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Fear of traveling until gallbladder is removed

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gogo7498
gogo7498

4 weeks ago, I had a gall bladder attack. Spent 7 hours in emergency room (pain only lasted an hour) and was sent home, they found nothing except elevated liver enzymes. I was on vacation in Florida and had a very fatty meal the night before, crab legs with butter, clam chowder, etc. I know now that this was the reason for the "attack". The next 6 days of vacation I watched what I ate and drank lots of water. Had a great rest of the week, no problems. Saw my GP when I got home, she immediately suspected gall stones. Had an ultra sound, showed numerous small stones. Had an MRCP, showed stones were only in gall bladder, none in bile ducts. Dr said I probably had one stuck in bile duct in Florida and it ended up passing, thus the elevated liver enzymes. I have an appointment Monday with surgeon. We are leaving for California next Friday for a week to see my daughter and her family. I'm pretty comfortable with that. I've been on the "gall bladder" diet and have not had any attacks since the first one. However, I have another trip planned for April 16th to go to Mexico with my daughter. It's only for 4 days but I am stressed out about the possibility of having an attack there, which would not be good. I plan on talking to surgeon about this, but wanted to get some opinions. I'm sure he won't be able to do the surgery before I go. Do you think the attacks are controlled by what you eat? Has anyone had one that was brought on by something other than food?

0 likes, 5 replies

5 Replies

  • biliarydyskines
    biliarydyskines gogo7498

    Posted

    I get more attack when I eat fatty/greasy/protein/fried foods compared to the others and even after gb removal need to follow low fat diet for atleast 6 weeks.
  • clara37208
    clara37208 gogo7498

    Posted

    Hi there, I managed to control my attacks for several weeks prior to surgery with a strict low-fat diet. No meat, cheese, pastry, fried foods, fizzy drinks, caffeine, alcohol, etc. I was on Buscopan prior to surgery - get your GP to prescribe you some. I found it to be really helpful.

    • gogo7498
      gogo7498 clara37208

      Posted

      Thanks for replying! I've been on special diet for 4 weeks now. Low fat, no fried foods, sweets, fuzzy drinks. I haven't given up chicken or turkey thought. GB seems to be okay with that. Also, I have a cup of coffee still in morning, and glass or two of wine. Haven't had any problems with that. What exactly does buscopan do?

    • clara37208
      clara37208 gogo7498

      Posted

      It is supposed to control the contractions of the gallbladder. Mine was full of stones and it really helped to control pain.
  • Guest
    Guest gogo7498

    Posted

    I don't think they were in my case and certainly not always.

    I was on a very limited diet and my attacks and pain were caused predominately by the number of stones and those stones moving around especially into the bile duct and getting stuck.

    The attacks lasted as long as it took to pass the stone or until they settled the longest was 12 hours.

    In the 2 weeks before surgery I had biliary colic daily. I also had pain from an infected gallbladder which caused pancreatitis.

    Thats just my experience. Symptoms and triggers vary greatly from person to person.

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