Dissolving Gallstones And Treating Gallbladder Infections

The gall bladder helps in digestion by storing bile that is secreted by the liver, and releasing this bile when we consume any food that contains fat. When, due to any problem with the gall bladder, the bladder is removed, there is no major impact on your digestive system, but some changes to the diet may need to be made. This may be particularly necessary in this case, because the patient is 80 years old.

Gallstone Remedy And Diet For Gallbladder

After gall bladder removal, the liver continues to produce bile. The only difference is that there is now no place for the bile to be stored and released. Therefore, instead of the bile reaching the digestive tract only when fatty food is consumed, there is a constant trickle of bile from the liver. When stored in the gall bladder, bile also usually becomes more concentrated, and this effect is also lost. This is not harmful, but it does mean that when fats are consumed, the only bile available in the digestive system is coming directly from the liver, and may be too little or too weak to process all the fats properly. This tends to cause diarrhea, as the undigested fat draws water into the digestive tract. The fat also gets decomposed by bacteria, causing flatulence. The simple and obvious solution to this problem is to reduce one’s intake of fat. This ensures that the digestive system is able to handle whatever fat is consumed, in spite of less bile being available at any given time. It may also help to eat several smaller meals rather than one large meal – this breaks up the load on the digestive system. Since there is a constant but decreased flow of bile, this makes more effective use of the bile available without drastically decreasing the intake of fat.

It is probably not necessary to cut out any food or food group, except perhaps fried foods. Otherwise, there are usually low fat options available for almost everything today. In addition, the intake of fruits, vegetables, and whole grain foods should be increased in order to help digestion.

Fifteen days after the operation may be too soon to decide, but the patient may need to make such changes in his or her diet. You should however wait and see whether any problems do develop, and if they do, discuss them with the doctor first. Many people are able to have completely normal lives and diets after their gall bladder has been removed.