Getting my GallBladder out, what to expect

Apparently my lifelong problems with lactose and food intolerance and my hiatal hernia is causing gall bladder attacks. I forgot to take my lactaid and ate an unripe mango as well so I got this incredible cramping spasms where my hiatal hernia is. Probably has happened to me about a dozen times over the last twenty years.

This time around the doctors are saying its definitely my gallbladder. The ultrasound they did didn't reveal anything and I had zero pain in my gallbladder, but they're saying the pain just traveled to stomach, which I hear can happen. No back pain or right side pain either.

So they question I have is have many of you had to dramatically alter your diet after getting your gallbladder? I eat fatty foods all the time right now without any problems, so I'm wondering if my life will dramatically change after my gallbladder is removed. I do know I will still get the same exact pain if I forget to take my lactaid and/or eat raw mangoes, so I'm can live with the fact that removing my gallbladder will not stop that pain.

Thanks!

I'm a little concerned when you say that the ultrasound didn't reveal anything??? Did you have a HIDA scan done? Is your doctor saying you have gallstones or a non-functioning gallbladder?

I had a HIDA scan that revealed a non-functioning gallbladder in 2011. Fatty greasy foods, raw veggies, (but not raw fruit!) milk, spaghetti sauce and most tomato based foods caused pain in my chest and referred to my back. It took doctor's 2 years to figure out to do an Ultrasound/HIDA scan!

Swimmer88, Welchol would have cost me $300 if I did not have good insurance!! Ask your doctor, but my doctor said to try adding Citrucel or Metamucil to my diet to help with the diarrhea; I could not take Welchol made me have constipation problems. Also, eating plain organic low fat yogurt helped a lot. Coffee, tomato sauces, fatty, fried foods and even salad was out of the question for the longest time until I tried adding the Citrucel and yogurt. Others have had good luck with calcium pills.

The ultrasound indicated there were gallstones so no HIDA scan was ordered. The ultrasound did not show evidence of any blockage nor any thickening of the bladder walls.

The weird thing is the pain I'm feeling is exactly like the lactose intolerance and GERD I've experienced for the past twenty years except that these new doctors are saying its my gallbladder. I guess I'm a weird case where my lactose intolerance causes my gallbladder pain but its no longer lactose intolerance pain but only referred pain from my gallbladder in the exact same spot and type of pain as lactose intollerance. I've never had pain after eating fatty foods. Actually, I've never had pain in my gallbladder.

Thanks for the advice juststud. I'll dig into this some more. When I did a consultation with the surgeon he was 100% sure about his diagnosis. He specifically cited the fact that he's done over a hundred surgeries and the fact that he once told a person that they needed their gallbladder out, that that person didn't believe the doctor and two years later they came back and said he was right. It was very convincing.