Gallbladder surgery

Chillycatmum · September 2017

I have found out today that I will be having my gallbladder removed on the 3rd November. I received the results from my CT scan and it hasn't shown up anything else that could be causing my pain so they have decided it is likely to be the gallstones I have.

I am after advice and suggestions on supplements I should think about taking, to help me to stay LC but that will help me with digestion. I know there have been previous threads on here, but haven't managed to find them, my doctor has said it is likely I will have to change my diet from LCHF but I know there are many on this forum doing LC without a gallbladder.

I suffer with emotional eating and have struggled this last few weeks with bingeing and know if I have to go back to a higher carb WOE I am likely to end up bingeing more often - I still would prefer to be aiming at ZC if I can, but know I may have to aim for slightly higher carbs at least to begin with.

Any advice or suggestions on what I can do will be greatly appreciated.

AlexandraCarlyle · September 2017

Please read this. (comments in [square brackets] are mine.)

How to Get Rid of Gallstones Naturally

Gallbladder Cleanse Recipe

Days 1 6:

Drink 1 qt (2 pints, or 1 litre) of apple juice [natural, organic, unprocessed] each day for 6 days. Drink the apple juice in addition to your regular diet.

There is no specific time that you must drink it – I drink it throughout the day.

The apple juice contains limonoid which helps soften any gallstones and alleviate any pain you are experiencing.

[Make sure it isn't made from concentrates or has 'added' anything. Pure, simple, natural apple juice.]

On the 6th day:

Do not eat anything after 6 pm.

At 6 pm, take 1 Tbsp Epsom salt with a full glass of water. Mix the Epsom salt in the water – it takes a bit of stirring. I take a big breath and down it quickly!

At 8 pm repeat 1 Tbsp Epsom salt with a full glass of water.

At 10 pm – mix and drink quickly, 4 oz. olive oil and 4 oz. lemon juice. [Shake to blend well. It's like drinking vinaigrette.]

Go to bed and [lie on your right side with your knees drawn up to your chest]. in the morning [or even some time during the night!] you will pass any gallstones you may have. I normally have varying sizes of bright green gallstones visible in the toilet. The Epsom salt acts as a laxative to quickly remove the gallstones from the intestinal tract.

From here.
My mother undertook this treatment, and painlessly passed 36 gallstones, which she duly showed her doctor. The surgery never took place.

AlexandraCarlyle · September 2017

Same advice, different sites.

https://www.leaf.tv/articles/apple-juice-remedy-for-gallstones/

http://www.worldwidehealthcenter.net/treatments-using-natural-cures/flush-gall-stones-naturally/

http://www.biospiritual-energy-healing.com/how-i-got-rid-of-my-gallstones.html

canadjineh · September 2017

LC w/o gallbladder Hey, @KnitOrMiss. You are a pro at this. Chillycatmum could use a pointer or two

baconslave · September 2017

swezeytba · September 2017

I can't speak to the treatment for passing gallstones, but will tell you that I did have personal experience with easing gall bladder pain by drinking apple juice (the most unfiltered unprocessed you can find).

Cut my pain within 10 minutes of drinking it.

KnitOrMiss · September 2017

canadjineh wrote: »

LC w/o gallbladder Hey, @KnitOrMiss. You are a pro at this. Chillycatmum could use a pointer or two

@Chillycatmum - I didn't actually treat my gallstones with LCHF, though I wished to goodness I had!

I haven't tried the program @AlexandraCarlyle mentioned above, because I was a naive 24 year old with a 6 week old baby who believed my doctor when he said I would just keep having problems.

As I'm sure you will read if you check the links @baconslave posted above, I am a firm believer in that if your gallbladder is not diseased or necrotic, there is not a real reason to have it out. If it is diseased or necrotic, please have it out - it will save your life.

I can tell you that LCHF probably UNCOVERED AN UNDERLYING CONDITION that would have surfaced anyway, perhaps at a point down the road where you would not have options. Dropping fats from your diet is the lazy (read: easy medical way - remove the stimulus, even if that is also the cure) way to handle gallstones and/or lack of gallbladder. We need fats for overall whole body health... Period, end of. And having treated your own disordered eating habits, you know that the easy way out does NOT work for folks like us!!!

