the pain may well have been gall stones.
At some point in the last 5 years, I know I couldn’t tolerate Betaine HCL. It didn’t upset my stomach, it made an area of my intestines sore. Is there a value to trying again, or is it all the same if I head to Sweedish Bitters instead? I’ve read some very good reviews of them on iHerb and they seem to do much the same thing.
I don't know.
I had some pain under my right ribs (upper right quadrant of belly) a few times when I started taking betaine hcl. I know that I ended up avoiding all fats save MCT oil (which neither needs nor prompts the release of bile) for a week.
I now think that this was probably a gallbladder issue, perhaps a gall stone, I don't know. "Some pain" is an understatement but everyone here is so used to pain.
The logic would be that not releasing enough bile for a long time may have allowed bile to sit and gall stones to crystallise out of the solution. Acidifying the stomach, and eating a diet containg fat would have stimulated the release lots of of bile forcing out a gall stone.
But I do not know, this only occurred to me on Sunday.
Richvank's argument was that the low stomach acid was the result of low ATP. Creating the acid needed for digestion is one of those very energy intensive things that our bodies give up on.
So I suspect that things that stimulate stomach acid in normal people might not work, as it is not that our bodies lack the will or the signal but that they lack the energy.
I know that I must have been releasing some bile, because in 2012 I started on a high dose of Ox bile( 500mg per meal) and continued at that rate for about 160 capsules before I started to get too much bile in my stools.
Bile is recycled, so the idea is that you start with a highish dose and then work down to a maintenance dose.
re the bitters,
They may well work with the release of bile. I know that there was a period last year where I was taking himalaya livercare (
http://www.iherb.com/Himalaya-Herbal-Healthcare-Liver-Care-180-Veggie-Caps/3718) and I found that I ended up with better bile production. I think.
I know well that sensation you get when you chew on dandelion greens or some other bitter, and have often found myself desiring bitter greens over the last 12 years. I understand that this is supposed to be the triggering of bile release and do a lot of other useful stuff.
I understand that you have to taste the bitters to get the maximum effect (though I have not searched out the underlying science and am relying on advice from a herbalist here) so I was opening the capsules and tasting the bitters shortly before eating (5 - 15 minutes).
I know that there was a period when I was taking them when I that my bile production went up and my stools were a much better shape and colour. I think that I was taking low dose betaine hcl then, just 1 per meal. I was not taking notes, I was not well enough, and my memories are just jumbled impressions.
I went off the livercare when I started AIP paleo, because Ballantyne recommends stopping all nightshades, I knew I had issues with eggplant and potato (which seem to have passed now) and was having major issues with anxiety and desperate to do anything that might work.
I am now thinking I should look into bitters, and it occurs to me that my notes from february show that I was adverse to fats and leafy greens (which would have been mostly kale and rocket/arugula at the time) not just fats after those pains in the upper right quadrant of my belly.
Hmmm
