Gallbladder is gone so where is this pain from?

I'm having the same problem myself. Had gallbladder removed in 2014 and still having stomach pains that travels around the abdomen areas and I've been taking protonix for a year also.

Hello happyalien. I had my gallbladder removed in June 2015. I didn't know my gallbladder was 99% dysfunctional until about 4 weeks before it was removed. I thought I had a fractured rib.

I did a lot of quick research about any and everything related. I discovered OxBile capsules, a bile replacement you can take after gallbladder removal, when you eat animal products and fat. It helps to break down and digest the foods you eat, plus you avoid the massive weight gain that typically follows after gallbladder surgery. I also take digestive enzymes on occasion when needed.

All was well until 3 days ago, when I suddenly had the attack of pain in my right side, right at the waist. It also radiated to my back, and wrapped around to the front as well. All day long it hurt, and I could barely take a deep breath. The next day, it was 75% gone, and today it was 90% gone.....until tonight. After eating dinner tonight, I had another attack. I put a stick-on heat patch on that side, and also wrapped my waist area with a wide ace bandage to hold it in place. It includes medication, and feels 50% better for the moment.

I decided to research this issue and found this blog.

I want to stress something to all of you that you may not know:

~~After gallbladder surgery, your liver is worked much harder. It needs to be cleansed about 4 times a year from what I read.

~~ It was suggested to me to take Gas-X as needed, along with an occasional digestive enzyme capsule to eliminate the bloating and painful gas build-up. It works.

~~Read and research on Google about all this. Focus on your pancreas, and your liver. Your liver will need sharp and sincere focus and care the rest of your life.

~~Oxbile is very helpful. I've read that it is your gallbladder in a bottle. (125mg is all you need most of the time). Research it. I found it on Amazon at great prices.

~~Research Omeprazol deeply! It's found in Prylosec OTC and such, and reduces your stomach acid. I found out that your stomach acid is the first step in digesting the food you eat. So if you use it, drop it after a short time, unless your doctor says to stay on it.

~~Exercise helps enormously!

There's much more I could share, but this is about the after surgery pain we all feel. Mine too went all the way up to my right shoulder!!! I shall keep reading to find out all I can. The heat/medicated patch is really helping the symptoms. I also took 2 gas-x.

If anyone out there has the answers, let me know.

Thank you.

Hello everyone. I had my gallbladder removed laproscopically 4 months ago. Prior to removal I did not have any gallbladder symptoms at all until three and a half weeks before I had the surgery.

All went well, and I have been recovering just fine. Then about four days ago I experienced an attack of pain on my right side just a tiny bit above my waistline. The pain radiated to the back and also wrapped around the front, in the same area where my gallbladder pain was before surgery. I could barely take a deep breath, and if I did, the pain was very bad, like a stabbing pain. By the next day this pain was 75% gone, and the second day after, it was 90% gone, and then after dinner the next evening, the pain came back 100%.

Before the gall bladder surgery, and afterwards I did research day and night to learn everything I could about this whole thing. Things that included the structure function of my internal organs, what caused the pain exactly, what caused the dysfunction my gallbladder, the role that your liver and pancreas play in your digestive process, the role your intestinal tract plays, and why in nearly 100% of gallbladder removal cases people gain a lot of weight very quickly afterwards. There is much more that I have researched, and this sudden onset of side back pain 4 months after surgery has plummeted me into another research episode.

During my research I discovered a supplement called oxbile. Your gallbladder is an organ that houses the bile that your liver creates. Under normal circumstances, when you eat fats, a hormone is released and your gallbladder reacts by spewing out the right amount of bile to break down the fats and animal product and prepare for digestion. When you do not have a gallbladder, you don't have that pool of stored bile to do this. Your liver that creates the bile simply drips it into your small intestine. So oxbile, which is very close to human bile, is a capsule that can be taken when you begin to eat a meal that includes fats and animal products. It is your gallbladder in a bottle. Please take the time to research this on your own.

My surgeon suggested that at times after gallbladder removal I would need to take digestive enzymes. Your pancreas produces digestive enzymes and works hand in hand with your liver and gallbladder. I read that taking digestive enzymes on a consistent basis is not good because it makes your pancreas lazy. So taking digestive enzymes is something you need to learn on your own and discover exactly when you might need to take one now and then to aid in digesting the meal that you have just eaten. I discovered that for me, taking a digestive enzyme after I have eaten and am bloated from my meal, helps with the bloating and the discomfort.

Also suggested was taking a Gas X or two after eating for the bloating. Again this is only on an occasional need to basis.

