Dietary problems with LCHF diet and Gall Bladder problems

[Felinia]

I am wondering if anybody has developed the same problem as me, and can offer any suggestions. Like many others, when diagnosed last year, I started following a LCHF diet, and started having full fat foods for the first time in years. A few days ago, I was struck down out of the blue with severe pains and was actually lucky enough to be seen by my GP on Monday. She diagnosed Gall Bladder problems, which I had never had before. I am being referred for a scan and have been blood tested for infection and to check my liver function. I have been warned I may require hospital treatment.
In the meantime I have been told I MUST follow a zero fat diet, or as low as I can get my fats. This leaves me wondering how I can best cope with a low carb zero fat diet, bearing in mind that zero fat usually means increased carbs. I already have a mixture of skimmed and unsweetened almond milk, and can easily cut out yogurt, spreads and cheese. Cutting out red meat will be do-able, but I usually eat a lot of high fat salmon and mackerel and high cholesterol eggs as part of my protein. I would welcome any dietary and recipe suggestions or to hear from anyone on how they cope with Type 2 and gall bladder problems. Thanks

 

[Toucan]

Hello @Felinia
This certainly sounds like a challenge to deal with.
I don't have any personal experience of Gall Bladder problems, but I did look after my mother a while ago when she had this problem.
She was advised to avoid high fat and processed food. ( Also white bread, pastas, rice, sugars - although this part of the list won't be a problem for a low carber!).
I guess a lot rests on the definition of 'high' fat and what you can still include.
Things that she was able to include were white fish, shell fish, sardines, beans and nuts, and lots of vegetables particularly dark green leafy ones.

Hopefully someone will be along from the forum later that will have more experience of this.
Very best wishes and I hope that otherwise things are OK for you down in beautiful Devon.

 

[NotWorriedAtAll]

This is interesting to me because I had the opposite experience.

I had been having a lot of gall bladder problems and I was being pressured by my consultant and GP to have my gall bladder removed. I was given codeine phosphate tablets to take when the pain got unbearable and then I explored what might be the cause of my pain and I found out what was triggering it and in my case it wasn't high fat foods at all.

I discovered that there were a couple of factors.
1. My husband has conditions that lead to inflammation and I'd been using a lot of turmeric and other foods high in curcumin and my body didn't like that.

2. I'd recently gone back onto Molipaxin aka Trazodone for anxiety and that was affecting my liver function.

3. I'd been eating a lot of black pepper which was also irritating my gall bladder.

I stopped using turmeric so much ( a little bit now and then seemed to be ok) stopped taking the Molipaxin and stopped entirely with the black pepper - I don't worry about it being in ingredients but I don't add any to my own plated food.

The gall bladder problems which had taken me to A&E a couple of times completely stopped and I have since gone onto high fat low carb (and for me that's very high fat) and had no ill effects at all. In fact my liver function etc improved once I started VHFLC.

Obviously many people have different responses to different things and anecdotal evidence is not scientific but maybe a bit of sleuthing as to possible trigger substances may be similarly useful for you. Or not. Just putting it out there in case the information is useful.

Much sympathy - gall bladder pain is the worst pain I ever experienced and I would not wish it on anyone.

 

[Felinia]

This is interesting to me because I had the opposite experience.

I had been having a lot of gall bladder problems and I was being pressured by my consultant and GP to have my gall bladder removed. I was given codeine phosphate tablets to take when the pain got unbearable and then I explored what might be the cause of my pain and I found out what was triggering it and in my case it wasn't high fat foods at all.

I discovered that there were a couple of factors.
1. My husband has conditions that lead to inflammation and I'd been using a lot of turmeric and other foods high in curcumin and my body didn't like that.

2. I'd recently gone back onto Molipaxin aka Trazodone for anxiety and that was affecting my liver function.

3. I'd been eating a lot of black pepper which was also irritating my gall bladder.

I stopped using turmeric so much ( a little bit now and then seemed to be ok) stopped taking the Molipaxin and stopped entirely with the black pepper - I don't worry about it being in ingredients but I don't add any to my own plated food.

