Your Good Health: Will probiotics help chronic diarrhea after gallbladder surgery?

Dear Dr. Roach: I would like your opinion of probiotics. Do you think they would help with chronic diarrhea after having my gallbladder removed?Probiotics are bacteria that are abundantly found in a healthy colon. They are thought to provide benefit to people in certain circumstances. Unfortunately, there is only proof of benefit in very limited situations.

However, diarrhea after gallbladder surgery is not usually due to bacteria. The main job of the gallbladder is to store the bile salts made by the liver and release them when needed after a person eats. Without a gallbladder, the bile salts are released continuously. Bile salts are normally reabsorbed at the very end of the small intestine, but this ability can be overwhelmed with continuous bile salt release. This leads to bile salts getting into the colon, with resultant diarrhea.

Dear Dr. Roach: I am a 73-year-old male. I am 5 feet, 9 inches tall, and I weigh 165 pounds. In 2015, I had a kidney removed because of cancer. My remaining kidney works well. I am generally in good health and do resistance training three times a week, plus regular walking and hiking.

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