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Gallbladder: did you have issues with it during your CFS journey?

Did you need your gallbladder out within your illness journey?

  • I have mild CFS and needed it removed

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    38

WoolPippi

Senior Member
Messages
556
Location
Netherlands
Having no bile was the only thing I could work on when I got really ill in 2008. I got it flowing again with HCL and have been taking that ever since. Health slowly improved and I got really healthy 8 months ago.

Up until last week.
We had ten days of great stress in our life and now I'm back in bed again. No bile. HCL isn't working, I'm nauseous all the time. My liver feels "heavy". I'm scared and don't know what smart thing to do.
 

ahmo

Senior Member
Messages
4,805
Location
Northcoast NSW, Australia
@WoolPippi I've had excellent results with herb, chanca piedra. I started it when I had severe gb pains, continue to take it several times a week. I treat my liver with coffee enemas, which also releives stress obn adrenals and spleen. How I do them and links to references in a blog post linked in my signature.

You might try some compresses to liver. Castor oil is messy, but often effective, esp. combined w/ hot water bottle. Also some tuber, maybe manioc, I can't remember at present. Hope you're feeling better soon.
 

beaker

ME/cfs 1986
Messages
773
Location
USA
I still have mine, but have had some mild attacks. Hasn't bothered me last couple years. One gastro said there was sludge when I had a scope( I have had multiple scopes w/ many gastros). When I had the attacks I just went on super restricted diet and then it would go away. No attacks for years now. Knock on wood. No one ever wanted to removed it. One doc said to stop chocolate HA. that didn't last long.
The others have just shrugged. I've seen 3 or 4 gastros. I give up. None of them do anything but tests. All quite unpleasant.
 

WoolPippi

Senior Member
Messages
556
Location
Netherlands
thank you :)
I'm going to check it out.

But first the dr. wants to rule out gallstones and liver inflammation. Tomorrow I get blood work done and an echo.

is there any additional blood work I should get checked out? They're just doing the basics for regular people lovers... I mean livers.

and last summer I flushed out my intestinal flora with a (regular) enema so I'm not inclined to do another one soon, but I've read about the benefit for the liver of coffee enema. :)
 
Messages
88
Location
Oxfordshire, UK
@WoolPippi
What was the verdict on your gallbladder ? Mine is playing up , along with liver and pancreas. I am seeing a gastro (privately) on Monday and also have an ultrasound booked-amazingly, my GP allowed it but enjoyed saying"though I'm sure it won't show anything"- for Friday. I don't think ultrasounds show everything though, but have been in so much discomfort will be amazed if nothing shows.
Do you know of anything that relieves gallbladder attack symptoms? Am limited by being v sensitive to lots of supplements and food, also have candida so don't want to drink apple juice. Thinking about gallbladder flushes but can't get my head round how the gallbladder/liver/pancreas will cope with all that oil?

Thanks, Mels
 

WoolPippi

Senior Member
Messages
556
Location
Netherlands
TL;DR: rest restored my bile, slowly. Don't do a flush, it's too harsh! Hope you get better soon.

thanks for your interest :)
No, don't do a gallbladder flush! that's like kicking it while it's down. Is my (strong) opinion. But I'm no doctor.
I don't know what could aleveate things... liver friendly food and warmth is all I have.
I'm wearing a wool "kidneywarmer" around my torso all day and night at the moment.

Yes, 17 days ago I had an echo and had blood drawn. Both showed nothing to be concerned about.
Luckily it was an actual doctor doing the echo so he was talking about what he saw while he was scanning (techs are not allowed to talk). He was really quick though, perhaps not very thorough, but everything looked smooth and no stones and everything was souple and flowing.
He did explain that small things are not visible. Small stones in the ducts are not visible.
He did a lower abdominal echo too. Looked all good (but he was really quick. I think my good complexion made him think I was not ill at all. Supplementing hydrocortisone gives me glowing cheeks.)

Anyway. No stones, no swellings, no tumours in/around the liver or gall bladder.
So I trusted my gut feeling that this was all stress related. I mean this literally: the stress endocrine system. Not some psycho babble ("you should zennn more"), I mean the proper stress reaction as coined by dr. Selye. The one that wrecks your digestive system. The one that kills animals.

this ties in with the gallbladder symptoms I had when I first was bedridden in 2008. This ties in with how my nervous system has been under strain all my live. What lead to my exhausted adrenals. And a logical reaction to the big stress I endured for two weeks.

So I did my anti-stress thing: laid in bed all day every day for a week and a half. Ate well cooked vegetables and light protein (mainly stews of chicory and steamed fish - focused on getting it gelatinous as gelatine is a superfood and well digestable)
Slept a lot. On my left as my right hurts so much. And just tried to stop the natural stress reaction that is often an ongoing selfsustaining reaction in our bodies. (I use NLP techniques I learned in Gupta Amygdala. Again: it's a physical thing, not something in/of the mind. It only uses the mind to communicate with the body).
I tried to take enough cortisol to counter the damage to my body. But that's difficult because too much can surpress my immune system and then I might get the flu.
Drank lots of lemon + water + salt because I was so nauseous all the time and needed the salt and the vit. C)
Slowly, very slowly it's getting better.

Slowly my bile returned. I helped it a lot by taking HCL with every meal.
Got some mean hemorrhoids :oops: We don't talk often about these here on the forum but they are to be expected in this situation. Because stress/cortisol thins the wall of the colon and all that lying and reclining on the butt makes that spot vulnerable. But there was nothing to be done about it. Tears on the toilet. (The name of our new band?)

Anyway, bile is back for a good week now. So waste deposal is functioning again, that's a relief.
I've been up and about a bit (but haven't been outside yet) and hemorrhoids are lessening.
But I have not snapped out of that stress ride yet. :( There was another stress 10 days ago, I HAD to write and deliver a technical rapport on a manure plant they're planning in the field next to my house. I once was an engineer and I can deconstruct their research and show their faulty politics. It had to be written in a day and a half. I had to override all signals and pleads my body gave. It was awful.

So now I'm still on a stress high from that. I cannot seem to calm down, it's terrible. My mind needs to be focused on something so for the last week I've been sewing dresses like a madwoman. I know nothing of sewing, my dresses are all wonky. Much frustration.
Still eating liver-friendly food. Still nauseous. Still hungry all the time. Gaining weight.
Today I took all the supplements for the first time. I wonder how my liver copes with it. It hurts a bit. Hopefully it will restore some shortages I must have by now. I wish my mind would stop racing.

Now you know why I'm rambling :confused:
Please tell us how you're doing with your visits the coming week.