Hi, has anyone taken any bile replacement supplements or digestive enzymes? If so did they help and what brand did you use? I had my gallbladder removed 3 months ago and have been sick since having it out with nausea, pain under my ribs, fatigue, loss of appetite, diarrhea and I’ve lost 20 lbs. Just wondering if they would help and wanted to see what others experience is with taking either of them.
I tried them a bunch and they only made matters worse. If you are having diarrhea I would suggest looking up Bile Acid Diarrhea/ Bile Acid Malabsorption. A lot of people have that post gallbladder, mine started 3 months post and now almost a year later I still have it. I also was having right side pain, and loss of appetite until I started watching my diet. For me that means, no rich fatty foods/ dairy/ coffee I also stay away from gluten sometimes, not always.
You should also ask your GI if the diarrhea continues for bile binder like Questran/ Welchol. These help by binding the excess bile that is sitting in your stomach due to a lack of gallbladder- it just sits there dripping from your liver irritating your stomach all day, and especially over night when your stomach has no food for the bile to help digest. If you can't get your hands on a rx bile binder try Acacia fiber(Whole foods/ Amazon) mix 1 tablespoon with water and drink when you first wake up or before bed. You can also try Psyllium husk fiber or a brand name Metamucil, but start slow with these as they can cause some gas and cramps until you get used to the psyllium. Natural binders will attach to the bile and help flush it out of you stomach. They also help bind your stool, so you can get things more solid.
So think about diet, and bile binders either natural or rx.
i am experiencing the exact same thing and nothing had helped so far! looking for answers as well!
try the Questran powders, they can helo enormously with these symptoms after gb removal. good luck
Hello, thanks for your response. How long ago was your surgery and how long did it take for you to feel better? What kind of foods do you eat most?
Ill be having mine out soon getting kind of scared reading all the bad symptoms that come after it.but i did read about something called ox bile they sell on amazon and the reviews sound very encouraging for people with problems afterwards.I hope my surgery goes smooth.
digestive enzymes didnt help. i stayed away fast foods, no fried foods, high fiber foods. there is a diet posted online safe foods to digest . it better to also keep a food diary listing all the offenders. its difficult to break down high fiber foods and fatty foods because that was the job of the gallbladder it took many months to finally adjust . once certain offending foods are avoided then its so much easier to eliminate the problem and food becomes safe again.
Hello, thanks for your response! when did you have your surgery and what were your symptoms after? How long did it take for you to start feeling better?
I had mine taken out in November 2014 and pretty much suffered from nausea from day one and acid/bile reflux at night, I have to take 15mg lansoprazole every day to reduce the stomach acids, this has stopped the nausea but I can't eat anything after 7pm otherwise I still get the bile/acid reflux throughout the night just like I did prior to having the GB out, I really notice the difference if I forget to take the lansoprazole or take it too late in the day.
Luckily I've only had a few real bad occurrences of diarrhoea over the past 4 years and that was down to me over indulging in very rich food while on holiday, the first time was where I had eaten out at restaurants 5 nights in a row and my body told me it had had enough on day 6 where I suffered horrendous sulpherous burps (stench like rotten eggs) and constant diarrhoea for the next 2 days till my body reset itself. Another time was when I was at a 3 day BBQ festival and I had the same symptoms on day 1 so ended up missing the next 2 days. So I've learnt to watch what and when I eat. What I've also learnt over the years is that everyone seems to recover differently after GB removal as I know several other people that had theirs removed not long after me and ones not been able to touch dairy products since another has to stay away from bread and another has not had any issues.
I don't think you need to look at bile replacement as your liver should still be producing the bile, the GB just stored that bile and released it when required, now it just constantly drips into the stomach so you end up with not enough to digest certain foods if you eat too much at once.
I had my gb out in Feb of this year by June i started with right side pain, diarrhea and more. I am still not 100% but can say these foods seem to be ok for me almond & oat milk, decaf coffee &tea white rice, ALL potatoes, sometimes quinoa, all lean meat(turkey, chicken) gluten free breads/pasta(i try to stay gluten free) most salad, brussels sprouts, cooked beans, olives, some parmesan cheese(hard cheeses have less lactose) tomatoes, pepper, cucumbers, very tiny amt of avocados, olive oil.. egg whites
basically low fat, low /no dairy, try a diary. and for diarrhea acacia fiber
also forgot to add oatmeal as a good food and maple syrup can be used as a sweetener in all things
stay away from buttery/fried high fat, cheesy, high carb foods, for me sometimes fruits bother me.
you have some very good advice. i had mine out as nausea was a problem beforehand. its now no better, maybe more often too. i also have anxiety which i think makes it worse. what do you think best for nausea, thankfully the major diarrhoea has left.
How do you know if you are needing more bile or you have too much bile after gallbladder removal? How do you know which you need a bile replacement to add bile or a bile binder to soak up the bile? Are there tests for this and what symptoms do you have for both too much bile or not enough bile?
what are your symptoms and how long ago was your surgery?
Thank you Jenn. How long did was it when you started to see some improvement and could eat more? What symptoms did you have after surgery?
Best wishes for a smooth and fast recovery Vivian.!
without a gallbladder your liver just drips bile all day without storage.
if you have constipation ive read some have luck with digestive enzymes or bile supplements
if you have loose stool/diarrhea you have too much stool sitting in your stomach.
there are no real tests that doctors will do and usually will trial you on a an rx bile binder and you will know after a few days if they work or not.
i meant too much BILE
for the diarrhea i would give a natural or rx binder two days . to heal any pain i would give a week or two.
Have you spoken to your Dr about the nausea, I had a really good one back then and she put me on the lansoprazole which took care of acid/bile reflux (if I don't over do it with the wrong foods or eat too late) and stopped the nausea I was waking up with.