I had my gallbladder removed yesterday, after having my second event of severe abdominal pain. I posted about the first episode earlier when the doctors thought it might be acid reflux.

They found out that I have gallbladder disease (via ultrasound) and my body cavity had a lot of puss in it and my gallbladder was hardening.

The interesting thing is that this is supposedly a typical side-effect of loosing weight too rapidly. The explanation is that the gallbladder goes into statis because it doesn't have a reason to be producing extra bile because (suddenly) there isn't a bunch of fatty food stuff to process. In my case dramatically reducing my calories and eating mostly raw fruits and vegetables, this explanation seems to match even more closely.

So, maybe this is a precautinary tale for anyone starting out, that there is a risk that it would be good to pay attention to when transitining your diet. The second episode of abdominal pain was the worst pain I've ever felt. You don't want to experience it.

It appears that it's a good idea to go slowly even if it's easy to go fast if you eat a lot of raw food. Maybe it's an argument for going the "fat route" rather than the "sweet route" for getting extra calories, unless bile isn't used for digesting fat from fruits... Probably it means that when people are transitioning they should be aware of the risk of gallbladder disease due to gallbladder statis.

I also had a gall bladder attack years ago when I first went raw. I was very healthy and in my 20's, way before the age when that's likely to happen. My diet had been mono fruit during the day and a large raw vegetable salad at night for some months. When I could get it, I'd add 1/2 avocado to the salad.

Anyhow, it was the middle of the winter, I was in Spain on a meditation retreat, it was cold, the hotel was unheated, and one night they served a wonderful steaming hot cream of tomato soup. I couldn't resist and ate two bowls. During the night, I woke up in agony. The torture lasted two days. It would ease only when I lay perfectly still and quiet, not easy to do when in such pain.

At the time I didn't know what the pain was, I just knew it had to do with that soup. When I got home, I looked in some books and determined it was a gall bladder attack. I came to the same conclusion you did, liponeer, that low fat caused the gall bladder to be inactive and then the sudden shock of that fatty meal caused the expulsion of stones or gravel.

My diet has varied through the years and I've had one or two other attacks, not as painful as the first, and a gall bladder cleanse has fixed it in every case.

I think it's a good idea to do those periodically and also to take herbs to cleanse the liver. As well as follow our beautiful healthy diet of living foods.

Now an interesting thing happened a couple of years ago. I had a mysterious pain along my left side when I lay down, the lower left side would cramp inside and hurt. I had to sleep sitting up for a while. Fortunately, the pain was only there when lying down. I had a bunch of medical tests but they never came up with a diagnosis. It finally went away by itself.

The pain came on after a long period of travel (several months) during which I did not drink enough water and did not follow a good diet. By doing my own research and using some intuition, I determined it was a kidney stone.

I found a product, Uriflow, which is a 100% purely herbal product and which dissolves the stones. It works perfectly. The same company, Bionutrix, makes a similar product called Dissolve and Flush for gallstones. It is an excellent and gentle liver and gall bladder cleanse as well as a real cure for the stones. So these are two products I recommend. You can find them by doing a google search. Both carry 1 year money back guarantees. If you take the dissolve and flush product, and/or do gall bladder flushes, you do not need to be afraid of gallstones or an unhealthy gallbladder.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/2007 03:35PM by greenie.

man! i am hurting just reading these post. i had a midwife yrs ago and she lived in a commune.she put me on like 17 vitamins a day.Calcium was to be taken 3 times a day and 3 pills each time.i felt it was too much but i hired her to help me give birth to my child at home under water.well we ended up moving but i kept following her instructions.well-after the birth of my child-i had a sicness come over me and it was a horrid headache and side ache and chills and flopping around for an hour or so.(just the amount of time it took hubby to give all the kids baths and for him to fix dinner after a hard days work and to get the little bugers to bed-so he thought i was faking it)cause i would get well once all of the work was done.then he came home one day and i was on the floor.i was in so much pain.went to the dr. said it was a uti.yeah right.well i past a kidney stone the day after the dr. visit.man! pain.then a few yrs ago. i lost alot of weight from extreme stress. i was not eating and not drinking water and smoking 3 packs of cigarettes a day and drinking coffee. i felt all of a sudden i was having a heart attack.hubby got me to the hospital and had to have my gallbladder out.then after i still was having the same pain.but finally no more.i feel all the overload of vitamins gave me the kidney stone.i gave myself the gallbladder operation.alot of pain.don't want to go thru any of that stuff anymore.taylor

Taylor,
That reminds me: When I was traveling and eating poorl before the kidney stone, I was also drinking coffee (1 cup/day). IMHO one of the worst effects of coffee is dehydration. I'm sure that contributed to it.

Oh gosh..this sounds kind of familiar. Recently while going raw I had this weird pain below my heart under my ribs..like cramps..and while it scared me, I just thought it was fat gettting in the way of moving or my ribcage. It happend a couple times while I was recently very high raw..mostly 100% raw.

But isn't the gallbladder on our right side? Why would the pain be on the left side? I seem to recall that I would get some right side pain when I first went raw a couple years ago...espeically after I ate some fat, like avocados. I did a gallbladder cleanse at that time too..and I didn't see that I passed any stones.

