Can gallstones give more problems in pregnancy?

[kaz225]

Mr Kazz
Thanks for this thread.
My wife is still in hospital a week after being admitted. She is 6 weeks pregnant tomorrow and has only eaten once in the last week. She had never had gallbladder problems until this.
When pregnant they can't use a lot of the normal drugs if you get an infection. Today we were told they are going to remove the gall bladder when she is between 3 and 6 months pregnant if they can get the infection under control and her liver functioning properly. Her condition went from there there take these pills to get yourself to the regional hospital now in under 24 hours (We live in country NSW and the local hospital is not equiped to handle a lot of things anymore) .

I would talk to your doctor as yes if the stones get stuck in the wrong place things get bad fast.
She is now being transfered to another hospital as today they confirmed that the bile duct is also blocked as well as the gall bladder.

[jules30]

Hi there,

I started this thread a while ago but im taking your reply as a sign and another reason i really should get it sorted out before getting pregnant.

Turned out i did go ahead with ivf and it failed on the first transfer so now before i go back to try again im going to see about treating my gallstones first. By the sounds of it pregnancy does make it worse!

I can really empathize with your wife, gallstone attacks are the worst. I am so scared of eating the wrong thing to provoke an attack and after an attack i cant eat until the pain goes away usually 24 hours+ later. I hope she gets at least some relief until the operation.

[belfie]

Good luck to all those trying to deal with gallstones during PG (or get them resolved before). I had my gallstone (a 3.1cm grandaddy!) and gall bladder removed about 6 years ago (strong family history of gallstones around the age of 30). I was lucky in that i never had an attack, but given the size of the stone they were concerned that any attack would be problematic (as the size of my stone was bigger than the size of the gallbladder as meant to be). When it was removed, it turned out the gallbladder itself was inflamed & very scarred, and they suggested that it was best it had been removed (was that just to make me feel better ).

Being PG now, I would suggest that it's vastly better to have it sorted beforehand. Personally I would hate the stress of attacks whilst being PG. Also, I don't know if I've been fortunate, but I've never experienced any kind of issue with eating fatty foods since the removal of the gallstones. The op, as Mother Goose explained very well, is usually laparascopic - so recovery is quite quick due to the small incisions. I had only one incision that was slightly larger due to the size of my stone.

Hope that helps, and good luck for H&H PG's.

[jules30]

To those of you who have had your gall bladder removed. Does it affect your digestion badly in any way? Like what about weight gain? anyone experienced that and think its due to gallbladder removal? I was thinking since it helps to digest fats does that mean your body then absorbs fats instead of removing it as waste, hence weight gain?

[belfie]

From what i was told, it wasn't so much you'd gain weight, but that if you ate a really fatty meal, it might just tend to go straight through you. Essentially with a gall bladder it holds the bile in reserve for when you have those extra fats - then the bladder would release extra bile(and shuffle those nasty stones - ouch!) to help you digest that fatty meal. Once you have no gall bladder, the bile just drips down at a steady rate - with no reserve tank so to speak. So I understood this to mean that a really fatty meal doesn't get any extra assistance from the bile to help it digest (but i'm no medico!).... so you would digest the fat slightly less effectively than someone with a gall bladder.

I've heard some people say that after gall bladder remove they still can't cope with really fatty things too well (which is probably not that bad for you I guess). From my own perspective (and I'm pretty sure all my relatives are in the same boat here) we basically eat what we want, and we're not particularly chubby. Sure we could get fat as butter if we wanted, but I don't think the gall bladder removal would play a huge part to be honest. I would think the only reason ppl might get fatter would be because they did start eating more fat once the fear of gallstone attacks was removed.

Or to put it another way - my DH has IBS, and a meal of takeaway fish and chips makes him feel lousy (stomach cramps, bloating etc). For me, I can have it and feel just fine.... so the gall bladder removal has really made no negative difference for me at all.

Hope that helps

[Mother Goose]

A friend of mine had hers out and eats almost no fat yet she still has regular attacks. Gall attacks are not necessarily related to how much fat you consume - that is a common misconception.

In many cases, weight gain post proceedure is often related to people eating more food in general as the fear of an attack is gone.

In my case, I still can't eat eggs or some red meats as they go right through me or I get horrid cramps. Other than that, it has had no effect on my digestive system or abilities. I had my gall bladder out over 12 months ago.

HTH

MG

[jules30]

Thanks Belfie and MG. I have asked my GP to refer me to a Gastro doc to see what they have to say about my situation. I would rather not take it out yet see if i can manage with watching my diet. My main concern is the possibility that it becomes unbearable in pregnancy.