Gall bladder attack

Hi, guys.  I had lap band surgeyr in March of last year, and I've lost 105 pounds.  I've been reading this forum for a while, but never posted before.   Has anyone else had to deal with gallstones?  I woke up Saturday morning (3:00 a.m.) with pain in my mid-back, right side.  After several hours and several fruitless attempts to ease the pain (hot bath, walking, stretching, prayer...) I called my surgeon, who suggested I get my butt the ER, post haste.  Once there, I was stripped, stuck, drugged, x-rayed and mistreated by a variety of medical professionals, then hooked to a telemetry rig, and stuck in a room.  Where I stayed until the following afternoon, food and information free. My doctor showed up around 5:00 p.m., and told me I have to have my gallbladder removed.  Because the pain had lessened, he said I could do it electively, and I'm now in the process of scheduling same.  If anyone else has been through the surgery, and get give me an idea of the time off work, etc., I'd appreciate it.

Thanks in advance,

Barry (St. Louis, Missouri)

I had more or less the same experience as you, but 3.5 years before my WLS.  My comments are based on having my GB out laparoscopically. I took a week off from work, but I could have been back in 3-4 days, if I didn't have the sick time.  You would have to take longer if your job were physically strenuous; I just have a desk job. Basically, you feel like hell after you wake up from the surgery, but you rapidly improve and a week later, you're at 95%.  The other 5% comes back over the following week.  I never had any long-term symptoms from lacking a GB: no food intolerances, etc. /Steve

Thanks for the information!  And since I'm a legal assistant, the physically strenuous aspect shouldn't be a problem. 

I just recently had an episode of kidney stones (yes, plural) which sent me to the ER twice within a week in very serious pain so I know what you're going through.  I was drugged up for a week waiting for them to pass hoping I wouldn't have to have them removed surgically.  I may have to have my gall bladder removed as well because of the heartburn I experience constantly when I don't take Prevacid which inhibits the Gall bladder's production of bile.   My surgeon asked if I wanted it removed at the time I had my VSG.  I wish now that I had done it!  Hope it all goes well for you. JP

Sorry to hear about your kidney stone episodes.  Every time a read another horror story like yours--and there have been a surprising number of them on OH, I renew my promise to get more than 64 oz of fluid every day!  (So keep posting!) > I may have to have my gall bladder removed > as well because of the heartburn I experience > constantly when I don't take Prevacid which > inhibits the Gall bladder's production of bile. I have *never* heard that Prevacid (or any PPI for that matter) has any effect whatsoever on the production, storage or release of bile.  All that any PPI does is exquisitely simple: these drugs block the secretion of acid (in the pouch and the remnant stomach) by binding covalently to the "proton pumps" in the acid-secreting parietal cells, rendering them inactive.  If Prevacid improves your heartburn, that suggests that it's acid reflux that's causing your problems.  (But hey, I'm not a doctor!) Bile can be a bit like battery acid when it gets into places where God never intended it to get, and bile reflux into the esophagus is particularly nasty, but I've only heard of this as a side-effect of the deservedly-maligned "mini-gastric bypass".  People with normal anatomies and those with VSG, DS or RNY surgeries usually don't exhibit bile reflux, simply because it's too difficult for the bile to work its way upstream to enter the esophagus. /Steve

I had my galbladder out a week prior to my RNY. I had stones and didn't even know it. The surgeon said I would have problems with it and it had to come out. He took mine out lap and it was a piece of cake. Had it out Friday and back to work Monday, RNY was the following week. Your mileage may vary. pan head  

Yeah, but you're a tough ol' bastage PanHead! Hehehehe!!

Hi Barry, I had RnY last August, and I've lost 161 pounds.  A few months ago had some pains.  My surgeon scheduled an endoscope (everything turned out to be OK), and a GB ultrasound (I had at least 2 gall stones).  She said I should think about getting them out, and we could discuss at my next f/u. 2 weeks before that f/u, I had a really painful attack that lasted for about 12 hours. Short story:  I had mine out 19 days ago on a Thursday.  It was done lap. as an outpatient.  I went back to work the following Tuesday (I'm mostly a desk-jockey), but I had lingering effects of (I think)the anesthesia and anti-nausea meds for about a week.  Like I was recovering from the flu, or something.   And a fair amount of tenderness, and bleeding under the skin around my navel.  My surgeon said that's the hole they pull the gall bladder out through, so I suppose it gets the most abuse. My suggestion is to go for it.  It's much easier when it's NOT an emergency procedure.  

> And a fair amount of tenderness, and bleeding under the skin around my navel. I was putting a piece of gauze in my navel for at least 4-5 months after the GB surgery.  It didn't hurt, but the scar took a LOONG time to stop draining and heal fully; much longer than my RNY lap incisions.  I tried not to imagine them pulling the GB out from that hole--eaugggh! /Steve

Sorry, Steve,  TMI, maybe?   I figure that's the closest I ever want to come to giving birth!