Anyone have gall bladder problems?

babyflynn08 · August 2009

I found out Tuesday that I have gall stones. I've had two attacks since the end of June. I talked with my surgeon and he said I could get it removed or just deal with it. I'm tempted to let it be but am worried about it flaring up during the next pregnancy. Has anyone dealt with this during pregnancy?

mrsrose16 · August 2009

I haven't, but my friend had a lot of problems. She had it removed right before she got pg with her dd. It got so bad, her diet was so restricted, she couldn't eat anything.

MegGary · August 2009

Just went for an u/s to see if I had this. Didn't though. I have diabetes instead.

I guess if the pain is dibilitating enough it might be worth the surgery. Do you need pain meds to get through the attack? That might make it worth the surgery so you don't have to rely on the pain meds while pregnant.

Good luck. I imagine that is no fun to deal with.

jen_k2 · August 2009

I had gall stones before being pg. I had it removed. After 3 straight days of struggling to keep ice chips down, it was an easy decision. But sometimes it never bothers people again after the initial attack. GL!

schnappycat · August 2009

I had gall bladder attacks on and off for 2 years when I was in my late 20s. Horrific pain that required narcotics and many ER visits. My idiot doctors kept misdiagnosing me, but I finally had it removed. Best decision ever. It was an easy surgery, I recovered quickly, and I never had another issue. I suffered so much and I'm so pissed that they jerked me around like they did.?

babyflynn08 · August 2009

My attacks have only lasted between 4-6 hours. Thankfully I still have pain meds from when DD was born so I've taken a pill both times.It so hard to agree to surgery when I feel perfectly fine now.

kirbabe · August 2009

They discovered gall stones during an u/s (they were u/sing my kidneys during a kidney infection when I was 8 months pregnant), but I didn't have any problems with it until after I delivered DS. I had a small attack that I didn't realize was a gall bladder attack (I had forgotten about them after the kidney infection) one night when DH and I were awake with Elijah (I was pumping, he was feeding him), but it passed quickly. Then one early morning, when E was 2 1/2 weeks, I had a major attack, I was pumping while DH fed E again and it hit me so hard and fast, I was shaking uncontrollably. The only relief I got (and I tried lots of different things) was to get into a bath and roll around in the water, my dad told me later, that was probably the best thing to do, because I temporarily dislodged the stone from the bile duct. I only had a few minutes of relief before the pain came back though, so to the ER we went . I ended up with pancreatitis (sp?) because my attack was so severe. The next day I had to go in for more blood work, then the next for an ERCP (which was pointless, but my dad thinks they were being overly cautious since he's a doctor and the other doctors knew this), then I got my gall bladder out. I didn't wait around to try and alter my diet, if I had another attack when my DH wasn't home, I would have been useless to my newborn son.

schnappycat · August 2009

kirbabe:
They discovered gall stones during an u/s (they were u/sing my kidneys during a kidney infection when I was 8 months pregnant), but I didn't have any problems with it until after I delivered DS.? I had a small attack that I didn't realize was a gall bladder attack (I had forgotten about them after the kidney infection) one night when DH and I were awake with Elijah (I was pumping, he was feeding him), but it passed quickly.? Then one early morning, when E was 2 1/2 weeks, I had a major attack, I was pumping while DH fed E again and it hit me so hard and fast, I was shaking uncontrollably.? The only relief I got (and I tried lots of different things) was to get into a bath and roll around in the water, my dad told me later, that was probably the best thing to do, because I temporarily dislodged the stone from the bile duct.? I only had a few minutes of relief before the pain came back though, so to the ER we went .? I ended up with pancreatitis (sp?) because my attack was so severe.? The next day I had to go in for more blood work, then the next for an ERCP (which was pointless, but my dad thinks they were being overly cautious since he's a doctor and the other doctors knew this), then I got my gall bladder out.? I didn't wait around to try and alter my diet, if I had another attack when my DH wasn't home, I would have been useless to my newborn son.

I had to have an ERCP (and an overnight hospital stay) with mine, too. Mainly because they let me go so long and I had a huge stone get lodged in the duct. Sucky.

To the OP, hopefully you won't continue to have issues, but mine escalated and got more severe and frequent as time went on. After awhile, the vicodin didn't touch me and I had to have IV drugs. I hope that isn't your case, but if you do get worse, don't worry too much about the surgery. It's outpatient typically and not bad. And much better than dealing with the pain and anxiety of not knowing when it might come. With me, diet made no difference--I could have an attack after a burger or a piece of fruit. No predictability. I didn't have a kid then, but did have a job and missed tons of work and was virtually useless.

kirbabe · August 2009

Oh yeah, I had the two attacks HOURS after I had eaten anything and they weren't greasy meals, at all!

babyflynn08 · August 2009

Once it was removed did you have any problems. Foods you can't eat? Using the bathroom more oftened?

