ibs or is it after having gall bladder removed - Gallbladder Message Board

denbabes · 04-18-2003, 06:18 AM

is there anybody else who has had their gall bladder removed and having probs

Sarah68 · 04-18-2003, 03:52 PM

It is quite common for this sort of problem to happen after gallbladder removal and is known as bile salt diarrhea.

Metamucil, calcium supplements, acidophilus, bile salts and the statins can all help this.

denbabes · 04-19-2003, 12:02 PM

Thank you for your response, are the symptons similar or could it be have ibs as well, could someone tell me what the symptons are ??????? fingers crossed, hopefully my doc might listen to me now. Thanks

Sarah68 · 04-19-2003, 12:44 PM

It could be that you have IBS too, but if you have had no problems before GB removal then it seems likely that this is the cause.

Symptoms are probably diarrhea and some stomach pain. This is due to the fact that following GB removal you still have bile in your system that then just sits in your bowels causing this diarrhea and you can still react to fatty foods too.

Try the Metamucil, Acidophilus, Calcium and then Questran is good for bile salt diarrhea so I have heard. It is one of the statin medications for lowering cholesterol, but a lot of people with bile salt diarrhea following GB removal have found that this has helped them.

It could be that you have both IBS as well as the GB problems, but it just could be from the GB removal.

Good luck

Lindarella · 04-20-2003, 06:14 AM

Denbabes, the symptoms are constant or nearly constant diarrhea. The technical name for diarrhea after gallbladder removal is cholerheic enteropathy.

Between 5-10 percent of people who have their gallbladder out will have diarrhea for life.

There is no cure but Questran or Colestid are the drugs of choice. They're not statins. They are bile acid sequestrants. In short, they bind to excess bile in your intestines. As a result, your feces becomes less liquid. They're like a bile sponge.

Some people also have success with calcium supplements.