So that being said, only you and your medical team can decide if having your gallbladder out is the right option. There are about a million different things I would have tried back when had I know what I would face NOW with having had my GB out in December of 2000... But, since we can't go back in time, I personally would advocate - trying everything possible to treat/remove/pass the stones FIRST. Add digestive enzymes for support, etc. This may require laser breaking down of the stones, but I would not have the GB out without a dozen other issues first.

If you do end up having it out, for whatever reason you choose, ignore the "don't eat fat" advice, and get on a digestive enzyme ASAP. It took less than a few months for vitamin deficiencies to trigger/worsen/ramp up my hypothyroidism (I was never diagnosed prior to that, so don't know, just know that had it after). Same with insulin resistance, etc. It took over a decade for any of these issues to actually show up on blood work lab panels. But it started then... And I'm still fighting back on a few of the nutrient issues, because without enough stomach acid, you will be open to all manner of intestinal parasites, to leaky gut, to lack of breaking down and absorbing all manner of vitamins/nutrients (some of the worst are iron, B12, D, just offhand)...and probably DOZENS of additional issues.

I could get graphic with the worst of my AFTER GB removal issues, but I know not everyone has them...but if you've any metabolic disorder or digestive issues, you will end up with some or all of them down the road. Please feel free to PM if you have more questions, but the above linked posts cover a LOT of my miserable journey of the last almost 20 years...

Good luck no matter what you choose! HUGS

P.S. Thanks @canadjineh - thanks for the tag, even though it didn't show up for some reason.

anglyn1 · September 2017

I didn't have stones but my gallbladder quit working. I had it removed 11 years ago. I felt immediately better and post surgery I've never had issues eating fat. I have never been on a low fat diet even when I ate carbs.

If you want to try the do it yourself cleanses please be careful. I know my gallbladder was so swollen with infection that it had adhered to my liver with scar tissue. It was at risk of rupturing. I work with a guy whose did rupture because he didn't want to get it removed and what could have been an outpatient procedure was instead a 2 week ICU stay that was very touch and go! You also run the risk of a blocked bile duct which my husband has experienced and is extremely painful and has caused him a couple of bouts with pancreatitis.

Best wishes in whatever you decide to do!

Chillycatmum · September 2017

Thank you so much for all your advice - I knew you would all have great suggestions - will get on looking at all reading I can do and if I go forward with the surgery will definitely add in the digestive enzymes and carry on with my LC journey.

I am glad I don't have to give up this WOE as it definitely helps me reduce the bingeing I struggle with

KnitOrMiss · September 2017

Oh, and I should amend the statement I made above about dropping fats being the easy/lazy medical way - because most people do NOT want to work hard to fix things - or won't be compliant enough to not make their issues worse, so like making diabetics take more meds, they just tell you to avoid the issue, because most of them don't know the problems it causes LONG TERM...

But, we know if you are here, and you are trucking along with low carb, you know what is worth working at !!!!!

And I'm so with you...low carb and keto are the ONLY THING that have ever helped with my binging and compulsive eating issues. So (HUGS)... @Chillycatmum

KnitOrMiss · September 2017

anglyn1 wrote: »

I didn't have stones but my gallbladder quit working. I had it removed 11 years ago. I felt immediately better and post surgery I've never had issues eating fat. I have never been on a low fat diet even when I ate carbs.

If you want to try the do it yourself cleanses please be careful. I know my gallbladder was so swollen with infection that it had adhered to my liver with scar tissue. It was at risk of rupturing. I work with a guy whose did rupture because he didn't want to get it removed and what could have been an outpatient procedure was instead a 2 week ICU stay that was very touch and go! You also run the risk of a blocked bile duct which my husband has experienced and is extremely painful and has caused him a couple of bouts with pancreatitis.

Best wishes in whatever you decide to do!

And it is this lady here ^^^ @anglyn1 - who started me on the path of discovering my low stomach acid issue!!! Without her, I would not have regain the amazing parts of quality of life that I have in the past 12-18 months. It's so significant that my doctors have actually noted it down for others struggling with digestion issues with hypothyroidism, diabetes, PCOS, insulin resistance, or gallbladder issues - because they ALL affect stomach acid and bile production...

