Hi,
I am a new member. Has anyone out there had gall bladder surgery? I want to know if it was difficult or painful to assume your yoga practice after the surgery and how long it might have taken before you were able to assume your practice.
Any information would be helpful.
I had my gallbladder removed on a Wednesday and did a restorative yoga class on the Sunday. I was very careful for the first 6 weeks to only do restorative poses. You need to allow full healing inside or you risk herniation and further surgery.
Have you gone for the surgery yet? It is an amazing relief. I was having attacks 3-4 times a week by the time I finally got in for surgery. Its very easy and just a day patient procedure.
If you are still waiting for surgery let me share one tidbit I learned. Downward dog will often relieve a gallbladder attack. I believe it shakes the stone out of the duct and allows your digestion to proceed without impediment. If you aren’t able to do a downward dog, merely using the wall and modifying the pose may help relieve symptoms.
My sympathies to you Myst, gallbladder is one of the most painful things I’ve experienced to date. I hope for quick relief to you and hope my information was helpful.
Hi Alix,
Thanks for responding. I will have this surgery on October 28th. Right now I am okay and not experiencing any of the symptoms which is a great relief. I do have a lot nausea but the intense pain from the stones blocking the duct is not present.
At first I was going to put this off. I was pretty upset to hear that I would have to curtail my practice for a while because I attend class 2x a week. I was concerned about losing strength and the ability to do some of the poses like headstand for instance. The doctors are very vague when they speak about recovery time. I suppose they have to be because each inidividual is different. Your response makes me feel better about this.
You will need to change your practice for about 6 weeks. You will FEEL ready to do more intensive work but don’t fool yourself. Your body needs time to heal fully before you push it with things like headstand and even with cobra for a bit.
You can ABSOLUTELY do restorative work though. I credit my quick recovery to the fact that I maintained a gentler practice throughout.
You will be amazed at how much better you feel once that gallbladder is gone. I was very reluctant to have the surgery even arthroscopically. The thought of removing a piece of my anatomy really upset me. However, the pain grew so bad and I was losing so much weight it became clear it needed to be done for me to function at all normally. It wasn’t until it was gone that I realized I felt sort of a low level nausea all the time, and a general malaise. I don’t know how else to describe it. I felt immediately better after the surgery and like “me” again.
If you have any questions or other concerns I’m very happy to share my experience with you to ease your mind.
Hi Alix,
Thanks for the very realistic time frame. I will do the restorative work in the meantime. I too will have it removed arthroscopically.
hi all am new to this forum
Hello… I am a new member and just 4 weeks recovering form gallbladder surgery. I would like to know if there are any recommendations for restorative poses until I can get back to a full practice? I am filling much of my energy into long power walks and meditation. But crave a full practice. Any recommendations would help. Myst, how was your recovery? My surgery was Dec 7th - all laprosopic.
Ella, if you are feeling well, try your regular practice. SLOWLY. No full bridge or plow though! Don’t do anything that will stretch or damage the internal healing. Sun salutations are lovely.
Just as an aside, my surgery was on Dec 7th too! But it was a couple of years ago now. I returned to regular practice about this time but was just careful and slow.
I usually do Bikrams and I am really nervous to go back- it is hard to take it slow. I may just stay put at home and practice from here - thank you so much for your words of support. Funny that yours was taken out that same day. Any suggestions on practices that may benefit me in my slow return?
Ella, where are you in Canada? I’m in Edmonton.
And really, just let your body be your guide. There is a significant difference between a bit of discomfort and PAIN. Do NOT allow yourself to reach PAIN.
No extreme backbend postures and a full forward bend might also be a bit painful.
I can’t remember the exact series I did, but I would basically do some seated breathing and gentle twisting, then perhaps cat and cow. I did a fair bit of standing work, no triangle, but all the warrior postures were doable. I avoided any work on my belly and was careful as well with forward bends. I found it more comfortable to do forward bends from standing than seated postures.
Lets see, what else did I focus on? I actually worked quite a bit just in tadasana. I know that sounds a bit odd, but I found that I needed to really connect with all the parts of myself and how they’d shifted a bit and tadasana was where it all worked for me. OH! I also spent a lot of time doing chest opening. I would lie on a bolster and just breathe and concentrate on bringing healing energy to my incisions.
I hope that is understandable, I tend to use the Anglicized names for postures as I really dislike mispelling things and I do it a LOT with the proper names unless I look them up. So, if I am in a bit of a hurry its the Anglicized version from me.
Was this at all helpful Ella? I hope so.
Yoga is very effective in gallbladder. It will be very beneficial for you if you daily do yoga in morning.
Hi there. I’m new here. Two years ago I had, what I like to refer to as, “my summer of surgeries”. I went to the ER with sever pancreatitis and a duct blockage. While there, waiting on surgery, I was also diagnosed with a prolapse mitral valve. I no sooner recovered from gallbladder removal, than I was right back in for open heart surgery. So my story proceeds at a different pace than most of yours. However, I am now back to, what I consider, fairly normal yoga practices. That being said, I have, on three occasions, felt as if the area that was operated on to remove the gallbladder ‘fliips’ when I have do plow pose, and now wide legged forward fold. It’s when I seem to fully relax into the posture that I get these sensations and have to back out and let it adjust. Can I tell you the mini-nughtmare of a permanent flip?! Thanks in advance.