[Tangerine87]

Hi,

If I have a diseased gall bladder and I don't take it out - what will happen?

[bounceback]

You will eventually get gangrene and it will rot out the ducts plus you will be in some of the most severe pain of your life. I ended up rotting out a couple of the ducts. That is one of the worse case scenarios. A better case scenario is that it will continue to cause you pain if you eat the wrong foods and you will have to go to the ER and get pain killers. I did that one also. My sister did that too.

I would get it done. Surgery now is pretty simple. THey only make a few small holes and you are usually in the hospital overnight or day surgery.

My future daughter-in-law just recently had her gall bladder removed because it was not functioning and causing her chronic problems. She was told if it was not removed now, eventually it would go septic and have to be removed under emergency surgery. When it was removed it was completely flat and basically "dead". The one problem she ran into was that insurance was not cooperative, deeming it an elective surgery even though several doctors documented otherwise, so they ended up having to pay quite a bit out-of-pocket. She does feel MUCH better now that it has been removed.

[Tangerine87]

What was your ejection rate? Mine is 25%. My doctor said my gallbladder is not functioning properly but not low enough to get surgery. He put me on medication

[bounceback]

They never told me what my ejection rate was. They treated it with medicine for awhile but the pain symptoms kept on getting worse and worse so I would have to go get Demerol shots to control the pain until eventually it almost ended up killing me.

[highnrg1]

I am actually having my gall bladder removed next week. I have had gall stones and have been having trouble eating and have lost a lot of weight and they are concerned and want to remove the gall bladder before it bursts. I would definitely recommend that if your doctors recommend having it removed, that you do so as soon as possible. If it "bursts" so to speak, both the surgery and recovery are MUCH longer. Good luck!

[Nammu]

I was in horrible pain for over a year and lost weight before they figured out that it was my gall bladder and not something that was all in my head. I immediately felt better when I woke up after surgery. Just tiny little incisions.

[ECHOES]

A Gallbladder that doesn't work, doesn't work. It doesn't get better, it gets worse. Stones block ducts and cause pain. Is that what you mean by diseased?

Most bad gallbladders are easily removed. The surgery for removal of the gallbladder is routine and simple most of the time, a laparoscopic procedure. Recovery is days. When there is a lot of infection, though, it can be a more complex surgery, an open surgery. Recovery is 6+ weeks.

[Tangerine87]

Well my gallbladder is working at 25%

[bounceback]

THat is the word i was trying to think of laparoscopic. you don't want it to get like mine did. I never had such severe pain in my life and they had to do an open procedure where I was in the hospital 5 days with a couple of drains.

[bounceback]

Just a small warning if you decide to get the surgery, be near a bathroom for awhile afterwards. That symptom goes away after awhile. I talked to quite a few people who had the same symptom.

[Tangerine87]

I am thinking of not treating my problem and just letting myself die. I have so many problems. My quality of life is looking grim.

[htoun]

umm NO. Who says the your quality of life is grim. If it's someone else or depression then you are letting them win. Letting them control your life and how you see your life. Don't let them win

[kecanoe]

I had my gallbladder taken out when it was at 17%. I am not sure what the threshold is for removal, but after I felt SO much better. I wonder if your is diseased or just not functioning well. I know that they told me that 30-35% was normal. I wi dear if a different doctor would be willing to remove it, if that is what you want.
Meanwhile, if Dr says it's not bad enough to remove, then I would eat very carefully. Avoiding fats helped me before my surgery. I went oN an elimination diet and found out what foods I could eat without pain. I feel for you, gallbladder pain is pretty intense.

[Kryell]

I had my gallbladder out in December of 2014 and I feel so much better. I'm not at 100% but I have some chronic issues that contribute to that. Before I had it out, I couldn't eat anything without it causing me a ton of pain, cramping and other issues. They did a gallbladder emptying test and found it wasn't emptying properly and that I had way too much acid in my stomach. When they took it out, it only took a few hours but the recovery was a couple weeks to a month without eating real foods - I lived on Jello for a bit. It has made me feel much better and the nausea went away for the most part. Maybe get a second opinion?

Don't let yourself die. <3

[sub-dural]

Sepsis and death will result from leaving necrotizing tissue inside of your body.

The pain will get so severe you will end up in the emergency room anyways and it would be emergent surgery.

Get it out laparoscopically while you can. Much more simple surgeries.

Let us know how it goes..!

[Tangerine87]

My gallbladder is at 25%. He said I don't need surgery. Even if I don't complain of pain and let the pain happen to me, I still won't die?

[highnrg1]

I guess if your doctor said it does not need to come out, then you should be fine. But are you getting enough to eat (everything bothered me and I was losing too much weight…mine had tons of stones in it and they said it DID need to come out).

25% seems low to me, but I am certainly not a medical professional.

Did they give you any meds for relief to help you in the meantime? Did they make a plan to re-scan you in the next 3-6 months to see if things are worsening?

I just feel bad for you, because no one should have to worry that they might die from poor medical advice for any reason.

Are you able to get a second opinion from someone or (and I think you may have said this) do you not have insurance and it would cost too much?

I am really praying that you get some help and answers about this. I did find something online that said many gallbladders are being taken out unnecessarily, but I don't know if the source would be considered "reputable" in the medical community. It gave some good advice about things you could do to improve gallbladder health, but if I'm not mistaken, they pretty much involved buying a book and/or supplements offered in links provided on that site. If you are interested in checking that out, though, I can look through my bookmarks and find it and can send you the link. Just please keep us posted about how you are doing.

[sub-dural]

Originally Posted by Tangerine87

My gallbladder is at 25%. He said I don't need surgery. Even if I don't complain of pain and let the pain happen to me, I still won't die?

When you have necrotizing tissue, the pain will send you to get help. It's not a matter of complaining or not, the pain will take you down completely and wholly and you will become incapacitated and probably have an ambulance ride to the ER and a surgical consult with an urgent surgery to be done.

I am a medical professional.

If your doctor said you do not need the surgery, of course go with what he says but it's a really uncomplicated surgery and very low-risk with laprascopic towers/instruments. If it gets to the point where it's doing damage to other organs/tissues, you will need an open surgery. You want to avoid that.

[Tangerine87]

Hi,

Okay, thanks. I believe you, as I ate really crappy and it's uncomfortable so I find myself wanting to take the medication my doctor gave me.

Do you know if you can drink with a low functioning gallbladder? I'm just 29 years old and this is really affecting my life.

[htoun]

No one is the same. You need to keep a food and pain journal. Then you need to look back and see if you can see any pattern. You might find that if you eat sugar (like cookies and pop) you will have pain. Or something greasy. Or high carbs. Or different types of liqueur. Or even over processed food. There maybe some info on line for what normal bothers the gall bladder. Start there but remember some people react differently than the "norm". I'm in the 1% that can't take any over the counter cold meds. So go slow and write stuff down to figure out what your body wants

[sub-dural]

I wouldn't drink, personally, but you should ask your doctor.
Your gallbladder helps your liver out a lot so if your liver gets busier with metabolizing alcohol it may affect your gallbladder.

If your doctor is helping you watch out for this organ and do what's best for you, do not feel bad asking him/her what you should or shouldn't eat/drink.

Good luck!

[Tangerine87]

Thanks. I find myself self destructing when I feel depressed.