Or, more specifically, the long-term effects of not having a Gall Bladder anymore.

I had mine out a couple of weeks ago. Keyhole surgery and all that. The four stab-wounds to the belly that I’m left with are healing fine, as is the internal muscle trauma.

Afterwards my surgeon said “just eat normally – there’ll be no difference”. But everything I’ve read on-the-line seems conflicting. I’ve already noticed that my once robust, reliable and regular digestive tract is all over the place. Coffee, for instance, (one of my few pleasures in life) now seems to turn me inside-out. Will this settle down in time?

Have you experienced any long-term health issues after YOUR Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy?

Weight loss? Weight gain?

Mrs BigJohn had it done a few years ago. She had always been a bit averse to eating fatty meat and had expected this to become a bit of a problem afterwards.
However, no problems of any nature have been experienced. She’s fit as a fiddle, plays golf several times a week, eats and drinks pretty much what I do, although still cutting out the interesting tasty fatty bits off beef, lamb, chicken and duck which is great because I get those.
Coffee isn’t a problem for her – she drinks fresh ground, tinned de-caff and Gold Blend at different times of the day.
Seems to weigh the same as she’s always done.

No side effects, no other health problems, no weight gain, no adverse reactions to fat or coffee- just glad to be free of the pain of gallstones.

Had mine done about 5 year since {6 hour) keyhole surgery 25mm stone trying to get up a 6mm tube only problems i’v had is a bit more indigestion otherwise no problems…..

Had mine out in March this year.

The surgeon said he made sure there were no stones, that had passed through the gall bladder, left behind.

Other than the same four wounds and some healing, everything has been fine. No weight gain or eating/digesting problems.

My sister, on the other hand, still has some similar, infrequent problems as pre-op. I assume that there were stones left, that had passed through the bladder

Had mine done a few years back after ongoing R shoulder pain and regular bouts of tonsillitis, neither of which have reoccurred since. I pushed GP to refer for scan privately which showed stones as I kept getting a pretty vague response from them about the shoulder pain.

Surgery was quick and day case, remember waking up with the surgeon shaking a pot full of stones at me to show what came out.

Only dietary thing seems to be Indian food, not sure if it is the spices or fats they use and doesn’t matter if it is local takeaway or Dishoom. I can enjoy it while I eat it but within 1/2 hour I feel bloated and uncomfortable and will suffer badly that night with heartburn and indigestion. Things like Thai food are no where near as bad so I don’t think it’s the chilies.

I’m about 17 years in.
I eat normally (i.e. badly) and there’s barely any difference.
A fatty meal might cause a sudden requirement for the loo but it’s basically fine.
When I do have a healthy eating spree there’s still no difference!
I also drink lots of coffee.

My dad had his done waaaaaay in the past and it did not seem to really affect him. He still drank, drank coffee/tea and ate what he wanted to.

I had mine done a few years ago and was told to eat normally.
I have stomach problems and nausea when not eating as much. In a stage to kick start my stomach back to normal. Doctor described a month of omezmepral which has helped and now just taking it when needed rather than everyday!

I had mine out last year. Was back to normal rather quickly. I should eat better, but I don’t – I oscillate wildly between healthy eating and excessive consumption of cake and cheese.

Weight-wise I’m constantly engaged in a battle to shift the pounds, but I’m somewhat thwarted by other medical issues (underactive thyroid, PCOS)… and the aforementioned love of cake and cheese.

Husband had his out this year, pretty much a year to the day I had mine out. He also recovered fine and has been eating normally, and drinks many, many cups of coffee. We have matching scars, which is a bit weird.

Main difference is that we both used to suffer from what we thought was excruciating IBS. Neither of us has had a single attack since the gallbladder was booted, so that’s a definite plus.

If it was only a couple of weeks ago it might be the keyhole surgery not the gall bladder that is the issue. I had keyhole for an appendix and it seriously messed up my digestion and then caused an infection. After 3 weeks of bad stomachs a course of ridiculously strong antibiotics cleared things up. Worth seeing your doctor since everyone else seems to be saying that they were ok without a gall bladder.

I had mine out about 5 years ago.

No day to day problems although I suffer from acid reflux and burning throat if I have more than a couple of pints (beer, lager) or just a sip of a strong spirit.

Not really a problem as I am pretty much tea total nowadays, although it would be nice to enjoy a tipple at Christmas and the like.

Oddly enough the only other thing that sets acidy type problems off is chilled water. Out of the tap is is fine but if I have more than 500ml or so of chilled water, I get the same acid type problems.

Not sure if this is linked to the GB removal but none of the above happened before.

All in all though, the small amount of problems are far better than 4 hours of ever increasing pain that stones brought for 2 years previous to the opp – despite my GP saying it was trapped wind !

Probably of little relevance as I had mine removed together with half my pancreas, some stomach and my small intestine and then some re-plumbing……but after a tough first few months, I can eat pretty much anything but avoid too much fat. (Home made pizza are great, most in Italian restaurants have way too much cheese for me) I do have to take an enzyme tablet (6 or 8 with each meal actually) but that is because of the loss of the head of the pancreas. No meds re the gall bladder being removed.
Hope it settles down for you.