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I have mild symptoms for an enflamed gallbladder. Tests are in progress to confirm, but I'm preparing for the news that I have gallstones.

I've been doing research, these are the options I see available:

1) cholecystectomy. The entire gallbladder is removed. This is the most commonly pushed solution. It's a permanent fix. Some people report weight gain and ongoing diet issues post surgery. However this is tolerated by most because the pain from gallstones is very severe.

2) cholelithotomy (not sure if this is the name). Gallstones are removed, but the gallbladder is left intact. From my research this is only done in China and only at a few hospitals. So this is a specialized and uncommon non-western procedure. Here is one hospital that does it: http://nogallstones.com/. From the reports online, people are happy with the results and there haven't been complications. I do wonder why this isn't done in the west. Here are some examples:

https://thebodymind.wordpress.com/2015/ ... r-surgery/
http://gallstoneremovalsurgery.blogspot.com/

3) methyl tertiary-butyl. This supposedly dissolves gallstones, but it has side effects.

Any advice appreciated, thanks.

Hi @drealm.

So whatever happened? What did you decide to do? Were you able to find a solution or alternative to having your gallbladder removed?

Unfortunately I'm having the same problem now. My gallbladder is inflamed, and I have some mild but persistent pain in my side stomach from it that comes and goes. It's not as bad as a full blown gallbladder attack that people describe. But the doctors here of course, all want to remove the gallbladder. I hate how overly eager they are to remove the gallbladder, as if its a vestigial organ, without any thought or regard to finding alternatives. It's as if they are all programmed to say that, no critical thinking at all. Unlike maverick doctors like Dr. Mercola. My mom is pissed too, because she doesn't like to see me debate doctors and it makes her feel embarassed and shameful when I do that, because in her culture, I am supposed to be a robot and go along with whatever doctors say without questioning it or debating it. Very narrow. That's how Taiwanese and Asians are, very narrow. I hate that.

I also am seeking alternatives. Did you find any? Did you try any of the gallbladder flushes online? Or any gallbladder supplements?

I checked out your website above for the new treatment in China that only removes gallstones without the gallbladder. Rock went to China to do that too and had it done successfully. His stones never returned after that. But the thing is, on your site, the cost of this surgery is listed at $6700. See here:

http://nogallstones.com/surgery-price

But Rock only paid $2000. Why? His hospital was in Dongguan though, while the one at your site is in Guangzhou. Are they the same organization? If not, I'll see if I can still get the $2000 at Rock's hospital in Dongguan and let you all know.

In another thread about gallstones, I also posted some natural remedies to flush the gallbladder here:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=24844

I'll be trying some of those too, to see if they help pass out the stone or bile sludge that's trapped in the gallbladder.

I also found some gallbladder formulas in online health stores that have good testimonials too, where users say that the product prevented their gallbladder from being removed, and stopped their gallbladder attacks too. For example:

https://www.iherb.com/pr/Christopher-s- ... -Caps/6359

This is an herb that really does get rid of gallstones.
Posted by iHerb Customer on Jul 30, 2019
Years ago I had gallstones and they were very painful. I went to the hospital and they suggested that I have my gallbladder removed. I did not want to have the surgery and searched on the internet for some kine of cure and found Dr. Christopher's product. I placed an order and when the product arrived, I took a few pills and all the pain went away. This is why I recommend this wonderful product. About 5 years later, the hospital found that I had one stone but it s no problem. So, I just ordered the product again and I know this medicine will get rid of that stone. I am thankful that I did not have surgery and very grateful for this product. It is very comforting to know that some medicines really do work!!!

https://www.iherb.com/pr/Natural-Factor ... sules/2587

Liv-Gall Cleanse
Posted by iHerb Customer on Jan 29, 2008
Very good product. I was diagnois to have my gall bladder out 3 years ago. Decided to change my diet use this product. And I still have my original gall bladder. I buy all my products from IHERB the one stop shop with affortable prices . A senior on a very tight budget.

https://www.iherb.com/pr/Whole-World-Bo ... 8-ml/16441

Dissolves gallstones well!
Posted by iHerb Customer on June 28 2020| Verified Purchase

I had a gallbladder full of stones. Took Royal break-stone 2 droppers twice a day for 6 weeks alongside Artemisia & Rhubarb Chinese medicine and my stones are gone. Yay!

