I've been having gall bladder pain of late. I had an attack a few of years back when I started HRT (pills) The docs took me off the pills, fatty food and alcohol (Bummer!) It cleared up then and they started me back on HRT, patches this time.

Well, I'm in pain again and will Probably have to deal with it soon. The docs did an ultrasound and said it's OK. Then an AB CT, same.  It seems like if there's no stones they're really not interested in surgery. The docs here are quite unfamiliar with trans health issues related to HRT.

So I guess the question is: What was your experience? What sort of problems/pain did you have? And where?
And especially your surgical experience.

It seems to be a fairly frequent problem for Trans women.

Leslie

I can't comment on HRT and trans issues with regards to gallbladder problems...

I don't want to scare you... but... my wife had gallbladder problems shortly after my daughter was born. They delayed and delayed and delayed... they put her on a waiting list at the hospital and she wasn't allowed to eat in case a free spot opened up. They put her in a room and forgot that she was there... 3 days with no food and 2 days without water or pain killers, in the end I had to pull her out of the hospital. She then collapsed on the kitchen floor and was rushed to intensive care and I insisted on a different hospital. The gallbladder infection had spread to her kidneys. She was at risk of kidney failure and had jaundice. She ended up in intensive care for over a month... while I was looking after my 3-6 month old daughter. I had the midwife shouting at me that she needed to be fed breast milk and that I should take her to my wife every day while she was in intensive care... honestly, the incompetency and militancy was unreal. This is just the short version, there were loads more incompetent mistakes made, she bounced between 3 hospitals before finally ending up in intensive care at a 4th hospital. The health visitor and midwife eventually got booted out too. My daughter is still dealing with the problems they caused her.

I am not a medical doctor but if it was me, I wouldn't ignore the pain and insist they remove it. 

I had some gallbladder pain a few years ago, pre-transition.  They never did find anything wrong.  An untrasound showed two or three tiny stones, but nothing that explained the pains, and nothing to be concerned about.  I manage it with diet - avoiding fatty foods and avoiding eating too much at one sitting - and I have had no recurrance of the problem.  I have noticed no changes since starting HRT.

I had my gallbladder removed over a decade ago, long before accepting that I was trans or starting HRT - just another of many health issues in my pre-transition life that more commonly affect women.  I guess that should have been a hint. 

Anyway, whenever I ate too much fat or fiber at once, I had bloating, indigestion, nausea, and nasty pain in my right side.  The pain was bad enough that I went to the ER a couple times to rule out appendicitis.  The problem kept getting worse and it eventually reached a point where I could pretty much only eat white bread and crackers without pain - not exactly a very healthy diet.

Based on the symptoms, I ended up having one of these tests done:  https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/hida-scan/about/pac-20384701

They didn't find any stones, obvious blockages, obvious signs of cancer, etc. but my symptoms had been getting worse and worse for months and my gallbladder was ejecting <30% of the expected tracer, so they recommended removing it.

I do still have problems digesting large amounts of fat and fiber, so I have to watch my diet to some extent, but at least I don't get anywhere near the same kind of pain and other symptoms that I used to.

Yes, I have to be very careful about fat (plus trying to keep my weight down, down to 145 now from 185 at start of HRT)
Biggest problem is pain when I try to sleep on my right side.
L

Quote from: Leslie601 on September 30, 2018, 10:00:10 AM
Biggest problem is pain when I try to sleep on my right side.

I've not had pain sleeping on the right side due to gallbladder issues, nor have a I heard that from any friends or relatives who have had gallbladder issues; I would definitely tell your doctors about that one if you haven't before.  You might also want to get to a specialist if you haven't yet.

I've had a lot of other upper and lower digestive issues and some other things over the years, some of which can cause pain on the right side - bloating, cramps, straining too much when using the restroom.  Figuring out what's going on can and finding a way to deal with it can be a long, complicated, and frustrating process and often it's a matter of trying different lifestyle changes and pushing your doctors on it if you can't resolve your issues with reasonable lifestyle changes or if you end up with any obvious signs of infection or other serious issues.  Consider keeping a food, sleep, and exercise diary and writing down whenever you have symptoms.  You might find a pattern that you'd not noticed before.

These are the general guidelines I've reached to keep my own digestive issues in check - they're neither convenient nor fun, but they do help me a lot if I really stick to them.  If you're not making progress with anything else, you could see if any of these help:

* Drink lots of water - this one is even more important now that I'm on spiro.
* Get daily exercise and plenty of sleep
* Try to minimize stress (hah!)
* Lots of low-starch vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, and kale are pretty safe for me, but some people have issues with them)
* Avoid too much fat at once.
* Avoid too much protein at once.
* No alcohol.
* No coffee.
* No chocolate.
* No mint.
* No cow's milk dairy at all (sheep and goat are ok), and no unfermented dairy (small amounts of yogurt, kefir, cheese are ok)
* No oats (I'm allergic)
* Minimal wheat and corn
* Minimal beans, peas, and legumes

I know it's not fun to live with - I did spend over a month surviving on mostly crackers and white bread and I still had pain!  It can also be very frustrating finding doctors or others that can really give you the help you need.  I hope you can figure out how to manage it or find someone who's better able to track down the cause and get you some relief.