After a month on the diet I had a severe gallbladder attack. YES, it was directly related to high fat/high protein. You might be saying this is not true, it can not be, studies have been done, and so on. Well, technically the diet itself does not cause gallbladder disease BUT, if you already have a faulty gallbladder, which alot of people don't know they do (like me) you are prone to the attack with the high fats. Your gallbladder aids in the digestion of fats. When you send high amounts it can not handle it. It starts screaming at you, "HEY, I can not handle this much!!!" It overloads and starts fighting back.

In my case I did not know that I had a abnormal functioning gallbladder. Starting on Friday March 30th in the morning and was in emergency by night. The pain was a SHARP CONSTANT STABBING in your upper ab just below and off of your right rib, going up into your right shoulder blade and around in back.
You are probably saying "I know what a gallbladder attack is". This is for the people that don't have a clue and is nieve to what this diet really does to there organs. (ME)
Keep in mind that I was in SEVERE pain while they did several tests to find out what was wrong, After 4 days without food and only ice chips they finally figured out that I only had a 13% working gallbladder and removed it yesterday.
I am off work for at least 10 days, no heavy lifting, no cleaning house, etc.. with no pay,seeing that I am self employed.
Again, low carbing does not CAUSE gallbladder disease. It only effects it and other faulty organs as well, if yours are.

If you think I am bluffing, do your research on low carb diets and your gallbladder. I am speaking from first hand experience and are out to warn those people that are not aware.

SINCERELY,
GENELLE

Sorry to hear about your attack.

Now that your already diseased gallbladder is out, you should have no problems following the diet. Lots of people here had their GB's out while following their low-fat diets. It's a widely known fact that diets low in fat damages the gallbladder.

Hope you feel better soon.

Thanks for sharing that. Of course, now whenever I get a pain under my ribs on the right.....

But did you find any research suggesting a high-fat diet could lead to gall bladder disease? I did a quick google search and found several articles saying fat stimulates the gall bladder to empty, preventing gall stones from forming.

Genelle, this is a good example of why Dr. Atkins strongly suggested that everyone get a physical workup prior to beginning the plan, including blood tests: to make sure that there are no underlying problems.
For what it's worth, I experienced several minor and one very severe gallbladder attack that resulted in its removal after a prolonged period on a low fat diet and many people develop gallbladder problems who are not low carbing, so it's certainly not unique to low carbers. They must be recommending a much longer recovery period now than they were when I had my gallbladder laporoscopically removed; I had mine out on a Friday and was back to work the next Wednesday with only minor discomfort. Of course if your job is a physical one, a longer recovery period would be in order. Lifting restrictions following abdominal surgery are standard issue.
Gallstones can develop after a prolonged period of disuse or minimal use of the gallbladder as many have while on a low fat diet; sometimes suddently requesting the gallbladder to do what it was intended to do can make a person aware that there is a problem. OTOH, mine made themselves known without a change in diet.

The moral of the story? Get a physical before you start as Dr. Atkins suggests.

Ditto what Elle said.

kaypeeoh
It's when you already have faulty GB to begin with and you don't know that you do. When a weak GB is overloaded with fats is when it can not keep up causing the attack.

ElleH,
I have yet to find any significant evidence or fact that low/fat diet cause gallbladder problems. Again, THESE DIETS DON'T CAUSE THEY ONLY AID THE ALREADY WEAK ORGAN FROM YOUR OWN GENETICS.

Lisa N








Diet and gallbladder disease
Gallbladder disease and gallstones are not only common, but can also be life-threatening. Note that there are certain dietary adjustments that should be taken into consideration when surgery is on the cards.


and individuals can live with gallstones for many years without being aware of the fact.

If the gallstones move out of the gallbladder into the bile duct, they can cause serious symptoms, such as obstruction, pain Advertisement
Gallstones
Gallstones can form in the gallbladder over time, a condition called cholelithiasis. This condition is often without symptoms and severe cramps. Because gallstones block the bile duct, bile (which is essential for the digestion of fats) is not delivered to the digestive tract and fats are not digested properly.

