Weight loss and Gallbladder disease

Hi guys.  I just thought I'd try and share with others who might be losing or trying to lose weight.  This weekend I was up in Maine visiting with my mother-in-law with my husband.  I managed to eat very well over the weekend, but on Saturday night we went to the Maine Diner and I had a crab salad sandwich which happened to come with a generous portion of cheddar cheese melted over it (I wasn't expecting that!).  I ate 1/2 the sandwich and couldn't finish it because it was so rich.

Anyway, about 3 hours after dinner, my mid-back began to hurt, which I took to mean might be gas, so I went and attempted to use the bathroom.  That didn't work.  Soon after, my stomach began to ache, and I had to lie down on the couch.  My mother-in-law offered to take me to the hospital, but I thought it was just indigestion and said don't worry about it.  Within minutes of the first pang in my back, I was in excruciating pain in my abdomen, and they made me go to the hospital.  On the way, it felt as if my diaphragm was electrified, and was sending shocks up to my heart and lungs from the lowest part of my sternum.  I cried and groaned and writhed for about 10 minutes in the car on the way, then suddenly when I lied down on my left side it stopped.  Just like that.  My mother-in-law, who is a RVT (registered vascular tech, she works at the hospital that they took me to), said it sounded like my gallbladder.  At the ER, the doctor agreed that's what it sounded like, and my bloodwork showed some elevated liver enzymes which also was consistent with it.

The doctor told me that if it happened again, come right back and they'll ultrasound me, but otherwise just have clear fluids and take it easy the next day.  So the next day, my mother-in-law brought me to her office to ultrasound my gallbladder herself, because she (probably accurately) believed that making the appointment would take a long time for me and it would get pushed back to the bottom of my priority list.  She pretty much just does echoes on the heart, but when she looked at my gallbladder, she could easily see stones and murky "sludge" floating around in it.  She contacted the best surgeon at her hospital, and he agreed it should come out.  Right away.

So yesterday I went into an emergency surgery to take out my gallbladder.  The doctors I talked to said that people who've lost a lot of weight (I'm almost at my goal, at 57 lb lost since April) are at high risk of gallbladder disease.  Other factors include being a woman (2 out of 3 people with gallbladder disease are female), being on birth control (which I am), and family history of it (both of my parents and my cousin on my dad's side have all had their gallbladders removed).  So I guess it was just a matter of time for me.

I just wanted to share this with other people who have at least one of those risk factors (or at least, are working toward it ) to be aware.  Look for even subtle signs.  For the past maybe 5 months I've been noticing that pain in my mid-back area, always on the right side.  I always dismissed it at too much fiber in my diet (it did coincide with my diet change, and I was eating way more than I used to), but apparently that was my gallbladder.  It was only mildly uncomfortable, but the pain I experienced during the gallbladder attack was the worst pain I've ever experienced.  My doctor said that women who've had children compare it to childbirth.

Please don't take even mild abdomenal pain lightly!  Get it checked out before it gets too bad.