Does IF really cause gallbladder problems?

I thought it was female, fat (which would include chubby), fertile (not necessarily whether you have children but that you are pre menopause) and 40s (which you are now).

I heard it can be aggravated by low fat diets if you have recently gone onto that, or lower calorie. My friend who had to have hers out was told that it was affected by her reluctance to eat full meals, she used to live off cereal and mashed potato as I recall. I have no idea if that is true.

Funny that I saw this post. I came here to see if anyone saw the recent board changes and saw this post. Not only can fasting be an issue for stone production with your gallbladder, but you can actually produce stones after you’ve had it out and that can be more likely with fasting, though that doesn’t mean you absolutely will.
I’m dealing with this now! Have my GB out 2 years ago. I so much prefer IF. But when I really get going on it, I get my symptoms all over again, and I’ve been going to a GI doc, I’m a nurse myself, and it’s mostly likely stones again. Not everyone that fasts will get stones. But they can increase the chance because basically when you fast those secretions are just sitting stagnant (not flowing out to help digest food) and that increases the chance they become solid.
However I do IF because it works for me and because from what I read and researched it helps fight insulin resistance. (Less BS spikes less insulin releases) also I lose weight best with IF fasting.
So I’m going to keep fasting and dealing with stones as they come. I think long term with my health, the bigger fish to fry is I am about 30 lbs over weight and a candidate for diabetes (I have PCOS too) in the future if I don’t address this. Stones are the lesser of two evils for me. HTH

yirara wrote: »

kimny72 wrote: »

The only articles I've read that suggested IF wasn't a great choice for women revolved around causing hormonal imbalances, and even those weren't convincing in my opinion. This would be a new one to me. Interested to see what others may have seen.

Exactly. I could not find anything either on that. Just found it interesting. I don't do IF, and basically always eating something during daytime. It could be professional bias: this doctor things he's on to something and this is confirmed when he encounters something that fits. And forgets the many people that don't fit.

I thought this was common knowledge in the medical community, that stagnation in the gallbladder increases the chance for sludge and stones. But I’d have to look to see if there’s actually studies supporting this

Btw this doesn’t mean everyone that fasts will gets stones nor that everyone that gets stones has a history of fasting. It is merely a risk factor

That’s the first hit on google. I’m not going to look up any more but assuming if JH has it listed then it’s been studied to some degree. But feel free to google studies Hope this helps

I've had gallbladder problems since 2015 when I did IF (Fast-5) for several months.

My gallbladder kicked off in my early 20's - they didnt know why, only that it became inflammed and never settled no matter what they gave me drugswise. I had to reduce fat a lot to prevent it from kicking off - I would say that leaving long gaps between eating AND drinking also made it more grumpy. So for me, (unintentional) IF didnt cause the issues with my GB, but it def made things worse once there were issues.

OP to you point about 'take the painkiller and move on lady' - I really had to persist with the doctors (UK) before they would take it out. I had to turn up for 3 appointments 3 months apart for someone to prod it quite hard to see if I would still go white and swear (which I did, with bells on).

Was so glad to have that bad boy out - it was only once it was removed that I realised how it had had a much wider impact on my wellbeing and life in general.

Oh, and I got to eat cheese again !

Hi Yirara, I'd posed the question to give you pause for thought, So sorry you are way past needing to think, you have done way more than that. You know the outcomes but have not had the support to counteract it all. If you were in the UK I would strongly suggest finding a BANT Nutritionist, they follow a functional approach and mine provides blood tests. Do you have access to functional medicine? Finance is often a bar to alternative options.

From my experience. Returning to my thyroid condition which played Havok with my digestion. My continued malabsorption of vitamins and minerals created a problem in my making digestive enzymes. I too had to exclude foods which then increases the deficiencies which continue to build, causing more damage.

I found HCI and Pepsin helpful. When taken at each meal it helps to restore the acid status of the gut, this then aids digestion. Having a low digestive acid level favours the least helpful microbes in our microbiome. I would wish you the ability to consult a Functional practitioner gut health is so complicated for those of us who have veered so far from the expected "normal" or should I say, "usual" within modern western medicine.

Using digestive microbe products designed to replace microbes most frequently lost when you have used antibiotics and other medications, there is a list of problematic medications. In my case my antibiotic use was many, many years before. Following my own list of exclusions I was able to survive but this did not do anything to help my microbiome. Using the first pack I felt a real benefit. It took me a long time to find them because some readily available brands include microbes which increase Histamine Levels which add to issues of histamine intolerance. I took them continuously using other combinations for a good year and now as and when I think it is a good idea. I will never use antibiotics again unless I'm at deaths door and nothing else will help me. I pass the kids, grand kids packs because the ones I use can be take by all ages, the gt grand kids would have the baby form.
I was also advised eliminated added all added sugar, alcohol, I'd done that any way because of salicylate, bread and mushrooms which can provide some least helpful microbes. For a month all fruit was to be eliminated particularly grapes but those were covered by salicylate anyway for me. Sugar directly feeds the candida spectrum of least helpful microbes. You can find information on this too on line

I've relied on digestive enzymes. There are brands available in Health food stores over here. Some are single enzymes others are combinations. The one I finally used was initially designed for youngsters on the spectrum because they also have troubles with salicylate, which for me wiped out most fruits and veg. There are enzymes which aid the digestion of eggs and dairy coming in versions to deal with either or both the lactose-milk sugar and casein-milk protein. You may find using something which addresses the digestion of fat and protein could be a real help.

I've tried to paint an outline of things which could help in this and my earlier post. At a distance, as someone who had followed instructions and read round and round the subject its all well intentioned speculation. Possibly you could look up leaky gut for yourself. This is often frowned on, seen as impossible to happen, I find it difficult as a term, not really scientific. Yet it describes the end result where someone's digestive tract is damaged because something eaten or a combination loosens the joints in the tract which enables partially digested molecules eventually enter the blood supply. When the gut is well functioning this never happens.

Magnesium, NAC, zinc, vitamin b12 either sublingual or with the digestive enzyme can help with low energy. Nac is key to making glutathione which is part of the sulphur elimination system and is essential for energy.

If you have no other option please look to the work of Functional Practitioners who, endeavour to get to the base of what is going on should I say, going wrong then prefer to correct the problem where possible rejecting medical sticking plasters. Many have a strong on line presence as well as offering consultations in their own areas of, usually the US. Please, research their qualifications. Also do not take what I have written as gospel, please do your own research and verify everything.

I'm deeply sorry you are in such a compromised position. I hope my posts will give you some options helping you towards a more comfortable life. All the very best.