Gallbladder removal recovery?

Anyone out there had their gallbladder removed?
if so, how long until you started running again?
i am a week into my recovery and incision sites are healing. Also, I have no real pain except the mental anxiety regarding my still bloated abdomen and the dull pain located near the former site of my gallbladder when I take a deep breath…

Sorry to hear that. I had mine removed 8 years ago. I wish they never had removed it. The side effects of having no gall bladder is awful which of course they never disclosed.

I think you need to wait at least a month, but wound healing is different for everyone. If you have stitches that require removal then you should probably give it 2 weeks after that.

But seriously, a web forum? Ask your treating physician.

hey now! i did talk to my dr about it :slight_smile: it was the first, well, second question i asked! he told me that it all depended on how i felt. i feel ok, still not wanting to run, but just curious to hear other’s experiences…

I had mine removed 8 years ago and I must sadly admit that I still suffer from phantom pains and my digestive system has never been the same. They should never remove gallbladders…they serve a huge purpose!!! It frustrates me everyday. It is all about $$$.

I had mine out last year after a few GB attacks. I took two full weeks off from any training outside of walking my dogs in the evening. the next two weeks were very easy effort and short workouts to see how I felt. After that four weeks I went back to normal. My doc was the one that said nothing for two weeks, then easy for two weeks…

no problems since then

best of luck

Unless you want to live with the symptoms that caused you to go to the Doctor
you have no alternative. You just need to make sure the surg knows what he is doing
I didn’t and payed a large price ie over 5wks in hospital lost over 39units of blood
had to live with a tube hanging out my side for a total of 11/2 yrs. and continued gall
bladder attacks for almost 5yrs after surg.
Would I do it again yes but much more selective about the surgeon
Mike

Oddly enough, I just had mine taken out.

I was having episodes of nasty vomiting for no apparent reason and would wake in the night with odd pain and nausea.

MY 3 hour CT scan showed my gall bladder basically shut down/stopped functioning and the bile that the gall bladder stores was backing into my liver, thus causing my ALT and AST counts to sky rocket. NOT GOOD.

My procedure was simple (new technique). one lapro incision:)

After MONTHS of feeling awful and having previous doctors telling me (and treating me for this as well) that I had a virus, I feel so much better.

Because the diagnosis took so long, I developed scar tissue in/around the gall bladder/liver which also had to come out.

I was told to take it easy for at least a week or two and then can resume training as long as I felt good.

My wife had hers removed and they discharged her the same day - borderline criminal IMO. Her restricted duty was prescribed for a week, but three weeks would have been more appropriate. Complications were numerous. A week of recovery is not enough. I’d say, two weeks minimum before evaluating your condition and the prospect of activity. Once you get back into it, frequent short workouts will probably be the most direct path back into training. Above and beyond anything else, listen to your body. When it says stop, don’t simply slow down or take a break … STOP. A bad workout hurts more so than a mediocre workout helps.

Taking one’s gall bladder is barbaric. The quality of life after it is removed suffers.

Surgeons should fine another way than to simply remove it.

sure and they should find a way to cure cancer and aids too

lazy bastages

Taking one’s gall bladder is barbaric. The quality of life after it is removed suffers.

Surgeons should fine another way than to simply remove it.

I had mine taken out in an emergency surgery at age 26 (10yrs ago). I had many golf ball size stones and gangreen (sp?) of the gb. I had “stomach” issues for years, but noticed something different on a long bike ride one day…the next day I was in the ER. It took me a couple of months to recover and I had to go back in the hospital due to a gall stone being passed and causing pancreatitus.

I had weird bowel movements for several months after, but would consider that side of things normal now. I would have to say that it was a successful surgery and I didn’t have much of a choice but to have it removed. I can’t remember how long I took off the bike back then, but it was probably 2 or 3 months due to the pancreatitus.
David K

sure and they should find a way to cure cancer and aids too …
Its the surgeons attitude. They think that the gall bladder is a useless organ but its not. They should try to do more to save it.

I had mine removed 10 years ago.

I asked the doctor the next day whether I could go back to racquetball(pre-triathlon), because I felt so good.

It was the easiest, least painful surgery imaginable and absolutely NO post-surgery pain.

The pain prior to surgery was unbelievable. The only comfortable position was sitting on the stairs in fetal postion. During that period I went days without sleep.

The only negative effect post-surgery is that I am now sensitive to high fat foods. The foods will sometimes cause GI distress or at least create a flow-through process i.e. eat and 30 minutes later it is coming out the other end. No peanut butter(natural) within 4 hours of a run.

The gall bladder is nothing more than a muscular storage tank.
There are two ways for it to empty, the bile duct and the common duct.
When it is removed the bile duct is severed leaving the common duct
which is the larger of the two and at that point instead of having a
storage tank for bile you have a continuous drainage into the small intestine.

but it helps you digest pizza and ice cream =)

The gall bladder is nothing more than a muscular storage tank.
There are two ways for it to empty, the bile duct and the common duct.
When it is removed the bile duct is severed leaving the common duct
which is the larger of the two and at that point instead of having a
storage tank for bile you have a continuous drainage into the small intestine.

Your right when you ingest fatty foods the muscles contract
to squart bile upon the delicious fatty mess
.

… instead of having a storage tank for bile you have a continuous drainage into the small intestine.
That continous drainage can cause havoc on the digestive system.

 I missed my afternoon work-out today because I was stuck in the hospital taking a gangrenous gallbladder out of a very sick, septic 78 year old who ignored his symptoms for a week.  He comes in near-death and everybody expects me to fix him up immediately without any complications.  "Have you done this operation before, doctor?"  Never mind the fact that his delay in presentation creates nearly impossible surgical conditions.  Everything bleeds, structures tear apart with the slightest of traction, my pulse is 120, I'm breaking out in a sweat.  The son from New York who hasn't visited dad in five years, indirectly threatens me on the phone..."you'd BETTER take good care of him".  He's probably already got an attorney.
 So yeah, keep your gallbladder as long as you like.  I'd rather go for a bike ride.

Go get’em mileswimr I’m on your side.
Unfortunantly people without the proper background don’t understand
the problems involved. Perhaps too much type A in the wrong place