Gall stones
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Category: Pregnant
Forum Name: Pregnancy
Forum Description: Pregnant! Wanting to chat to other mums-to-be (or dads-to-be)? Share your thoughts, experiences, and ideas... This is that place!
URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=20897
Printed Date: 22 August 2025 at 6:31am
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Topic: Gall stones
Posted By: Danaj
Subject: Gall stones
Date Posted: 13 September 2008 at 3:33pm
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Anyone else have the joy of these? Being pg is starting to set them off again. My mW said if I can handle a decent gall bladder attack then I should be fine with labour. I thought she was joking but she didn't laugh. Any comparison in regards to pain levels from anyone? I get some doozey attacks that have me collapsed and vomiting from the pain. Last one stuck around for 24 hours.
And what do you know..........I get pregnant and can't have surgery and what letter do I get from the hospital? You've got to be flimmin kidding! ggggrrrrrrr, annoyed my med insurance wont cover it so I have the joy of public. ------------- http://www.TickerFactory.com/weight-loss/wyI1oWn/"> 
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Replies:
Posted By: Millie1976
Date Posted: 13 September 2008 at 3:56pm
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I am having an ultrasound this week to see whether I have Gallstones as I have had a few episodes of really bad pains since having baby no 2 - not a pleasant thing is it? I really hope it doesn't end up in having to get surgery. ------------- Sebastien 2 years old Olivier 3 3/4 years old |
Posted By: Danaj
Date Posted: 13 September 2008 at 5:25pm
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Hi Millie,
From what my surgeon said first time round and from what i've read, Gall stones pretty much mean good bye gall bladder. My sister had them too and lost her gall bladder. Probably depends on how bad they are too. I've got a high pain threshold (like most females) and these attacks are just way too much these days and they're getting worse. It's all done through key hole now and they say the recovery time is about 5-7 days till your up and about again. Nothing like it used to be. I guess maybe that's why they're more inclined to take it out rather than leave it? I'd rather have mine gone if it will fix the problem. Have to wait till baby is out and on the bottle I guess. ------------- http://www.TickerFactory.com/weight-loss/wyI1oWn/">
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Posted By: Kazzle
Date Posted: 13 September 2008 at 5:31pm
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Hi yah, I had gallstones while pregnant,
and honestly i preferred the gallstone attacks to labour...but thats only because i was induced and was stuck on a bed.....at least with the attacks i could walk it off, even if it did take 6 hours. I had my gallbladder removed when Rhiannon was 9 wks old...as for recovery time...it was key hole surgery...i had it friday arvo...was home saturday morning and was back to normal by monday.. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: Danaj
Date Posted: 13 September 2008 at 5:45pm
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Hi Kazzle,
It's good to hear the recovery time is so short. Still, must of been hard with a little one at 9 weeks old! ------------- http://www.TickerFactory.com/weight-loss/wyI1oWn/">
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Posted By: Kazzle
Date Posted: 13 September 2008 at 6:11pm
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yeah it was, i hated being away over night from her, but it had to be done....and was only gone 24hrs...although i couldnt put her down when i got home, and she cried when she saw me and was clingy for the rest of the day but i didnt mind one little bit....it also helped that i was bottle feeding too, so that made it a bit easier ------------- http://lilypie.com">
http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Freesia
Date Posted: 13 September 2008 at 6:21pm
LOL, I wasn't going to say anything in case it scared you, but I too found that labour was a lot worse. But I also was induced and stuck on my back in bed and it was very difficult to try and work through the pain like that. My attack lasted about 13 hrs until I went to the afterhours clinic at 4am (with a 4 month old baby in tow) because I didn't know what it was at the time and received pain relief there. I am awaiting surgery to have my gall bladder removed and I have only had the one 'attack'. The gall stone was too big to pass on it's own and they said that once you have one, you are most likely going to keep getting them so they just remove the gall bladder in most cases. I've been told that it'll be keyhole surgery (all going well) and that I'll have to stay over night but then they also said not to lift anything for 3 weeks afterwards (including my daughter). It's not going to be totally practical to do this so I'm just going to see how we go. I'm glad that you said you were pretty much back to normal after a few days Kazzle. The surgeon I saw for my assessment said that it's "not uncommon" for them to occur during/after pregnancy  -------------  
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Kazzle wrote:Posted By: Kazzle
Date Posted: 13 September 2008 at 8:14pm
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interesting....i wasnt told not to lift anything for 3 weeks...each surgeon is different though....i didnt have the stones, i had the slurry, which apparent gives the most pain.....and it was like looking at thick wet sand (the surgeon kindy left me some to look at...lol) ------------- http://lilypie.com">
http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Millie1976
Date Posted: 13 September 2008 at 9:10pm
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Wow I didn't realise how common it is for people to have Gallstones. Glad to hear that it is only keyhole surgery and recovery is very quick. I am hoping that I won't need to have surgery but will find out this week. ------------- Sebastien 2 years old Olivier 3 3/4 years old |
Posted By: Freesia
Date Posted: 14 September 2008 at 9:00am
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Yeah, it'd be pretty hard being away for a night with such a young baby. When I got put on the waiting list they said it would happen within the next 6 months so you may have a bit of time yet. It's still better to get on the list if you need the surgery as you can always say no once you get called up.
I hadn't heard of slurry Kazzle but I didn't really ask too many questions about it all. Mine got impacted in the neck of the gall bladder and they said it can keep getting stuck and then fall back down again over and over. Luckily it hasn't happened again but I want the thing gone before we start trying for the next baby. It must be the pits having attacks while pregnant and not being able to take anything decent for the pain. -------------
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Posted By: busymum
Date Posted: 14 September 2008 at 8:57pm
I don't know much about gallbladders but I sure wasn't vomitting and flaking in labour 
Will they look to remove them/it or can you just sort it out with a good diet? My mum has them but she finds they are ok when she keeps the fats down. -------------  |
Posted By: Freesia
Date Posted: 15 September 2008 at 7:17am
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If they're smallish they can usually pass on their own and there are certain alternative treatments that will help to flush them out (apparently) but all the medical specialists have said that in almost all cases, once you've had/got them then it's almost certain you'll get them again. The gall bladder is a redundant organ (again apparently) so they find it simpler to just remove it rather than keep having repeated attacks.
If mine weren't too big to pass (it was already impacted in the gall bladder neck), then I would've tried one of the remedies to try and flush it out just to avoid the surgery but they said that it's definitely not going to happen and I want to get pregnant again in a year or so and I don't want to have further attacks while preggers. Last time, the over-the-counter pain relief did nothing at all to help, I was given pethidine in the end. It sounds as if it has some hereditary factor in it too. Whether it's just that you are raised on the same type diet or if it's genetic I'm not sure. -------------
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