Help needed, gall bladder pains

I have been in severe agony since Friday. I spent 5 hours in casualty because i thought my pancreatitis had flared up again. The doctors said it was my gall bladder. Since Friday i have not been able to eat properly. Everytime i eat, i end up rolling on my bed in pain.

I have been advised to slowly start eating again, but what? I tried dry toast and low fat soup, which went down OK. I just had plain white rice with a little tomato ketchup. My calories for today are 675. Way too low, but i am too scared to eat anything else. Yesterday i had white rice and vegetables, and i was in pain for the rest of the night. On Saturday i had weetabix with a little skimmed milk. I am trying to lose weight the healthy and responsible way, but with not being able to eat i am worried it will have a detrimental effect on my loss and my progress so far.

Does anyone have any decent low fat or fat free recipes or food suggestions i can try?

Get some Ensure Plus from the pharmacy - it's usually with the Glucose / diabetic supplement stuff (just ask anyone who wokrs there.) This is a vitamin-filled meal replacement used after surgeries, for recovering anorexics, and for those on a liquid diet. 8 oz. of Ensure Plus has 350 calories, and drinking one or two a day should bring you back up out of starvation.

I have had bad GI pains for the last year (after the first few months my gallbladder was removed.) Before my GB removal, I was on a liquid diet for 2 months, and I mostly drank Ensure and broths, and ate quinoa, a super-caloricly concerntrated grain that is kind of like couscous.

If you are in this much pain, you really need to have your GB out as soon as possible. Go to the hospital and basically raise Cain - that's what I had to do for a few weeks, no amount of painkillers at home could cover my agony. Eventually, they figured that i wasn't going to stop coming to the hospital until they made me better.

I'm so sorry for your pain. Ik now how awful it can be. I hope you feel better soon - remember, don't let them send you home without helping you! At the very least, you should be given heavy painkillers until you're scheduled for surgery. Some times the doctors want you to ride out GB attacks to avoid the surgery, but it's not worth it. The attacks will always come back, and they will always be terrible. Save yourself the pain in the long term, hon.

Hope this helps.... sorry so long winded!

I know there are others on the site that will be able to help you more - post above included - and admittedly agree that if the gallbladder problems are causing you chronic pain you should ask about it being removed. To your dietary question, though, I found this:
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/gall-bladder-d iet.html

Quote, specifically:

Thanks for the advice. My doctor told me today that it is most likely that i will have to ride out the attacks and that i might eventually end up on a waiting list for surgery.

I am scheduled for an ultra sound to see if there are stones or an inflammation. They gave me co-codamol tablets (30 mg codeine and 500 mg paracetamol) but they don't really take the pain away. Plus not eating is making me feel very nauseous.

I am going to make some soups tomorrow. I am due back in work on Wednesday, provided i am painfree the whole of Tuesday.

I feel scatterbrained tonight.

Yeesh, "ride it out, wait list..." I hate that. See if you can get them to prescribe your pain medication in a liquid form - you can get codeine liquid, I had it for a while. It may be easier to stomach as liquid rather then what sound like horse pills. And FYI, any emergency room doc can bypass that whole wait list situation - I went through months of tests, only to have my GB taken out on an emergency basis one week before they had finally scheduled my surgery.

Good soups for now are veggie, chicken and rice, Italian wedding soup (has orzo in it). Nothing with cream (I'm sure you know that, sorry if I'm being repetitious.) I have a great low-fat, GI friendly recipe for vegan potato leek soup if you're interested.  Very filling and easy on the tummy.

All my good thoughts are going your way.

I made potato and leek soup yeterday with just potatoes, leeks, onions, and stock made from vegetable stock cubes. And carrot and coriander soup, again with stock. I've been ok this morning, so i think i'm over the worst of it. Back to work tomorrow! I'll be having soup and dairy-free smoothies so i won't aggravate anything.

Thanks for your kind words and advice. 

I have been battling Gastritis for nearly 4 weeks now and I have been told by family that it may be my gallbladder too...who knows!  Anyway, I truly feel your pain (literally).  I tried the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) as well as chicken noodle soup.  Just this weekend I had some mashed potatoes made with chicken broth.  And crackers.  Now I am up to a chicken/rice/mushroom/broccoli pilaf.  *sigh*  It's so frustrating to be "scared" to eat.  You never know what might set you off in a flood of pain.

