Hi there. I had lap gall bladder surgery in November 2005. A year and some ago. I never had problems with my blood sugars before, but since the surgery, I have struggled to keep the blood sugars up, always falling too low (Hypoglycemia).

Has anyone experienced this...
thanks
Gary

How do you know your have low blood sugar? What does your doctor think? I have never heard of anyone having blood sugar problems with gall bladder removal. If you have pancreas problems, that's another story.

Hi there, I test my blood levels with a meter. Had tests, and I am producing too much insulin at times. Wondering if this is a direct connection to the removal of the gall bladder, and screwing up the digestion system....ie low blood sugars
Gary

The gall bladder has nothing to do with blood sugar. Nothing. Your pancreas has plenty to do with blood sugar. That is where your insulin is produced. You can still produce stones, even without a gall bladder, and they could impact the pancreas by blocking the pancreatic duct. There may be other causes to your low blood sugar. You certainly need accurate diagnosis, not a home test kit. You need to talk to your doctor about this.

I hear what you are saying, but if the pancreas duct was blocked, would the blood sugars not be too high....

Thanks,
Gary

No, I don't think that a blocked duct would cause low blood sugar. But neither will a diseased or removed gall bladder. You need to be examined by a doctor to see if you actually do have blood sugar issues, all anyone can do on this forum is guess.

I had my gb removed march of 06. I have problems with low blood sugars. Have you ever been told to go on diabetic diet, no sugar, low fat ? If you are not diabetic & are truelly hypoglycemic when you eat sugar it burns too fast leaving you low. I was having spells, 911 was called at one time bs was 21 I felt like I was dieing! I done a diabetic insullin glucose at hospital & it went to 38. I have cut out all sugar & went as low fat as I can & I have had no problems since. I don't believe it has anything to do with gb. I have had trouble with it for years, just wasn't severe enough for me to stick to a real diet. I also try to eat something every 3 hrs.

Thanks for your post.... I never had blood sugar issues until immediately after having my gall bladder removal. I do not know if it di something to my digestive system, or the way that I metabolise foods etc.... it is getting better, not being so sensitive, but it still drops below the norm...
Gary

You need to go back to your doctor and share your concerns. He/she can do some kind of glucose tolerance test to see if you truly have low blood sugar or some other problem.

Hi there. I had lap gall bladder surgery in November 2005. A year and some ago. I never had problems with my blood sugars before, but since the surgery, I have struggled to keep the blood sugars up, always falling too low (Hypoglycemia).

Has anyone experienced this...
thanks
Gary

Hi I have the same problem. I had gall bladder removed in March 2005 and I experience low blood sugar symptoms pretty bad that I had to change my diet to low carbs and low fat. I even sometimes wake up with racing heart. I drink milk or have tablespoon of omega type peanutbutter from smart balance (it's fat doesn't give me diahrea) it gets rid of my hypoglycemic symptoms. I never had this before the gall bladder was removed either. So yes I get same problem as you and doing alot of search online to figure whats causing it. I went as far as looking up selenium deficiency, iron, calcium etc. Am still searching for the answer.

Hi I have the same problem. I had gall bladder removed in March 2005 and I experience low blood sugar symptoms pretty bad that I had to change my diet to low carbs and low fat. I even sometimes wake up with racing heart. I drink milk or have tablespoon of omega type peanutbutter from smart balance (it's fat doesn't give me diahrea) it gets rid of my hypoglycemic symptoms. I never had this before the gall bladder was removed either. So yes I get same problem as you and doing alot of search online to figure whats causing it. I went as far as looking up selenium deficiency, iron, calcium etc. Am still searching for the answer.

Good morning Midnight..Isent a post, and do not know where it went, so if this appears to be a dulpicate, it is!
Any how glad to find someone who has experienced the same problem. You are right about the diet, I have had to change too, where I consume very little if any simple sugars, and consume lots of fibre, complex carbs like fruit and whole grains, and also plenty of protein, like peanut butter, etc.

I like you, could not really find an explanation for this, but I do relate it somehow to having the gall bladder removed, as I never experienced any low blood sugars until after it was removed.

I basically have it under control now, but every once in a while, for no real reason, will dip. I appear to have the reactive type of hypoglycemia, as when I do not eat in the morning, I do not have a problem with the sugars dipping, but sometimes when I eat, it can go down??

Anyhow thanks for the post, it was great to get this. If youlearn of anything else regarding the connect of gall bladder removal and low blood sugars, I would be really interested in hearing about it. I will do the same.

