MD Cause: Unknown

MD Rx: Surgical removal of the gallbladder.

ND Cause:  Dehydration and chronic deficiencies in nutrients that the liver needs in order to make healthy bile. The emphasis here is on the trace mineral selenium, which is absolutely necessary for healthy liver function.

Discussion:  Somewhere near the beginning of the 21st-century, medical science perfected the removal of the gallbladder with a technique called "laparoscopic surgery." Prior to this invention, gallbladder surgery was a relatively big deal. A 12 to 36-inch incision in the abdomen was necessary, and you had to remain in the hospital for number of days after surgery so that you could recover properly. Gallbladder removal with laparoscopic surgery often requires no overnight stay in the hospital. It is a much easier surgical technique for the physician, and it is much less stressful to the physical body than the old-fashioned method. Because of this advancement, and because the MDs are devotees of reductionism, gallbladder removal is recommended much more frequently now than it was in the 20th century. The MDs believe that you don't need your gallbladder, you don't need your appendix, you don't need your adenoids, you don't need your tonsils, and that everyone would be much better off with titanium hips, knees, and shoulders. It is because of this archaic understanding of how the body works that the MD is quick to recommend gallbladder removal when somebody is suffering from gallstones. It is not surprising that nobody in the MD community ever asks the question “What caused the gallbladder to create stones in the first place?”

From the naturopathic point of view, gallstones are formed when the bile which is stored in the gallbladder becomes funky. That's not a medical term. It's the liver’s job to create bile. It's the gallbladder's job to store bile. If the bile which is stored in the gallbladder is of an inferior quality, stones will form there. The gallstones will dissolve when the bile created in the liver becomes healthy. The job of the wholistic naturopathic physician is to give the body the proper nutrition that it needs in order to make healthy bile.

There is a technique which many naturopathic physicians and chiropractors recommend which flushes gallstones out of the gallbladder. I do not recommend this procedure. We need to have a little bit of understanding of the anatomy of the gallbladder to know why. The gallbladder hangs underneath the liver like a small balloon. There is a tube at the end of the gallbladder which connects it to the small intestine. It is called “the common bile duct.” When food enters the small intestine, the gallbladder squirts bile through the common bile duct into the small intestine. Bile helps the body to digest the fats that we have consumed. The common bile duct has a certain diameter. Because it is made out of soft tissue it is somewhat flexible, if one of the gallstones flushed out of the gallbladder is bigger in diameter than that of the common bile duct at its maximum amount of dilation, then you run the possibility of a gallstone getting stuck in the common bile duct. If this happens, it is a medical emergency and immediate surgical intervention is required. 

Rather than take that chance that one of the stones that is flushed out of the gallbladder will be too big for the common bile duct to handle, I recommend not doing the gallbladder flush at all. Just stop eating food that is hurting the liver (The 12 Bad Foods), and swallow nutrients that help the liver to create healthy bile. This, in addition to adequate hydration should be enough over time to help the body dissolve the stones that are already there, and to not create any new ones in the future. 

My Rx: In addition to the 90 EN:

• Ultimate Enzymes: 1 or 2 caps at the beginning of a meal. The Ox-bile in this product is excellent at promoting optimal bile health.

• Selenium: 1 bottle per 100 pounds per month. Do not get more than 4 bottles per month, regardless of your weight. The dose is 3 caps per bottle per day between meals. If during the intake of selenium at these dosages you experience fishy or garlicky breath, brittle nails or unusually dry hair then cut the dose in half. For 7 days. If those symptoms persist then fall all the way back to 1 bottle per month.

• Cell Shield RTQ: 1 bottle if 100 pounds or less. 2 bottles per month if over 100 pounds.

• Good Herbs Kidney & Bladder Support: Acute dose outlined in Part 2, Chapter 6 of my book Attempt A Cure.