Gallbladder (Bile) and SIBO

[nerd]

I'm currently trying a keto diet and experiencing some gallbladder symptoms and a keto rash. I think I haven't sufficiently supported my stomach acid with Betaine HCL + Pepsin + Gentian Bitters. Instead, I took a supplement with calcium carbonate which reduced stomach acid.

In the course of researching this, I found the following YouTube video in that Dr. Sten Ekberg brought up the possibility of how a dysfunctional bile trigger and release could lead to and enhance SIBO. SIBO doesn't seem to be uncommon among CFS/ME patients, so maybe this helps those with SIBO if they support their gallbladder function.

 

[LINE]

Bile also works as controlling pathogens (I did not watch the video), I have also read some medical studies that suggest low digestive enzymes can trigger it. There are a few nutrients necessary for bile production including taurine, choline and methionine and I am sure a whole host of others such as general Vitamin B complexes. Milk thistle complexes (they usually contain a wide variety of herbs including dandelion) should help with gall bladder function.

 

[nerd]

Bile also works as controlling pathogens (I did not watch the video), I have also read some medical studies that suggest low digestive enzymes can trigger it. There are a few nutrients necessary for bile production including taurine, choline and methionine and I am sure a whole host of others such as general Vitamin B complexes. Milk thistle complexes (they usually contain a wide variety of herbs including dandelion) should help with gall bladder function.

But is the gallbladder overburdened (too small) or is there too little trigger for the overall metabolized bile because I take too much unsaturated fats, so that the gallbladder is taking too much bile input from the liver and is struggling to forward it to GI? This wouldn't be uncommon for keto because pre-keto, I relied a lot on carbs and so the gallbladder might not be adapted to so much bile input. An ultrasound could clarify this, but it's not easy in Germany to get appointments anytime soon, especially during this pandemic, and especially if the physicians think you/CFS/ME are psychosomatic. I try to circumvent the gallbladder system for now by using MCT which doesn't need or trigger the gallbladder as much.

 

[Judee]

There have been times when I can feel my gallbladder release bile after I have taken artichoke in capsule form.

The bottle even has a warning not to take if a person has gallstones because what I understand can happen is they get released and then bile duct can get clogged with the stones.

Anyway, just a thought.

 

[kangaSue]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7284594/
The Effect of Ursodeoxycholic Acid on Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth in Patients with Functional Dyspepsia: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

 

[Victronix]

I just had my gallbladder removed in January. It melted down last April and improved after a nearly zero fats diet (by the time of the surgery I was at 105 lbs) but as I returned to a more normal diet, eventually over a the course of the year, it got worse and worse.

By November the gallbladder issue was impossible to manage so I had to have it out. Since then, it's been a roller coaster of body issues.

Most notably so far, I've had to increase my Synthroid by two dosage levels, so now am on a dosage I haven't been on in decades - why? Don't know yet. I have to do some research.

I started Thorne Biogest in mid-2020 and then after the surgery, added in the smallest amount of Ox bile I could find, 125 mg, which I take with every meal.

The gut issues have been mostly nightmarish and hard to sort out, but I'm finally starting on a food and symptoms journal. We'll see. I'm having muscle issues all over, numbness in my extremities on and off, etc., but I have a B-12 deficiency, hashimoto's, have to take estrogren/testosterone/progesterone because my hormones totally tanked in 2015, not long after getting off of all methylfolate supplements, which I gave up trying to manage the side effects to (which included having to take elemental potassium or have terrifying wipe-put low potassium symptoms, etc.).

One thing, however, the extreme bloating I had before the procedure has never fully come back...

BUT, I'm also on a very restricted diet where I avoid a lot of the more complex foods like take-out and most sugars, so that may be the reason.