The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[mellowmom]

Surgery scheduled for January 2nd. Doc seemed to be in a rush. Said ideally it would be nice if the infection was all gone by then, but no guarantee it will be. As he explained it to me the main trouble is that the operating rooms for non-emergency surgery are booked through February, meaning if I don't have it done on Tuesday, the next opening will be sometime in March. He doesn't want to wait that long, and said that chances are I'll probably have another attack before that and that wouldn't be good because I'd probably need emergency surgery then under less than ideal circumstances.

One other thing I learned about gall bladder attacks that I didn't know before today is that it's not only fat that can trigger an attack...."spicy" food can also. It's all making sense now, because just before this last episode I had chowed down on a big old bowl of MF chicken with wild rice soup, amended with curry, cumin, cayenne pepper, garlic, ginger, chili powder and tumeric. Meesy, micey, mosey thats a speecy bowl of soup. (Pass the Alka Seltzer).

He's going to try for laproscopic surgery... but said there's a chance he may have to change in mid operation to a full surgery. Won't know until he gets in there and sees how bad the organ is.

He also advised me to stick with low/no fat foods until surgery. He wanted me to consider going vegetarian for the next few days. I mentioned I was on Medifast and he said he'd heard of it, but also suggested that it probably changed my body chemistry and caused the gallstones. (Why do most of the docs take a negative view of Medifast?) Changed my chemistry!!! Gawd, I'm glad it did! It also changed my blood sugar, my cholesterol, my triglycerides, not to mention my blood pressure, pulse, BMI and ta-da weight! So I'm going to stick with Medifast and just not be so liberal with the spices.

I find it vaguely ironic that I had been feeling the best I'd felt in the past 30 years, and now this happens. Actually, upon further review... it's probably best that it happened now rather than 100 pounds ago.

See you all next year, sans "bladder de gall" (Charles DeGalle's bilious younger brother)



Carmel

[bikipatra]

Good luck angel and you will be in my thoughts and prayers...

[BerkshireGrl]

mellowmom,

Just wanted to wish you speedy healing after getting your bothersome galling friend removed!

I remember reading your posts before and you have a great "voice" on here and are such a support to others. Your gall bladder should be sad to be losing you!

So does this mean you can REALLY spice up your soups afterward?

Hey, I found this on the web... I colored the "interesting" bits

Diet for gall bladder disease

- Use low-fat dairy products such as skim or low-fat milk, reduced-fat cheeses and yogurt.
- Partake of leaner meats and make sure to remove fat before cooking.
- Take fish oil capsules: they contain omega-3 oils which are known to block cholesterol formation in bile.
- If you are cooking at home, add ginger and turmeric to the gall bladder diet. Turmeric enhances the flow of bile while ginger aids in the digestion of fat.
-Take more vegetables, fruits and grains as they contain lots of fiber.

I think your tumeric REALLY got things flowing, all right! I think you doc is (ahem) incorrect to blame MF for your gallstone woes, but then, I don't have MD after my name either.

I was under the impression that high-fat, high-cholesterol diets cause stones to build up, and then a low-fat diet like MF can make things back up in there, and if stimulated by fat or maybe by tumeric (heh!), the stones can get tossed out. I've also been told that losing lots of fat rapidly stresses the gall bladder and can make stones come out... or get stuck. I'm so sorry you had to suffer through an attack! You are doing incredibly well with losing weight - wow! Great work!

Best wishes and soon you will be boulder-free!

[Mike]

See you all next year, sans "bladder de gall" (Charles DeGalle's bilious younger brother)

Carmel,
Even amidst all of the pain and trauma, you still make us laugh.


We all wish you an uneventful lap, and a speedy recovery.