Since yall asked. :)
I have no insurance, so I cannot afford to have my gallbladder removed. There is a medication called Urso (or Actigal) that can disolve smaller stones if taken for a year or two. This is also a medication that many post WLS patients are put on after surgery, taken for 6 months after surgery can prevent the formation of gallstones during massive weight loss.
Also, I dont like the idea of additional surgery, nor removal of an organ that provides a good function. (Sure, ya, the excess part of my stomach is fine to get rid of :-) I am thinking of having surgery once I am covered by insurance, however, its not because of the gallbladder, but the additional issues that it is causing.
(Note: for those that have had their gallbladder removed, your body can still create stones and you can have “gallbladder attacks,” so be aware of that.)
Because of the gallbladder issues, I cannot take estrogen containing birth control. Since stopping that birth control towards the end of July, I have not lost much weight on the scale. Ive now had irregular bleeding, which we attempted to control with progesterone only birth control, and that didnt work. We tried a higher dose of progesterone (Provera in pill form), which is causing depression :-) (I cant get the IUD in the US because my uterus is too small)
And, the next thing to try if the Provera did not work (which it did) was mega high doses of ibuprofen, which I cannot take that high of a dose due to my stomach. :-)
NYU requires insurance, and they cover preexisting conditions, so I will talk with the doctors there about my options.
