So I've have had two gall bladder attacks within a week of each other. One last Sunday and one this Sunday. If you've never had a gall bladder attack, let me just tell you it is outrageously painful. I had my first one in March of 2007, and I was sure I was gonna die. I was scheduled to have my gall bladder removed until I found out we couldn't afford the surgery with the crappy insurance we were getting from AISD at the time (GO TEACHERS!). Plus, I'd only had one attack and it didn't repeat and blah, blah, blah: it was easy to pretend it never happened.
Now I'm starting to think I need to call up my doctor and get a surgery scheduled. Especially because I think it gets worse if you're pregnant (not that I am but we hope to be in the near future),and I would prefer not to suffer needlessly through my next pregnancy. Our insurance is much better now. My husband works for an insurance company, for cryin' out loud (ironic, isn't it?)
But PLEASE, for the love of Pete, don't advise me to do a Gall Bladder flush. I flirted with this idea briefly when I found out I couldn't afford the surgery the first time. After I did the research, however, I realized that a gall bladder flush doesn't actually flush out any gall stones (which is, by the way, impossible, and would be extremely painful if it were), but instead is just a severely uncomfortable way to make soap, as you can read about HERE, HERE and also HERE.
I think if the timing is such that I can't have the surgery, I'll just try to do the best I can controlling it by eating a bland diet, which is suppose to help prevent attacks. Though considering my past failed will-power attempts to eat healthy, I might be in for some trouble.
6 comments:
P.S. fastest and easiest way to end an attack is to throw up everything in your stomach. It stinks, I know, but as soon as I'd feel one coming on I'd grab a straw and run to the bathroom and stay there until everything was out. SOOOOOO glad I won't have to do that anymore!
Hmmm.... My first comment didn't make it through. Guess I'll give you the Reader's Digest version:
Did the cleanses and had doctor's stumped as to how the stones that had appeared there on sono the week before were gone. So I know they work. Medical community doesn't admit to that, but I can attest to the fact that they do actually work. Wouldn't suggest it though as this is probably a severe case, and doing one would probably land you in the ER needing an emergency removal anyway.
I'm on day three of recovery from my gallbladder removal surgery. Sucks. Just plain sucks. Highly recommend it, but know that it won't solve your problem if you're afraid you won't have will-power to avoid "bad" foods. I will have to avoid fried, fatty, and oily foods for the rest of my life. I got the surgery so I could eat a normal diet of veggies and lean proteins without dying (the next attack they were afraid would lead to pancreatitis, 3 weeks in the hospital, no fun). Check out www.gallbladderattack.com for a good gallstone diet. She's a gallbladder Nazi, but its what I had to do to avoid an attack. She also advocates not removing your gallbladder. I ignored that section :o).
Get your gallbladder out before you get pregnant. Pregnancy hormones make more gallstones= more attacks = more pain and misery for 9 months. There is a three week window in your 2nd trimester where it is safe to have the surgery. Otherwise you have to wait. That's another reason we wanted me to get the surgery - better now than when pregnant.
Again, the surgery isn't going to make the problems go away. A lot of people still have to avoid certain foods (dairy and fried foods are big ones) and if they don't will have bilestones they have to deal with. So either way a lot of discipline is in order. :P And trust me, I'm not so great on the discipline stuff, either.
The doctors were "stumped," but that didn't convince the surgeon, apparently...
Caroline--You're actually not the only one who's told me to throw up to end an attack. Interesting. I can't believe I didn't know you were having surgery!! I guess I need to read your blog more carefully! :)
As for the cleanses, I have to disagree that they're helpful or even safe. Read the links I gave for more info.
Also, I personally don't think the medical community is trying to keep things from us. Wouldn't that be against the Hippocratic oath?
Does anyone have any info on how and why the cleanses are suppose to work? I mean, the biological/phisiological facts, not catch phrases.
Its hard to find a site that will tell you how and why the cleanses work. I borrowed a book from my MIL ages ago that was more scientific and explained why it worked. From what I remember, the unfiltered apple juice acts as a natural laxative. It will empty your colon pretty quickly and gives your gallbladder a break from its job for a day. The olive oil coats the inside of your intestines, as well as the liver and bile ducts and makes your gallbladder get to work. This would be the painful part if it weren't for the lemon juice that (when taken in such large quantities) will make the bile ducts open and violenty expel bile. If you have stones, it will take those, too. Where it gets dangerous is when you have the calcified stones which, even when coated with the oil, are not soft enough to pass. I think that is where the medical community is concerned - they don't want someone who could have a calcified stone doing a cleanse that would then turn life-threatening, and I don't blame them!
The cleanses are really a "quick fix". As long as I was good about what I ate, my body didn't form more stones. That is why for so long the doctors thought their first finding of stones had been a fluke. It wasn't, I just didn't follow up and eat the way I needed to to remain healthy. I got tired of dealing with the super strict diet, so I went ahead and did the surgery so that I could slip up every once and a while and not die from it. That and those cleanses get DISGUSTING after the first few times!:o)
Hope that helps! I would really recommend the surgery. It was quick, and I'll be back up and running in another week. Easy-peasy!
I hope you feel better soon and can learn to live on bread and water or whatever you are supposed to eat before you can get surgery.
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