Gallbladder & VSG

I have read a lot recently on this board of people having gallbladder attacks and needing the gallbladder out... Is it connected to the VSG? I had a painful attack of some sort on New Year's Eve, but I thought it was due to a pill getting stuck. It's freaking me out a bit. 

Rapid weight loss can cause gallstones which will cause a gallbladder attack. You should have been put on medicine to prevent this after surgery.  A pill getting stuck will not cause a gallbladder attack.  A lot of people who lose weight rapidly will create gallstones and need to have their gallbladder removed.  Follow up with your doctor to see if this is what you need to do.

God bless,

Thank you for this info! I have not been put on any med for this! I need an appt with my PCP to check thyroid and BP so this will be another thing to add to the list! I am so glad I asked about this. 

No problem, I've become a gall bladder/ pancreas expert in the last week! Luckily the test is a simple ultrasound and from what I've heard the gallbladder surgery is quite simple and easy to recover from.  If you don't have gallstones then definitely ask about preventative medicine!

I'm curious did you end up in ER and thats where you were diagnosed or just self diagnosed with googles help? lol

Diagnosed with the pill being stuck? I just figured that's what happened, I never looked it up. I was trying to take my bedtime pills when it happened. I was so very close to calling an ambulance, it was awful!

I don't believe it's tied directly to the VSG.  I believe that people who had incredibly bad diets are prone to getting gallbladder issues.  The same people also happen to be the normal candidates for WLS which is why there appears to be a correlation.

This makes sense too. I didn't have a horrible diet before, but it certainly wasn't perfect! Lol

There's research that shows any kind of rapid weight loss, regardless of how it happens, can cause conditions that favor the formation of gallstones.

Not sure it is related to VSG. I had a hysterectomy in 2000, then another surgery about 3 weeks later to clear up an infection from it. I had never had any problems with my gallbladder. I was laying around most of the time recovering from the 2 surgeries. After the second surgery I started vomiting constantly and had terrible pain in my abdomen and in my back under my soldier blade. Couldn't keep anything down, not even water. Went back to the doctor who cleared up the infection and he said he had never seen a gallbladder as full of stones as mine. He removed it about a week later and I felt great afterwards.

I think my sister is going to have hers removed when she gets her VSG. Our doctor said he removes them often when performing the VSG surgery.

"Soldier blade" LOL, I meant shoulder blade. Darned spellcheck!