In the USA and Australia, gallbladder removal is a very common surgery. 10-15% of the population gets problems related to gallbladder like gallstones. Women have a higher opportunity of gallbladder problems compared to men because of the effects of the female hormone estrogen. Meanwhile, the gallbladder plays a very important role in your body to support many different functions:
Now, you may think that can you live without a gallbladder? while it is very important for your body and human easily get a problem related to the gallbladder. I will let you know below:
Can you live without a gallbladder?
The short answer to the question “can you live without a gallbladder?” is yes, even you can have a perfectly normal life without a gallbladder. How? Your liver still produces bile to take the responsibility for digesting foods. However, it drips into the digestive system continuously in place of in the gallbladder as in the past.
Thus, before your surgery, your doctor will recommend you a special diet. However, you can stop to follow afterward. Maintaining a balanced diet rich in fiber for your good health is what you should do. In some cases, after surgery, you suffer bloating or diarrhea but everything will be better within a few weeks. In the future, you also need to avoid what drinks and foods causing these symptoms.
What happens when a gallbladder is removed?
As I mentioned, in this case, the liver still creates bile but it can't be stored or concentrated in gallbladder anymore. Therefore, it just can go into your intestines directly. This condition doesn't allow you to eat a meal with several fatty foods because your body can't secrete a big level of bile into the intestines to digest foods. In sum, a person without a gallbladder digests fat poorly.
That means the digestion of essential fatty acids (omega 3 and omega 6 fats are also limited. Moreover, it's difficult to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins (A, E, D and K). Fat-soluble are antioxidants in vegetables including carotenoids, lutein, and lycopene.
The poor digestion of fat also comes with a few common symptoms such as painful joints, weak nails, premature aging skin, dry skin, and dry, brittle hair. What's more, the essential fatty acids play an important role to optimize your brain. So, when your body can't digest fat well, it's easy to result in the impaired cognitive function, depression, anxiety, and low mood.
Can gallbladder removal make you lose weight?
After removing a gallbladder, you may suffer weight loss due to the following causes:
How to keep your liver healthy and digestion well without gallbladder
You should know that some gallbladder problems can't be completely addressed by a surgery only. If the location where your gallbladder problem develops is in the first place, that can be a sign of an unhealthy liver or a not good digestive system. And more importantly, it can't handle bile well, leading to the form of sludge and stones in your liver. Finally, the function can’t work properly anymore. Therefore, it's very important to follow the following tips for a healthy liver and the good digestion without a gallbladder:
The bottom line
Can you live without a gallbladder? Yes, even you have a perfectly normal life. However, keep in mind, after the surgery, there are many things you need to follow. For example, don’t eat the meals high in bad fat because your body at that time can’t consume a large number of fatty foods. Pay attention that some side effects can appear after removing your gallbladder, leading to weight loss.
Don’t worry everything will pass after recovering. And you should apply my tips to keep a healthy liver and good digestion.