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gall bladder
Jan. 26th, 2024 11:40 pmwell, I guess there's some sludge and gallstones in my gall bladder? At least, that's the report from Tuesday's ultrasound, even though they didn't show me any pictures, so I'm like ... how big are the gallstones? How much sludge is there? This medical process has been quite frustrating -- I have yet to speak face-to-face with a gastroenterologist but they are recommending me for gallbladder removal surgery. And I'm like ... can I actually talk to someone about this first? What are the side effects of having my gall bladder removed? I've seen websites where they're like "it takes 1-3 months to get the bile to flow normally, and after that you're fine", but then I've also seen forums of people being like "omg I've had 20 years of nonstop diarrhea".
Here's an overview article about the gall bladder: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22976-gallbladder-disease
It's weird, because all the western medicine stuff is like "no one really needs the gall bladder anyway", which really doesn't feel like the whole story. But then I found a random guy on youtube who's like "actually bile is super important", but his science is also somewhat dubious, so I think maybe 20% of what he says can be trusted?
The sludge build-up seems to have come from not sufficiently emptying out my gall bladder over a long period of time, which is probably due to the fact that I started skipping lunch at school this past year (lunch at school was making me bloated and giving me massive weight gain, so I thought I'd found a hack of eating breakfast and then snacking at work -- and it was working in that I lost weight and also got my period back! But I guess it wasn't doing favors for my gall bladder.) Anyway, it seems like now I'm in a double-bind, which is that to prevent the horrible pain in the short term, I need to eat in a way so as to not trigger my gall bladder, but then that leads to more sludge and more concentration, which causes more inflammation and makes everything worse whenever it does happen. And in the long term, it sounds like if I remove my gall bladder, then the bile kind of trickles in un-concentrated form, which would mean maintaining a diet of low-fat, high-fiber, and frequent small meals. That... might be okay? Not sure how I feel about being forced into frequent small meals. (It sounds like large, fatty meals is what would trigger the diarrhea, since there's not enough bile to deal with it. But also that some people have issues 20 years down the line.)
On the other hand, if I want to try thinning out the bile sludge, I'd need to actually eat in ways to trigger my gall bladder, which would then... cause pain.... But maybe it'd be able to fix the sludge issue and then I won't need my gall bladder removed? But to prevent future sludge backup, I'd need to eat more regular meals with high fiber and the good fats that would keep the gall bladder in regular movement. So I guess either way it's a dietary change. I'd have to eat lunch at work. But then I'd be able to eat cake when I want to.
I'd like to eat moderate meals again... Today for lunch I had half a patty of kofte kebab, a few bites of rice, and a salad, and then from 6-8pm I was like "ugh". """Only""" pain of 4 or 5, but it's still 2 hours lost in the day and general misery. :/
I also got some Chinese medicine today that is supposed to tackle gallstones. It seems like pretty strong stuff (instructions say to take for 10-15 days then stop for a week).
I think my current plan will be:
- take the Chinese medicine for the next 10-ish days and see if it can tackle the gallstones and maybe thin out the sludge
- try to have more regular, but small meals at work. Specifically: have a decent breakfast and then have some fruit and salad at lunchtime. Maybe between the Chinese medicine and the meals, I can thin out the bile sludge and then clear out some of it without triggering too much pain? Like, maybe the bile will leave my gallbladder without getting stuck? I think I'll be able to tell if it's working if it is less and less pain each time it happens. I mean, today was just a 5, right?
- schedule an appointment to talk to gastroenterologist face to face
- maybe schedule a gallbladder removal surgery for 3+ weeks from now?? (I mean, who knows when the next slot is open? The earliest I'll be able to call will be Monday morning)
- ask for a pic of the ultrasound so I get a sense of what's going on
Here's an overview article about the gall bladder: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22976-gallbladder-disease
It's weird, because all the western medicine stuff is like "no one really needs the gall bladder anyway", which really doesn't feel like the whole story. But then I found a random guy on youtube who's like "actually bile is super important", but his science is also somewhat dubious, so I think maybe 20% of what he says can be trusted?
The sludge build-up seems to have come from not sufficiently emptying out my gall bladder over a long period of time, which is probably due to the fact that I started skipping lunch at school this past year (lunch at school was making me bloated and giving me massive weight gain, so I thought I'd found a hack of eating breakfast and then snacking at work -- and it was working in that I lost weight and also got my period back! But I guess it wasn't doing favors for my gall bladder.) Anyway, it seems like now I'm in a double-bind, which is that to prevent the horrible pain in the short term, I need to eat in a way so as to not trigger my gall bladder, but then that leads to more sludge and more concentration, which causes more inflammation and makes everything worse whenever it does happen. And in the long term, it sounds like if I remove my gall bladder, then the bile kind of trickles in un-concentrated form, which would mean maintaining a diet of low-fat, high-fiber, and frequent small meals. That... might be okay? Not sure how I feel about being forced into frequent small meals. (It sounds like large, fatty meals is what would trigger the diarrhea, since there's not enough bile to deal with it. But also that some people have issues 20 years down the line.)
On the other hand, if I want to try thinning out the bile sludge, I'd need to actually eat in ways to trigger my gall bladder, which would then... cause pain.... But maybe it'd be able to fix the sludge issue and then I won't need my gall bladder removed? But to prevent future sludge backup, I'd need to eat more regular meals with high fiber and the good fats that would keep the gall bladder in regular movement. So I guess either way it's a dietary change. I'd have to eat lunch at work. But then I'd be able to eat cake when I want to.
I'd like to eat moderate meals again... Today for lunch I had half a patty of kofte kebab, a few bites of rice, and a salad, and then from 6-8pm I was like "ugh". """Only""" pain of 4 or 5, but it's still 2 hours lost in the day and general misery. :/
I also got some Chinese medicine today that is supposed to tackle gallstones. It seems like pretty strong stuff (instructions say to take for 10-15 days then stop for a week).
I think my current plan will be:
- take the Chinese medicine for the next 10-ish days and see if it can tackle the gallstones and maybe thin out the sludge
- try to have more regular, but small meals at work. Specifically: have a decent breakfast and then have some fruit and salad at lunchtime. Maybe between the Chinese medicine and the meals, I can thin out the bile sludge and then clear out some of it without triggering too much pain? Like, maybe the bile will leave my gallbladder without getting stuck? I think I'll be able to tell if it's working if it is less and less pain each time it happens. I mean, today was just a 5, right?
- schedule an appointment to talk to gastroenterologist face to face
- maybe schedule a gallbladder removal surgery for 3+ weeks from now?? (I mean, who knows when the next slot is open? The earliest I'll be able to call will be Monday morning)
- ask for a pic of the ultrasound so I get a sense of what's going on
