Gallbladder removed and still nauseous.

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I'm 30 yr/m a tad over weight and before this thing started I drank too much alcohol and ate too many fatty foods. On March 2018 after a night with drinking and unhealthy eating. I woke up feeling very nauseous, not hang over nausea this was different. I went and ate fatty and unhealthy breakfast and within minutes was vomiting it back up. The nausea continue the rest of the day and the following day. I went to the doctors and was given a shot and some nausea medications claiming I was getting sick from the “air pollution” in the area. I continued to have the same nausea and vomiting for over a week and a half, unable to go to work the whole time. I saw several doctors during that time frame and had multiple blood tests done and no illness could be found. For the next few weeks I was fine, I would get nauseous about once every few days and it was typically after I ate something. In May 2018 after two months and the nausea coming on more and more I decided to see a GI Doctor. I was put on a couple different nausea medications, compazine, regalan, zofran, and phenergan. Phenergan was the only one that seemed to help, the only problem is it had a sedative effect and would make me too tired so I was unable to use it at work. I had my first endoscopy/colonoscopy done July 2018. Nothing of note was discovered during the endoscopy, silver lining I guess was 4 large polyps were found in my colon which the Doctor said would have caused me serious issues had I waited 20 years til 50 for the average age to get a colonoscopy. After that I was put on a a lot of medications as I was having several tests done to see if it help. The medications were of a wide variety, from antibiotics to anti-acids. I had a bowel emptying study, a HIDA scan(which made me very nauseous after drinking the ensure) and a small capsule study. After the follow-up from the endoscopy I never saw this doctor again only communication was by phone. It was mid September by this time all this tests were done and everything came back fine, the HIDA scan showed my gallbladder ejection rate was 83%. The last time I spoke with the doctor was mid September where he pretty much stated he could not find anything wrong with me and referred me back to my primary care physician. At this point I was at a loss, I was still getting nauseous after I ate anything, high fat foods made it even worse and while I felt better when I drank alcohol I would be extreme nauseous and vomit for a few days after consuming it. I started thinking maybe this was all in my head and maybe I was just crazy. My wife started us on the Whole30 diet shortly after that. Whole30 in a nutshell is removing all processed foods, bread, sugars, dairy, alcohol. And I did start feeling better, after a week I was still getting nauseated after eating but it was not nearly as bad and I stopped vomiting. After a month I was pretty confident this was not in my head, eating food was making me nauseous and it didn’t matter how clean I ate I was still feeling ill. I saw another GI specialist who had me come in for a second endoscopy, he did not notice anything wrong during the endoscopy and found it weird that I had not had an ultrasound done, he believed my gallbladder to be the culprit. Mid October I had and external ultrasound done which found no stones but a thicken 3mm gallbladder wall. Still convinced it was the gallbladder I had an endoscopic ultrasound done and found several stones in my gallbladder and gallbladder wall to be between 2.8mm and 3.5 mm. He suggested sucrafate to help with the acid in my stomach and a medication to help get rid of the gallstones. The medication for the gallstones takes 3-6 weeks before it would even start to work and could take a year to get rid of the stones. Another month of nausea I went back to the doctor who was confident my gall bladder was the cause of my nausea and advised I could have the gall bladder removed.

I went to see a surgeon to discuss the removal of the gallbladder who said that he wasn’t fully convinced that the gallbladder was my problem. He said that the symptoms for gallbladder removal did present well and was concerned about removing the gall bladder. He said that they have done a lot of tests and endoscopies and finally found something that was wrong with me with the gallstones and thicken wall but many people have gallstones and live without knowing they even have them. At the end of the day he would still remove the gallbladder and after thinking about it I felt as though the juice was worth the squeeze. If it was my gallbladder then I was finally done with this whole problem, if it wasn’t at least we don’t need to focus on my gall bladder anymore and can look for another source. January 2019 no more gallbladder. A week after the surgery and I am recovering well, pain/soreness from the incisions are going away and I’m eating mainly low-fat foods and have no problems with digestion but I still have nausea after every meal. At this point I’m at a loss, I didn’t expect immediate relief after the surgery but a week later I would have expected the nausea to go away. I eat small portions several times a day, after eating small portions I get a very bloated/full feeling and belch and burp a lot. I feel relief from the nausea when I’m standing and feel a lot worse sitting down. Fatty-foods and alcohol make the nausea horrifically worse and usually vomit for a couple days after. In situations when I have a lot going on at work and I have nausea the anxiety exacerbates it and makes it a lot worse. During very high stress times I almost forget I even have nausea at all but am quickly reminded after the event passes. Anyone that could give me better advice or point me in a better direction would be appreciated.

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3 Replies

  • Posted

    Do you experience any change of bowel habit such as diarrhoea or constipation with shifting abdominal pain? Gallbladder removal can cause complications such as IBS or bile acid malabsorption which causes diarrhoea. It is diagnosed via a SECHAT scan.

    • Posted

      Thanks for the reply, bowel habits are normal and the abdominal pain had been pretty minimal. I have been eating very clean as well, a lot of baked chicken and vegetables.

    • Posted

      Sometimes vegetables can be hard to digest and can cause abdominal pain or nausea. My mum couldn't tolerate raw celery which gave her heartburn and if the celery was cooked in soup, she vomited. She also got indigestion from cucumber. Maybe try a food diary to see if certain vegetables are causing symptoms or the chicken is the culprit. Some people can't digest certain types of meat. Sometimes, even what you think is a clean, healthy diet can still irritate your gut if it is sensitive. My brother ate a healthy diet but suddenly he found that boiled, baked or potato salad gave him crippling abdominal pain.

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