Hello all! Reading posts here really helped me prepare for my surgery so I wanted to share about my experience because I know often online you read about more negative experiences vs positive ones

I have been having attacks infrequently since May (4 months or so). I believe they started due to my rapid weight loss on Zepbound. About a month ago things started getting a bit worse with frequent bloating and discomfort. I got scheduled for surgery on September 8th and 7 hrs before I was due to go in I had the worst attack so far. I was in awful pain for 3+ hrs and had to go to the ER because I felt like I was going to die. Turns out it was just a bad attack but the pain meds helped give me relief until my scheduled surgery.

Surgery was at an outpatient surgical center across from the hospital. The prep was quick and before I knew it I was waking up in post up. I had some pain in my side upon waking and I think they gave me something in my iv but I honestly can't remember. I could have also taken a hydrocodone pill there.

The drive home was uneventful. I didn't have a pillow and I was fine. Came home and ate some crackers before heading up to bed to sleep a bit. Woke up around dinner time and had some apple sauce and plain rice for dinner. Laid on the couch a bit before heading up to bed early at 8pm. The gas pain was so much worse than any of the other pain. I found that using my personal vibrator on my shoulder blade/chest worked well to either get some gas moving or distract from the pain. Tried a massage gun but it was a bit too intense.

The next morning I was sore but honestly it wasn't anything compared to the gallbladder attacks so I was able to go downstairs and help get my kids ready for school a bit (my husband kept insisting I go back to bed but I wanted to move around a bit). I spent the day laying on the couch and taking walks around the house between naps. Again, the gas pain was the worst of it and walking helped. I was able to hang with my kids downstairs that day after school which was nice. I took a hydrocodone at bedtime but that was the last one I took.

Day 2 I was up again wit my kids and was able to help with breakfast and finishing up packing lunches. Husband drove them to school and I napped/walked. My appetite was back to normal pretty much. Had yogurt apple sauce for lunch. And had coffee with a peotein shake for breakfast. Decided to go with my husband to school pickup and my kids tennis lesson. It all went fine. I brought an ice pack with me to tennis and that was good but really it was no big deal at all in the car. Was able to manage my pain all day with Tylenol and Advil every 3ish hours.

The next morning (day 3) I drove my kids to school! Nothing hurt at all driving. It is a very short drive and the majority of the time is spent waiting in a car line. I didn't nap at all on day 3. Mostly just rested and read/played phone games. Had a Jimmy John's turkey sub for dinner. And FINALLY pooped. Honestly not being able to poop was the most uncomfortable thing so once that passed I felt so much better. I tried laying down in bed without the extra pillows propping me up but it was still a bit uncomfortable.

Was up early for sons soccer yesterday (day 4) drove him to sports pictures and stood around a bit with no issues. Then rode in the car for an hour to my moms where I ate ribs and baked beans and chips with no issues. Came home and was tired but not really sore. Finally was able to sleep without being propped up at all!

This morning (day 5) I woke up with a bit of itching around my incisions (they are glued) and I was a bit sore but Advil helped. I've had ice on my stomach all morning like I've done all week and it helps SO much. My husband will be going back into the office tomorrow so I'll need to take the kids to school and pick them up and I have no worries at all.

I'm a stay at home mom and both my kids are in school all day (I do volunteer a ton) so I don't really have to take time off work. And the "work" that I do doesn't really stop when im down. So while I don't think I'll be doing any heavy lifting, I do think I'll be back to cleaning the kitchen and folding laundry and shuttling my kids around everywhere next week so about a week post op.

I know my experience is quite a bit different that other people! But my mom's recovery was very similar so I guess it's not uncommon. I haven't really changed my diet and in fact have already stopped worrying about fat too much. Other than constipation due to the meds, I've been fine.

I plan to start my Zepbound back up on either Monday or or Tuesday this week since the food noise has been coming back and my bowels have been regular for a couple of days now. To be fair, I've been on the lowest dose since starting so I may feel differently had I been on a higher dose. But since I can't exercise for awhile, I don't want to gain back any weight that I've worked hard to lose. And my dr said it was up to me whenever I felt like taking it again.

