3 days post laparoscopic gallbladder removal

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So I am 3 days post gallbladder removal. It was done laprascopically.  I have 3 incisions the biggest is just bellow my belly button. I was told it would help me feel better faster if I had a BM I just got off the Percocet yesterday. I have been increasing my fiber and drinking a lot more fluids. I haven’t gone I think I can but it hurts so bad to use the muscles to have one. Did any one else have this issue? How were you able to go to the bathroom with out the incisions hurting. My incisions are  closed with steri strips.  I am takin a stool softener. Any advice from those of you have been through this would be really helpful. What helped with your pain the best? I was given an ice pack and I have been taking some Advil and I move as much as I can before I get really tired. Pretty sure it’s the surgery but did anyone else deal with a lot of fatigue after surgery? Any help you can give I would gladly take. I am 28 and this a harder recovery than my surgeon led to me believe. He said I would be sore for a few days. 

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13 Replies

  • Posted

    hi ... as i came across many post who has  under gone gallbladder surgery , its a normal  feel ,tired and painful for few days ... the pain should reduce each day ... so you are doing good. Did you removed your gallbladder for low function or gallstones and what symptoms did you had before removal ?
    • Posted

      I had it removed because everything seemed to make me sick when I ate mostly fatty food. I was losing weight because I had no appetite. Even though my hida scan on paper was normal the second part of the test reproduced my symptoms. When I had my surgery afterwards my surgeon said it definitely had to come out something about seeing scar tissue when he was in there. I was it of it. They anesthesia gave me a tap block thing before I ever had the surgery. I was told it was supposed to help with pain afterwards.   I kept thinking my appetite would be back by now. The one thing I have been wanting to eat again pizza, it’s my favorite I haven’t been able to eat any since things happened this past October. I wonder who has been braver than me and had some pizza and how it went. Did you have pizza yet? I think the official term is cholecystitis still waiting on pathology though. 
    • Posted

      Better not to try pizza for atleast 2 weeks or until your appetite returns back. As you mentioned you felt sick while having fatty foods, is it a pain or bloating , how was your sick feeling?
    • Posted

      I had pain and bloating, loudness of nausea. The worst of it was feeling I got kicked in the stomach.  I was on my way to campus for class and all I had was 2 Wendy’s chicken nuggets. After that I went to the doctor. Which was originally thought to be steroid induced gastritis.  From having a severe respiratory infection that caused me to need a week of iv rocephin an decadron which is a heavy duty steroid. I still think

      The steroids had something to do with my gallbladder some how. 

  • Posted

    Hi , It is very early days yet . You will have painful incisions for a while longer.

    I take Lactulose and just waited it out to have a BM . Don't strain as you will

    be in more pain.Drink plenty of water and go slowly with the fibre .

    I still feel tired after my removal and that was 4 months ago. You have had major

    surgery , it's going to take time for the incisions to heal on the outside but a lot

    longer to heal on the inside. Just take it slowly and you will get there .

    • Posted

      Good to know.  The outside I swear feels irritated when I move around. Food is the one thing I thought I would be so hungry by this point and I am anything but.  Not straining my mom who should be getting her gallbladder out next keeps telling me to push through it.  This is my first abdominal surgery but not my first surgery ever. So when it hurts I back off. I have backed off on the fiber, it frosted wheat and for some reason sugary thing just taste so good.  Here I thought I was going crazy with the pain.  I don’t even notice the tiny incisions.  I thought by now though the swelling in the big incision would have gone down enough I could see my belly button again. I definitely realize I will be swollen for a while. 
  • Posted

    Think I was about 3 days and was constipated. I held a pillow over my stomach while going. Definitely helped me anyway. I was tired a good few weeks and even now 6 months later get tired more easily.  As for pizza I literally just tried a kids plain cheese one a few days ago. Wasn’t brave enough before that lol xx
  • Posted

    Hi it's been just over 12 months since i had gall bladder removed but no way would i touch pizza. I thought i would be able to eat normally but ended up in a&e in agony. Just introduce things slowly. It takes time. The tiredness does go on for a while. Just take it easy and have small portions to start with. Good luck. Jill

  • Posted

    Hi there, am two weeks post surgery and having some of the same issues as you. My advice is to keep drinking loads of water and eat as much fruit and veg as you can. Three days is still very early on and you will start to feel a bit better after the first week. I had staples in and when they took them out the other day, the belly button wound came open again a little bit. It feels like a viscious circle because I know I need to move around to help me go to the bathroom but it is very sore to do so when you are stitched or stapled.

