this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2024
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Sounds similar to my experience, but I was told multiple times by my GP that it was really bad heart burn. He held that line for 8ish months until I had an attack so bad I drove myself to the ER at 2am (the morning they caught the Boston Marathon bombers, watching the coverage rocking in pain in an ER waiting room is a core memory now).
When I finally got seen I said I felt bad that it was just bad heart burn, so they gave me liquid pepcid and left me alone for 10 minutes. When they came back to check on me, I was obviously still in pain so they pressed around my abdomen and as soon as they hit the area near my gallbladder I almost jumped off the gurney.
30 minutes later I had an ultrasound, and I was extremely pregnant with gallstones and it was on the verge of rupturing. I was in surgery a couple hours later.
All of this to say, if you or anyone you know who had their gallbladder removed and are now having horrible GI issues (especially after first meal of the dag) talk to your GP about Cholestyramine. It's for cholesterol, but it's binds to and neutralizes stomach bile which is getting dumped into your upper intestine since there's not the buffer of your gallbladder anymore. Utterly changed my life years after surgery, could finally go out to eat breakfast without worrying about shitting my pants. Ironically it was the doctor who misdiagnosed me who finally recommended it when I started seeing him again (moved away like 6mo after surgery, boomeranged back years later.
Thank you!
I've had bike acid diarrhoea/malabsorbtion (BAM) almost every day since my surgery and my GP has said it's to be expected because I had inflammatory bowel disease and my deodeunum is the most effected so it's the reason I get gastric motility issues (some days I get gastric dumping, some days I have gastroparesis)
My doctor has just been changing my immunosuppression therapy trying to find the formulation and dose to reduce my BAM.
But it sounds like I need something to bind or neutralise the bile in addition to treating the IBD. I can't believe my GP never suggested it, I'm definitely going to be asking if it's worth trying.