Again thanks, and have a great day
Gary

I had my gb removed march of 06. I have problems with low blood sugars. Have you ever been told to go on diabetic diet, no sugar, low fat ? If you are not diabetic & are truelly hypoglycemic when you eat sugar it burns too fast leaving you low. I was having spells, 911 was called at one time bs was 21 I felt like I was dieing! I done a diabetic insullin glucose at hospital & it went to 38. I have cut out all sugar & went as low fat as I can & I have had no problems since. I don't believe it has anything to do with gb. I have had trouble with it for years, just wasn't severe enough for me to stick to a real diet. I also try to eat something every 3 hrs.

Good morning dhurst.....I am sorry that I missed your post way back when, and aI hope that you are still around. Please see my post what I sent to Midnite.....

I agree about the diet, eliminating simple sugars, etc, and do find it strange that this occurred after the surgery. The only explanation I can come up with is the fact that we have monkeyed around witht he digestive system, knocked it out of whack by having the gall bladder removed, too much or too little bile now, etc,etc.

Oh well, if anything, eating for the better now, seeing that my diet consists of little or no simple sugars, whole grains, fruits, vegatables, protein, etc...

Now I have found two people who's blood sugars go to low after gall bladder surgery. It would be nice to know why....

thanks, and have a great day
Gary

I don't think you are alone on this one. I, every once in a while, have the same problem. It mainly happens when I am out shopping and usually mid afternoon. Like today, I was grocery shopping and started to get the shakes, hot/cold flashes and felt dizzy. I know what happens after I get those symptoms so I had to leave the store and get something to eat. The only time I experienced this drop before GB removal was when I was pregnant and at that time I actually did pass out for a few seconds. My husband took me to the hospital and they told me my blood sugar was low and had me drink some orange juice. Since having my GB removed they have definately become more frequent, but the weird thing is I had a fasting blood glucose test done and it was within normal range. So I can't really explain these drops.:confused:

Good morning Diamond....well thanks for the post, and with this, it is starting to become evident that the gall bladder removal does have something to do with post surgery low blood sugars. Now I guess, is to determine why, which I have not been able to find out.

As far as your fasting gluclose test, I had the same results - where by the blood sugars were within the normal range. I did not understand this at first, but after doing lots of research, and some experimenting, I determined that my problems were as a result of having reactive hypoglycemia. In the morning, if I did not eat, my blood sugars would fall into the normal range, but when I ate (and the wrong things at the time) it would actually fall below normal standards. I realized this, as many of the tests that I had would be in the morning, and with these tests, could not consume anything. I was pretty worried at the time, as I thought that without eating something, it would fall too low. It never did during these times, that surprised the heck out of me. Then I discovered that when I ate, or drank something that contained lots of simple sugars (like orange juice), I would shoot up, and then crash down, lower than where I started from. This is why your fasting test showed that your blood sugars were normal, cause you had not eaten, hence - reactive hypoglycemia.

So I have cut out all simple sugars, and eat lots of whole grains, vegatables, apples, pears, etc, and lots of protein. And for the most part, I am OK. Once in awhile, it will dip in the morning, but seldom....

Hope this helps, and thanks again for your post..
Have a great day,
Gary

Wow....that totally makes sense because another strange thing I have been getting lately is dizziness after eating...kind of like a lightheaded "drunk" feeling. It only lasts about 30 mins but weird as heck! I asked my dr. what it was and that is when he made me have the fasting blood glucose test among others. Didn't make sense because this dizziness happens AFTER I eat something and for that test I had to fast for 12 hours or something like that!
Still trying to figure this out...has me puzzled but your explanation makes sense, just how it began and why is the big puzzle.

Hi there, yes for sure. You are getting dizzy after you eat, cause of the sudden rise, and then the sudden fall of your blood sugars after you eat. When your sugars fall fast, even if they do not go below the normal level, the brain senses the fall, and goes into the"oh oh, Im running out of food fast" and gives out all of the signals indicating so.

Amend your diet, so that you have little snacks through out the day, like about 6 of them, and at each sitting, try to include a complex carbohydrate, and a protein, and some fat....I know the fat word, but it is essential in the digestive process. Stay away from the trans fats, and you will be OK.

I stay away as much, if not all together from simple sugars, and only rely on them when you have dropped too fast, and need a hit to get the sugars back up. But when you do that, make sure you follow the quick sugar hit about 15 minutes later with a complex carb and a protein.

You can go to Canada's food guide, and check out the Glucose Index of foods to determine what is high in sugars, and what is not. Also, i have become a label reader, always checking to see how much sugar (simple) is contained within a food item that I am wanting to eat.

