Discussions

I had an attack about a month before I was going on a trip to Asia. Thank goodness I had this attack at home, and able to get to the hospital where I was told I was going to have it removed that afternoon, unless I wanted to have my next meal and have another flare up. It is not fun, and there is nothing you can do about the pain, and let alone imagine I was in a place where I would have been unable to get medical attention.  
 
Since my surgery I have no problems with foods that typically effect people who have gallstones.

I have no regrets that I had gallbladder surgery this past October. I had one attack (and that was enough!) and was lucky I was only about 4 1/2 months from attack until surgery. I was on a cancellation list so probably got in sooner than I might have. I haven’t had any digestive issues following surgery. I hadn’t looked into insurance limitations for gallstones as with Covid my usual snowbird plans were put on hold for this year anyway but your research was an eye opener. Having had first hand experience with the high cost of health care in the US wouldn’t want to take the chance to go without full coverage.

I know our insurance (which we have to apply for annually) has a 90 day stability period and if your health changes before you leave you have to notify the provider. You are not covered for pre existing conditions for a year even if stable if you have been to the ER because of it 3 or more times or spent more than 48 consecutive hours in hospital in the year prior to departure. You are not covered for anything related to a surgery for a year. I couldn’t see anything in the fine print on our policy specifically relating to gallstones but if you have been told you require surgery and haven’t it would qualify as an unstable condition. Our insurance provider is through the Canadian Snowbirds Association and is called Medipac. Not sure if you checked with them but might be worth a call Princess _Fred.

I dealt with gallbladder stones for about 12 years. I was 19 when they were found. I went years of nothing happening, and only getting one attack here and there.. no big deal. I was super thankful, because if you need to have it removed, especially when pregnant, it can be a much bigger problem. It got to the point that I was afraid to leave Brandon in fear of having a flare up, attack. In the end, it went from 1 attack a month, to 2 a month.. to 3 times a week.. which then was more painful then giving birth! Surgery was easy, recovery was easy. I highly recommend this procedure. I didn't want to have it like many others don't, but knowing now how much freedom I have because of it, I wish I would have did it many many years ago. I've been without for 4 years now, and I think I've had heartburn 3 times. I would consider doing it, on your own accord is even better, not like me, having it done on an emergency basis.

I realize this might not be the most popular opinion, but here me out:  
 
I had my first gallbladder attack in 2005 while pregnant and had them regularly until my child was born the following year. I did a ton of research on having it removed, but was concerned about the digestive issues afterwards, as you mentioned. I had read that some couldn’t even digest food as easy as lettuce. I ended up deciding to do a gallbladder cleanse. Now I wouldn’t recommend this if you have active gall bladder issues because you run the risk of having it getting caught in the ducts. I took the risk anyways and I passed 100’s of gallstones for days and days. It was only temporary because that only cleared them out, it didn’t actually treat the problem. A few months later, I had another attack and went to the hospital and they wanted to remove it. I said no. They ended up putting me under and doing an ERCP and clearer everything out, but again, just a temporary fix until more stones are made. I did more research and learned that having a misaligned spine may be the issue. I don’t know if that’s true, but I thought it must have some merit. After all, all your organs are connected to your spine. I went to see Dr. Stitt (when he was practicing here in the town centre) and he did a scan on my back, and who would have thought, the vertebrae where my gallbladder connected was off. He cracked my back and sent me on my way. It’s been 15 years and I haven’t had an attack since. I don’t know if it was pure fluke or that it actually did work, but I was blown away. Still have my gall bladder  
I don’t know if you’d need to go get another ultrasound to show it’s clear, but it might be worth looking into. Good luck