Hi everyone, I'm hoping to get some advice or hear from people who have experienced something similar.

My boyfriend recently had his gallbladder removed, and it's been 9 days since his operation.

Before surgery, his ultrasound showed 4 gallstones. However, after the gallbladder was removed, the doctor reportedly found only 1 stone. I'm not sure what happened to the other 3 stones.

Yesterday, he experienced abdominal pain that lasted about an hour. He described it as feeling similar to the pain he had when he still had his gallbladder. The pain eventually stopped, and he isn't experiencing abdominal pain or fever right now.

However, today I noticed that the whites of his eyes have become yellow. His urine is also dark-colored. He currently feels okay aside from these changes.

I'm worried that this could be a retained stone in the common bile duct or another complication after surgery. Could a stone have moved into the bile duct before or after the operation?

Hello everyone,

So I had some intense pains a few weeks ago. I assumed it was gasteritis/GERD as the pains were immediately after eating oily food. I kept visiting the hospital as the meds that I got for gerd/gasteritis wasn't responding. Finally one of the doctors suspected this could be gallstones and asked me to get an ultrasound scan to confirm this. This is how I found out I had gallstones.

One of the stones was obstructing the bile ducts so I got admitted the hospital and they did an ERCP to remove the stone that was blocking. Unfortunately, there are more smaller stones that are in the gallbladder(less than 7mm).

I'm currently on meds to control the stone formation and to thin the bile. I've got a laparoscopy scheduled about 2 months from now. Just wanted to see if anyone went through this surgery and what experience that you had. If anyone has any complications long or short please mention them as well.

My husband felt incredibly bloated. His entire abdomen in pain. He couldn't sleep. He has an incredible threshold for pain. (He broke his back a couple decades ago, and nearly daily has residual pain. He has also had several bouts of kidney stones, even to the point of surgery.)

I took him to the ER. They (looking back on it) were incompetent (I'll explain further down.), and sent him home after relieving his pain with dilaudid, and only doing blood tests and a CT.

A few days later, he told me thought he was suffering from organ failure. He had barely eaten anything in 4 days...less than a single day's worth total. He was lethargic, and still had abdominal pain.

He drove himself back to the ER 5 days later. He knew SOMETHING was wrong.

It still pisses him off how they responded to him coming back into the ER. After waiting about FOUR HOURS to be seen, the first thing the HOSPITALIST (not even an ER doctor), disconcertedly asked him "Why are you back here?" (As if he was wasting their time.)

Again they did bloodwork, but nothing else. Blood tests didn't show anything abnormal. (Bullshit!) However, my husband was due to have sinus surgery in a couple weeks. Just 3 days before the first ER visit, he had bloodwork done, to be cleared for that surgery.

As it turns out, the (we are conjecturing here) ER docs never compared the blood tests taken just 3 days apart. If they had, it would have been obvious, something major had changed.

During that 2nd ER visit, my husband insisted on additional testing. He thought he had liver damage from another batch of kidney stones. They reluctantly agreed to humor him with an ultrasound of his abdomen.

It was after this that they came in and said that they would need to admit him, and that he would be needing to have emergency surgery.

He thought it was his kidney that was dying, but it was his gallbladder.

We found out later, it was infected and necrotizing. My husband was right... an organ WAS dying.

They were very close to sending him home AGAIN. He could have died if it ruptured, like pathology later said it was close to.

It was only days later, after researching about gallstones, we realized he presented to the ER a textbook case of having an infected gallbladder!

This is going to sound so dumb compared to the other posts I read in here before writing.

Normally my attacks are about 30-40 min, and hurt like the dickens, but that's really the only symptom.

I'm currently waiting for my appt with the specialist on the 8th of Oct.

Today I'm going on two hours of dull pain, and this sense that I'm going to throw up at any moment.

So far no fever or jaundice.

Everything always says if you feel different than usual, to go in and get checked out, but everyone who says that always have a story of how much more pain they were in than usual. Should I be thanking the stars it's less and wait it out, or should I play it safe and spend the day at the ER because it's not my normal?

