Q: My 26 years old daughter had complications following laparoscopic gall bladder surgery done 9 months back. She had to be operated to drain the bile that had leaked through her system when her bile duct was nicked. She seems to be able to eat only chicken, turkey and fish as well as vegetables that are mentioned in the gall bladder diet chart. Anything else causes pain in her stomach and/or diarrhoea and vomiting. She often vomits just dark yellow bile especially if she has even 1 or 2 alcoholic drinks. Since then she has been put on 60 lbs of weight and constantly looks bloated and currently weighs 220 pounds. Her height is 6 feet. Is this huge weight gain normal? Her diet is quite restrictive and doesn't warrant such a gain. The bile vomiting is also quite disturbing. Is it common to have so many symptoms so long after surgery? She had a drainage tube after the surgery to drain the excess bile, is it possible that bile is draining into her intestines and filtering into areas it shouldn’t be? Her doctor tested her thyroid twice and it is fine. Please advise.

A:Your daughter had laparoscopic gall bladder surgery presumably for gall stones 9 months ago. It appears that she had injury to the bile duct resulting in bile leak. This subsequently required open tube drainage of the bile. If the drainage tube has been removed and she is not running a fever nor jaundiced, then probably things will settle down. She has put on 60 lbs after the operation. Massive weight gain is never normal and could be due to a sedentary life style. Vomiting can occur after alcohol ingestion. However, she may require an upper gastro-intestinal endoscopy if vomiting persists. She may also have an abdominal ultrasound to rule out intra-abdominal collections of bile.