Recovery and eating
The ward · 4 threads
The gas pain, the first weeks off, and how digestion settles once the gallbladder is gone.
The operation is quick; the settling is its own thing. This section holds the middle: the bloated, wrecked first few days, the sharp gas pain that reaches up to the shoulder, going home the same day, and the slow discovery of what your body will and will not tolerate at the table. Post your day count and someone here has stood exactly at it.
6 replies · 560 views · last reply by runner_no_gb, Jul 9, 2026
5 replies · 440 views · last reply by stillsore_wk3, Jul 6, 2026
5 replies · 300 views · last reply by runner_no_gb, Apr 27, 2026
5 replies · 480 views · last reply by stillsore_wk3, Apr 18, 2026
The part nobody quite describes
If one message earns repeating here, it is that recovery is judged far too early. Readers describe feeling wrecked and bloated in the first few days, with the odd sharp gas pain reaching up to a shoulder, then being genuinely back to themselves inside a fortnight after keyhole surgery. The site's week-by-week recovery guide shows what each stage normally looks like.
The eating question is the one that keeps threads alive. Most people go back to a completely normal diet, but a minority find fatty meals loosen their stools for a while, as covered in diarrhoea after gallbladder removal and what to eat once the gallbladder is gone. For most people it eases over weeks to months.
Patience has limits worth knowing, though. A fever, a wound that is red and weeping, yellowing of the skin or eyes, or pain that is getting worse rather than better is a same-day call to your surgeon or GP, not a wait-and-see post.