Diarrhea after gallbladder removal?
Posted , 77 users are following.
I had my gallbladder removed January 25th. Been ok... i didn't really eat the first 3 days. Now that I'm eating 'normally' I'm having some stomach issues still after eating, I get diarrhea with in minutes of finishing a meal, I'm always hungry after! I feel like my food goes right through me... it's depressing that I can't even go out to dinner with my family at a restaurant because I have to run to the bathroom after I eat. Forget about car rides! I have to stop a gas stations sometimes to relive myself. It's so embarrassing! Not to mention inconvenient! Someone help! Is anyone else experiencing this!
8 likes, 182 replies
michele84290 Realbarbielife
Posted
My gallbladder was removed a week ago today. I dad my first BM yesterday after taking stool softener since going pretty normal but know showing signs of what you explained. I know it's still very recent just wondering what else I might expect.
margaret60653 Realbarbielife
Posted
Hi,
What you are experiencing is fairly normal after gallbladder surgery. Try including rice into your diet until your system returns to normal. Add a little more bread too. If that doesn't help, contact your doctor for advice.
Debbielynn Realbarbielife
Posted
I've been reading a lot, and finally I think I might have found something that's starting to work for me , CALTRATE it's a supplement you buy in drugstore I've been taking a half tablet , when I eat something, label says you can take up to 2 a day I usually only eat 2 meals so I end up taking 1 whole tablet, but you have to take with your meal it's stopped my cramping and urgency and diarrea still have the gas, I've been trying this for about 6 days so far so good and what a relief, I'm not stopping now, and no side effects, the questran for me was horrible,and worrying about brushing my teeth all the time because it causes tooth decay,
lynda20916 Debbielynn
Posted
Debbielynn,
Sorry the question. didn't work. It can cause tooth decay--but just if you leave it on your teeth, just brush your teeth after you take it. Caltrate worked for me for a while, but then I had to use the question. I've been using it since 2009, no tooth decay.
I hope the Caltrate works for you! xx
Debbielynn lynda20916
Posted
lynda20916 Debbielynn
Posted
Sorry to learn that. Were you taking it with orange juice or mixing it with applesauce? I mix mine with mango nectar 4 ounces and water 4 ounces, shake it up in a bottle till it's thoroughly mixed, and drink it at bed time. I had no hiccuping or burping. I took an antacid tablet and some sleeping medication an hour before taking the mixture. That's because it's a resin and absorbs everything, making meds ineffective.
I used caltrate, too when the diarrhea first started, but it stopped working after a while.
. I hope you have more success with it than I did! xx
Debbielynn Realbarbielife
Posted
I mixed questran with water, drank with straw, i also take a pepcid before bedtime,i may try it again, I'll ask doc ,I go back in a few weeks, how long did caltrate work for you before it quit? Maybe because I drank it with a straw I got all the burping ?? I don't know the reflux was real bad to not sure what to do, thought after a while your system would regulate and you wouldn't have to keep taking meds? You been doing this a long time, my husband had his gallbladder out, no problem , except greasy foods but that's normal, dont know why some people have so much trouble,misery, and others nothing at all thanks for the info, did you have cramping ,gas nausea tired sick feeling before meds? Nausea is the worst , and burning diarrea?
lynda20916 Debbielynn
Posted
Mixing it with water is what I did the first few times when I took it, and it was nasty, for sure.
You can mix it with any kind of juice you like, orange juice is what was recommended on the box. But orange juice is too acidic. I mix 1/2 mango nectar and 1/2 with water because of the caloric content of most fruit juices. Also, if the juice is a bit pulpy, you don't notice the texture of the resin so much. Don't mix it with cider or apple juice as those can cause diarrhea themselves. Find a small bottle with a lid and shake it, stirring is really ineffective.
I think when you take it, it's best not to sip. You want it right in your stomach so it goes into your small intestine and absorbs the bile.