Not sure how true those testimonials are, but if they are true, then that means there's a chance, however small it may be, which is better than zero. Even if such natural remedies or supplements only work for a small percentage of gallbladder sufferers, and not the majority, that's still better than nothing, it's still a glimmer of hope. Hope my gallbladder inflammation doesn't get worse so I have time to try out alternatives. The doctor did give me some antibiotics for now, which should slow down the inflammation.

Btw Drealm,

I spoke to Rock and he gave me the website of his hospital in Dongguan, China. The website is in Chinese though so you will have to use Google translate feature on Chrome browser to translate it automatically into English.

http://en.dgbdw.cn/html/list_565.html

It would appear that medical centers that cater to local Chinese (like Rock's center) cost a lot less, and the ones that cater to foreigners cost a lot more. Rock's center in Dongguan charged him about $2000 USD when he was there. But the one above you posted that caters to foreigners cost $6700. A big difference.

I hope you can save your gallbladder. I had mine removed and posted about it in the other active thread on the subject.

If you get clogged up in there and get infected, it can mess with your liver and pancreas. My body is a bit slow processing vitamin B. It's not serious, but doctors want to run liver tests when they test my blood if I don't tell them I had the tests. I wonder if that had to do with the internal infections I've had due to my gall bladder.

The pain was the worst I've ever felt in my life. It beats having part of my toenail yanked off, which I hear is used intentionally as a method of torture.

I just let my body handle it, but when I had a gallstone it hurt like hell. Like an alien xenomorph was trying to break out (like Swing Out Sister) of my chest.

E Irizarry R&B Singer wrote: ↑

August 2nd, 2020, 7:14 pm

I just let my body handle it, but when I had a gallstone it hurt like hell. Like an alien xenomorph was trying to break out (like Swing Out Sister) of my chest.

What did you do about it? Did the gallstone problem eventually go away by itself? Was the stone small or big?

Update:

I think i have some good news. I went to the hospital this morning and when i talked to that surgeon from the ER i asked him to show me my CT scan and x-ray from his computer. He showed them to me on his monitor. It turns out i only have 3 stones and they are about 0.5 cm in size! Isnt that really small compared to the ones rock had? 0.5 cm is tiny. How could it clog up a bile duct?

I saw two of the stones in the gallbladder. Another one was further down in the bile duct. Isnt it kind of stupid and senseless to remove an entire organ like the gallbladder just because of one tiny stone of 0.5 cm like that? Its downright silly and crazy if you think about it.

How do these surgeons sleep at night removing peoples organs unnecessarily just for profit? If i were them i couldn't bear it or live with myself or sleep at night. They must be sociopaths?

He asked me if still wanted to do the surgery. I told him no and that i found other solutions online that were well vouched for that i wanted to try first. Plus my pain is a lot better now. So i see no urgency anyway. A small stone like that could easily pass by itself eventually anyway.

I cant believe that after all that and the truth coming out, that he would still have the gall to recommend gallbladder surgery to remove a priceless irreplaceable organ just for a very tiny stone. No sense at all.

Perhaps those gallbladder flushes that didnt work for rock will work for me and those with smaller stones. It could be that rocks stones were too big and thats why those remedies didnt work for him. But if your stones are smaller and easier to get out then it takes less of a push from a flush to jettison. So perhaps such things work more for those with smaller stones? That would be my educated guess.

Anyway the hospital put all my abdominal scans onto a CD for me. I will try to open it and send them to rock for his analysis, if i can figure out how the files work and can export them.

Also what this means is that the man at the ultrasound clinic lied to me too. Because during the ultrasound he claimed my stones were massively huge. The way he said that sounded fake as if he was acting. I could sense something was off. I told my dad but he wouldn't believe me. Now that the CT scans show the stones to be 0.5 cm we know that ultrasound guy in the small clinic (away from the hospital) was lying when he said my stoned were huge and giant sized. I never would have thought a Taiwanese would do that. But in this world where most people would sell their soul for profit, we cant assume that other people are good like us, even if they're doctors. Furthermore he was not able to show me the stones on his screen either during the ultrasound. All i saw on his screen was a bulb shaped white form thats supposed to be my gallbladder. I didnt see anything that looked like a stone at all. So how could he claim to see a "huge stone"? That's very fishy and doesnt add up.