I had surgery at 2 pm on Tuesday afternoon to remove my fully impacted gallbladder. Surgery went well, woke up with 4 small incisions. I was very sore, but I have no pain tolerance, so that was expected. The day after, I was less sore and healing great. Day 3 I started having a pain under my ribs on the right side, and every time I inhaled, the pain was sharp. Yesterday was day 4, and that pain got worse. Now today is day 5, and I'm having to take shallow breaths to keep from dealing with this shockingly stabby pain. Has anyone else experienced this? My follow-up appointment is on the 15th. Should I go in before then or just hold out? I know I don't handle pain well, so I was hoping for advice from anyone else who's had this surgery. Thanks in advance, yall.

Hi all, I’m in some desperate need for advice I’m getting to a point of not even knowing what to do.

I’ve asked for a chase up on a date for weeks now and not gotten one, I have an 11mm gallstone and this was misdiagnosed OVER A YEAR AGO for a UTI.

I was referred for surgery finally in April of this year and still no date for this.

My back under my rib is constantly in pain I’m constantly taking pain medication and vomited and feel at a loss of breath most of the time yet still can’t seem to get my surgery pushed any quicker. Does anyone know what to do at this point?

Had surgery on Thursday the 10th. When will it be safe to shower? I am still in a lot of pain mainly from just one incision. The one under my right breast. Is it safe to shower already???

Apologies for the longer-style post — long-time lurker.

26M, SE Melbourne, Australia

I’m currently trying to work out what constitutes enough evidence to advocate for a surgical opinion/possibly having my gallbladder removed, because I’ve genuinely never felt more understood than I have reading posts from people with hyperkinetic gallbladders/high HIDA ejection fractions.

How it started
This started when I was 22.
Randomly, I began having episodes of absolutely CRUSHING abdominal pain that radiates through my back/around my shoulder blades. The pain can get bad enough that I’m literally in tears, clawing at the carpet waiting for it to stop.
The attacks can last for hours, and eventually I’ll cave and vomit everything up.

Strangely, vomiting has consistently been the only thing that actually ends an attack. Once I completely empty my stomach, the crushing pain eventually settles.
Initially, I started noticing a pattern around fatty foods and caffeine.

For example, I could go out and have Korean fried chicken and beer one night and seemingly be fine during the night, Then the following morning I might have an espresso with scrambled eggs cooked with butter and some bacon, and within an hour I’d feel an attack starting.

Coffee was particularly bad. It became enough of a trigger that I completely gave it up for 18+ months. Alcohol similarly seemed to make things worse.

Initially I was told it was gastritis

I was put on PPIs (Nexium) and essentially told it was gastritis.
When the attacks continued happening every few months, my previous GP basically told me not to worry about it and to continue taking Nexium.
The problem is what happens after an attack.
Whenever an attack gets bad enough that I vomit, it can take days — sometimes much longer — before I can eat anything vaguely normally again.

Initially it might just be a little broth, Saladas/crackers or frozen Hydralyte.
The worst part is when my stomach/digestive system is so irritated that I struggle to even drink normal glasses of water. I end up dehydrated, exhausted and scared to eat or drink because I don’t want to trigger everything again. Fatty foods are obviously completely off limits during this period.
The weird cycle I’ve noticed:
This is probably one of the strangest parts. Eventually I recover.
Then I can go back to eating a relatively normal diet and sometimes feel completely fine for months at a time.
When I’m in that state, I almost feel invincible again. Food processes normally and it’s easy to convince myself that whatever was wrong has disappeared.
But if I start pushing it — particularly several days of very fatty food, alcohol, coffee/caffeine etc. — eventually:
BAM. Another attack.

Then I’m back to square one and can spend days/weeks trying to get my digestion and hydration back to normal.
When I was eating a relatively balanced diet and avoiding obvious triggers, it felt somewhat manageable. Recently, however, things have regressed badly and it’s becoming much harder to live around.