However we are here today to figure out why we are having the side pain after having our gallbladder removed. If you are one of those who has a gallstone trapped in your bile duct, that will need to be dealt with separately. But I would guess that most of us are having this problem because we did not change our diets after our gallbladder was removed. We fell for the myth that we could eat whatever we wanted after our surgery, just like we ate before the surgery.

We had our gallbladder removed mostly because of our diet. I'm sure there may be those out there that had a bad gallbladder for reasons other than diet, but the bottom line is most of us have been eating the wrong foods probably most of our lives. Foods that are high in animal fat, chemical preservatives, alcohol intake, and other such foods that are really horrible for our bodies. I encourage everyone to research heavily the effect of the foods we eat. It's a huge project but one that will save or improve your life, and possibly stop the pain we all are feeling on that right side.

Our livers are lovingly referred to as the "cesspools of our body." Our poor sweet livers have to convert everything we eat and drink into something usable. It has the biggest job of probably any organ in our body. By the time we get older, our livers have been working extremely hard all of our lives, converting all the stuff we eat and drink, all the steaks and french fries and hamburgers or pork, any wine or beer, and all this other stuff we force liver to convert. This takes a toll.

Frankly, the meal I ate the other night that caused the attack to come back, was a meal that had certain ingredients that could cause problems of gas and tough digestion for my liver. I am convinced that most of us who are suffering, are possibly not eating right, because we fell for the myth that we could eat just like we did before our gallbladders were removed. That's what got us to where we are today....no gallbladder. So why would we continue?

How many of us were told by our doctor that we needed to change our diets after surgery, that we needed to begin even a simple workout program of a few times a week, that we needed to stay off of stuff like alcohol, animal fats, and very little beef or red meat?

I read during my research that red meat or beef takes much longer for our bodies to break down and digest and will stay in our intestinal tract much longer than other foods. The combination of bile and digestive enzymes required to break down red meat and beef is far different than for regular foods like raw fruit and vegetables, chicken and fish.

We all are probably eating wrong, and we need to get past the idea that we need foods that are smothered in sauces, that are spicy and such in order to be happy with our lives.

Food is fuel for our bodies. If we put gasoline in our beautiful cars that was dirty or infused with some kind of gunk or microscopic thing that ruined our engines, we would not do it. It would cause us to have to spend all sorts of big money to fix the car, and then find gas stations that did not supply contaminated fuel. We would be outraged and we would protest such a thing and demand that our government put restrictions on the oil companies so that this kind of problem would no longer occur.

But we do not do the same thing for our physical bodies. We have been led to believe all of our lives that we could stuff our bodies full of processed foods, red meat, animal fats and such things as burgers and fries and such, that we could drink wine and alcohol till the cows come home, and it was not going to be a bad thing.

It does matter what we put into our bodies. If we all want to get rid of this pain, we must seriously consider what foods we are putting in our bodies.

But, this goes beyond our diet. I am convinced that we all must do some form of exercise. The best exercise we can get is 5 days a week, taking the weekend off, but if that doesn't suit you then at least 3 days a week, like Monday Wednesday Friday, even just 15 minutes each time. I used to be an aerobics instructor in my youth, and have been very athletic most of my life. I am now 67 years old, but still athletic at heart. I do confess that I have slacked off a bit in the last few years.

I learned along the way that you do not need to join a gym, you do not need to do grueling workouts for an hour every time, but that in fact shorter workouts on an absolute consistent basis is supremely excellent. You can come up with a workout routine right in your own home without any equipment at all. Doing calisthenics, stretch routines, and some kind of cardio. By cardio I mean brisk walking through your neighborhood, or on a treadmill. You do not need to jog to work your cardiovascular system. Brisk walking that brings your heart beat up for 12 minutes at your work out rate is all you need for your cardiovascular. Research this on your own please. Your heart is a muscle. It needs to be exercised too.

So team, what is the bottom line?

Two things: 1) eat the right foods, and 2) get a bit of exercise consistently and without fail. If we want to be pain free we have to commit to a lifestyle change, and it's not a bad thing. Research everything. With the search engines on our smartphones and our laptops and computers, researching is a breeze and instantaneous. Let's see if we can beat this thing, and get rid of the pain. Pain is the voice of your body. Our bodies are a treasure and a gift.

I wish you all the best.

Hello. I too have had my gallbladder removed, and about 4 months later I experienced the pain in my right side right at the waist, radiating to the front and to the back. Feels much like a gallbladder attack. I could barely breathe without it feeling like a knife stabbing me.

I'll keep this simple:

--After your gallbladder is removed, your liver takes on a big load and needs to be watched and cared for very seriously. Even do liver cleanses 4 times a year. Research this on your own. Great information available. Your liver produces the bile that used to be stored in your gallbladder.