I had to go to the ER a week ago Sunday.  They gave me a prescription to take for a whole month (Protonix, I think).  A week and a half AFTER the ER visit I am finally trying a new food every day and taking my Mylanta bottle with me everywhere!

I will keep you in my prayers.  Have you tried www.healingfoodreference.com to see if there are any "natural" foods/nutrients you can take??  I did and I truly believe that it's helped.  Good luck!

http://www.docsmed.com/diet.htm

I followed this diet while awaiting help for my bad gallbladder (now removed). The guy who created it is the same one that removed my gallbladder. Eating this significantly decreased my stomach pain/gallbladder attacks. I'd suggest following this for your eating plan for a while. It's certainly not high-cal, but if your gallbladder is the issue, eating will be a lot easier while eating it.

I DO NOT advocate drinking Ensure Plus...while it is fantastic for eating disorder patients, weight gainers, and those on liquid diets, it has WAY too high of a fat content to work well for those with disfuncional gallbladders. One of the main purposes of the gallbladder is to process fat, and if yours isn't working right, fatty food will trigger pain.

Best of luck to you!!!:)

I have the same thing.  The ultrasound did not show stones, but the dr. suspects a low functioning gall bladder.  Unfortunately, we can no longer afford our health insurance so I pretty much just have to suck it up.  I have a pretty high pain tolerance, but I can't stand the nausea, fatigue, and just general yuckiness.  I've heard it can lead to pancreatitis and could be very dangerous.  At this point, it would be cheaper to bury me than fix me, though!  Of course, that was true even with our crappy insurance.  Oh the joys of owning a small business.

Well...after being in pain pretty much all week and unable to eat properly, i have lost 6.6lbs. I'm not too thrilled about it because i've been practically starving myself in fear of pain whenever i eat. My average calorie intake for this week was 1200, which is 1200 below my bmr.

My scan appointment isn't till the 28th of this month. My blood tests came back all clear.

I'm so dizzy and tired all the time.

Pen, I'm so, so sorry! That happened to me, too the weight thing. Well, at least I reached my goal weight temporarily.... but not worth the pain.

Maybe drink as many of your calories as you can - can you drink apple juice instead of water? Or skim / soy milk? For "dessert" every night before my surgery, my boyfriend made me a big milkshake with chocolate Ensure, low-fat frozen yogurt, and skim milk, plus some slim fast powder. It came up to several hundred calories, tasted super good, and had a lot of vitamins in it from the slim fast and Ensure. Then I ate my pain meds and crashed out before any ouchie-ness could catch me :)

I really, really hope you feel better soon.. at the very least, your body will start to adjust it's metabolism to your lowered intake soon, and you should start to feel less dizzy all the time.

Oh, goodness, I'm sorry. Drinking your calories is a good idea. But don't be afraid of your food. Have you been able to call your GP/doctor for food advice?

Mel_e_mel: Did you read Missmagill's post? D: Quote: I DO NOT advocate drinking Ensure Plus...while it is fantastic for eating disorder patients, weight gainers, and those on liquid diets, it has WAY too high of a fat content to work well for those with disfuncional gallbladders. One of the main purposes of the gallbladder is to process fat, and if yours isn't working right, fatty food will trigger pain.

But I think other liquid food might help, just low-fat ones.

Maybe some smoothies made with non-fat yogurt and fruit juice...toss in vanilla protein powder for extra calories and a different taste.

This sucks doesn't it? My gallbladder attacks are coming back too. What have I been eating? SMALL meals. Eat 6-8 times a day, opposed to having a larger dinner. The more you can spread it out, the better. And try not to "fast" more than 8 hours, which means... eating before going to bed..I've been having gallbladder attacks for years. I was put on some acid medicine for a few months and it helped, but it only lasts a few months and you get the worst gas and gurly stomach.

Anywho, stay away from chocolate, enriched flour, oil, caffeine (yes I know, sucks), alcohol, CHEESE! Oranges and pickles also kill me. At least those are the things that set it off the worst for me.

