Day 1 bloating constipation

I have suffered a few times in my life with ibs usually casting a few months. I have been well for 6 years but 8 weeks ago I had my gallbladder removed and I am having bloating , digestive issues and constioation which are all reminiscent of ibs . I have soooo much fear. In the past the ibs dissapeared with me getting active like working ( I am a stay at home mom) as a therapist or with ssri’ s or once even with intense meditation. What if now this is my new constant because I no longer have a gallbladder? Maybe there IS NO MORE HOPE BECAUSES THE GALLBLADDER IS REMOVED? But most people do fine without a gallbladder, so why me? Some nutritionists say that once gallbladder is removed one has no more good quality bile thus leaving indigestes fats and others to move into intestine and cause bacteria dysbiosis. But why am I the few to get this? Perhaps this is tms. What is most discouraging for me is not to hear about many severe bloating tms recoveries . I have read 2-3 but this makes me doubt the tms explanation for my symptoms . Everyone in my family is convinced . I have read 2 book from DrSarno and it resonates so much with me. I have suffered from anxiety and severe with depression on/off. I just learnt aboutTMS 5 weeks ago. My doubt is that I have not read about many people recovering from ibs, mostlyrecovered from physical pains in the limbs and back. My doctor says that I should be fine . I had a rough year ! In xmas 2019 I had a gastroenteritis, followed with constant nausea. In February they did endoscopy and sawthat I had mild chronic gastritis with mild h pylori. I wastreated with hpylori using antibiotic , and still feeling nausiouos . I tried Matula tea and felt perfect by en of March. However in June I started severe anxiety and depression perhaps because of all this covid business. I increased my psych meds, started exercising and slowly started feeling better. In August I went for Gynecological exam and they found that I had a uterine polyp . So at the end of that same month I had surgery to remove he polyp with general anesthesia and +++++ anxiety. A day after the surgery I started with extreme nausea again!! So I returned to my running regime which I had to unfortunately abort because I started with mid-severe Left hip pain especially with hopping. I started being careful with my diet and removed most fats and acids because that gave me nausea . I also had a negative MRI of the hip. I saw two orthopedics who said that nothing was wrong. They had a hard time prolong the hip pain during their physical exam. So I stopped running but my nausea also persisted. The gastrointerologist did a colonoscopy of intestine being negative and fine. The doctor also ordered an ultrasound and MRI of the upper gastrointestinal apparatus and they found 4 small gallstones with sludge . The doctor said it had to be removed because the tiny stones could clog the pancreatic ducts ! In October I had 2 tests for hpylori and all was negative. My blood tests for liver markers and others were also negative so November 4th I had the gabladder removed. I have had a slow recovery. The nausea has slowly improved although sometimes a trial of coffee makes me have nausea . However I am now severely and constantly bloated and somewhat constipated .The doctor believes I have ibs. I feel like the nausea is still occasionally there , I found only mild relief. Now Ihave constipation and severe bloating and before I did not. I can not do anything without thinking about my bowels/stomach because I am constantly bloated . Before the surgery Over the past years I was going daily to the bathroom and even two times a day when I exercised. I resumed running with no more hip pain but the bloated and constipation does not improve. I feel sooooo bloated and this makes me so miserable and it is also affecting my family! I am scared that this is the new me. I am scared that I have something that will never be cured . In the past ( at 16, 21, 30, 39, and now at 45) I have had these severe bloating constipation. I am also discouraged when I hear how other people felt great after 1-2 weeks of reading TMS books.
I have been a super over achiever in my teenage years . I had the best mark in school amongst 120 students in my grade. I put sooooo much pressure on myself when I was young. I would lose appetite and weight from the anxiety from exams to the point that I was terrified to do the tests even though I had studied day and night. Could it be that Now at 45 years old I have been suffering from the consequences of all this. Could tms cause this bloating/ digestive problems/ constipation? I have been doing sooo well during the last 5-6 years but since covid andsurgeries I find I am obsessing finding a cure and feeling physically and emotional horrible. Oh I have been on ssris and seroquel for some years now. Side note: I have seen many psychologist in the past for anxiety. I also meditate on a regular basis. I also joined the curable app.
Thank you

 

I have an acquainted that removed her gallbladder and can eat anything she wants without digestive issues. Don't automatically think this is the issue, maybe your body just used this opportunity to give you physical problems to distract you from your emotions?

I have had IBS myself several years, I know - it sucks... Like really sucks. Tried to blame it on certain foods or similar, that was all bullshit and temporary placebo. It was my emotions. I have no IBS issues now and can eat anything.

Looking forward to seeing your posts and progress during the program. Don't be afraid! Good luck

 

Hedger, what did you do to get over your symptoms?

 

What worked (in order of importance)

1) I got out of a long, bad romantic relationship. It was toxic for many years before we split up. Luckily we didn't have kids to consider in the decision back then.
2) I realized my work made me very angry. I switched workplace and scaled down my discipline a notch or two. Maybe not working so hard was more important than switching workplace.

Then what made my stomach go from OK/Solid to Really Good:
3) I stopped using nicotine sporadically (sometimes used it when stressed or when drinking beer)
4) Scaled down my caffeine use from 5 cups of coffee per day to 1 cup of tea (or sometimes nothing)
5) I eat generally healthy food at least one meal per day (avocado, vegetables, oats etc.). But also every week eat a pizza or similar "unhealthy" food and there is no issue.

Actions 1-4 were very painful for a while, but so worth it. I´m also open to the fact that some of my emotional problems just switched to more back pain instead. But generally I think not, because I was in so much worse shape back then with combined IBS, back pain, pelvic pain etc.

What didn't work
- I saw doctors and got medications like Losec and some digestive bulk stuff. Temporary relief. Some IBS symptoms changed but not better.
- Went gluten-free - few weeks placebo effect
- Went Vegan - few weeks placebo effect
- I blamed it on certain foods (like spicy, oily, pasta etc.) and cut them out during different periods - few weeks placebo effect
- Went low carb - few weeks placebo effect

The placebo effect was me getting excited that I might have found the food-problem and symptoms improved a lot. Then they came back... There was no food-problem...

 

Thank you hedger! Cutting out this food that food, all the fad diets that say not to eat gluten and dairy and sugar and anything white, as if every body is the same. And I've seen no correlation personally. I definitely think our personality types, leaning to perfectionism, obsess over finding the cause externally. That part does seem to boil down to moderation. We all need a treat once in awhile so we don't feel deprived of pleasure, and we need to be able to sit down and enjoy the food we put in our bodies rather than stressing over whether it's going to hurt us or not. Otherwise, TMS baby!

 

Exactly! This is an important part. Our bodies (in this case the digestive system) are not fragile... It´s our minds fucking it up.

 

I know that this is an incredibly difficult time for you but I know that you are strong and you can fight through this. I pray for recovery and good health. Stay strong!

 

I've found hot water helps things move along.