Can gallbladder problems make you gain weight ?

  Hello there.
Thursday evening I started hurting again. I called my surgeons office and they told me to come to the ER. I go and a regular dr. checks me out takes my blood sends me down for an XRay since I just had a CT at a different ER a week earlier. Then send me to have an ultrasound done. After I get back in the room in the er the nurse says they have a bed ready for me upstairs. I was like a bed. The dr. didn't say anything about being admitted. Then he comes in and says they want to do a hida scan in the morning to check things out. Well I stayed Friday and late that the the surgeon decides he is going to take my gallbladder out Saturday morning and run a scope down my throat and have a look around as well as look around while he is inside me. Ok after surgery I find out I had my gallbladder removed a hiatal hernia repaired and adhesions removed. Right after surgery i was in major pain but by Saturday night was just sore. They decided to keep me and let me out today. I have learned that the med Nubain gives me migraines. Cause they gave me a Nubain Shot in the ER and by the time i was upstairs and admitted my head was throbbing to the point I got sick ! I have had all kinds of fluids and a couple iv's of pepcid. But over all I'm feeling ok. So instead of food poisoning last friday it was probably just my gallbladder. I gotta call surgeons office tom. and make a follow up app. in 2 wks. Oh and I used Dr Wheeler. Cause my main surgeon was out of town on vacation. But I have heard good things about this surgeon as well. They said it wasn't empting fast enough. Now I might start feeling better !.

I gained a lot of weight before my gallbladder was removed, and then even more after it was out.  Before it came out I was really bloated with bile...gross I know.  Then after my body wasn't holding any food because everything I ate gave me diarrhea...so the doc said my body was going into starvation mode. 

Gallbladder problems can cause bloating but I have never heard of it causing weight gain. Not sure how it could since it has nothing to do with metabolism or increased appetite, If anythingl, In would think it would cause weight loss from NOT wanting to eat because of pain, nausea, or fear of bringing on an attack after eating.

Lora

Just wondering. I did have bloating alot !
I really didnt think my pain had anything to do with the gallbladder, I know my gain is from meds I have been on.

In most cases it causes weight loss.

Since 2000 I have had a lump on the right side of my abdominals. Just above and of to the side of belly button. I have had extreme pain ( hospital going type pain..never went though.No one to watch kids if I was there), bloating, extreme heartburn everyday( I don't even have to eat anything to get heartburn. If I need to urinate And say I hold it for 5 min until I get home..I get heartburn). It sometimes swells up so much when I bend over and tie my shoes . my rib on right side gets stuck into what ever it is and I have to use my hand and push what ever it is off. Before I had the lump (5'4") i weighed 135...now I am at 195 gained at least 30 of it in less than a year. I exercise alot. 5-6 day week. 1.5-2 hrs a day. cardio,toning,weights. Have not worked out to much the past year though due to this lump in my stomach..being more pain ful than before, causing extremely upset stomach, dissiness, heartburn when i work ab's or due total body workout. Now it is to the point when I need to hold abs to work out I can not hold taught. feels like something is blocking. In the paperiods st year have stopped also...So being extremely concerned. I finally decided to see doctor (1st time in 15yrs) about this problem. They checked thyriod(normal) they check for bladder infection(normal). They sent me for CT scan on the 16th of june. The imaging people told me to call Dr the next day for results. I called the next day. they said they had not recieved them yet ..so okay I waited until friday they 20th. After few hours a nurse calls me back and say's that I have gallstones and the dr was waiting to talk to surgeon and they would get back to me. still no call from dr. but recieved call last week from surgeon. saying i need to have gallbladder removed.....so being really confused. i decided to e-mail dr. since not successful by phone and not really clear what was going on. I asked him what the ct scan result were. and if it gallstones is this what would be causing this big lump (about 3-4" diameter lump) ..his reply was that they seen I have a few gallstones. and they do not know if this is causing the lum*****t and that the surgeon was would talk to me about the lump...my dr. is an internal med. specialist......i am so confused....so scared. i don't want to gain anymore weight....went from hourglass to egg on stick....i wonder what other people's insight is or have had similar issues. Plus in the past couple years have been experienceing multiple lumps growing on arms, legs, torsal. they are on joints and tendions.. everywhere....I am only 39. I am not pregnant. .......WQhat is going on with me

I signed up for this site just to reply to this outdated thread. I  have gained 10 to 15 pounds since the problems with my gallbladder started.  That has been very rapid weight gain in a very short period of time.  I'm having it removed in a few days. I don't have any stones,  but it's not emptying. I have certainly not been eating more and the bit that I do eat usually doesn't stay down for very long.  I've mentioned the weight gain to doctors and it's been ignored along with other things that I've brought up. The only reasonable explanation that I can come up with is that there is a hormonal link.  The reason that women tend to have more gallbladder problems than men is supposedly,  in one theory,  linked to estrogen production. Estrogen (and other hormones) can also do a number on one's metabolism.  An alternative explanation could potentially be water retention.  The gallbladder is an organ and when organs fail,  our bodies often retain water.  The most common place is in the stomach. 

I am having my gallbladder out in 2 weeks. I have gained a lot of weight since I started having problems also. Have you lost any since your surgery?

I too signed up for that reason. A little background will help understand why. I'm female, almost 38yo. Very active until 18yo, weighed weekly for sports from 14yo & from our standard guideline I was 5lbs under "ideal weight" for my height until 25-26yo. My 3rd/last baby was born when I was only 24yo, so this excludes the 2-3 weeks post-births to snap back into my normal shape. At 26 I developed a medical condition that doesn't affect weight but was warned the medications can cause a rapid significant weight gain...with this, I did initially gain 15lbs but within a few months balanced out to a fluctuating 5-10lbs over my norm weight. From then until 36yo, I weighed between 125lbs - 130lbs.

Suddenly in Feb. 2016, I noticed slight tightening of clothes. From then to Feb. 2017 I was in disbelief. The only thing that seemed to have changed in that year was increased cravings for meat. By this time, my weight had survived 3 births, medications known to cause weight gain, & my age. Yet with no specific lifestyle changes or possible factor to blame, I suddenly at 37yo gained 35-40lbs within 1 year....33lbs was the most I gained in all 3 pregnancies! Hormones, thyroid, & levels of everything possibly contributing were tested. All found to be in normal range except of course triglycerides, which is to be expected with such rapid gain. Within 3wks of those tests, I was rushed from the ER with pains, admitted for surgery & gallbladder was removed due to being enlarged with several large gallstones.

Why all this matters? Everything I've read makes it sound as if the primary cause is someone with years of unhealthy habits & extremely overweight...both of which haven't described me after 36.5yrs of life. I'd started having slight pains within the year prior to weight gain that I blew off as acid reflux...about the same time that the intensive meat cravings began. Now, I'm sure the weight gain itself was a result of the cravings but the cause of my cravings is what I believe to be related. It seems if weight gain is possible following gallbladder removal as a result of your body going into "starvation mode" because the gallbladder isn't present, then is it so far fetched that the same could apply prior when there are gallstones/issues preventing the gallbladder from funtioning properly?

**Following gallbladder removal, the increased cravings for fatty meats immediately stopped. 3wks post op now & I've lost 10-12lbs. Activity level has actually decreased slightly with recovery time included & no major changes other than the lack of cravings. Just some thoughts as I'm processing.