As for the pain, did he perscribe you something? I was taking vicodin to relieve it, but it takes 30 minutes to kick in. I know the pain is not fun. Rolling in bed is not fun. But if you start to vomit or become really nauseous, go to the ER.

Are you going to get it taken out? I'm waiting for my insurance to kick in.

Hang in there!

As for what to eat? Veggie broth soups, you can have sandwiches but try to keep real lean on the meat, whole grains, grains in general. Ah man. Do a quick google search on "what not to eat with gallbladder problems"

Lala, I read the post, but disagree. For me, the ensure did not trigger attacks. it is intended to be mild, and you do need to eat some amount of fat to live. I'm not saying it's for everyone, but I found it helpful. That's all I meant by it.

When i eat and the pain starts, the attack lasts a good 3 hours even with the co-codamol tablets. I usually take 2 pills and then try to sleep till i feel better. I don't feel like eating then, because i feel like i am spending my days eating - crying - sleeping. I had Ryvita crackers this morning and ended up in bed till 4pm.

I guess for now i will just eat and take pills.

They won't take it out till they see a reason to. Because apparently having me in A&E sucking on entinox and crying my eyes out just isn't reason enough...

Jesus, Pen. Is there another hospital you can go to? Staff treatment of GI patients can vary wildly from one hospital / health center to the next, perhaps a total change of experts will get them to help you...

BE FIRM about what you want. Since the pain medication isn't working, phone your doctor (have the on-call service page him or her if they are not in the office) and tell them you need stronger medication, now. If you read about any tests that you think you ought to have - ultrasounds, ERCP, CAT scans with the barium drink to see your digestive tract - then tell your doctor to order them. And if you are simply in too much pain, tell your doc to put you on whatever list you need to be on for surgery.

My doctor just sort of said "Oh" when I would keep phoning, and it was like pulling teeth to get him to voice any solutions. My BF and simply did our own research, because it became clear that no one else was going to find solutions for us.

I really, really hope your latest bout of attacks ends soon. All my best to you, babe.

I saw my doctor today. I explained my concerns about being sent away every time i am in agony, and she said that it's likely they will refer me to a surgeon for further investigation and possible surgery. I guess it's a step forward.

She also ordered a blood test to check my liver as i am jaundiced. Apparently the itching and orange wee are also indicators that theres a problem with my liver.

Yeah...i am doing really well.

*sigh*

They'll take it out, then you'll feel SO much better. And then we can go eat cheeseburgers together after I get mine taken out. Actually I want pizza. Oh it's going to be so long before I get to eat cheese again *sigh*

I really hope all goes well. At least it's not a super bad surgery. So many people have the surgery it's almost perfected. 3 holes and it's gone! At least I hope it's that easy.

You'll have to keep us posted. I'm worried about you.

The liver enzymes being out of whack is due to low gallbladder function - usually when your gallbladder is sick, the liver and kidneys work double time to process fats. Also, the filler meds in painkillers add stress to your liver. After the gallbladder is removed, these other digestive organs learn to take over the fat-breaking-down function from the missing gallbladder. Since your liver and kidneys are currently, and will continue to, "take one for the team" so to speak, it's important to keep eating foods lower in fat and not overdo alchohol even after surgery. You won't get pain attacks any longer, but please be kind to your hardworking other organs :)

Pen, it sounds like you're getting closer to a solution. I'm really glad your doctor seems to be taking you a bit more seriously. The surgeons are very decisive ppl IME, and like to get operating asap. My fingers are crossed for a swift end to your illness!!!

Have you been able to keep any food down?

Day 2, no pain! Just incredibly tired and nauseous all the time. But these are the things i can eat:

Mango, banana, brown rice, turkey breast, tomatoes, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, wholewheat pasta, wholewheat bread, strawberry jam, and skimmed milk.

I am still a bit too scared to try oatmeal again, because i was in tremendous pain when i tried it last week.

Tomorrow or Friday i will get the result from the blood test to see what the deal is with my liver.

Thanks for all your kind words and concern. Hopefully they will fling me on the waiting list once i have had my scan. And hopefully i go back to a normal color soon too.