@Amberleigh and
@SusieBrown65 I had gallbladder illness from an infection caused by ignored gallstones 6 years ago. I have never been so ill in my life! I didn't realise it, but I'd been ignoring the pain of the gallstones for 10 years - actually, I knew they were there but a) I didn't realise they could damage the gallbladder if ignored and b) I was scared of having an op, so I put it off. But the consultant said that the stones were scuffing the GB and causing the infection. If I didn't do something about it I was probably facing either death from gangrene or stomach damage from a burst gallbladder. That woke me up a bit! Plus I had two horrendous attacks where I was in the bathroom much of the night, trying to stop vomiting. Sorry this is very graphic, but I really regretted ending up as ill as it made me, through not understanding the way the gallbladder works.
I did a lot of research in this area, during and after illness, and made notes about how to cope if you have GB illness (and especially if awaiting an operation) - it's all sitting in a folder because I've been meaning to write it all into a book for publication, to help other people. It's a lot of work to do that, though, and I already work a lot during the week (helping other people write books, as it happens!)
As far as I'm aware, it's true what has been said here, about low fat diets often being the cause of the gallstones - fasting can be a problem in that regard, if it goes too far, too. But once you have developed a gallstone problem, fat can be the substance that causes pain, nausea, bloating, etc. It stimulates the muscles in the GB and can hurt like hell if you have a gallstone problem - the same as labour pains, because it's just like a contraction action. One exception is coconut oil, however. You may find you can ingest that with fewer problems, as it is not processed the same way in the body, as other oils.
The gallbladder surgery was fine. I did have to spend longer under the knife, as I had developed what they call adhesions - I gather that means bits of extra skin where the body had been trying to cope with the problem. The consultant said that the gallbladder had been trying to repair itself internally and so part of the problem was a build up of extra cells inside - it was just getting too full up in there, one way and another! And it could no longer function properly. So really not much point in trying to hold on to it any longer. And if I did - well, probably death or serious injury.
I have had better health since saying goodbye to my gallbladder, for sure. It took a while to be able to ingest fats again with relative comfort. Eating too much fat at once was a real no-no. But it became something I could judge quite well, both when I was ill and after the surgery. I worked out a plan and stuck to it. It included all the foods I knew I would be ok with and amounts of fat I could manage without bringing on the symptoms.
These days I can enjoy high fat foods again, pretty much at a normal level. I only had to halt eating creamy/buttery cakes due to the sugar content, because I found out I had prediabetes about 5 years after recovery from the gallbladder problem! But if I ate a massive amount of something with high fat now, I would probably feel a bit of pain in the GB area - because the bile tubes have to work overtime to manage making bile to digest the fat. There's nowhere it's stored anymore. Kind of helps me to regulate what I eat though, without returning to being overweight! So it has its upsides, too.
