Has anyone with U.C. had their gallbladder removed, and if so, did it make your U.C. worse or better

Hi everyone,

I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis 18 years ago, and about 2 years ago I was diagnosed as having gallbladder disease with it being full of stones.  Four doctors all told me that I needed to have my gallbladder removed.  I haven't gotten it removed because I've heard that many people who get their gallbladders removed get moderate to severe diarrhea for the rest of their lives, which of course is the absolute last thing anyone with ulcerative colitis wants to hear.  I've been putting off getting my gallbladder removed due to the fear that it will cause more U.C. flares and misery, so I've been tolerating the occasional pain from my gallbladder, which so far is nothing compared to the pain and suffering of a U.C. flare. 

Has anyone out there with U.C. had their gallbladder removed, and if so, how did it affect your U.C.?  I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has personal experience or knows someone who has. 

Thanks,

Robyn 

Thanks for you post. My mother, grandmother and aunt have all had their gallbladders removed due to gallstones, but none of them have ulcerative colitis. Unfortunately, after getting their gallbladders removed, ALL of them now have explosive diarrhea after every meal they eat that contains any meat or fats/oils. So, that worries me even more, since I have ulcerative colitis. I'd be interested to hear how your husband's digestion does after getting his removed. Thanks again for replying. I'm still going to wait as long as possible before getting mine removed since there's no going back.

Robyn

I had mine removed in 2003 and I was fine after, normal bathroom habits(about once a day formed, sometimes everyother day, I wish now, lol) I was diagnosed with UC in 2009 I do wonder if this was the start of something back then but not to sure. My grandma had hers out about 40 years ago and has normal bathroom habits my aunt had hers out and she said she goes to the bathroom after every meal and when she has to go she has to go.

I had my gallbladder removed at the age of 22.  10% of all patients who have their gallbladder removed will have chronic diarrhea after the surgery.  I suffered with it UNTIL I was diagnosed with UC.  My bowels ruled my life because of it.  I asked my GP about it and she put me on a pancreatic enzyme that did nothing. 

After being diagnosed with UC and seeing a GI, I brought this issue up again and was put on Cholestyramine.  It is amazing!  No diarrhea except when I am in a flare from the UC.  It is a powder that you mix with water and take twice a day.  It is for lowering cholesterol and is also an anti diarrheal.  It works by binding to the bile acids in your stomach.  I only take it once a day now because I tend to get constipated if I take it twice daily. 

I fully recommend having your gallbladder removed.  It can be fatal if it gets too inflammed or infected.  A 25 year old mother died in my home town because of it. Please do it.  There are ways to control the diarrhea associated with having it removed.  If you can't take the Cholestyramine, eating small but frequent meals helps, along with lots of fibre and lots of water.  You definitely don't want to skip meals because the bile will accumulate in your stomach which is the cause of the diarrhea. 

I have not noticed any other side effects from the Cholestyramine. One thing you do need to know though, is that it shouldn't be taken at the same time as other oral medications. I try to take it about an hour after I take my UC medication to avoid issues, such as binding to your other oral medication and therefore reducing the intended effect. Even having my gall bladder removed, I have found that there are still foods that I need to avoid such as high fat meals, lettuce, alcohol, and others. Everyone is different and if you have issues, you know almost right away.

For your job's sake, I hope you can hold off having the surgery but please don't wait if it gets bad. Gall bladder disease runs in my family and the women in my family had the surgery in our early 20's. After I posted yesterday, I remembered that when my younger sister had hers removed, it was so inflamed that it had adhered to other organs and during the surgery, her liver was nicked by the surgeon. Thankfully, they removed hers when they did, or she would have been in serious danger.

I found a web site a few years ago (which I can no longer find) that linked a number of health issues with UC. One of the links was gall bladder disease. There was a very long list and it was very interesting to see all of the issues that some of us are afflicted with.

Good luck with it all. Keep us posted!

I wouldn't let it get you down. Just another bump in the road. I remember the pain all to well so you have my sympathy. Would you really lose your job if you had to have the surgery? Is it a physical job? I was only off work for 10 days in total, 7 of them actual work days. I can't imagine an employer being allowed to dismiss someone for a medical reason. There must be labor laws surrounding this issue.........

