Gallbladder Surgery in teenagers

My son is 15 and we just learned that he will need to have his gallbladder removed. Is this common in teenagers?

i am 17 and have gallstones, my entire famile is on the other side of the country. I dont know what to do, or where to go. before leaving my old house i had ultrasound and the docotr told me i have a big family of gallstones. I know nothing on the subject only the pain. What is a ruptured gallbladder anyway?

Janet wrote:

My son is 15 and we just learned that he will need to have his gallbladder removed. Is this common in teenagers?

Hello! Although we always link gallstones to adults, the thing is that there has been an increase in the number of children who had developed gallstone stones in the last few years. There is a question if this is due to better diagnosing tools and performing more ultrasounds or has the disease spread to children as well.
If your child is in pain due to gallstones presence, it is always better to have them removed as he may suffer many problems later in life. If the child doesn’t suffer any side effects from gallstones, they may be left alone and watched if they would possibly pass or dissolve. Some doctors decide to remove just the stones but the problem is that they often re-occur and may lead to gallbladder surgery anyway.
Those children who did have surgeries haven’t suffered from any additional symptoms after the removal. Removals are done laparoscopically, so the recovery is quick, scar minimal and hospitals stay not as long as with open surgery.

Guest wrote:

i am 17 and have gallstones, my entire famile is on the other side of the country. I dont know what to do, or where to go. before leaving my old house i had ultrasound and the docotr told me i have a big family of gallstones. I know nothing on the subject only the pain. What is a ruptured gallbladder anyway?

Ruptured gallbladder is an emergency situation and if your gallstones threaten to lead to gallbladder rupture you better have them removed.

It's not common, but it's not unheard of. I'm fifteen and I had my gallbladder out when I was fourteen.

I should warn you though. The doctors didn't tell me that after the surgury i'd be nauseas for a while after it. Meaning about, for me, 2-3 days straight.

I hope this helps a little. ^_^

I was just diagnosed with gallstones yesterday and im scared to death I have a doctor phobia and my mom said it would be ok cause they would give me medication but from what you guys are saying the meds dont work?

Hi, I'm 17 and last week i found out that i have a gallbladder polyp. i have been experiencing a lot of pain and various stomach problems and i even had a gallbladder attack last July. I'm scheduled to see a surgeon Monday morning. Is there a good chance that i'll have to have surgery?

hello, i have been having really bad pains in my abdomen and vomiting(everything i eat and drink) this started a month ago yesterday. and doctor doesnt really know what is wrong. and they did a ultrasound on my gallbladder and a xray. i have to do a upper GI on friday, but what is weird, i would start feeling better for about a day, then the next day the pains are back, but worse then before. could this be my gallbladder? one of my moms friend had the same problems i had, and they removed her gallbladder and she got better.

For about the last four months i had been throwing up twice a day (most the time anytime i would eat). the doctors had no clue what was wrong with me. at first they ignored the gallbladder saying i was to young. after running a million other test then decided to look into my gallbladder. they ran test after test and no gallstones or anything and no symptoms except the throwning up and pain in the upper right part of my side and back. finally we asked to speak with a sergeon. he said it was a 50 50 shot it was my gallladder even tho i was young and now results were positive. we opted to have it taken out. it turns out my gallbladder was chroniclly inflammed. after surgery it takes about 2-3 days to get to feeling better but then u start moving around and by the 2nd week ur back to all your normal activities. my scars are small and i havnt been sick since my surgery and my pain has decreased alot. i still have to stay away from taco bell and alot of fatty foods but im gradually working back to them. i have been outta surgery for about 4 weeks now and couldnt be doing any better. dont let the doctors tell u ur to young or no test results came back positive or u will waste many doctors visits...make sure if u think its something with ur gallbladder u make ur doctors realize ur not to young...because many case they dismiss thinking it doesnt happen in young people when reality...it CAN.

I am sixteen, and I had my gall bladder removed avout three weeks ago. I didn't have stones, but my gall bladder was chronically inflamed and the walls had thickened, and inside was "sludge". Also, all of my bile ducts were so small they were pretty much useless. my mother had her gall bladder removed when she was twenty four.
My symptoms were similar to yours: i threw up EVERYTHING i put into my mouth...even water. This is definately a problem because it leads to dehydration.. I lost about 22 pounds ( I am 5'1", and used to weigh 125 now I weight about 100 pounds. I am an athlete and mostly lost muscle..)
I had severe pain in my right upper abdomen and it would shoot through to my sholder. It would come randomly and I would be in so much pain all I could do was cry and lay there. They did an ultra sound and x-ray, CT scan, upper GI endoscopy (scope in my stomach) and took a biopsy of my stomach. The last test they did was called a HIDA SCAN. DO THIS!!!!!!!!! It shows the functioning of your gall bladder, so maybe stones do not appear, but that does not mean it is the only problem your gall bladder could be having.