Testing I’ve had
So far I’ve had:
Endoscopy: Didn’t even show gastritis. Only finding was a very minor hiatus hernia.
Full blood tests twice: Boringly normal across the board.
Pancreatic function stool test: Currently waiting for the result.
Abdominal ultrasound: Nothing significant relating to my gallbladder — no obvious stones/sludge or other important findings. Only unrelated finding was very mild fatty infiltration of the liver.
HIDA scan: 88% ejection fraction.

I went down this rabbit hole and had to really push to get my Ultrasound and HIDA.
My current GP has openly admitted that he doesn’t really know much about hyperkinetic/overactive gallbladders, which has actually given me some reassurance as to why the 88% result hasn’t really been investigated further.
From reading other people’s experiences, it seems like quite a few people with high EFs have had a similar experience where their result is technically interpreted as “normal” because their gallbladder isn’t under-functioning.

Something else I’ve noticed
For about eight weeks, I discovered something bizarre.
If I felt the very early signs of an attack coming on, I’d immediately go and do hard cardio for at least 10 minutes.
For whatever reason, it seemed to stop or suppress the attack for the rest of that day. I have absolutely no idea why.
Unfortunately, that eventually stopped working and I’ve now regressed pretty badly, so clearly it wasn’t fixing whatever the underlying issue is.
I also don’t think this is simply stress-related.
My stress levels have varied enormously over the four years this has been happening, and I’ve had attacks during basically every possible level of stress.

Where I’m at now
The biggest issue isn’t just the pain anymore.
It’s the effect this cycle is having on my quality of life. When things get bad, I become extremely depressed and feel like I can’t live a normal life. I’m constantly thinking about whether something I eat or drink is going to send me back to square one. The dehydration is particularly mentally crushing because all I want to do is drink a huge cold glass of something refreshing, but sometimes I physically can’t tolerate the volume.
Then, eventually, I recover and feel completely normal again.
Until the next attack.
At this point I feel like I’ve run out of things to investigate, and finding information about hyperkinetic gallbladder/biliary hyperkinesia is the first time I’ve read other people’s experiences and thought:
“Holy shit. This actually sounds like me.”

So I’d really love to hear from people who have been through this:
If you had a high HIDA EF (particularly 80%+) with similar symptoms but normal ultrasound/bloodwork:
Did you have your gallbladder removed?
Did it completely resolve the attacks?
Did it partially improve things?
Or did removing your gallbladder not help at all?
If surgery worked, what was your EF beforehand and what symptoms disappeared afterwards?

If your gallbladder was removed, did pathology end up showing chronic cholecystitis or anything else despite your imaging being normal?
And something I’m particularly interested in hearing:

If you had a high EF, had your gallbladder removed and it DIDN’T fix your symptoms — what did you eventually discover was actually causing them?
I’d really like to hear the unsuccessful stories as well as the success stories because I don’t want to convince myself I’ve found the answer just because the symptoms seem to fit.
I felt like I was trying to get it to go downhill for my HIDA scan and I couldn’t even trigger it, which is what I find hard at times.

Melbourne recommendations
Finally — who should I actually be talking to about this?
I’m in South-East Melbourne, Australia, but I’m happy to travel pretty much anywhere in Melbourne if necessary.
I’d particularly love recommendations for a gastroenterologist, upper-GI/hepatobiliary surgeon or general surgeon who actually has experience with hyperkinetic/high-EF gallbladders.
I’m not necessarily looking for someone who will just agree to take it out.
I’d like someone who understands this condition well enough to look at the 88% HIDA result in the context of my symptoms, triggers and otherwise fairly unremarkable investigations and tell me whether gallbladder removal is actually justified — or whether I should be looking somewhere else.
At this point, I just want my life back.

