Gall Bladders:  Who Needs One, Anyway?

 

By Sandra Talt

 

….just because you can survive without your gall bladder doesn’t mean it didn’t do anything for you!

Emergency gall bladder removal is a life-saving surgery that you don’t need to think twice about: When your gall bladder goes bad, you gotta get it out! 

 

But just because you can survive without your gall bladder doesn’t mean it didn’t do anything for you. Furthermore, it doesn’t mean that there is nothing you can do about its departure.

 

So, what is the gall bladder and what does it do? To begin, here are a few gall bladder basics:

 

	Gall bladders store bile.
	Bile carries used hormones and drugs out of your body.
	Bile digests fat.
	Fat gives you vitamins A, E, D, and essential fatty acids.
	You need these vitamins and essential fatty acids for brain function, sex hormones, vision, bone building and many other vital functions.

 

What if you no longer have a gall bladder or if yours isn’t functioning very well?  Does that mean you have no bile, and are destined to a life of poor health and early demise because you can’t get any fat soluble vitamins and essential fatty acids?  Fortunately, it isn’t that grim.

 

You see, bile is made by the liver, so even without a gall bladder, your liver will still produce bile and you will receive its benefits. However, without a gall bladder to store bile, your digestive system no longer receives bile in the quantity that it once did. Thus, your ability to digest fat decreases dramatically—though not completely.  This is why many people without gall bladders eventually begin to experience bloating and gas after eating. They simply don’t digest fats as well as they once did.

 

But help is available!  An inexpensive supplement called Cholacol, by Standard Process, provides bile salts.  Take two when you eat a meal, and your fat digestion improves immediately.  If your gall bladder has been removed, Cholacol should be on your lifelong supplement list so that you continue to get the benefits of fat digestion.

 

How about folks who have a gall bladder, but still aren’t digesting fats well?  They fall into the group of poorly functioning gall bladders.  In these cases, I usually recommend A-F Betafood to thin the bile, thus allowing the liver and gall bladder to function better.

 

With all this talk of problems, perhaps you are now wondering, “How do I know if my gall bladder is functioning well?” Here are a few classic signs of gall bladder malfunction: 

 

	Gas and bloating after eating, especially after eating fats and oils;
	Pain at the right shoulder blade, particularly the tip of the shoulder blade; and
	Any hormonal related problem, as discussed below.

 

Gall bladder function can be further evaluated with blood tests and/or advanced imaging techniques of ultrasound and dye-injection x-rays.

 

If you find out you have gall stones, you don’t have to rush into surgery.  There are several natural substances that are thought to help dissolve gall stones, including Magnesium Citrate, Taurine, N-Acetyl Cysteine, lecithin, malic acid, Omega-3 oils (cold water Alaska salmon is a great source of Omega-3’s), S-adenosymmethionine, D-limonene, rice bran and Vitamin C.

 

So far we have discussed the gall bladder in relation to fat digestion.  Now, let’s look at the bile’s role in removing used hormones and drugs from your body.  In brief, it works like this:

 

	Used hormones and drugs are cleaned from the blood stream by the liver.
	The liver deposits used hormones into bile.
	Bile travels to the gall bladder where it is stored until you eat a meal with fat or oil.
	When you eat that fat containing meal, your gall bladder empties bile into the small intestine, where fat digestion takes place.
	The used bile is excreted in your feces, along with the used hormones and drugs. (Of course, you need good colon function to carry the feces out of the body to prevent reabsorbing the hormones and drugs excreted with the bile, but that is a different article!)

 

Why is used hormone excretion important?  Because used hormones that aren’t excreted may be reabsorbed by the bloodstream. Reabsorbed hormones then alter the amount of hormones circulating in your body, possibly giving you too much of one hormone in relation to another.  If the proportions of hormones get out of balance due to reabsorption, you can have problems.  Some of you may already be familiar with such problems if you have PMS or menopausal symptoms.  Adrenal hormones are also excreted in this way, and they affect water retention, blood pressure and your ability to handle stress.  This applies to both men and women.

 

No article on gall bladders and natural health would be complete without mentioning gall bladder flushes. While I am not advocating gall bladder flushes, I do want to explain them.  First, a warning:  Never do any gall bladder flush unless you are near a hospital.  If you have gall stones, there is the possibility of a gall stone lodging in the bile duct that empties bile from the gall bladder.  This is what leads to emergency gall bladder surgery.  Theoretically, a gall bladder flush could loosen a stone that would lodge in the bile duct.  I have never heard of this happening, but why take chances? A small comfort:  If a gall stone lodges in your bile duct while doing a flush, it would have been only a matter of time before it happened anyway.

 

Gall bladder/liver flush regimens can be found at your local health food store.  The basics are taking apple juice and acid drops for a few days, eating a fruit salad with whipping cream, then taking oil and lemon juice afterwards.  Some regimens include enemas and the use of Epsom salts.  Here is the thinking behind the regimen:

 

	Apple juice and acid drops soften the gall stones.
	Fruit salad gives the colon bulk and provides a laxative effect so that the colon is ready to excrete whatever the gall bladder empties into it.
	Whipped cream urges the gall bladder to empty all of its bile into the intestine.
	The latter dose of oil again urges the gall bladder to empty. However, as it has already emptied all its bile, it now pushes out stones.
	The lemon juice helps soften the stones so they push out more easily.
	Enemas and Epsom salts encourage colon function, thus emptying quickly all the waste that the gall bladder emptied into the colon.

 

Lots of people who have done gall bladder flushes report feeling better. However, there is a limit to the size of stones a flush can expel.  While a flush is not for everyone, if you do it, please also remember my warning!

 

So, now you know why you should treasure your gall bladder for its role in digesting fats, allowing you to benefit from fat-soluble vitamins, and disposing of used hormones and drugs. Give your gall bladder the treat of regular Omega-3 oils.  If you don’t have a gall bladder, be kind to the rest of your body by using Cholacol or another bile salt supplement.

 

 

Sandra Talt, D.C., celebrates her 20th anniversary of providing chiropractic care.  See her at the Anchorage Women's Show!  Call 337-6770 or visit http://sandratalt.chiroweb.com for more information.