What's going on in there?!

I've been having gallstone like pain all week now, and my gallbladder was removed over a year ago.  I went to the MD yesterday, and he explained that the bile duct is still there, and if you are prone to stones, you can still get them after the gallbladder is removed, and there's not a ton that can be done about it.  I believe there is a procedure called Percutaneous extraction that uses a scope to go into the common bile duct and either extract or breakdown the stones, so that may be a possibility.

At this point, they are running a few blood tests to rule out other possibilities, and I will be having an ultrasound on Wednesday to see if there is evidence of stones in the bile duct.  The ultrasound may or may not show changes to the bile duct, so even if no evidence is present, there still may be stones.

I'm also waiting for a call back from my surgeon, because he may know if this is more common in lap band patients, which gallstones were.  Perhaps these biliary stones are common in lap band patients that had their gallbladder removed - who knows.

I asked the MD what I could do with my diet to reduce the symptoms I'm experiencing, and he told me to try to eat a very low fat diet.  Um, I don't think I could go much lower fat than what I take in now while still being healthy.  It's fat that triggers these symptoms, but for me, since I started experiencing these symptoms this past summer, it's been the healthier I eat, the more symptoms I experience.  It makes no sense.

I asked him if a diet free of animal proteins may help, and he said yes, a vegetarian diet could be helpful.  I was thinking more vegan, because I imagine the fat in cheese and milk would be just as potentially harmful as the fat in meat.

I barely get my calories in now, so I can't imagine taking animal proteins out of my diet, but I think it may be worth a try.  It is not pleasant at all to feel gallstone like pain, so I'll give it a shot.  Maybe I'll go gluten free for a few days too - just to see if that helps at all for any reason. 

A Market, here I come!