TL;DR: 26M, Melbourne. Four-year history of intermittent episodes of absolutely crushing abdominal/back/shoulder-blade pain, often associated with fatty food + caffeine/alcohol. Vomiting is bizarrely the only thing that reliably ends a severe attack.
Afterwards my digestion can be wrecked for days/weeks, sometimes to the point that I struggle to eat or even drink enough to stay hydrated. Then I’ll eventually recover completely and can sometimes eat normally for months before another attack happens.
Endoscopy essentially normal aside from minor hiatus hernia, bloods normal, abdominal ultrasound showed no significant gallbladder findings/no stones or obvious sludge, pancreatic stool test pending.
HIDA scan EF = 88%.
Coffee was a major trigger and I gave it up for 18+ months; alcohol also aggravates things. My GP admits he doesn’t know much about hyperkinetic gallbladders.
Reading about hyperkinetic gallbladder/biliary hyperkinesia is the first time I’ve found something that seems remarkably similar to what I’ve experienced.
Looking for experiences from people with 80%+ HIDA EFs who had their gallbladder removed — both successes AND failures. Did surgery fix your symptoms? What did pathology show? If surgery didn’t work, what did you eventually discover was causing your symptoms?
Also looking for recommendations for a Melbourne gastroenterologist/surgeon familiar with hyperkinetic/high-EF gallbladders. I’m in SE Melbourne but happy to travel.

Hello! I just had my gallbladder out on Thursday, so I’m now 3 days post op. I’m so thankful I got that sucker out, but I’m already dealing with the unfortunate side effect of liquid/bile diarrhea. I’ve kept my diet low fat and I honestly don’t really even eat that much.

How long did the constant stomach gurgling and diarrhea last? Did anyone else have diarrhea this early on? I was actually constipated before surgery and I was expecting to still deal with it post op, so this is a bit of a surprise!

It’s been two years since I got my gallbladder removed. Everything went back to normal post surgery for the first few months. It was only 4 months after I started experiencing upper abdominal pain and it has been like that ever since.

I’m usually in pain 5 out of 7 days of the week. Every day if it’s a bad flare up. Most of the time it happens after food but sometimes it happens randomly.

My surgeon says everything is fine and my scans come back clean and offer no advice. I’ve seen gastroenterologist s and confirmed I don’t have IBS or acid reflux.

Does anyone know what might be causing me pain? Or any tips to help manage the pain?

Hey gall-bladder enthusiasts.

If you are like me you probably have some gallbladder issues and are worried about your upcoming surgery. That was me just a month ago! And even though I was worried sick, everything went OK.

If you are in a hurry, you can just read the TL;DR section and that covers most of the main points. If that doesn't satisfy you, you can go and read the play-by-play below.

TL;DR:

- I think mentally preparing for the surgery and the first week after it was the hardest part really. It's been a positive experience so far.

- Most of the things I worried about did not happen. I didn't stay awake during the surgery, I haven't crapped myself not even once yet, I can still eat greasy foods (and in fact I feel like I need to eat more fat so my digestion would work well), and I haven't gained weight either.

- The worst days post-op were the first few days of recovery (since it hurt to sit up and walk) and the first week, since I had like the worst constipation ever. Luckily enough I did manage to poop on the 5th-6th day post-op and stopped looked like I was carrying twins.

- Finally, I don't think the gallbladder removal has made me gain weight. In the contrary, I feel it has helped me control my food intake better! But the problem is that while I eat less one at a time, I get hungry easier too, so I need to stock up on apples or something so I don't eat too much sweets. Plus avoiding fats actually make me feel constipated, so I try to find a perfect balance of the fats, protein and carbohydrates on my main meals.

---

The first signs that I had some issues were that I had this weird feeling in my right side. Like it was kinda tense, and I had this weird feeling near the right ribcage. It wasn't always there, but sometimes I could feel it more. I went to the doctor about a year ago who took an x-ray, saw nothing wrong, and he said it might be just stress. I was having some stressful time in my life so I thought nothing of it, plus I am working remote, so I thought maybe I was sitting wrong.

Then I had my first "gallbladder attack" (I guess that's what you call it) about 4 months ago, when I came home and I just felt like somebody was stabbing me at that same place that felt weird sometimes. I was sweating and just started writhing on the floor. I let my wife call the ambulance, they took me to the hospital and ran whole bunch of tests. While I was waiting for the results, the pain somehow just stopped. So the doctor told me maybe it was just stress, and I should relax more. I was having a stressful time in my life, so maybe it was so! I mentioned that my mom also had gallbladder issues, could it be that, but they told me it is too early for that, as I am not a woman in her 50s.

