Anybody here know much about gall bladder/pacreatitis attacks? page

[Tarosuma]

Ok, so I need to set the scene here. I have a sister who is rather unusual in many ways, I have no idea how to describe her except that she is extremely opinionated and dogmatic and narrow minded while at the same time she is a hypochondriac and probably has the mental age of somebody much younger. (she is middle aged) She often gets information completely ballsed up and she misinterprets a lot. She gets very obsessive about things. I guess you could describe her as simple but she sees herself as very in the know with most things. It is a frustrating combination of personality traits!
She is also very unhealthy and obese to the highest extreme and has a terrible diet of high sugar and grains and not much in the way of nutrient dense or real food. She has a habit of liking to blame others, mainly me, for everything that happens to her daily life.
Anyhow, recently she ate about 3 or 4 fries (very, very thin) which I had cooked in beef tallow. A week or so later, she is in hospital with a gall bladder attack and pancreatitis. She is telling anybody who will listen that it was 'my' fries that put her in hospital. She said that the Doctor said something must have triggered it and he agreed that it could have been that. Mind you, she probably neglected to tell him she ate 4 fries, not a plateful and as she talks non stop without a breath, he probs would have said anything to shut her up and get out of the room. Anyhow, my question to those in the know is could something like that actually have happened? Could this tiny bit of fat be the straw the broke the camels back so to speak? I am finding it hard to be patient with her constant going on and on about it and I would have doubted it to be true but maybe it could be ????
Is anybody up to speed on the causes of these things? Obviously she will never believe my anyway but for my own information, if anybody thinks it is likely it might stop me from losing the plot with her! thanks!

[Tribal Rob]

IME Not a chance, I had my gall bladder out about 5 years ago.

I was eating CW healthy most of the time back then, doing loads of excersie and losing weight this way and eating crap tons of bad food after massive calorie output - like gym - resistance work for half and hour, then spin class, then a swim for 40 mins, or all day mountainbike trail building, high intensity bouts of digging out with a mattock and removing tree stumps, barrowing tons of aggregate down trails, or riding 50 miles in a day 90% off road and climbing and descending several thousand feet.

After these days I would eat a massive amount, often take-out, for example, a massive kebab + fries, or on one occasion 2 large big mac meals, or a whole pizza etc etc, along with massive amounts of cake.

I would have an attack of pain directly (within hours) after a high fat, high carb meal (all my meals where high carb, as that's CV)

CV says it's the fat that triggers an attack - an that is what I obsereved, as that was what I was changing, but as I say it was an attack within hours, I could always pin-point the food that triggered an attack of pain.

Now I believe that it is possible if I had had the fat without the infalmatory carbs I may have been OK, but I can't go back and experiment again as the gall-bladder is gone and I didn't know about PB then.

[Rindy]

Gallstones can build up over along period of time without any symptoms whatsoever and then boom! one day something triggers an attack. I had my first attack sometime in 2006 but the doctor gave me tablets for an ulcer. As the years went on the attacks got worse and I was eating a very low carb diet, lots of protein, fruit & Veg & cheese. When I was eventually diagnosed with gallstones (around 50 of them) I was convinced that it was the times I spent in 2004 doing Atkins that caused it, now I am more informed and think it was my high carb, unhealthy diet before that which caused the problem. Long story short, the attacks got really bad and I ended up in hospital on a drip due to gallbladder infection, my gallbladder was removed a month later, March 2011. What I do know is that after a high fat meal the gallbladder releases extra bile to help breakdown the fat, and that is when gallstones can get caught in the way and bring about an attack. Before I landed in hospital I was eating only veg & light soups because any time I had a bit of fat or animal protein (or even nut butter) I would have a severe attack. So it could have been the fat that brought about your sister's attack, but it will be her unhealthy diet of high carbs & sugars etc that caused the formation of gallstones in the first place, they have most likely been there for a long time. Sorry for the long response but I hope that's made things a little clearer.

[marcadav]

My understanding- The gallbladder is a bile storage organ. Bile is needed to digest fat. When fat is eaten bile is secreted from the gallbladder. Gallbladder attacks tend to happen when gallstones get stuck as the gallbladder is trying to release bile in order to help fat digestion.

Many people have gallstones. Many people living well, without issue, with those stones and/or sludge. Other people's stones/sludge create attacks.

The real issue, IMO, is what causes stones/sludge and attacks. My issues started after eating low fat for over a year and then diving into a bag of Ruffles after a stressful event. I believe my low fat diet led my gallbladder to get "lazy" since there was no fat to digest. The result was a large quantity of stones.

I also had a twin pregnancy,resulting in 2 almost 7lb babies. The pregnancy may have compromised my gallbladder by crowding it. My first attack happened 15 months after my children's birth. Combine the crowding, low fat diet, and increased fat from the chips and I had a need for more bile from a gallbladder full of stones, resulting in an attack as the needed bile tried to leave the gallbladder.

While the chips may have triggered the attack they didn't cause the problem. The problem was already there. Proof of this was in the fact that I had additional attacks and got to a place, before a diagnosis was made, where I was afraid to eat much of anything.

I have read (cant remember where) that gallbladder issues may be a result of an autoimmune attack from grains/gluten. I can see where this may have played a role in my gallbladder problems. Especially when 5 out of 6 of my sisters and I, and 2 nephews have had their gallbladders removed.

So, IMO, while your fries may have triggered a gallbladder attack, your sister's gallbladder was already unhealthy.