Hi,

I'm the same. I've been having attacks for the last four months and found out last week that I had gallstones and was told on Monday that I need my gallbladder out. When I was at hospital on Monday I was told to stick to a non fat diet, my G.P. told me the same thing yesterday as I had to go and see her to get some medication as my attacks are getting worse. Anyway, I have found that my attacks can come on regardless of what I eat. I've also been under a load of stress which I think contributes to the pain aswell.

I cant' wait for my surgery...hope u don't have to wait too long.

Jules x

There were no certain foods that started my attacks,i could have a day of eating junk food and feel fine then another day i would be really healthy and get a severe attack.There was no food that was guaranteed to set off an attack for me.
I hope you get your surgery and it goes well xxx

The only thing that I can say for sure is pretty much guaranteed to give me an attack is olive oil..even in small doses! I think it's because I tried to do that idiotic gallbladder flush a couple of years ago where you drink the olive oil and lemon juice..I swear I almost died, it was the worse gallbladder attack I ever had. I now cannot tolerate olive oil. I too can sometimes eat McDonalds, and junk food and have no problems, but the littlest things can set me off. I try to take an herbal supplement whenever I do eat a fatty meal, so maybe that helps..who knows. All I know is that there are such mixed feelings about the surgery and that some people still have symptoms afterward, and some have that dumping syndrome, that I'm too afraid to do it and be worse than before....I'll stick to my herbs for now and the occassional attacks I guess.

Thanks ladies - was beginning to wonder if there was just something else wrong with me, and they were "blaming" my gallstones - guess not! Now, I'm really looking forward to them getting it yanked - my date is Feb 9/09 - can't come soon enough (typing this as another attack is starting!) Tylenol 3's are seeming to keep it mild so far!

i lost foods a bit at a time. The 1st to go was bananas then onions then pig cooked anyway, etc. A friend got to where all she could eat was jello and water or she would trigger. I got mine out before it got that far but even though i could still eat a lot of foods i still ended up in the er with my gallbladder swollen and threatening to burst.

Hmmmmm, I'm also Canadian and so people are not thinking that Canadians don't take their HEALTH seriously, YES I think that you are playing with your life by eating junk food.
What are you thinking???

Low fat diet is what my dietitian recommended, low fat diet is what I'm doing... Yes My GB is coming out at the end of Feb and will NOT tempt my chance on having another attack, HECK one was one TOO MANY for me.
Just so I understand, why are you doing the opposite of what your Dr has recommended you to do with your diet??
I'm curious of nature...

Wow I had attacks with everything I ate. It was much worse if I ate greasy food. I was sick for 4 or 5 months before they figured out what it was. They tried all kinds of stuff. I was on a low fat and no dairy diet for months. This helps but never took away the attacks.

Your post was on the update page, but I see today is the day of your surgery...hope it went well!

I am afraid I am the nutty one here...here's why: I was having a gall bladder attack...doctor wanted to do surgery (US) I said, it has let up a little, let's see if it gets worse...the symptoms kept me at home as you know...well, I did some reading, I wasn't about to do that oily lemon treatment, but, I did eat a jar of Kosher Pickles...OMG it was amazing how things were smoothed out and pain gone the next day and stools back to normal color, no longer green... TMI I know...but, I have not had any problems since. Every once in a while I get a twinge but that is it. I can eat fatty foods. I also have GERD and acid reflux.

See, crazy I know, it was about ten pickles and some of the juice...its is the vinegar I think...but pickles were the most palatable delivery mechanism. I noticed when I was having gall bladder trouble I can tolerate the sourness but if my GB is not really bothering me much the sourness is too much...interesting...to me anyway lol ;)

I'm not saying it will work for everyone, but it worked for me and it beats the heck out of surgery.

All my best to you!

Dero~ If you don't think I take my health seriously you are wrong, wrong wrong! I do and the reason I was trying to decifer the "why wasn't I getting attacks each and every time with fatty food" was because, to be very honest, I was trying to make "sure" the only thing going on was in fact my gallbladder. I have been on meds for apparent "acid reflux" since I was about 22 yrs old - nexium- which in a few days I'm going to try to stop taking and see what happens. Over the last 5+ yrs of gradual build up of gallstone issues (attacks started pretty mild and I had them through pregnancy 6 yrs ago - thought just major indigestion etc) I was FINALLY given an u/s this past Dec 08. Before that, I WAS taking care of myself - I WAS not overeating FAT. I was sent in for a scope of my stomach in June 08 to rule out ulcers etc. dr's still thinking it was something to do with the acid reflux? I think I've spent a FAIR amount of time with dr's and specialists over the past 2+ yrs - all the while telling them my symptoms like vomitting, waking up in the middle of the night with severe upper abdominal pain, nausea, etc etc etc (well, you know the drill!)Oh and I was probably in the ER about 1/2 dozen times with the same symptoms and our system didn't EVER do an u/s. The REASON I was trying to check tolerance is because, to be quite honest, I know I had gallstones (just had my surgery on Monday) but over that 5+ yrs and even in the last month, I wasn't experiencing attacks each and every time I did in fact eat something fatty - which seemed to be the opposite of all the research I was doing. Also, if you go an re-read my post, you'll actually see that DR's advised me that if I had another attack it would very likely expedite my surgery date. I WAS listening to the drs. I take offence to your post - I have ALWAYS taken care of my health - I think that over these last 5+ yrs my dr's weren't really listening to ME.