By blocking the bile duct, gallstones also cause a build-up of bile in the gallbladder, which can result in jaundice and liver damage.

Risk factors
The following factors are associated with an increased tendency to develop gallstones:

Female gender – women are more prone to developing gallstones than men
Pregnancy and especially multiple pregnancies
Age – older people are more inclined to develop gallstone problems than young people
Family history – if gallstones run in the family, your chance of developing gallstones is higher
Obesity – the incidence of gallstones is much higher in obese individuals
Fat deposits in the upper body or trunk
Diabetes – patients with diabetes mellitus are more prone to gallstones
Inflammatory bowel disease (e.g. Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis)
Lipid-lowering medication – patients using statins to lower blood cholesterol levels may be exposed to greater risk of gallstones
Female hormone treatment – oral contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy with oestrogen can increase the risk of gallstones
Rapid and pronounced weight loss by means of gastric or jejunal bypasses, fasting or severe kilojoule restriction
Habitual high fat intake or use of a high-protein, high-fat, very-low-carbohydrate diet such as the Atkins diet

Lisa N
There is no basic physical that can prove your GB is weak. It would be quite costly to have the ultrasounds, cat scans and really the only one that can finally determine if it faulty, is the nuculear cat scan where the dye is used.

I'm not sure I understand exactly what you are trying to say. Are you trying to inform people about the symptoms of a gallbladder attack in case they have an underlying gallbladder disease? Or are you saying to stay away from Atkins because it can cause a flare-up of the underlying disease?

I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'faulty' or 'weak', but it only took an ultrasound to find that mine was loaded with stones and often a simple abdominal xray can reveal the problem.
Gallstones are, in fact, quite common following a period of low fat dieting. Your gallbladder is there primarily to help you digest fats so if you give it nothing to do, bile concentrates in the gallbladder and eventually forms sediment which will eventually lead to stones. The whole process can and often does take years (not a month) but it is not at all uncommon for gallstones to make their presence known after a period of rapid weight loss, fasting or low fat dieting. Less frequently, gallbladder problems pop up during pregnancy as a result of hormone fluctuations.
The risk factors as I learned them in nursing school many years ago were, "Female, Fair, Fat and Fortyish".

http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/950732863.html





I'm sorry that your experience was a negative one but the truth is that any sudden weight loss can trigger an attack when the underlying problem is already present but I'm not sure that I would use that as an argument to not lose weight.

First, I wonder why you put this in the war zone if you feel the diet did not cause the GB disease????


I was also going to say that, LisaN.

The following tests can also determine potential GB problems:

CBC bloodwork will show elevated WBC's
Lipase
Amylase
Amylase, urine
Chemistry panel (chem-20)

I had a Cholecystectomy about 10 years ago now. I can totally relate to the severe pain you described! The ONLY factors I had associated with GB disease before my emergency surgery was I was female and religiously followed a LOW FAT diet. I was a seemingly healthly and fit 22 year old and I was loaded with gallstones.

I did a rotation for my clinicals in a hospital in the E.R. I was told if women in their 40's come in complaining of abdominal pain, the first thing you ask them is "have you been following a low fat diet?" Supposedly when you are on a low fat diet, there is no fat for your gallbladder to do it's job. Then when you do eat fat, your gallbladder has a more difficult time breaking it down. Makes sense to me.

Candyless

Yeah I always thought you got GB stones from following low fat diets for years. It might come on during a low carb diet since you are finally using your GB again and then the stones become a problem. Of course I am not a doctor so I could very well be quite wrong. My wife had GB problems after being on LC for a while. She said her doctor was telling her that GB problems happen all the time when people loose weight on all sorts of diets.

YIKES!!!! That's ME!!!

I believe the post was moved here from elsewhere on the forum.