Question
Are gall stones related to HIV?
13 September 2011. Related: Access to treatment, All topics.
Hi and thank you for being such a dedicated group of people to make this resource possible.
My question surrounds gallstones. I have recently been admitted to hospital having collapsed with severe pain which I'm advised is due to gallstones in my gall bladder. I am taking atripla and have been for about a year now. My v.load is undetectable and my cd4 is about 600. I have been in good health throughout my 30 years of life so far and my diet while not always perfect is not to bad. I am waiting for an MRI scan having had an ultrasound to confirm the stones. They hope to do key hole surgery to remove my gall bladder. Can you advise me is there anything I should be aware of or take caution of being HIV-positive? Whilst being fortunate to be in the UK (so having good access to Meds) I live in a remote part of Scotland and so far the surgeons/drs and nurses seem to know very little about HIV. One even exclaimed “oh Christ I should go and put some gloves on” after reading my notes. I wouldn’t mind but he was not taking blood but simply doing an xray!
Are HIV and gallstones closely related in that the Meds may be a factor in me getting these stones? I trust without my gall bladder I can continue as normal without any issues regarding my hiv?
Would recovery time be longer or now my virus is undetectable etc should everything be just the same as if I were negative?
Thanks for your valuable time and continued support to all of us affected by this virus.
Answer
The NHS website has pretty good information about gall bladder removal at this link.
I haven’t come across many studies relating to this as a complication of HIV, so may have been one of those things that you could have got even if you were HIV-negative.
Your response at the clinic does not sound ideal – but I’m sure the surgeon will be used to standard precautions for your care. If you are worried about this though, this would be a reason to contact HIV Scotland who could provide advocacy support.
This might involve formally writing to the hospital after your operations  if you are unhappy with your care.
With such a good CD4 count and an undetectable viral load, recovery time should be similar to someone who is HIV-negative.
You might was to take sufficient HIV meds with you for the nights you are in hospital, as this is routinely asked by some hospitals, and it will make sure that you do not miss doses for these days.
Hi Maphili,
Here in the UK the NHS has a good website about gallbladder removal. Please see this link.
The NHS say, You can lead a perfectly normal life without a gallbladder.
Your liver will still make enough bile to digest your food, but instead of being stored in the gallbladder, it drips continuously into your digestive system.
You may have been advised to eat a special diet before surgery, but this doesn’t need to be continued afterwards.
Instead, you should aim to have a generally healthy balanced diet. Please see a balanced diet and your health in the i-Base guide to HIV and quality of life.
How is your HIV treatment going? Please let us know.
Hi I’m also hiv positive and recently had my gallbladder removed due to gallstones, now I am worried as to am I going to cope with both
Hi. As your CD4 count was so low, it is very good that you are now on ARV treatment. Does your doctor know about the gallstones? Is this something that you had before? Or did it only happen after starting treatment?
Either way, your doctor should be the best person to talk about the gallstones. Whether or not they need treating will depend on how bad they are.
Here is a link to a site for UK patients about gallstones. The buttons at the top have options for treatment and management.
Hi i’m HIV positive and my cd4 count was 67 about 7 months ago before i started arvs. Now I want to try the natural way of removing gall stones. Though i feel healthy I still feel the need to do this, will it have any negative effect on my health? Please help.
Hi Tols,
Your CD4 and viral load are both good and recovery from the operation shouldn’t be any more difficult or longer because of HIV.Good luck with the operation!
im also hiv positive will go for gallbladder operation my v/l is undetable my cd4 323 i was scared whether im i going to recover soon or it will take time because im positive south african.