If I eat anything that doesn't agree with my system, it rapidly exits. And by rapid, I mean half way through my meal, I am running to the bathroom. Lettuce comes out looking almost like it did going in. I love salads, too and I am not sure if the digestion and rapid exit is due to lack of my gall bladder or the UC. I think I had subtle signs of UC for years and just attributed a lot of the symptoms to the surgery. Since being diagnosed with UC, I have found a good balance in my nutrition to keep the issues related to my lack of gall bladder down to a dull roar and the biggest part of that is the Cholestyramine. Now, most of my bowel issues are only UC related and I feel that I am definitely one of the lucky ones. I have a wonderful GP, a pretty good GI (didn't like him until recently), I have awesome health care, awesome benefits, and I am not as sick as some people are with UC.

I firmly believe that each of us is responsible for our own health and our care. We can't leave it all up to the doctors. Never be afraid to ask questions about procedures, medications, anything. When I am feeling at my worst, I remind myself how fortunate I really am. Attitude is half the battle. That doesn't mean that I don't feel sorry for myself at times though, I just try not to make a habit of it.

Hopefully you find some comfort soon!

Hi JimmySil,
It doesn't work for everyone for everything. Far from it if you read the above posts from other people with U.C. who had their gallbladders removed. What works effectively for one person doesn't for another. That's why I wanted to get feedback from multiple people with U.C. who had their gallbladders removed. So, thank you for your feedback. My own family members who don't even have U.C. have had nothing but trouble after their gall bladders were removed. Friends of mine who had their gallbladders removed have the same problems, and they also don't have U.C. Do you have U.C.? If so, can you drink coffee without any problems now?

Thanks,
Robyn

Wow! Thanks for your reply. I've never heard of people having their gallblader removed and THEN getting pancreatitis. That's very concerning. I will ask my GI doctor about it. My regular internist keeps warning me that having gallstones and not getting the gallbladder removed puts me at a higher risk of getting pancreatitis, and is pushing me to get it removed. Then the internist recommended I see a GI specialist to get further testing done before having the surgery. Thank God for that. I saw a great GI specialist who said "We no longer like to take out gallbladders when we find gallstones and someone is in pain unless we're positive the problem is the gallbladder because we are finding more and more that people get their gallbladders removed and after the surgery, the patients continue to have pain in the same region, so we know that the cause of the pain wasn't actually the gallbladder, but something else." So she ran more blood tests, sent me for a HIDA scan in addition to another ultrasound and next week is doing an endoscopy to biopsy my small intestine because one of the blood tests came back indicating a possibility of me having Celiac disease. I'll find out then the results of the HIDA scan, but the radiology technician told me during the HIDA scan that my bile flow got "hung up" in the sphincter of Oddi, which he said was uncommon, and that if the sphincter of Oddi is the real problem (versus the gallbladder itself), then I should not get my gallbladder removed, like the GI specialist warned. I keep losing weight without trying to (and I'm not exercising either), so the internist checked my thyroid to see if it was overactive, and it turned out that it was actually underactive, which really confused the doctors. That was when the GI specialist decided to check my blood for the antibodies that indicate the possibility of Celiac disease. She said unintended weight loss, diarrhea and abdominal pain and bloating/gas (which I've been having in the past few months) can be indications of Celiac disease. Boy, and I thought ulcerative colitis was bad enough!

I happened upon this discussion when I did a search for a connection between gallbladder disease and UC. I was diagnosed with UC this year after suffering with diarrhea for weeks, and I just had my gallbladder removed on Monday 11/30/15. I also take Cholestyramine and it does work 95%. I thought it as interesting what BCGIRL said about not taking the Cholestyramine at the same time as other meds. I weaned myself off my antidepressants because they didn't seem to be helping and didn't want to add to it so I thought I'd see how I felt not on them. Now I wonder if they weren't getting absorbed. I have the feeling it's going to be a balancing act the next few months between having UC, no gallbladder and seeing how I feel emotionally.

Not having my gallbladder forces me to stay on a high fiber/low fat diet. I find that if I have too much fat in my diet, I will have horrible cramping. I have many friends who rave about how healthy they feel doing keto or Atkins. That’s not an option for me.