Try taking zantac instead of pepcid. Pepcid really never worked well for me. (It's a very mild antacid.) I take prilosec otc in the am and 150 mg of ranitidine (zantac) at night, an hour before I drink the questran.
Because you have nausea, I would think that the bile's backing up into your stomach from your small intestine. The cramping and burning diarrhea is also caused by too much bile. Of course you're feeling tired and sick because of this.
After gallbladder surgery, the gallbladder's not there to store or measure out the bile. Most people's digestion settles down after a while, but some people's doesn't. The bile drips all day into the small intestine and stays there all night. That's why people have diarrhea mostly in the morning and feel a bit better in the afternoon.
Also, the human body makes a hormone that allows the excess bile to be reabsorbed at the end of the digestion process. Sometimes, the body just stops producing it, and the person ends up with excess bile. The mayo clinic developed a blood test a couple of years ago to find out if people have stopped producing the hormone. But I don't think it's generally available.
The caltrate worked for me about 4 weeks.
Most people who have these problems manage to work through them. I think that you might need more antacids so you can try using the questran again. Don't give up on it--try taking it for 5 days and I think it will work for you. Sometimes, when I'm nervous or upset I also use immodium, just as an extra precaution.
If you're going to a gp or a surgeon, they usually don't know lots about the digestive system. I was lucky enough to go to a gastroenterologist.
Hope all this info helps!
linda53086 Debbielynn
Posted
Debbielynn,
Had gallbladder removed 7 years ago. Have had bouts of diahrea that whole time. Take cholestyramine once a day on empty stomach. It should stop it, however if you have acid reflux, gas, pain, take Prilosec-type pull EVERY MORNING first thing. I no longer take cholestyramine, just Prilosec, and I have fewer"bouts".
Debbielynn Realbarbielife
Posted
Thanks for all your suggestions,now i dont feel so alone,will try questran again after i talk to my doc he is a gastro, my reg doc told me it was my anziety, wanted to give me antidepressants more pills, everytime i went more pills,i said enough went to gastro, he gave me bentyl,helped with cramping but not much more then questran then i had the side effects, so when im up all night on the toilet im reading reading found someone mention CALTRATE been taking that and lopramine 1 maybe every 3-4 days been helping me , best I've felt in over 2 years,hoping it will get better on its own and won't have to take so many pills, I'm real bad with the side effects of it all I just want to feel normal again , we went to a restaurant and I was in the bathroom before I finished eating, no fun at all well thanks for all the suggestions good luck to you thanks for letting me rant
lynda20916 Debbielynn
Posted
jerry72101 Realbarbielife
Posted
i have my gallbladder removed four months ago. I was all good until a few weeks ago and just like u after eating may e 30 mins to an hour I need to run and sometimes too close for comfort and experiencing being hungry too. I am careful of what I am eating as it is still a learning curve for me just now. So I payed a visit to doc and goin to take a sample of my toilet so I will let you know. Hope u r ok.
lynda20916 jerry72101
Posted
Are you experiencing loose stools surrounded by caustic yellow liquid? The liquid is bile. If the doctor tests your stool sample only, it is often found to be normal. Because the yellow liquid, the excess bile, usually isn't tested. I know, because this happened to me.
I hope you do get some answers, though!
Darktangent Realbarbielife
Posted
The best thing to do is avoid eating fat as much as possible. I didn't really have that option, so I took Konsyl fiber which was recommended to me by another doctor for a different issue. It's pure psyllium husk fiber, which works much better than any of the other fiber tablets or powders I've tried. It doesn't taste too great, so I mix it and some flavored drink mix in a funnel into a disposable plastic water bottle (it is hard to clean if it dries so I don't use reusable bottles). It helped my loose stools and diarrhea turning them into a single stool that was easy to pass, and wasn't greasy so there wasn't much cleanup. I've heard a doctor can prescribe cholestyramine as well, but I don't have any experience with that.
trish74375 Realbarbielife
Posted