AEK&BGT · August 2009

I was diagnosed at 37 weeks pregnant with dd #2 after going to the hospital twice and having attacks on and off for 2 days. I had my gallbladder removed back in may. The surgery and recovery were quite easy even with two littles ones about three days. Being pregnant with the gallbladder attacks was worse than labor itself. I would go ahead and get it over with if you are planning on more babies. Might save yourself emergency surgery during pregnancy.

schnappycat · August 2009

babyflynn08:
Once it was removed did you have any problems. Foods you can't eat? Using the bathroom more oftened?

Nope. I'm perfectly normal. Never a problem at all. ?

kirbabe · August 2009

babyflynn08:

Once it was removed did you have any problems. Foods you can't eat? Using the bathroom more oftened?

I don't use bathroom more often, I've only had pain one morning after eating a Wendy's Spicy Chicken Sandwich the night before, but I've gained a lot of weight relatively quickly that just won't budge. This isn't the same for everyone, in fact, I think it might be somewhat uncommon. The surgery was still worth it though.

kirbabe · August 2009

Oh, and I think (I'm really just speculating) that the gall bladder surgery was harder for me than a lot of other people, but I did just have a c/s 3 weeks earlier. I took percocet longer for the gall bladder surgery pain than I did for the c/s pain.

crazytmogirl · August 2009

I had my gallbladder out at 29 weeks pregnant... I don't recommend it at all! Normally this surgery is laproscopic and not very bad at all. I have a 7" incision on my abdomen because I had to have an "open" surgery. I was in so much pain from 24 weeks to 29 because I thought the pain was the baby kicking my ribs... Once I started paying attention I realized it was pain after I ate and then realized that it was the gallbladder.

At 27 weeks I was hospitalized because of severe dehydration and not being able to keep any food down. I would get severe attacks even if I ate plain rice or applesauce. So they hospitalized me to try to manage the pain w/ IV narcotics. In the 3rd tri the surgery is more dangerous because it has to be open and so they were hoping to keep me in the hospital for the remainder of the pregnancy or on home IV meds for pain and infection. Then I got a septic blood infection and started to develope pancreatitis and they had to do the surgery. I got moved to another hosptital w/ a better NICU and given the steroids for lung development. I was in the hospital until almost 30 weeks. I had a drain coming out of the side of my stomach and I went into preterm labor after the surgery. Before surgery we had to meet w/ NICU doctors and I had to give consent for a c-section just in case. Thank God they were able to stop my labor though. I had to have twice weekly NST/BPP for the remainder of the pregnancy. I didn't gain any weight during my pregnancy. It was a hard experience.

crazytmogirl · August 2009

Oh I have no problems w/ bathroom issues and can usually eat whatever I want (though I don't eat overly greasy/fatty foods all that often). My attacks came basically out of nowhere and they were horrible. They got worse and worse and more frequent as the time went on and I was having them every time I ate at the end. Nothing helped. Not everyone has it this badly though, and not every has the same surgical experience as I did (as evidenced by a poster in this thread who had her's out at 27 weeks). I think mine was so bad because I was septic and because I was in the 3rd tri, so no laproscopic surgery for me. I had 35 surgical staples holding my incision closed though, it was really gross!

KellyOsu23 · August 2009

I had my first attach with Ashlyn was 2 weeks old, thought I was dying (literally) and went to ER, they said it was a kidney infection, had 3 more attacks which were the worse pain I ever felt when she was 4 weeks. Got my Gall-bladder out when she was 6 weeks.

No problems really, I cant drink as much alcohol, it hits me alot faster now which is odd but thats about it

Surgery was easy and I would do it 100 times over from feeling one of my "bad" attacks

tmp-336341562506044 · August 2009

I had my first gall bladder attack when I was 20 weeks PG and I thought I was dying. I was on the floor in the bathroom, couldn't move, couldn't talk, was shivering. Saw my doctor the next day and she said it was a gallbladder attack and I have gallstones. She said she really wanted to wait until after I had the baby to get it removed. Tips that "helped" me when having an attack was lying on my right side, drinking lots of water, taking Motrin (I had prescription from OB).

When DS was 4 months old, I almost passed out from the pain of an attack so I was brought to the ER. They admitted me and did surgery the next day. They did laproscopic on me. My problem was that night I was having the extreme pain again and I passed out. They did an U/S right away and found that a gallstone had fallen out and was pressing on my liver. Nice, right? So I had to have surgery right away to get that out.

I haven't had any problems since. I 100% swear though that gallbladder attacks are worse than labor!

jenifairies · August 2009

GET IT REMOVED.

It won't get any better. Trust me.

amygauntt@windstream.net · August 2009

I had my first attack when DD was 2 weeks old, and had 3 more before finding out what it was. Now that I know, I just control it with diet, basically no extremely fatty or spicy foods.

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