It is a bit of a pain to start with, and the adjustment to eating these selection of foods do take awhile to get use to, but after awhile you get use to it. The other night, the family had ice cream, which I wanted badly, but elected not to. We were also big white rice eaters, but the intake of white rice would make me feel not so good after I ate. Brown rice works for me though. But if I eat white rice, I only eat a little bit of it, and make sure that I consume it with a complex carb (veggies, whole grains, etc) and some kind of protein, to stabalize the intake.

I went out for some junky chinese the other night. You know how we have always said, gee, I eat chinese food, and in about an hour, feel hungry again. Well that is because of the simple sugar content, which goes right thru you. But in your case and mine, it elevates our blood sugars too much, and again with you and me, after having gall bladder surgery, the body over reacts, produces too much insulin, and then lowers our blood sugar by too much.

I did not have a problem the night I ate the junky chinese, but the next morning, I dropped too low, which had not happened for about 6 weeks. So, junky chinese has been taken off my list....

Have a great weekend
Gary

Wow...you are a wealth of knowledge :D
I will have to give your suggestions a try. I wonder, is there a certain name for this condition? It isn't really hypoglycemia (sp?) is it? When it first started happening right after I had my GB out I thought that maybe I had an allergy to a certain food so my dr. tested me for Celiac disease which was negative. I tried to pinpoint a certain food that was causing all the problems but could not. Just mainly starchy, sugary food (which I constantly crave!)
Anyhow, thanks for the advice...it's nice to know I am not alone on this one!

Good morning....there are two types of hypoglycemia, one where you have to eat every couple of hours, as the blood sugar in your system depletes somewhat rapidly. This is the type where you wake up in the morning, and have the symptoms, and have to eat/consume carbs in order to get your blood sugars back up to normal range. It falls too low during the night, due to the long period between eating. If you were to go for a fasting gluclose test as you mentioned before, your reading would be low.

However there is another type of hypoblycemia, known as "reactive". It is not necessarily that you have gone for a long period of time without eating - ie overnight, it is what you eat that causes the reaction - ie...too much simple sugars. For some reason when your body gets a hit of simple sugar, you are likely producing too much insulin, there by lowering your blood sugars too fast, or two low, or combination of both. That is why it is important to not introduce vast amounts of simple sugar into your system all at once...ie a can of coke....as your body reacts to the high sugar content, and then too uch insulin kicks in to counteract it, and the next thing you know, bang....you drop too quickly and too low.

When you eat complex carbohydrates, ie, vegatables, muti grain, whole grain, etc, the releasing process of sugars is slow, it only puts a little bit of sugar into your system at a time, and the food source lasts longer (slower to digest) thereby giving you a sugar feed for a longer period of time. Thus, because your problems is only after you have eaten, that is why your test was OK like mine when you went for the fasting glucose test.

There are other tests that can be done, one, check your insulin level to see if it is too high, etc.....there is also another test, that takes about 4 - 5 hours to do, and during this time, they are subjecting your body to about 4 or 5 different inductions to sugar into your body, to see how your body reacts to the sugar. But really, do you need to do this - it sounds like you already know what is goiing on. And the commonality with you and me, and some others, is that this occurred after having the GB out.

You might want to run some tests to determine that your adrenal glands are working properly, the T3 and T4 levels are OK in the pituary glands (spelled wrong I am sure), one to determine if the liver is working right, etc. All of these tests are easy, they are just blood samples and urine samples, etc.

Remember to check out the GI Index via the Canada Food Guide, and you will find that this will help. And do not eat alot at one time, spead it out over 6 meals.....and you should be OK. The only real puzzler here is why did this all happen afte the GB was removed...I am always checking and researching, and hopefully one day I will find an answer. I have asked many GPs and specialists, and they could not provide me with any explanation!!!!

Have a great day,
Gary

Good morning Midnight..Isent a post, and do not know where it went, so if this appears to be a dulpicate, it is!
Any how glad to find someone who has experienced the same problem. You are right about the diet, I have had to change too, where I consume very little if any simple sugars, and consume lots of fibre, complex carbs like fruit and whole grains, and also plenty of protein, like peanut butter, etc.

I like you, could not really find an explanation for this, but I do relate it somehow to having the gall bladder removed, as I never experienced any low blood sugars until after it was removed.

I basically have it under control now, but every once in a while, for no real reason, will dip. I appear to have the reactive type of hypoglycemia, as when I do not eat in the morning, I do not have a problem with the sugars dipping, but sometimes when I eat, it can go down??

Anyhow thanks for the post, it was great to get this. If youlearn of anything else regarding the connect of gall bladder removal and low blood sugars, I would be really interested in hearing about it. I will do the same.

