Diarrhea after Gallbladder Removal

Gallbladder removal may cause a temporary digestive disorder that can manifest with diarrhea. The gallbladder is a reservoir of billiary juice that is important for digestion of the fats found in the food. Without the gallbladder, the billiary juice is not expelled into the duodenum when necessary (after eating food containing fats) but expells billiary juice continuously. An excess amount of billiary acids and salts can cause diarrhea when it reaches the colon. But the body usually compensates for gallbladder loss over time by enlarging the billiary duct ; diarrhea vanishes eventually in time. Cholestyramine and aluminum hydroxide are used for treating diarrhea after a gallbladder removal. Your diarrhea, however, became worse 1 year after the gallbladder removal procedure, so we should be careful about its real cause.


Diarrhea is not a disease but only a symptom of a disease. There could be various reasons for diarrhea beside gallbladder removal: intestinal infections, autoimmune inflammatory diseases of the intestines (ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease), various malabsorption syndromes, irritable bowel syndrome…


Microbiological examination of the feces, blood analyses and colonoscopy can be requested for establishing a correct diagnosis. You should visit your primary health provider and probably an infectologist or internist specialist afterwards.