My Gallbladder Continued

So you'd think that since I don't have a gallbladder anymore that there wouldn't be a story to continue. Oh how I wish that was the case. As last reported on here, the first few weeks after surgery went well. It became apparent pretty quickly that my body still was not tolerating fat and other specific foods (tomatoes, citrus fruits, etc). Towards the end of January I had 3-4 days of debilitating diarrhea that pretty much kept me home bound. It was all due to my inability to digest foods post surgery. It was the last straw and I made another doctor's appointment. The doctor reassured me that this is all somewhat normal after surgery. Since my gallbladder was so horribly diseased and my body was functioning like that for so long, it didn't know what to do now that my gallbladder was missing. She told me it is not unheard of for it to take up to a year for a person's body to bounce back from the surgery. Believe it or not, that was a relief to me since I was starting to think something was seriously wrong with me. The surgeon made it sound like I should be symptom free day 1 post surgery.

My family doctor gave me a prescription for a medicine called Cholestyramine. It's most often used as a cholesterol lowering drug (just what I need since my cholesterol is pretty much nonexistent) that actually helps to bind the bile in my digestive system so I don't end up with diarrhea every time I eat. This drug worked amazingly well and I was doing much better after that.

After about 6 weeks on the drug, my symptoms all started to return despite the fact I was still taking the medicine before I ate meals. Back pains, neck pains, bathroom issues and chest pains all started to return regularly. Grrrrr. Some days I'm fine, other days not so much. My symptoms seem to be getting more pronounced with time (especially my chest pains) so another trip to the doctor is going to be happening soon. Praying that this is all resolved soon.