I'm going to do a cleanse again..wonder if I should wait until after my tooth infection and the meds I'm on for it? This just really messed me up because I was doing so well..but maybe it was for the best that I did eat some cooked foods, and slowed down the transitioning stage. (Not good that I have this infection though) I don't want any stones passing while I'm already fighting infection and pain for teeth.

I just think we should all have raw food coaches holding our hands every step of the way! Give me a raw retreat!!

Love,
Prism

Prism,

Several people here have had good luck curing infections with wheat grass.
I have had good luck in curing infections with diligent flossing and brushing (dry brushing for 10 minutes or more) and swishing peroxide in the mouth for 1-2 minutes and spitting it out. Peroxide is poisonous, so if you do that, be sure to 1) not swallow any of it! and 2) rinse your mouth out very well afterwards. I usually swish around 5-6 mouthfuls of water and spit them out to remove all traces of the peroxide.

Google gall stones to find out what they feel like. The gall bladder is on the right side but the pain can radiate, usually to the back. However, if a stone gets lodged in a duct it can put a halt to digestion and cause generalized distress.

I did not always see stones being passed. I'm also not one for examining the contents of the toilet very carefully ;-).

Hot water with the juice of a lemon is a great way to start the day and gently cleanses the liver and gall bladder. The pectin in apples and apple juice is also good for dissolving stones. Drinking hot water throughout the day also helps relax everything and keep things flowing. Those are all gentle and effective ways to help yourself while you are recovering from the infection.

I'm a great fan of coaches, too. I prefer the licensed naturopath variety to the self-proclaimed gurus sprouting up here and there.

greenie-u are correct in the coffee thingy...i am sure. i was drinking endless coffee and no water at the time of my gall bladder pain and surgery.well-at least i don't have to go thru that one anymore.lol.i was up and out of the hospital and going to yard sales the next day.taylor

I have been using hydrogen peroxide in my waterpik, and use salt water to swish around in my mouth, (celtic sea salt). I do however even use 5 drops of hydrogen peroxide in a glass of water(only needing to do this one or 2 glasses for one or 2 days) and drink that which I think helped keep the infection down until I went to the dentist and had the additional root canals done due to the infection in a tooth that should have been done 2 weeks before, as they did one tooth, and was just keeping an eye out for the other. The dentist recognized this, and didn't charge for the additonal root canals.

Raw Foods store has food grade hydrogen peroxide that you can do this with if you are afraid of using regular hydrogen peroxide.

I have tried wheatgrass before and found that I don't care for it, so I wouldn't make myself drink it now. I'm really letting my body dictate what it wants to do, what it wants to eat because really it's just too hard to do anything except to try and rest and heal. It' really is awful, and the pain is too much for me to not take pain meds.

Here's something funny..about 2 weeks ago, the pain of the first root canal done near the other teeth that should have gotten done same time, was so sore and painful that I rubbed on straigh tea tree oil! Oh man...that stuff may smell terrible, but don't put it in your mouth! It is vile, and the taste would not go away for a long time, but it did take the pain away until the pain med kicked in.

Love,
Prism

i pour peroxide in my ears and let it bubble and fizz till it stops and then drain it out.it helps with itchy ears.lately i have read that it is from maybe a food alergy.taylor

Yes, I do the same thing, works really well. You do have to let it fizz until it warms and bubbles up out of the ear by itself to get maximun relief.

The first time I went raw (I lost 70 lbs. that first time, in 6 months) I ended up with terrible ear infections after the first month..really went thru a difficult detox. I'm wondering if my current infection occured from also going 100% raw while getting that section of my teeth done..I don't know..it's so hard to tell.

I had a lot of work done on my teeth before this current infection and was no way near raw. I had to back off raw for now..I'm going to go slower once the infection is cleared up. I should know better.

Love,
Prism

Dear Prism..i was glad u straightened up something for me. I have a recipe for using peroxide as a leavening in some cake or bread recipe.I never did it cause i thought it was an odd recipe.like a typo.So now i know there is food grade and other forms of peroxide.doesn't the peroxide in the ears feel so great.taylor

The peroxide is cold and startles me when I first pour some in my ear..but it really does help with infection..I think what it might do is get that excess water out and dry the ear..the bacteria grows in the trapped water and I think that is what makes the earache painful.

I never heard of using peroxide in any food items before..yeah..I wonder why they make food grade peroxide for anyway?

Love,
Prism

i know-it shocks me too when i first pour it in my ear.I get itchy ears inside. I don't know what the heck from.some say a food allergy.who knows.well-i let it bubble and boil and then drain and no more itchy.Prism-i have never seen the food grade kind of peroxide.where do u get the food grade kind?is it just what is available everywhere?do u have symptoms that make you use peroxide in your ears??it sure works.taylor

I only use peroxide when I have an earache..which is hardly ever..but apparently I get them thru detox when I get serious on raw foods, or like this time..from my tooth infection.

Rawfoods.com has food grade hydrogen peroxide..I have never bought any, I just use the drug store variety..some people have objections to using that kind though.

Love,
Prism

Last time I was at my local health food store, I noticed that they carry food grade peroxide - if you have a health store near you, it might be worth a look.

Great information, I never knew about using it for your ears!

Thanks!
Sapphire