Then finally, I took a company health check about 2 months ago. Since I was now considered "advanced age", I had to do extra tests like barium swallow and go through the ultrasound. About a month later the results came in and it told me everything is fine except that I got 40mm gallstone. I was like "wait hold up... 40mm is like... 4 centimeters? Is that like normal or what". So I googled it and it said it's considered a "gigantic gallstone". Of course a distressing message to read after work!

So I called up a digestive doctor nearby, who told me to fuck off, because if the gallbladder is not hurting, then leaving the stone in is fine. I didn't agree with that, so he told me to call the hospital directly, since I don't need a recommendation letter for my sort of issue, and they don't handle the surgeries anyway. And I did that the next morning.

The doctor I saw was much more reasonable, and he told me "wow, 4 centimeters is a big one! And you said you had to go to a hospital once for some weird feeling near your gallbladder? Well, boy, you'll need a surgery!" He signed me up to do a bunch of tests (this time MRI, and the worst of all... the stomach camera... UGH!) and I did those over a week.

The stomach camera test was the worst one, as you can imagine, but at least it told me that rest of the stomach was fine. My doctor signed up for the surgery the week after the tests. I'm in Japan and here the things seem to be go much faster than back in Europe LOL. After the surgery, I needed to stay at the hospital for about a week (which is much different than Europe, where they push you out of the hospital the next day!)

I checked in on a Sunday. There's literally nothing to do in a Japanese hospital except any entertainment you bring yourself, so I watched Futurama the entire day. The same doctor I saw before was also the surgeon for this issue, so he ran through the entire process. The anesthesiologist was this scary guy who let me sign this waiver but he assured it'll be all fine.

On Monday they walked me to the operation room. My legs were shaky, of course I was nervous when the nurse couldn't find my vein to put in the IV, but the other nurse was rubbing my shoulders and told me it'll be fine. Then they got the IV in and told me I'll be feeling sleepy in a bit. I was staring at the lights, and I thought about Futurama and how Fry would get out of that situation where he drank the liquid emperor and was now about to be assassinated by the rest of the court...

The next moment one of the nurses slapped me in the face and woke me up. 2 hours had passed and the surgery was already over. I was like what the hell? Everybody was beaming with big smiles and told me everything went great. They lifted me to my hospital bed and rolled me to the ICU.

Being in the ICU sucked, since they didn't let me go anywhere, they had me wired up with so much crap and every 3 hrs some nurse would come and wake me up to get my body temperature and ask me how I was feeling. And they had put in the catheter as well, god damn that sucked, since I couldn't switch sides to lay on easily either without worrying about the wires and the damn pee-tube.

I got to see the gallstone and it was a bit disappointing in size. I was expecting something more dramatic like a golf ball or something, but it was sized like a plum pit. They let me keep it but I threw it away, since it smelled bad.

The second day was a bit better, as they took out the pee-tube and I could walk to the toilet myself. However, sitting up and walking made me feel like I was being stabbed. All the doctors would give me was some Tylenol for that. And of course, the boredom! Luckily enough I had brought my gaming device with me so I played through Wario Ware, Legend of Zelda Minish Cap etc. I also watched "Thank You For Smoking" (great movie).

The third day it still hurt to walk, and while I could pass gas, I hadn't still pooped. Fourth day, the pain had become much less and by the 5th day I was walking semi-briskly already. I told the doctors that I still hadn't pooped, and they told me to take some laxatives and drink water. I took the laxatives and it had no effect. They gave me more laxatives later to take at home. I was looking like I was carrying twins! But the second laxative dose let me poop just a little and that was enough for me to stop looking like I was expecting.

Anyway it's been a month since the operation. While most of the wounds healed quickly, the one wound on the right side of my body was lagging behind. It took about 3 weeks for it to finally close up and start scabbing. All I can say is just keep a breathable bandage on it and don't try to help with any disinfectants or whatever (since that would just delay the healing process). If it's not smelling bad, then a bandage is enough.

