I just had mine taken out this past tuesday and until a month ago, had no idea of the function of the gall bladder. I know that the liver makes bile and sends it to gallbladder until it's needed in the stomach. But since mine wasn't functioning (only 16%) was my liver bypassing my gallbladder and sending too much or not enough bile?

Also, now that the gallbladder is gone, what happens to the bile now? Does it go straight from the liver to the stomach? How does it ge regulated so I'm getting the right amount of bile?

I am pretty sure that before your gallbladder was removed, your gallbladder was still sending hte bile, just not enough. Now that it is removed, your liveer is constantly making the bile, and it is constantly going into your stomach, so you have small amounts of bile in your stomach at all times, instead of having enough bile to digest the foods, and only having it when you need it. It takes a while (I am not sure how long) for your body to adjust. I don't really know what happens with the bile once your body adjusts.

They usually leave a duct that begins to take over the function of the gb - regulating how much is ejected in order to digest the fats.

The bile shouldn't be in your stomach. Bile in the stomach makes for a irritated stomach. It actually goes to the intestines. It depends on how you eat for the enough versus not enough question. Some foods require more.

Fatty foods and big heavy meals require more to digest generally-- thats where the gall bladder comes in handy, for those feast or famine types I suppose the most. But if you eat a lower fat diet and eat a few smaller meals a day than it isn't going to be as big of a deal because the liver is constantly secreting bile into the intestines for digestion.

Just take it easy at first and lay off the lard for a while. If you go out to eat, know the locations of the the bathrooms before hand (dumping syndrome sometimes occurs esp with fatty foods). I've been lucky so far in that I've been able to eat everything, it seems.

Thanks for responding. Fortunately for me, I'm a small person and don't eat much, especially at one time. I only weigh 105lbs so I get full very fast. I also eat very healthy after putting DH on the South Beach diet last year. We still eat that way, lots of veggies, fruits, lean meats, and whole grains. But I'm still a woman and I like my sweets. I just take them slow, especially now.

So far, so good. One week after surgery and I'm eatng pretty much my normal way, with no, um, dumping problems. I just hope it stays this way.