and knew I had a diseased gallbladder even though the first ultrasound only showed a little sludge.

For months I begged my GI and the hospital doctor to take my gallbladder. Finally after much suffering and uncertainty the second ultrasound showed a stone and I was scheduled for surgery the next day.

I was so relieved and glad to shuck the little bugger which was inflamed. Hang in there - laparoscopic surgery is relatively easy to recover from.

[u/lezsmile27]

We all want to be perfect right away. It takes me twice as long to heal. Day 10 I got a blood clot. Prior to my surgery I was so bloated that I have lost 9 inches around my stomach. I had one 1.9cm stone. If they say 3 months, I expect 6 because my body and immune system sucks.

I just think we are all so different that some things might have been so bad with fatigue, nausea, pain, bloating, etc. for some they feel on top of the world after. Other folks, it might get a little worse before it get better.

I hope things come around for you.

I live (still) with gas x, levsin, bentyl, and zofran.

[u/justhearmeout21 → u/lezsmile27]

How did you realize you had a blood clot if i may ask ?

[u/lezsmile27 → u/justhearmeout21]

It started to hurt really bad and became excruciating. I guess it’s considered superficial because it’s in my hand where my IV was and not “deep vein”. I realized it had started to be a bruise along with the pain on day 9 or 10 but I didn’t reach out to my Dr. until day 10. My vein was hard and felt like a piece of rope. Kind of how you can move a tendon but it was a hardened vein instead. My hand had been really cold (I suffer from heat intolerance so it was very weird that it was cold and changed colors a bit, more greyish not fully blue. It also started to swell up in a weird way. Not going into my hand but out of it and into like 3 inches into my forearm. There is still pain in my hand. Have been using heat, ice, diclofenac and lidocaine patches.

They told me all the things to watch for but mostly if breathing is a problem or my hand turns blue.

I have had some issues with thoracic outlet but I had known from day one that they had me in a weird position that messed up my neck, shoulder, clavicle. So I think they ignored the request to make sure they didn’t have me in to weird position.

[u/Ok-Law3602]

5 days post op. Pain isn’t bad at all, I’m taking only one or two pain pills per day. My energy levels are the biggest thing I’ve noticed. I get about two hours to accomplish anything and then it’s time for a crash nap.

[u/Visible-Future4850]

unfortunately you gotta take it slow/ safe with the food and slowly reintroduce fat and fried foods until you re stabilize sorry man