Gallstones after Pregnancy

Sally - posted on 11/01/2009

Smae thing with me. I just had my gallbladder taken out on 10/29, 8 wks after my son was born. I was having attacks almost every night, I was pretty much down to just eating oatmeal. I finally had to go into ER when i couldn't keep anything down and had the surgery. Now I'm just waiting to feel like my self again.

Lisa - posted on 11/01/2009

yep. That was me! i had my gall bladder out when my oldest son was 7 months. Fun, yeah....no! lol! The doc told me that the 4 risk factors are to be Female, Forty, Fertile, and Fat....he called it the 4 F's. The bad thing is, once you have the baby, you're instantly "fat"!!! the only risk factor I didn't have was being 40. Sigh....it was a pain, so to speak ;) i had the hardest time eating anything out for a while, everything upset my stomach. It's like my digestive track had to figure a new way to work right.

Brittany - posted on 10/31/2009

I had the same problem, but it started while i was pregnant do to the excess weight on the gallbladder.

Jessica - posted on 10/31/2009

same thing happened to me. they told me it was sooo common to moms who had just had babies. it sucks!!! i had a c-section AND then 3 weeks later had to have my gall bladder removed.

Misty - posted on 10/31/2009

I had the same problem my attacks were always at night after I had gone to sleep. I would wake up in terrible pain. I just said to myself that it was my body getting back to normal after the baby. I then started having to take one of the pain pills I was given when I had my daughter. It would knock me out and when I would wake up it was like nothing ever happened. I woke up many times got my daughter dressed to go out in the middle of the night in the middle of winter woke up my poor husband to start the car then I would sit there and look at my baby and decided against taking her to the ER in the middle of the night when she was so small I just new my pain and going to the R would cause her to catch a cold or something and just couldnt go.when i had finally had enough of the attacks I went to the dr and found out that I had 6 gall stones and was shocked just like you to find out that many women who have recently delivered go through this. I too wish someone had told me because I put up with it for 4 months before I sought treatment. I had the surgery and I have not had any problems since except the diarhhea that was been the worst part especially when you are out with a little one in a carrier and you need to make the what I called Missing Gallbladder dash haha.

Monica - posted on 10/30/2009

I had never had pain until one day a month after I had my baby. I went into the hospital at 10am on a Wednesday and the ultrasound showed tiny stones and inflamation so they set me up for surgery. I also heard it was very common. When I went to visit my OB at my 6 week appt, I expressed that I had not touched my c-section stuff since I was afraid I was going to mess it up, she said "we appreciate that" I explained to her "well I've already been to the hospital since c-section. She said "oh your gallbladder" lol

Elizabeth - posted on 10/30/2009

I had my gallbladder removed after pregnancy, but I'd also had problems with it before I got pregnant... Like you however, I did hear that this is common enough. One thing to note is that a full quarter of the population (if I've got my facts straight) has gallstones and no complaints - they don't even know it.

Melissa - posted on 10/30/2009

I had slight attacks during my first pregnancy but just thought it was braxton hicks. It was only after I had my daughter that I realised something wasn't right. When I first seen a doctor about it he told me it was heartburn, and only after several painful attacks my doctor finally put me into hospital for an ultrasound to confirm it. My gallbladder was so inflammed that I had to have antibiotics injected and stay in hospital till it went down. It took me about a month to have my operation and until then I was on a strict low fat diet so it wouldn't trigger another attack. I still occasionally have attacks, but was told that maybe I have an ulcer, not that I may have more in my bile duct which is really interesting. When I gave birth to my second child I was given morphine, which triggered a massive attack, which meant that instead of having a little bit of relief between contractions, I had constant pain! I have read that pregnant women are suseptible to gall stones, something about hormones.

Kelly - posted on 10/30/2009

At 16 weeks pregnant I had my first gallstone attack (so I found out when we got to hospital). Bubs is now 2 1/2 months and I just had my gallbladder taken out 2 weeks ago. The attacks were totally painful but I'm thankful that it wasn't worse - I didn't need an op while pregnant, that I got through the waiting lists and was able to have them out so soon and (thankfully) it only needed to be key hole so I've recovered well. While pregnant, I'd heard that they would be more painful than the labour and I definitely think that having that pain gave me a better pain threshold in labour (I didn't need any pain relief - yay). It's such a relief knowing I won't be having any more of those terrible attacks!! Certainly not pleasant, hey?