The gall bladder problems which had taken me to A&E a couple of times completely stopped and I have since gone onto high fat low carb (and for me that's very high fat) and had no ill effects at all. In fact my liver function etc improved once I started VHFLC.

Obviously many people have different responses to different things and anecdotal evidence is not scientific but maybe a bit of sleuthing as to possible trigger substances may be similarly useful for you. Or not. Just putting it out there in case the information is useful.

Much sympathy - gall bladder pain is the worst pain I ever experienced and I would not wish it on anyone.

Thanks for the reply. My medication is unchanged for years, and I don't like spicy or acidic food either. Fortunately it appears to the GP and me that mine really is triggered by high fat. I had low fat for years, then switched to full fat cheese, yogurts, proper bacon, butter etc. when diagnosed Type 2. I am hoping that by cutting them out I won't have a recurrence because, as you say, the pain is bad!!! If that doesn't work, then more sleuthing!!

 

[Felinia]

Hello @Felinia
This certainly sounds like a challenge to deal with.
I don't have any personal experience of Gall Bladder problems, but I did look after my mother a while ago when she had this problem.
She was advised to avoid high fat and processed food. ( Also white bread, pastas, rice, sugars - although this part of the list won't be a problem for a low carber!).
I guess a lot rests on the definition of 'high' fat and what you can still include.
Things that she was able to include were white fish, shell fish, sardines, beans and nuts, and lots of vegetables particularly dark green leafy ones.

Hopefully someone will be along from the forum later that will have more experience of this.
Very best wishes and I hope that otherwise things are OK for you down in beautiful Devon.

Thanks for the list of foods. I will have to experiment with shell fish, sardines and nuts, as I thought all of them were either high cholesterol or high fat. Beans I know are high carb so I have been avoiding them, but of course they are also high protein. Good job I love my veggies in salads, soups and cooked!

 

[bakebeans]

Hi I had my gallbladder removed about 9 years ago. The operation itself isn’t too bad I had surgery mid day and was home early evening. The few days after can be a bit sore but compared to the pain of a gallstone attack it’s a walk in the park!

 

[Felinia]

Hi I had my gallbladder removed about 9 years ago. The operation itself isn’t too bad I had surgery mid day and was home early evening. The few days after can be a bit sore but compared to the pain of a gallstone attack it’s a walk in the park!

Thanks for the reply. After 3 days the pain has died down to the odd twinge if I move wrong, and tenderness to touch, so I got away lightly. The blood tests were negative for infection, pancreas and liver problems. So now I have to have a scan or Ultra Sound to check for stones. I've heard different reports of the operation.
Like you my neighbour was in one day, out the next and back to work in a week. But my friend ended up staying in for 12 days. All she can remember of the 1st week was nothing touching the pain, and the 2nd week being unable to retain anything. They sent her home once she could keep water down, then she spent the next month either in bed or lying on the couch, and a further 2 months before she felt more back to normal. Not the way to lose almost 2 stone! So as you will understand I hope if I stick to a VLF diet I can avoid the chop.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hope you can manage to find the tricky path tip-toeing between the needs of your gall bladder, and the needs of your BG.

Would adding some diabetes meds offer you some more carb freedom if you needed it?

 

[Felinia]

Hope you can manage to find the tricky path tip-toeing between the needs of your gall bladder, and the needs of your BG.

Would adding some diabetes meds offer you some more carb freedom if you needed it?

As my last HbA1c was 48 I really don't want to go down the medication route. My GP told me that Metformin was not an option due to its side effects on the bowel, as I have quite severe Diverticular Disease as well. Yesterday I managed to keep my carbs at 76 gm for the day and my sat fat under 10 gm which I thought was pretty good. Mind you I shall be running around clucking if I eat much more chicken!!!!

 

[SB2015]

Sorry to hear about this issue @Felinia

It is tricky and just when you have one thing sorted something else crops up.
It sounds like you are finding a way through.

Take care.