Gallbladder might have to come out

[JAMAS]

OK, now I've got to make a little funny at your expense...hope it gives you a chuckle.......the "usual" patient with gallstones is...the 5 "F"s......Female, Fat, Forty, Fertile and Fair...

"In medical school, the "five F's" help doctors to remember the usual patient with gallbladder disease: "fair, fat, forty, fertile, and female." Sexist as it sounds, it describes the group most frequently affected by gallbladder disease: overweight middle-aged white women with a history of several pregnancies. Excess estrogen may be implicated, since hormone replacement after menopause increases the likelihood of stones."

well thats just Fantastic

I had really bad strep throat for a week before my pancreatitis and the first thing I ate (cuz something FINALLY sounded good) after 4 days of not eating was a couple cheese burgers from McDonalds. I was doing some reading and one cause of gallstones is fasting or crash dieting and I am thinking thats what happened. Then I ate something fatty and called my gallbladder into action only to have stones come out instead. All tests they ran say no stones in the gallbladder right now, just evidence that one had passed through. I have to talk to the surgeon on thursday, but I am hoping maybe this was all caused from not eating, then eating fatty and if I dont do that again, I will be fine.

[Anita]

You sure you dont have acid reflux? I can get MEAN attacks due to acid reflux. Pain can be immense and last for hours. Eating too much at one time, eating too late, high-fat foods, stress, etc all can be culprits and exhibit some of the same symptoms as a gallbladder attack.

Oh, the people I know who had gallbladders out did great afterwards. Always a danger with surgeries no matter what, but gallbladder is on the milder side of invasive surgeries IMHO.