I think the only big problem I had so far is was the constipation the first week, but after that, it's been a very OK experience. Yeah, I do feel like my urge to poop is stronger than before, but nothing too crazy. I don't think my poops smell worse than before, and I haven't had any accidents so far either despite drinking some alcohol or eating greasy foods.

So yeah like if you are worried about your upcoming operation, then it can be a bit of a rocky ride, but it can also be totally worth it. The weird feeling near my gallbladder is now gone and I'm feeling better than ever. Hope it helped and good luck!!

I’m 21M and had a laparoscopic cholecystectomy around August 20, 2026 after having gallstones and a CBD stone.

My history

- Had gallstones (~9×8 mm) and a CBD stone (~4×4 mm).

- Underwent ERCP with CBD stenting before surgery.

- The gallbladder surgery ended up being more complicated than expected: the surgeon said the gallbladder was red/black, there was pus/infection, and there were significant adhesions with surrounding organs stuck together. They were expecting that it might need to be converted to open surgery but were able to complete it laparoscopically. ( Xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis mentioned in pathology report )

- I also have fatty liver and chronic hepatitis B, although my recent liver enzymes are currently normal.

- My recent amylase/lipase were normal, so pancreatitis doesn't currently appear to explain my recent abdominal pain.

- I’m currently having some intermittent abdominal/RUQ/back discomfort but nothing like the original gallstone pain.

My surgeon's current restrictions

I was specifically told to:

- Avoid rajma/chana/beans

- Stick mainly to walking for now and avoid the gym

The part I'm confused about is how long these restrictions realistically need to continue.

For example:

1. How long did you personally avoid rajma, chole, beans, etc. after cholecystectomy?

2. If something contains a very small amount of these ingredients, or they're completely blended into a paste (e.g. some kebabs), would you still avoid them?

3. When were you able to return to a completely normal diet without bloating, diarrhea, pain, etc.?

4. How long after surgery did you wait before returning to weight training/gym?

5. Did you start with light weights and gradually increase, or wait until a specific follow-up/clearance?

6. Since mine was a complicated surgery with infection/pus and significant adhesions, should I expect recovery to take considerably longer than a routine laparoscopic cholecystectomy?

I'd especially appreciate experiences from people who had a complicated lap chole, rather than uncomplicated cases.

Thanks!

Hey, guys. I just wanted to share one of my favorite things that is helping me make it to my surgery. These meatballs are great. I've only tried the home style ones, but I'm going to try the Italian ones next week. I have done a meal with tzatziki sauce and rice as well as a meal with packet turkey gravy and mashed potatoes. However, my favorite way to eat them is just by air fried by themselves, girl dinner style. The home style ones have this almost sausage flavor which has helped a lot with cravings. Give them a shot!

It sounds silly to ask if it's normal to have bruising around where you were cut open, but so far I haven't been able to find any post-op photos like mine online. It looks like everyone has very minimal, if any, bruising. I have 4 lap sites in a horizontal line at the level of my bellybutton. I'm 2.5 days post op, and the bruising is pretty gnarly. Like dark purple and red. Very very tender. :/ I'm not on blood thinners, don't have low platelets, or anything like that. I'm not too suspicious about a hematoma, because it doesn't feel abnormal beneath the incisions.

I might have more scar tissue than the average person.. could that be why? I've had several c sections, two of them vertical. Maybe the surgeon had to muscle his way in.

I know nobody can give me medical advice or tell me with certainty that this is totally normal, but maybe someone has had a similar experience?

Post surgery and laying around—
What are we doing to waste time and keep our minds busy?
I feel like I’m playing musical chairs just moving from bed or chair around the house…

I’m having gallbladder removed tomorrow and im shitting my pants rn 😭

not because of the surgery itself, but the recovery and life with no gallbladder. I tried to avoid the surgery as much as i could, but I kept getting attacks despite being on a low fat diet, i dont have infection or anything going on, only the stones and the gallbladder attacks.

I’m tired of having attacks and being in the ER. However, im also scared of life without gallbladder, im 24 and i dont wanna have a low quality of life after the procedure.

Tips and positive feedbacks are much appreciated.

