I am waiting for gallbladder surgery as my gallbladder is full of
stones. Saw my consultant yesterday and he said in order for my gallbladder to not become inflamed (and possibly lead to open surgery) then I must go on a NO fat diet. No meat, no fish, no cheese, no butter etc. Has anyone else been put on such a restrictive diet? I thought low fat would be acceptable but NO fat??
Hi
lots of us have been forced by our fear of a colic attack when a stone gets stuck in a bile duct ....which is 6-7 hours of intense agony as if your ribs are broken and your intestines red raw and constant uncontrolled vomiting and sweating etc to just eat. No fat no meat etc ... I ended up living on boiled potatoes boiled veg and gravy for a year before my operation..
I hope you haven't experienced it yet ... But when you eat fat or hard to digest food I.e meat ... Your stomach requests extra bile from your gallbladder ... Your gallbladder contracts squeezes extra concentrated bile out into your tummy .. Because your gallbladder is full of stones two things can happen your stones rub together and irritate the lining of your gallbladder making it inflamed and sore or worse it squeezes a stone into your bile duct and your body causes a colic vomiting attack to try and dislodge it or pass it ...
Hope this helps to explain the diet
Others may have been told that, but no, that isn't what I was told. Obviously, you want to severely reduce fats to reduce the chance of an attack, but zero is nearly impossible. Like, one almond? Everyone is different, and each day can be different, but I still had a latté every day, albeit with skim or 1% milk rather than whole milk. I would eat a few almonds, but not 20 (having learned the hard way how much fat would cause an attack). No meat, no butter, sure, but salad dressing with a very low amount of fat, yes. I just don't see how zero is a reasonable target. Hopefully you won't have to keep this up for too long waiting for the surgery. I had mine a month ago, feel great, and can eat anything I want, no problems.
When I had my gallbladder attack, i was put on a BRAT (Bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) diet. I endured it for 2 months. I dropped 40 lbs during that time. It helped minimize the pain. When I did eat anything fatty, I had horrid pain, nausea, and dry heaved.
Another thing I've done is to do the 3 day grape thing. I know that sounds really drastic to just eat grapes, but it works. completely cleans the gallbladder and calms it down. As far as the stones, well, I've got them and I just hope and pray they don't cause trouble, especially when I travel. I'm one person that I've really questioned about having my gallbladder out. I know some of you have had it done and been just fine, but then there are others that continue to have a great deal of problems. At my age, 80, I just don't want to do it.
Unfortunately I have been having such attacks for 15 months now. I am just not sure how to manage a diet of no fat!
That's good, did you have keyhole surgery? None of my attacks have been consistent in the fact that there is nothing particular which triggers them, but they tend to happen about 10pm or 4am. Will be glad to get it removed but bit nervous about any post surgery pain.
That must've been difficult to maintain for 2 months. I need to lose weight so this is a sure fire way of doing that!
Yes I am concerned about having it removed as so many people seem to have problems afterwards, but I guess as many people say it solves all their problems. With the pain I've been I don't have a choice as it is also affecting my liver function.
Same, often 10 pm or 4 am. I usually could trace back something that might have triggered it, but not always. My surgeon said I shouldn't beat myself up about it too much, some of her patients who ate nothing but leafy greens would occassionally have an attack. And yes, keyhole surgery. It went great. Let me know if you have any questions about what to expect.
I did lose a lot of weight, but not the way I wanted too. Lol.
Since I've had mine out, I've put about 20 back on, but that was because I literally ate everything I hadn't been able to eat the previous 6 months.
I had mine out and about the only issue I deal with is minor pain where the gallbladder used to be.
I was told the same thing and my consultant accepted it was nearly impossible . Basically fat causes the gall bladder to activate , which means it can spit a stone out and the real problems start .
I ,like you , was full of stones and although I kept to zero fat ( it was worth to try and stop the pain ) it doesn't always stop problems , it didn't with me and I had to have the gb out as an emergency. But I didn't need open surgery thank god .
