Need Something Settled, Gallbladder/DS

I was self pay, and couldn't scrape up the crazy amount of cash they wanted extra to remove my gall bladder, so I still have mine.  I have to take a medication called Actigall to prevent stones and sludge from forming during my active weight loss period. 

Oh, and I only go once in the morning, as soon as my feet hit the floor.  Sometimes, if I'm rushed, I'll have to go again mid morning.

My gall bladder was gone years before my DS. Having it out never caused any bowel problems for me; it just solved them. My post-DS experience seems to be pretty typical as far as frequency goes. I usually go once a day first thing in the morning, and occasionally once later in the afternoon. It's never liquid. I've had diarrhea just a couple of times in the last two years, once right after surgery, once with food poisoning. I've only experienced a dramatic poop smell a few times. Usually I don't notice much odor. I do take a good probiotic three times a day.

In the USA, about 500,000 people (yes half a million) have their gall bladder removed every year. Most of them are running around out there with no problems at all. I'm sorry your DBF is having trouble.
     With the DS, your gall bladder loses what little function it has to start with, which is a storage depot for bile. The bile will be made in your liver, same as always, but the part of the intestine that the bile drains into, meaning from the common bile duct into the duodenum, will be disconnected from the part of the intestine where the food goes. They won't meet up again until they reach the common channel. So whether or not the bile sits around for awhile in a gall bladder, waiting for you to eat and send it a signal to send bile to the intestines, won't matter anymore. Your gallbladder will thus have no purpose and can only get you into trouble.

     Mine was removed at the time of my DS, and I haven't missed it.

Larra

My GB is gone. I would have changed surgeons rather than not gotten the bugger removed because I did NOT want a high risk of another surgery a few months down the road. Turned out it was diseased anyhow, though it didn't show up until the lab exam (biopsy? is that the right word?).

I poop generally every other day, sometimes every third day. If it goes to day three, it happens more than once. If I don't pour on the fat like a fiend, I get constipation from hell. My **** stinks and the stink lingers. I use candles and industrial strength spray. Oh well. Tiny price to pay for being alive and well.

I suspect that our experience tends to be different because of our intestinal configuration. But that's nothing to take to the bank, cuz I can cite no science to back up this impression. Yeah, bile is a horribly stinky thing, and yeah, you'll notice it more. Sometimes you might get a rather burny butt because bile is so strong (uh, strong base, I think? Or is bile acidic? I keep forgetting...).

I have less urgency now than I did before my DS, less abdominal discomfort and generally far fewer **** worries. Once in a while, things get funky. So what? That happened before surgery too. I might eat someting that disagreed with me and have to "run" (HA, as if that was running) to the can. That happens now, too. So what?

If you listen to old people talk about their **** you'll notice that bowel issues tend to get a bit more complicated as life goes on. Mine are now less complicated. If that changes, I'll deal with it just like every other aging adult.

I really like your point here. I am reading a lot of these threads and listening to folks talk about this stuff, and thinking... well this all sounds a lot better than what I've got going right now. My BMs are unpredictable in frequency, amount and consistency. I would love to have a bit of butt stability, even if it is stinky. It's poop. Same with farts, you know? I am quite gassy pre-op. I hope that changes post-op. I remember when I was on Atkins, I didn't fart as much and my bowels were pretty regular and happy.

I mean I've never smelled a DS bathroom stink, but here's what I wonder, and clearly this is like I said, coming from someone who has no idea. So bear with me. You grow up with your farts and stinks and you know what they smell like. It's something you're used to. Well, if you walk in on a stranger in the public bathroom, and whoa man does their stink reek or what? But to them, they're like whatever -- they're used to it and they barely notice. Well if you get your intestine rearranged, all of a sudden your usual smell is different. You notice it a LOT more. I mean you have a stranger's poop smell. It may stink worse than pre-op but I wonder if it bothers people more because it's just a foreign stink. It's like an animal instinct, and it doesn't smell like we normally smell, and that makes our brain think sickness, weakness, or get confused. Just throwing that out there.

Yeah, to be honest, right now I have urgent bathroom trips regularly, plus regular ones, and it's all unpredictable. I have my poorly functioning gall bladder right now, and to be honest, it is awful for that. If I eat anything with much fat (and sometimes random low fat foods) I will have an attack and it causes havok with my crap right when the attack begins. Greasy, painful, cramping... I'd love to get rid of that issue. It's one of the things I'm really looking forward to.

I've just returned from two-plus months with my sis and BIL, who love me and my cooking and wanted me there lol, but who were quite honest about stink issues. There were times when I chose to eat carby stuff and I farted a bunch and it STANK BAD. I lit candles and sprayed and went outside. They teased me but assured me that it was no worse than any of my siblings' (including my sisters') farts, except perhaps for having more power to linger.

Yes, I inflicted some carby fart stuff on them. They dealt with it with aplomb. My diet choices for my vacation were different from my diet choices for regular life when it's really not okay to choke people :-p. If it was really all that bad, they would have said so.

My hubby is blissfully lovingly unaware, unless I happen to be, um, very close in a gassy situation. So he's not the greatest monitor of stench.

But for the rest of my life? I think about what I eat. I chug Gas X if I eat carbs. I carry a little can of spray and a bottle of citrus essential oils (which are great in public restrooms). Frankly, I'm a hell of a lot more attentive to my potential bathroom odors than my fellow students are. I dunno what it might be like in the professional workplace cuz I have minimal exposure there. Ask me how many of my fellow students carry their own air freshener into public toilets *snort*.

Oh and BTW: KITTY FACE LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't let the cute face fool you! She swatted my camera after that picture LoL

See, I knew I was right! LOL

I will happily take any washroom issues that could possibly arise if the result will put me in a healthy weight range, "cure" my pre-diabetes and help with PCOS.

Thank you all for replying (:

Lo, here's a post by Dina McBride I bookmarked about 'bathroom' issues:
www.obesityhelp.com/forums/ds/3729479/Bathroom-Issues/