A little detour

I had an ultrasound yesterday.  NO!!! Not THAT kind of ultrasound!  I'm almost fifty, remember?

On a couple of business trips over the past three weeks, when I've eaten out in restaurants (read that: pigged out in restaurants) I have had severe pain in my upper abdomen, as well as nausea and vomiting.  After extensive online google research, and after conferring with friends who have had similar symptoms, I self diagnosed and went to the doctor to have my self-diagnosis confirmed.   Gallstones.  Right there on the ultrasound, clear as day, before God and everybody.

Risk factors include: obesity (check), age (check), female (check), sedentary (check), North American (check), family history (check), rapid weight loss (HAPPILY check).  

Did you know that about a third of people who have bariatric surgery develop gallstones in the rapid weight loss phase right after the procedure?  Well, I have not had bariatric surgery, but I've lost weight at a rate that is kind of similar to people who have had surgery.

Apparently, when you have a very low fat diet, the gallbladder doesn't have to do its work of squirting out bile for fat digestion.  The bile (and it's component parts) hang out in the gallbladder and the parts can start forming gallstones.  (There are other ways gallstones form, too, but this seems to be the one related to low-fat diets.)

Most of the articles I read emphasize that the risks posed by obesity outweigh (no pun intended) the risks posed by gallstones.  One of the articles suggested that adding some fat occasionally might help prevent them, and most of the articles said that moderate physical activity would help prevention.

Chances are, I've had gallstones for quite a while (I have one over 1 inch in size...I'm sure that didn't develop recently!), but the lack of gallbladder activity caused more "sludge" buildup and it showed symptoms after a heavy, fatty meal.

"But wait", you say, "what are you doing eating a heavy, fatty meal?"  What indeed!  Just excuses...business trip, conference lunch, no way of easily mixing up an Empower meal for lunch, yada, yada, yada.  (To try to justify myself, I will say that I did NOT eat the very tempting bread and butter, nor the chocolate covered creme brulee...but the chicken alfredo did me in!)  

I don't know what my next steps are.  I'm waiting for a phone call from my doctor to discuss the ultrasound results.  In order not to have another attack, I'll need to limit my fat intake.  But no problem there, I have a cupboard full of low fat Empower foods!