Try your best to do zero fat and the post op pain is a lot better than the pre op pain . . Best of luck .
Your poor thing
I cut all fat out ..skimmed milk , low fat Mayo instead of butter and no oil in cooking ..but I still got pain then cut out caffeine as that causes the gallbladder to contract too... No coffee no tea .. Herbal teas .. And that worked .. I was a ble to avoid attacks and function.. I had key hole and I felt so much better after .. My gallbladder was packed full of stones ... My problem is I can eat anything now and so have put on weight ...😳 But am I food 👍 I was terrified of surgery but all went well and it was so worth it
Hi j75920. I just stumbled upon a research study on surgery for those over 80, and thought you might be interested: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4347039/
I was advised to go on a minimal fat diet of 3% and below. My jaw dropped to the floor at 3%. Having trying to stick to a 5% diet in the past, I knew 3% was going to be almost impossible. Zero fat would be almost impossible unless you munch on lettuce (figuratively)
How long are you expected to eat like that? Ive been waiting 3 months already and may be waiting another 3 months. 3% is pretty tough. There is no way I could stick to 0%. No way on earth. My gallbladder is thick and full of stones too. Stick to the lowest fat you can. It does work. Touch wood no more full on attacks here. I eat chicken breast no skin and skin removed before cooking, pork loin with fat removed before cooking and extra lean less than 5% fat steak mince browned and drained before I add any sauce. That's my main protien. But if that's the advice the doc has given you, I wouldn't say go against it but 0% or even 3% isn't good or healthy in any long term. Your body needs good fats but you must not eat any of them now such as nuts eggs, oily fish, some grains or olive oil. I was also told if I had another attack it would put me back to the start of waiting again so that's kept focus. But 0% goodness me that is ridiculous.
Yes love I'm on it and quite honestly I don't think it works and not all doctors recommend it, I have lost stone and a half and have felt really ill and weak. My remedy is to drink lots of water keep the stones moving., I've started eating low fat again and I do have more energy, not a lot though. No fat diet is awfully hard to follow.good luck dear x
Obviously everyone can tolerate different amounts of fat, I personally struggled with much of anything towards the end of a 1yr battle before it exploded. I'm not sure about a no fat diet, I would have thought that was kind of impossible since most foods contain at least some fat, but I just worked out which foods didn't have me writhing in agony every night.
Some of the few things I was able to eat were plain chicken, cooked without oil in non stick pans. Wholewheat pasta with careful consideration to sauces - I could eat low fat tomato sauce, but mostly ate it plain just to have some variety. I ate a lot of Coco Pops with semi skimmed milk, in fact towards the end that's what I purely lived on, when I could be bothered to eat.
I swapped most meat for turkey & venison. The venison burgers were a lifesaver during the summer BBQs. I just ate it plain, and with no sides. Also, I ate very small amounts at a time. Partly the fear of an attack cured my hunger, and partly I found by not overwhelming my body, it responded better to food I did manage to eat.
Hopefully your surgery comes round soon, my life has gotten so much better without the thing!
Just had my galll bladder removed and was fed jello and apple sauce before surgery. After surgery I was giving bacon eggs hashbrowns and toast. for breakfast then a chicken salad for dinner. I forgot what lunch was but I havnt had a bowel movement yet. There's a little pain but nothing like it was. I'm taking meds for the pain and some anti-biotics. Just waiting on the bowel movement. Tomorrow I'm sticking to just vegetables and it's going to become a wait and see ordeal. Im across in the pond in the States.
Andrew it's such a problem I'm in hospital at the moment but they don't seem too bothered about it. Think I'm going back to my normal diet as the hospital just gives me ordinary good nothing low fat so what the point.i was terrible constipated and used a fleet eanama but never again think that's what has caused the leakage, sorry to be so graphic but only way I can understand it x