--I've read many blogs where people have had this pain examined through all sorts of tests, such as MRI, CT scans, blood work, HIDA scans, etc. As far as I can tell, no one can tell where the pain comes from.

--I research everything, and when I started having the side pain about 10 days ago, I jumped into a deep research about this. There has been some speculation that maybe there was a slight nerve damage during the removal surgery. Who knows.

--Through trial and error I am discovering that if I eat a fatty meal or eat food difficult to digest, I have this side pain. I feel bloated too.

--To help remedy the pain and bloating, I take an oxbile supplement (look on Amazon for Oxbile and read the product description and the reviews). I also take digestive enzymes (not to be confused with probiotics), and Gas-X. Great help.

--I also do some stretches and crunches, and other calisthenic exercises. These help enormously.

The bottom line is this... Your diet has to change, and you will need to exercise a bit every day. Simple exercises that work the parts of your body that hurt. Clear this with your doctor. Only 15 minutes of workout makes a massive difference for me. You CANNOT eat like you did before your gallbladder was removed.

Take the time to find out what kinds of foods you should eat without a gallbladder. Research Oxbile and Digestive Enzymes. Check out information on your liver and pancreas after GB removal. I've had much relief by eating better, and a bit of exercise, even during the pain. It goes away for me.

Good luck

I am so glad this was posted!! I had my gallbladder removed 8 months ago and I wake up with the pain and somedays it sticks around. I take acidophilis and it seems to help but I think maybe it is scar tissue. I had no luck with antacids 

after 3 years of pain after having gallbladder removed, numerous tests ,i had a ct done and they found a hernia that was caused during gallbladder surgey, insist on ct. all the best to you.

I dont know whether to be reassured by this thread or not. I had my gall bladder removed 7 weeks ago and all was fine aside from the expected discomfort after an operation until last week. Last week I started getting pain from the same area again and pretty much the same as you all described here. I also have some numbness still along the top of my belly where the first inscision was made and I am told that take ages to go. Its reassuring that so many of you experience the same but not really acceptable. Having the gall bladder doesnt mean you can eat fat again though so I have gone on a 'low fat' diet to start with because my discharge notes say I have a 'large fatty liver'. Anyway, thanks for posting and reducing my concern somewhat

I had my gall bladder out almost 14 years ago.  I've had slight pain for a couple of years and recently seems to be getting worse and almost a daily thing.  I have been worried it's possibly my liver or pancreas.  After reading some of the responses, I'm happy to hear I am not the only one with this issue.  At first I thought it was possible it was scar tissue.  I am going to buy some of the Omeprazole OTC and see if it helps.  Hope everyone else is doing better!

Hi,

A few weeks back I had to call the ambulance fir excruciating pain under my ribs. I had my gallbladder removed due to stones 12 days ago. Gallbladder was fine with no infection but slightly inflammed. 11 days ago I was sent home. 20 days ago I was readmitted by ambulance again with extreme pain. 9 days ago they had to reoperate as a rare thing happened where there was a bile duct leak where the sutchers joined. 6 days ago I was sent home. I'm due to see my surgeon in 4 days but am experiencig slight pain (nothing like before but same kind of pain). Probably due to the lack of water as I don't have a fatty diet and caffeine!

Anyway just sharing. Will let you know what my surgeon says as it might help someone.

My daughter and I both had our GB removed and we still get this pain. We narrowed it down to the amount of meat we eat. Example: I can have 1 hamburger but i have 2 or more or add more meat to what i ate for the day the pain will begain under the rib cage and along side my stomache. But the pain doesnt start until a day or 2 after which in the beginning made us think "what the heck is going on". It took us a while to figure this out but since we have, we have been feeling much better. Hope this helps. 

The surgeon told me that there was about a 40% chance I'd still have the same symptoms after my diseased gallbladder, which was functioning less than 10%, was removed. I was relieved that I was no longer in excruciating pain. That was 13 years ago. I've had attacks since then when I've eaten something that I shouldn't, like fried pickles, but the symptoms don't last more than a few days. I had a stomach bug about 3 weeks ago, but never really felt back to normal. It has turned into what you all have described, feeling of fullness, pain under the ribs, especially the right side (feels like angina), nausea, indigestion; and this is weather I eat and drink or not. Nothing settles these sypmptoms and they are worse at night when I am laying down. My mom had her gallbladder removed and has had several sucessful ERCP procedures. I hoped that I would be lucky and not have anything more than a moderate attack here or there but after reading all of your posts, I'm not so sure. I'm going to try to eat cleanly for a week or so and hope that helps.

Oh, and thank you everyone for sharing your story, as this helps! Good luck to you all!