Reflux and heartburn after gallbladder surgery

Hi there! Have you started the ox bile yet? Thinking the same as you. I've tried digestive enzymes and Hcl too with little success just more burning. Think since gallbladder removal we perhaps don't produce enough bile? I wonder if the theory is right??

Not yet.  I should get the pills tomorrow (2/18/2015) and I'll give them a try.  My theory is that my liver is producing enough bile but without a gallbladder it's not able to store it and release it at the right times, namely right after a meal that has fat in it.  Instead it's releasing it around the clock straight into my small intestine, whether I need it or not.  This has resulted in some very annoying bathroom patterns.  Those without a gallbladder know what I'm talking about.  I've used colestyramine to ease those symptoms, however about 2 weeks ago I found that a really good probiotic works just as well, one with 30 billion live cultures or more.  Now I just need to figure out the acid reflux part.  If bile flow is the cause, what's happening is that any fatty foods I eat along with the acid are just sitting in my stomach and waiting for enough bile to make its way to the intestine.  This takes 10 times as long because,without the gallbladder, the liver has to make the bile "custom order" so to speak.  If the bile doesn't arrive within about an hour I start having reflux symptoms.  Anyone else have this symptom: whenever you are bloated after a meal go into a quiet room and try swallowing some saliva then listen/perceive very carefully.  Does the stomach reflux it back up again some percentage of the time?  Or do you feel a squirting sensation in your belly (that's your stomach releasing contents into the small intestine)?  I've noticed that this reflux sensation is very pronounced after I eat certain things, most notably foods with any kind of fat.  This means my stomach is irritated.  It's not digesting whatever I send down there and I need to figure out why.  Until I do I plan to stay on the PPIs or H2 blockers because I know that without them this squirt would normally carry a heavy dose of acid which I don't want in my esophagus!

Hi Barry that's a really good theory. I've never thought about. It is a possibilty that waiting time of food in stomach because of not enough bile. Pips don't work for me unfortunately they only made my heartburn worse. Bile should be going into your intestine not up to the stomach, but if is going into the stomach that means that the spinchter between the stomach and bile duct is not working properly so bile refluxes in the wrong direction - the stomach causing inflammation  bile gastritis. The vagus nerve is important and if cut during a surgery can delay stomach emptying too. Hope you find the solution soon . 

Hi Barry, I was in hospital for hernia op. Following op in recovery I was fitted with a gastric tube. For three days the discharge from my stomach into the gastric bag was a nice Amber colour. I felt fine. Then on the forth day I noticed the discharge had changed colour to green. Only a tiny amount but it was definitely bile. I instantly started belching. Pains in my tummy and feeling ill. I persuaded the nurses to use a syringe to draw off this green fluid and the pain and gas stopped. I can control this. I use digestive enzymes with betaine hcl at the start of a meal. If on the odd occasion I start with the gas I know I have bile reflux. I immediately take a renetadene to kill the acid and stop the bile acid reaction. Then eat two dry cream crackers to mop up residual acid. This settles things down. Then about an hour later I have something to eat with an enzyme. This works for me. I also avoid getting constipated as this causes bowels to back up and aggravate problem of bile reflux. I have an adjustable bed to raise head and stop reflux as I have hiatus hernia. I also avoid nightshade foods that can cause digestive problems.

Hi there, I have heard that using only PPIs is not be good when you have bile reflux. If you have both acid and bile reflux, ... ummm, not sure... things can be different... Ask your doctor if he can give you Domperidone, Ursodeoxycholic acid or other drugs for your bile reflux. Yet I'm not sure.

And Barry, please do not test everything on yourself. It might make things worse. By the way, it may be the combination of 2 or more things in the NOW superenzyme bottle that makes you feel better. And I wanted to ask Laura how long it took her to develop Barret's since her reflux started.

You are absolutely right. PPI's don't work for bile reflux alone. But since I had relief for years, I assumed the bile reflux settled down and I was suffering from acid reflux.

Now, I am not sure what is going on. The doctors won't prescribe anything but Welchol or Carafate, because some don't believe in bile reflux after gall bladder surgery. They say bile reflux is extremely rare and usually only in people who have had major stomach surgery. You wouldn't know that from all of the people who seem to have problems after gall bladder removal. But I guess statistically it is small, people who are suffering post on the internet.

I could have the ph testing and pressure test, but I've heard that is not always definitive. Also, very expensive and hard to find someone to do the test. But if this doesnt resolve, I don't see any other option.

 

No, I haven't found any relief. PPis didn't really worked, then I tried sucralfate and denol which gave a bit of relief but not enough to forget about it also gave me terrible constipation, so I don't take none of those meds anymore.

Do you really still have this symptoms after 2 years after the surgery? It really scares me now.. How do you feel, your throat? Do you have chest pain? Mine is so bad is goes to the nerves in my back and I always need to lie down because is so painful. I am scared that it will never get better and ran out of more possible medications that might help. Did you ever talked with your surgeon about it? 

Have you tried taking any digestive enzymes?

What about Pepcid AC (or other H2 blockers)?

Digestive enzymes only made me more sick and I 've tried PPIs which are better than h2 blockers but didn't make anything too 😣

Update-

I started taking the ox bile yesterday evening.  It's still early but so far I haven't noticed a significant difference.  It could be that I'm not taking enough of it yet.  I ordered a bottle that has 125mg pills which is almost nothing and I've only taken 2 of them at a time.

I did however do an experiment this morning where I drank a very small cup of coffee before I ate breakfast and, even though it irritated my esophagus on the way down and I had to pop a Tums, it did seem to jumpstart my digestion.  Now if I could find out a way to get the coffee (or some other "bitter") down there without touching the esophagus, that would be a better test.  Coffee in pill form?  Probably not.

I'll keep you posted on the bile pill experiment but no magic bullet (yet)!

Yes keep is all posted. I am waiting for my new digestive enzymes with ox bile also. Be interesting. Does anyone get a feeling of acidic liquid flowing through first part of small intestine? Wondering if this is acidic chyme, that hasn't been properly alkalised with sufficient bile. Hmmm

Yes there is kind of a coffee pill! It is one of those ones that keeps you awake. Can't remember what it's called but It is FULL OF CAFFINE. Good luck.