    All the best for your recovery. X

  • Posted

    Hi Caitlyn

    I'm 3 weeks post op. I had my first bowl movement 3 days after surgery. I was very also nervous about having a bowl movement. Have you tried sitting on the toilet with your feet slightly raised on a stool? The kind of stool a toddler might use to get on and off the toilet. This is what was recommended to me in hospital. It worked a treat and helps to avoid straining.

    Best wishes with your recovery.

    • Posted

      Thank you I thought of trying the squatty potty thing. Never though of the pillow I will try that.  The gas and bloating is my biggest issue at the moment.  Then Aunt Flo came early again and it’s just been making recovery harder.
  • Posted

    So 5 days post op and it’s a roller coaster. Has anybody else become scared of food and eating. I just don’t know how those of you that have been through this cope with all the anxiety and emotions from it. I took a  trip to the grocery store with my dad since I got cleared to do my regularly scheduled activities yesterday and I was just done by the time I got back here me. I miss being able to eat food and not worry about how it’s affecting me later or if it will make me sick. I used to love going out dinner with friends and family since the gallbladder stuff happened I don’t want to. I feel like I can eat nothing on the menu.  I don’t understand after gallbladder removal one day your eating relatively okay and the next everything makes you so nauseas. When does it get better, does it get better? Or will be this constant struggle and anxiety? I thought I could relax a little after my gallbladder was out but I can’t. Still just really anxious and stressed. After getting the path and hearing from my surgeon that my gallbladder has been going through periods of inflammation for a while was an epiphany moment because I looked back on years and I mean years of these episodes that would happen to me and I was like omg it was my gallbladder this whole time. I wasn’t going crazy, because when i think of those times they were greasy or fatty foods and sometimes not even that. It made so much sense. I never though anything was wrong I thought it was me over reacting. Kind of a validating moment.  Which made realize it was bad then but not bad enough that it caused significant issusses like it has in the last 6 months. All the restaraunt commercials and Facebook recipie posts are just cruel to me at this point.  It looks so good but I can’t have it not yet anyways or won’t ever have it again. Before I had surgery I had a short stent with out inflammation and I had been on this bland low fat diet for so long and I was losing my mind. I grew up and live in the south where everything has tons of flavor. The bland low fat diet It helps a lot but it sucks so hard. I went on a cruise to the Bahamas before my surgery and they had this ginormous buffet of deliciousness, everything thing you could think of and want and it was free, And 5 years ago I would have been making multiple trips and gorging myself.  I felt like I couldn’t enjoy much of anything in the way of food.  I hear a lot of people including my surgeon say you can eat whatever you want after but something still get you. I am 5 days post op and definitely not doing that.  Still have a poor appetite, nauseas and struggling to make myself eat anything at this point. My mom is about to have hers out in a month or so and I can barely deal with my recovery but I want to help her through hers. Hers is the worse than mine her ejection fraction is 20 percent with sludge build up. She is so munch tougher than me though. So any advice is so welcome and what I have received so far has been great and helpful and made feel like wasn’t alone or crazy for feeling what I feel 
    • Posted

      I'm almost 5 months post op and can barely eat anything.

      It's so depressing as I love my food and now I can't eat anything.

      I wish I'd never had mine taken out . Feel exhausted all the time ,

      doctor doesn't help. The medical profession should inform patients

      more on what to expect after surgery , I wasn't told anything , I'm not young

      anymore at nearly 70 .Hope you feel better soon.

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