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I am pretty sure I need to have my gall bladder removed and I am worried about what will happen to me because of my J-Pouch.  My sister had her Gall Bladder removed and evidently the Bile keeps depositing into your intestines and it has lately caused a lot of diarrhea.  So my question is has anyone had problems with not having their gall bladder and having a j-pouch.  Thanks.

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im on my second jpouch and my gallbladder is filled with stones. I have been putting it off for over 2 years. My GI also stated it can cause more digestion issues. I leak sometimes and don't want to end up in a diaper.. lol. also since I have had 10+ surgeries and a hernia repair with mesh the gallbladder surgery is a little more risky especially with all the scar tissue

I still have my GB but thought I would share my experience in case it proves helpful to anyone.

I believed for nearly the last few years or so that I needed to have my GB removed due to multiple stones viewed on ultrasound.  I was having symptoms of nausea and vomiting. No dilation of common bile duct was present and no stones seen in duct either. However, I was symptomatic two to three x a year with colicky pain in upper r abdomen leading to severe nausea and vomiting followed by watery diarrhea. I’ve also had hx of what I and my physician believed to be GERD. Tried PPI’s with only minimal relief. The GB symptoms usually happened a couple hours after going to bed in evening and lying down.  The past 18 months the symptoms were getting more frequent. 

I’ve had regular pouchoscopies every 2 to 3 yrs and coincidentally for the past 10 years the GI could not get past a stricture near top of pouch to access the upper pouch for biopsy which was never an issue for the previous 25 yrs. before. This time I had an upper endoscopy (egd) along with pouchoscopy. Doctor found copious bile in my stomach which he believed was causing irritation to the stomach lining and increasing my GB-like symptoms.  Also, during the pouchoscopy, he was able to get past the stricture near top of pouch.

Anyway, the doc believes that the stricture in the pouch was causing bile reflux and a backup and slower emptying of my food. When lying down in bed, that made it even worse with bile lying in stomach and causing pain and irritation.

Presently taking carafate a few times a day along with a H2 blocker 2xd. Have to wait an hour before I can eat after taking the Carafate. It can interfere with other meds as well. It’s a juggling act but so far attacks have subsided. 

Just wanted to share my story because I was convinced I had to get my GB removed and it turned out it’s not my GB after all.

Madelyn posted:

I still have my GB but thought I would share my experience in case it proves helpful to anyone.

I believed for nearly the last few years or so that I needed to have my GB removed due to multiple stones viewed on ultrasound.  I was having symptoms of nausea and vomiting. No dilation of common bile duct was present and no stones seen in duct either. However, I was symptomatic two to three x a year with colicky pain in upper r abdomen leading to severe nausea and vomiting followed by watery diarrhea. I’ve also had hx of what I and my physician believed to be GERD. Tried PPI’s with only minimal relief. The GB symptoms usually happened a couple hours after going to bed in evening and lying down.  The past 18 months the symptoms were getting more frequent. 

I’ve had regular pouchoscopies every 2 to 3 yrs and coincidentally for the past 10 years the GI could not get past a stricture near top of pouch to access the upper pouch for biopsy which was never an issue for the previous 25 yrs. before. This time I had an upper endoscopy (egd) along with pouchoscopy. Doctor found copious bile in my stomach which he believed was causing irritation to the stomach lining and increasing my GB-like symptoms.  Also, during the pouchoscopy, he was able to get past the stricture near top of pouch.

Anyway, the doc believes that the stricture in the pouch was causing bile reflux and a backup and slower emptying of my food. When lying down in bed, that made it even worse with bile lying in stomach and causing pain and irritation.

Presently taking carafate a few times a day along with a H2 blocker 2xd. Have to wait an hour before I can eat after taking the Carafate. It can interfere with other meds as well. It’s a juggling act but so far attacks have subsided. 

Just wanted to share my story because I was convinced I had to get my GB removed and it turned out it’s not my GB after all.

I have gallbladder full of stones, MRI shows my common bile duct to be 9mm dilated. My GI said it could be a stone in the bile duct that the MRI didn't see, said an ultrasound in 6 months will get better idea.  Of course I start googling and think I have PSC now. But GI said my liver enzymes are perfect and MRI doesn't make her suspect PSC. But if a stone isn't in the common bile duct then what could be causing that issue??

Thank you everyone....sort of scares me because I have heard from several people who had their j-pouch removed first and then their gall bladder after that is when they run into problems.  What will happen will happen I suspect...if I can go through all these surgeries for my j-pouch and recover and have it since 1994 I can tackle anything!  Thanks for all your information.

 

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