Gallstones diet - feeling lightheaded and dizzy

As a quick followup to my earlier gallstones diet advice article, after I lost a lot of weight recently — 38 pounds in less than 12 weeks — I started suffering from long boughts of feeling light-headed and dizzy, almost like I was drunk, with the room spinning around me. Thinking I might be dehydrated, I started drinking a lot of fluids, but that only helped a little bit, barely enough to keep me from another trip to the ER.

After more tests (bloodwork and urinalysis), the two doctors I've been working with suggested that I find a way to get more fat into my “gallstones diet,” suggesting that a lack of fat intake for the last twelve weeks is most likely causing the lightheaded and dizziness problems.

To that end I’ve started trying to drink a little more milk (lowfat and 2%), I've been adding olive oil to my soups, and eating more avocados, and I have to say, this seems to be working. I’ve been able to function the last two days without feeling lightheaded, and not feeling like passing out constantly is a very good feeling.

So, if you're suffering from a gallbladder pain and/or gallstones problem, you've recently had a lot of weight loss, and are feeling lightheaded and dizzy, you may also be suffering from a lack of fat in your diet. Of course you need to talk to your doctor, but try adding some healthy fat into your gallstones diet, and you may feel much better soon. For a list of the healthy fats I've been able to add to my diet, please see my gallbladder/gallstones diet advice page.

One emergency suggestion related to weight loss and being light-headed and dizzy

As one final note here, although my primary problem seems to be a lack of fat in my previous gallstones diet, one thing that really helped with the lightheaded and feeling dizzy problems was to eat and drink sugar products. I don't know exactly why this helped, but drinking Gatorade with sugar (as opposed to the sugar-free Gatorade G2 product), was helpful. Also, drinking juice products like Juicy Juice also helped. I'm not a dietician, and I know taking in a bunch of sugar on a regular basis is not a good idea, but I'm guessing that raising my blood sugar level like this in the short term helped keep me from passing out.