# Gallbladder surgery/Elevated Cholesterol



## Katydid (Jul 17, 2001)

I'm wondering if anyone who has had their GB removed has been told after lab work was done, that their cholesterol and/or triglyceride levels were high for the first time in their lives.This would probably be more for people with IBS-D and/or those taking Questran to help control the bile problem so often associated with GB removal.Thanks ahead of time for anyone that can/will post.


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## knothappy (Jul 31, 1999)

I had my gallbladder removed in 1998 and ever since I have had readings for choletrol and trig. that are off the chart. Ihad somewhat high readings before , but not like these are. Iam very careful with diet, I have to be on account of IBS diarreha, I walk every chance I get. My doctor wants to put my on the cholestrol drugs, but I will not take them, so many who do get diarreha from them and I do not need that, besides I am sure that the gall bladder removal is causing the high readings. Now what are we suppose to do, go find out gall bladder and put it back in? I am sorry I ever had the surgery, I have had nothing but problems since!!


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## Katydid (Jul 17, 2001)

Happy 4th of July knothappy, and thanks for replying with your experience with this. Same experience here. I found out some information the other week about why this might happen, and I'm hoping to find out how many people this DOES happen to. Did your doctor/surgeon ever mention this possiblity to you? Mine sure didn't! I'm on Zocor now which has brought the levels down, but like you I'm not happy at all that I have to be on meds to control this. Hopefully more people will add their own results. There certainly are enough people who have had their GB out. What concerns me also, is that many people don't go to the Dr. regularly to have their cholesterol/triglycerides checked..and they may be walking around with this time bomb and not know it.


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## Codasam (Jul 22, 2001)

I had the opposite happen. I had my gallbladder out in 1984 and my cholesterol is only 102. I don't eat alot of fatty foods anymore, but I thought that the low reading was because I had my gallbladder removed. Correct me if I am wrong, but from what I remember gallstones are made out of cholesterol.Pam


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## Katydid (Jul 17, 2001)

Hi PamFrom what I've read, there are three types of gallstones. Yellow, black or brown. The yellow type is almost pure cholesterol monohydrate, and they are the ones that are seen 80% of the time in western populations. I'm not surprised that some people have not had this cholesterol problem after surgery. Others in my family certainly didn't..but then they didn't end up with IBS-D/bile dumping problems either. I had NO cholesterol problems until after the surgery, and from information I've been reading not having the gallbladder to help recycle the bile (that process somehow seems to keep in check cholesterol/trigylceride levels), can lead to higher levels. Especially people with bile dumping diarrhea..and those using bile-binding elements like Questran..which I both have and use. Ironic, since Questran is used for cholesterol lowering. I'm certainly not a whiz when it comes to all of these studies, but I'm trying to learn more about this and ferret out what information/statistics I can find. Pam, do you suffer IBS-D or C? (Guess thats probably a pretty stupid question to ask, since you're reading through the diarrhea forum, huh?)


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## Codasam (Jul 22, 2001)

Sorry it has taken me a few days for me to get back to you. I had a fun weekend helping put a new roof on my house! Anyway I am always D. I never had problems till after my gallbladder was removed in 1984. I wonder if I should be alarmed with my low readings? I never had them checked before the surgery. Maybe they were low then, too. Take care.Pam


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