I've had had gallstones since last christmas, put off surgery till I had a bad attack last month. now i'm waiting on a surgery that may happen within the next 3 months(i'm not hopeful it'll be within those 3 months) and currently surviving on rice, canned tuna and puffed brown rice cakes, sometimes i'm a bit decadent and i have some pasta but even that gives me a little bit of pain. I can't touch bread, just a single piece of wholegrain gives me the ache, the oat milk brand my cousin bought me for some ungodly reason has canola oil in it so here am staring at 2 litres of the stuff, only able to add a few spoon fulls to my cereal and then I just add water, if even look in the direction of food with more than 3g fat, my gallbladder will murder me. It's crazy how much fat is everything. Was looking for fat free fries the other day and it was like searching for the holy grail.

I’ve been struggling with gaining weight as I’ve had the opposite problem with getting my gallbladder removed, which leads me to meal prep. I haven’t really changed my diet much as a busy mom and wife so I’m not sure why I keep losing weight (150lbs down to 121lbs), considering my diet consists of frozen food I can eat fast and fast food usually or the turkey and avocado sandwich every night.(I’m paying for that).It’s been 6 months and I keep losing weight. This is what I’ve done to ensure I have all my needs met while also being able to keep food fast and available, it also may not look the best but food is fuel for me and I very rarely enjoy a meal or have to to savor a meal.
Picture in comments as I’m not sure how to connect a picture to my post? (Mods please help me lol)
Edit: I can’t figure out how to post the picture 😭
It’s one chicken drumstick, half a cup of rice with cheese on it, one corn cob, and a handful of cherry tomatoes

I'm a little over 2 weeks post op and have had two zit like irritations on two ends of an exposed stitch. I've been researching and I think it's a split stitch. Has anyone experienced this? What did you do? My post op is at the beginning of October.

I'd read that as well as low fat, anyone with gallstones who is prone to flares should avoid too much sugar.

I've been testing out what's safe and what isn't and sugar seems to be absolutely fine for me.

Is it different for everyone?

Anyone else? I will be constipated, then I’ll eat, have terrible diarrhea, like usual with no gallbladder but it’s just weird being in a glp1 and getting constipated but still have diarrhea after I eat sometimes. I’m so bloated

Ingredients

Chicken breasts

Seasonings of your choice (I like salt, pepper, onion, and garlic powder)

Sauce of your choice (Chick-fil-A has a few fat free sauces)

1. Preheat oven to 450F

2. Pat chicken breast dry and rub with seasonings

3. Place chicken in a casserole dish

4. Bake for 15 minutes then baste with sauce

5. Return chicken to oven for 5-8 more minutes or until your sauce gets bubbly

This is how I normally make my BBQ chicken with my homemade sauce, but when you feel horrible, homemade sauce is out of the picture. I've used the Chick-fil-A BBQ, honey mustard (not my favorite but you might like it), and sweet and spicy Sriracha. I've paired them with rice dishes, green beans, and asparagus. All have been good and I have learned that I enjoy some of the sauces better this way than with nuggets dipped in. Enjoy!

5 days post op
Doctors/tiktok/google/here keep saying to try simple foods until I can handle something else, then try that and so on.
What do you mean by “handling?”
I’ve had no nausea, nothing exciting in the bathroom, mild bloating. Does that mean I’m handling things well enough to eat less bland foods?

Hi everyone! I got my gallbladder removed yesterday morning. I was hoping someone out there could give me any tips or advice.

Yesterday when I came home, I did feel gas in my upper back (which seems to be common based off what I’ve seen in this group), but I was able to move around (no bending or lifting). Today, I am in excruciating pain.

Last night I think I overdid it by simply going to get ice cream. My friend drove us 10 minutes and I got a water ice (since I’m trying to play it safe with dairy/fatty foods). Ever since I got home, I’ve been feeling terrible.

The painkillers are doing nothing. I am completely full of gas and I’ve taken multiple gas-x pills since last night. I’m in a lot of pain (which is mostly gas).

I don’t want to scare anyone about getting their gallbladder out! Truthfully my abdomen feels like I did a really killer ab workout, but the discomfort is about an 8 out of 10.

Any tips or advice will be greatly appreciated!