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Gallstones diet

Posted , 19 users are following.

naddynoo
naddynoo

I am waiting for gallbladder surgery as my gallbladder is full of

stones. Saw my consultant yesterday and he said in order for my gallbladder to not become inflamed (and possibly lead to open surgery) then I must go on a NO fat diet. No meat, no fish, no cheese, no butter etc. Has anyone else been put on such a restrictive diet? I thought low fat would be acceptable but NO fat??

3 likes, 26 replies

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  • sally_14743
    sally_14743 naddynoo

    Posted

    Hi 

    lots of us have been forced by our fear of a colic attack  when a stone gets stuck in a bile duct ....which is 6-7 hours of intense agony as if your ribs are broken and your intestines red raw and constant uncontrolled vomiting and sweating etc to just eat. No fat no meat etc ... I ended up living on boiled potatoes boiled veg and gravy for a year before my operation.. 

    I hope you haven't experienced it yet ... But when you eat fat or hard to digest food I.e meat ... Your stomach requests extra bile from your gallbladder ... Your gallbladder contracts squeezes extra concentrated bile out into your tummy .. Because your gallbladder is full of stones two things can happen your stones rub together and irritate the lining of your gallbladder making it inflamed and sore or worse it squeezes a stone into your bile duct and your body causes a colic vomiting attack to try and dislodge it or pass it ... 

    Hope this helps to explain the diet 

    • naddynoo
      naddynoo sally_14743

      Posted

      Unfortunately I have been having such attacks for 15 months now. I am just not sure how to manage a diet of no fat!
    • sally_14743
      sally_14743 naddynoo

      Posted

      Your poor thing 

      I cut all fat out ..skimmed milk , low fat Mayo instead of butter and no oil in cooking ..but I still got pain then cut out caffeine as that causes the gallbladder to contract too... No coffee no tea .. Herbal teas .. And that worked .. I was a ble to avoid attacks and function.. I had key hole and I felt so much better after .. My gallbladder was packed full of stones ... My problem is I can eat anything now and so have put on weight ...😳 But am I food 👍 I was terrified of surgery but all went well and it was so worth it 

    • Mrsoscared
      Mrsoscared sally_14743

      Posted

      Hi sally.

      would it be possible to have a chat with you re gallstone disorder?

      regards,

      andy.

    • L1ND4
      L1ND4 sally_14743

      Posted

      I am recovering having been in hospital last week with an attack. now on the waiting list for removal. I thought I could still have coffee so thank you for pointing that out. Its so frustrating trying to decide what to eat when you dont know what your triggers are! Hoping I can manage not to have another attack as the pain was unbearable!

  • CdnMaven
    CdnMaven naddynoo

    Posted

    Others may have been told that, but no, that isn't what I was told. Obviously, you want to severely reduce fats to reduce the chance of an attack, but zero is nearly impossible. Like, one almond? Everyone is different, and each day can be different, but I still had a latté every day, albeit with skim or 1% milk rather than whole milk. I would eat a few almonds, but not 20 (having learned the hard way how much fat would cause an attack). No meat, no butter, sure, but salad dressing with a very low amount of fat, yes. I just don't see how zero is a reasonable target. Hopefully you won't have to keep this up for too long waiting for the surgery. I had mine a month ago, feel great, and can eat anything I want, no problems.
    • naddynoo
      naddynoo CdnMaven

      Posted

      That's good, did you have keyhole surgery? None of my attacks have been consistent in the fact that there is nothing particular which triggers them, but they tend to happen about 10pm or 4am. Will be glad to get it removed but bit nervous about any post surgery pain.
    • CdnMaven
      CdnMaven naddynoo

      Posted

      Same, often 10 pm or 4 am. I usually could trace back something that might have triggered it, but not always. My surgeon said I shouldn't beat myself up about it too much, some of her patients who ate nothing but leafy greens would occassionally have an attack. And yes, keyhole surgery. It went great. Let me know if you have any questions about what to expect.
  • tommyboy77
    tommyboy77 naddynoo

    Posted

    When I had my gallbladder attack, i was put on a BRAT (Bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) diet. I endured it for 2 months. I dropped 40 lbs during that time. It helped minimize the pain. When I did eat anything fatty, I had horrid pain, nausea, and dry heaved.
    • naddynoo
      naddynoo tommyboy77

      Posted

      That must've been difficult to maintain for 2 months. I need to lose weight so this is a sure fire way of doing that!
    • tommyboy77
      tommyboy77 naddynoo

      Posted

      I did lose a lot of weight, but not the way I wanted too. Lol.

      Since I've had mine out, I've put about 20 back on, but that was because I literally ate everything I hadn't been able to eat the previous 6 months.

  • j75920
    j75920 naddynoo

    Posted

    Another thing I've done is to do the 3 day grape thing.  I know that sounds really drastic to just eat grapes, but it works.  completely cleans the gallbladder and calms it down.  As far as the stones, well, I've got them and I just hope and pray they don't cause trouble, especially when I travel.  I'm one person that I've really questioned about having my gallbladder out.  I know some of you have had it done and been just fine, but then there are others that continue to have a great deal of problems.  At my age, 80, I just don't want to do it.
    • naddynoo
      naddynoo j75920

      Posted

      Yes I am concerned about having it removed as so many people seem to have problems afterwards, but I guess as many people say it solves all their problems. With the pain I've been I don't have a choice as it is also affecting my liver function.
    • tommyboy77
      tommyboy77 naddynoo

      Posted

      I had mine out and about the only issue I deal with is minor pain where the gallbladder used to be.
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