Oh, and one other traumatizing thing I learned - gallstones are generally started IN THE LIVER. So you can have your gallbladder removed, and STILL SUFFER GALLSTONES AND THE ASSOCIATED PAIN!!!!! I was shocked. I had no idea.

AlexandraCarlyle · September 2017

KnitOrMiss wrote: »

...Oh, and one other traumatizing thing I learned - gallstones are generally started IN THE LIVER. So you can have your gallbladder removed, and STILL SUFFER GALLSTONES AND THE ASSOCIATED PAIN!!!!! I was shocked. I had no idea.

One of the reasons my mother drinks fresh apple juice on a daily basis.
So far (*touch wood*) so good - !

kpk54 · September 2017

One thing I would worry about with a home remedy could be the size of the stones. My Mom had her gall bladder removed way back in the 60s and for whatever reason asked the doc to keep her gallstone for her. She may have had more than one but the one they kept and gave her was HUGE (larger than a standard marble) and was definitely not something I can imagine breaking up or softening enough to "pass" with any sort of ease. She kept it for years in a jar in the medicine cabinet. Go figure.

ironmaidenchick · September 2017

I had my GB removed 5 years ago. I had one massive stone the biggest they had seen and my GB was infected. I had issues for years afterwards. I could not eat hardly anything so I had watermelon/cucumber, food with high water content. I slowly was able to reintroduce food but it took me years to get where I am. I know not everyone is the same and I hope you recover well. I just think you need to see how your body is going to react to things. I got very low in B12 and that made me feel terrible. Hope it goes well. Not sure if I was of any help but you are welcome to private message me :-)

AlexandraCarlyle · September 2017

kpk54 wrote: »

One thing I would worry about with a home remedy could be the size of the stones. My Mom had her gall bladder removed way back in the 60s and for whatever reason asked the doc to keep her gallstone for her. She may have had more than one but the one they kept and gave her was HUGE (larger than a standard marble) and was definitely not something I can imagine breaking up or softening enough to "pass" with any sort of ease. She kept it for years in a jar in the medicine cabinet. Go figure.

They soften to a crumbly, wet chalk-like consistency. They don't hurt being passed. Mother's stones were of varying sizes, but given that our cloaca is extremely flexible, it's much less painful than passing a large hard stool.

Sorry to be graphic, but just wanted to reassure folks. It doesn't hurt.

dillydaisys · September 2017

Does the recipe remove the stones completely out of the gallbladder?

AlexandraCarlyle · September 2017

Yes. It evacuates the gallbladder of stones, completely.
My mother says the doctor's face was a picture.
She kept her appointment with the consultant, who was apparently able to confirm the gallbladder was empty. And he was very pleased to strike her from the list of surgery candidates.

ETA: Could I just add this is subject to the simple presence of gallstones. I obviously would not be recommending this type of home remedy for anyone with any of the associated disorders mentioned above.
Of course, every patient should be completely aware of their own personal state of health and condition.
Subject to the gallstones being the 'only' problem, it's a safe, reliable, effective and efficient way of dealing with the predicament.

dillydaisys · September 2017

That's pretty amazing for your mum. Thanks for sharing that. I haven't had a gallstone attack for years but that's method seems pretty safe

trish55011 · September 2017

Hi, I too was afraid of the whole total diet change after gall bladder surgery. Had emergency surgery last November. What I have found is fat is not a problem unless I eat vegetable oils. Butter, bacon, sausage, butcher meat with the fat on, heavy cream not a hiccup. The one issue I have is between extra virgin olive oil and regular olive oil. Regular olive oil for some reason is a digestive no no for me, but extra or extra extra virgin olive oil is no problem. I'm not sure why this is, but I have had to cut down on hard cheeses unless they are white. (Mozz, monterey, prov). Yellow/orange cheeses bring on a different digestive issue. I won't take you long and you will find your groove. Oh one more thing, nuts (any kind) are not a problem for me either.

swezeytba · September 2017

trish55011 wrote: »

Regular olive oil for some reason is a digestive no no for me, but extra or extra extra virgin olive oil is no problem.

@trish55011 - I have seen that some manufacturers will add in vegetable or canola oils to make the lighter (not extra virgin) types of olives oils.....

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Gallbladder surgery

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