Again thanks, and have a great day
Gary

-------------------------------
Hi it's me again. yes I will keep coming back here too. I also forgot to mention about something I read about essential fatty acid deficiency caused by gall bladder removed. Am looking into that also. Called EFA deficiency. We're not getting the fats that we used to get when we had a gall bladder. Also I was talking to my bible study lady about this and she said she heard they were thinking about stop removing gall bladders. I was like, nice, now they think that and mine is out. But I have to look more into that what she said. She didn't give me any more details. With no gall bladder am sticking to a very low fat diet so I don't experience the very uncomfortable diahreas etc. There you go again, low fat diet, EFA deficiency along with no gall bladder. This article talks about EFA deficiency symptom is hard time controlling blood sugar. It's in about the 8th paragraph in this article. Am going to look more about low blood sugar. Even my digestion doctor tells me has nothing to do with it, but I don't know about that. It's digestion we're talking about, stomach, pancreas, gall bladder, liver, large and small intestine all team up with digestion. I also have hypothyroid and panic disorder that I take meds for too. My father died of diabetes and wonder if my blood sugar from in my genes, pre diabetic. But I notice when I take too much thyroid meds my blood sugar drops alot. I lowered it and it slowed down alot, thank God. Sorry more confusing info. Will stick to the gall bladder :) Talk soon :) Josie

Good morning and thanks for the information. I too will check out the EFA deficency.
I have a helpful hint about eating too much fat, which in turn causes diarreha. I have int he past experienced the same, as like you, had reduced my fat intake.
I talked to my surgeon about this, and he tells me that when you eat fat,etc, the bile kicks in, and because there is not gall bladder, there is no control mechanism in place to put out the right amount of bile. The liver will eventually learn how to do this, but it will not be accurate all the time.

He explained that the bile is an irritant, and with this, if there is too much bile, it will not only cause some burning, it will also cause diarreha.

He suggested the following for me. Take Metamusil. Especially when you are going to consume fatty foods, which of course we need. The metamusal will soak up the excess bile, and take care of the diarreha/burning problem as a result of too much bile.

I tried it, and it worked. Still using it as a daily fibrre program. I even carry a little container of it where ever I go. If I know that I am going to consume something that is fatty, I take a teaspoon of it before I eat, and I have not had any problems since.

Also what I take is a Fat Digestive Enzyme when I have a major meal, etc, to help the body deal with fat properly. I think it helps with the digestion of foods as well.

I am with you, whereby if you tinker with an organ that was a vital part of the digestive system, there has to be some kind of consequence to follow, ie blood sugars, etc....to me it is all in the same package.

Anyhow hope this information helps, and thanks again for the post. Have a great day,
Gary

Good morning and thanks for the information. I too will check out the EFA deficency.
I have a helpful hint about eating too much fat, which in turn causes diarreha. I have int he past experienced the same, as like you, had reduced my fat intake.
I talked to my surgeon about this, and he tells me that when you eat fat,etc, the bile kicks in, and because there is not gall bladder, there is no control mechanism in place to put out the right amount of bile. The liver will eventually learn how to do this, but it will not be accurate all the time.

He explained that the bile is an irritant, and with this, if there is too much bile, it will not only cause some burning, it will also cause diarreha.

He suggested the following for me. Take Metamusil. Especially when you are going to consume fatty foods, which of course we need. The metamusal will soak up the excess bile, and take care of the diarreha/burning problem as a result of too much bile.

I tried it, and it worked. Still using it as a daily fibrre program. I even carry a little container of it where ever I go. If I know that I am going to consume something that is fatty, I take a teaspoon of it before I eat, and I have not had any problems since.

Also what I take is a Fat Digestive Enzyme when I have a major meal, etc, to help the body deal with fat properly. I think it helps with the digestion of foods as well.

I am with you, whereby if you tinker with an organ that was a vital part of the digestive system, there has to be some kind of consequence to follow, ie blood sugars, etc....to me it is all in the same package.

Anyhow hope this information helps, and thanks again for the post. Have a great day,
Gary
Hi, thank you for telling me about Metamusal. I may look into it. Yes anything new I find on removing gall bladder etc, I will come back here and tell you. I will be searching alot on this. Talk to you again soon. Josie

I haven't been here in awhile. I been doing pretty good. I noticed the major sugar drops I was getting was from my high dose of thyroid meds instead of no gall bladder. I do still get very little of hypoglycemia but not as much as before being I take Ativan after I take my Synthroid. I do still get a little bit hypoglycemia so I been eating low carbs and more protein and lowfat and I get no diahreah at all. That's my update.