One more thing. Im beginning to realize that maybe the pain I've had the last week and a half on my right side might not have been from the gallbladder inflammation at all. Because i saw a diagram of exactly where the gallbladder is. Dr. Eric Berg said to find it you draw a line down from your right nipple to right below the right rib cage. When i traced that i realized that that's not really the location of the pain. Mine is more on the right of that behind the rib cage are and further to the side. In fact that area is where i fell hard in the bathroom doorway last week, when my side and rib cage area slammed hard into the bottom doorway.

Therefore the pain ive been having seems more likely from torn muscles or muscle strain in the side torso. Not the gallbladder which is in a different location. Thats why my pain didnt fit the symptoms of a typical gallbladder attack.

Nevertheless the fall and the hospital trip alerted me to the condition of my gallbladder. So maybe God allowed or made my fall happen because otherwise i would never have done anything to try to improve my gallbladder and wouldnt have known it was coming into critical condition. I would just have the gallbladder attack suddenly one day out of nowhere like Dianne did, and by then it would be too late to do anything about it except the unwanted surgery.

So perhaps my hard fall in the bathroom and the injuries from it happened for a reason. Otherwise i never would have know about the condition of my gallbladder. So something good came out of something i thought was bad, like a "blessing in disguise" it seems. Interesting. I guess as they say, "the Lord works in mysterious ways".

Btw I forgot to mention that the reason the ultrasound doctor at the private clinic would lie and say my stones were huge and that i had no choice but to go get gallbladder surgery, is because i heard that when a doctor refers a patient to a surgeon, he gets a 25 percent cut of what the insurance company pays the surgeon. So there is an incentive for him to do so and for him to lie too unfortunately. Very sad. That must be why he was eager to write me a referral slip.

I know Taiwanese don't usually cheat like that. But theres no other logical explanation for him to lie about the stones being very big and exaggerating in his voice about it. Plus u gotta remember that just because you are a good honest person doesn't mean everyone else out there is.

Do you think doctors intentionally lie or are they just programmed to say whatever the medical establishment wants them to say? To knowingly lie is evil. They must know that. Plus since doctors are rich why would they need to lie?

Just wondering something:

If all I have is one little stone stuck in the bile duct entrance to the gallbladder, why can't I move it somehow out of the duct? Can't I jump up and down to shake it out? Or use fingers and acupressure to massage it out of the duct? Are any of those methods possible? Why blow up sheep with a bazooka? Taking out a whole organ because of a little stone seems like overkill. It doesn't make sense.

Are gallstones stationary or do they move around like balls in a lottery cage? How moveable are they? Can't someone shake the gallbladder to move the stones?

Update:

Just went to another doctor yesterday. He was a gastroenterologist that my dad recommended because he seems honest and polite and doesn't try to push or promote anything. So i decided to get another opinion to see what would happen.

He was indeed a nice guy. He didn't tell me that i had to get surgery or try to push or scare me into it. But he said that surgery was the standard treatment of hospitals in general for gallstone problems. Instead he gave me some pills called ursodeoxycholic acid, which he said were bile acids, to take. I looked it up online and medical sites say it can dissolve gallstones. Wow. See below.

I wonder why the surgeon didnt give me those before instead of pushing surgery. If this can dissolve gallstones then why isn't it given to everyone with gallstone problems? I wonder if Rock tried this before.

https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compou ... holic-acid

Ursodeoxycholic acid or ursodiol is a naturally occurring bile acid that is used dissolve cholesterol gall stones and to treat cholestatic forms of liver diseases including primary biliary cirrhosis.

Ursodeoxycholic acid is a bile acid found in the bile of bears (Ursidae) as a conjugate with taurine. Used therapeutically, it prevents the synthesis and absorption of cholesterol and can lead to the dissolution of gallstones.