This is my first post. I read through a lot of posts and looked at the messages and decided to do it last weekend. Figured when the next guy like me comes along they will want to hear as many stories with the sordid details that they can. I will describe everything so it may be long.

I am 34 and have only experienced what I believe to gallbladder pain a few times. 3 to be exact. And all within the last 3 years. One was after eating a bloomin' onion at Outback steakhouse. The other two times were after gorging myself on the chips (so fried they were wet) at two mexican restaurants. I have also had quite a few times in my life (during fat free diet in 80's and a horrible vegetarian experience) at which I got very yellow in places such as my palms and the whites of my eyes. I had come to this website or one like it a few years ago and remember wondering if I had Gallstones because of the first gallbladder pain and the fact that if I ate any oil, even olive, I couldn't seem to digest it. My stomach would blow out like a balloon and my face would actually swell. I had the feeling that the oil that entered my bloodstream was supposed to travel around, go to the liver and dump into my intestines but that something was blocking it like a rock in a hose and so it would back up in my. Anyway that is how it felt. And I also started gaining weight. About 30 lbs in very short amount of time. Especially when I ate fat or calcium in any form.

Eating Calcium made things worse so I started taking a Magnesium supplement since it gets rid of excess calcium and I thought maybe I just had an excess of Calcium. After a week on this I doubled my dose and wham! Pain below my ribs on the right side. Not horrible pain. Just a pinch. But it reminded me of what my mother said after I convinced her a while back to take a magnesium supplement. She said she was afraid because it irritated her gallbladder. (Her doctor told her she had a few Gallstones after an x-ray but miraculously told her to let it slide and didn't tell her to get rid of it..)

Knowing Magnesium is a bowel relaxer and that it gets rid of harmful calcification I realized I probably had Gallstones and I needed a whole lot more Magnesium to overcome the gallstone blockage.

I doubled up my magnesium (citrate, aspartate) and bought the apple juice the next day. I decided to go slow and just added a lot of apples and apple juice, preserves, etc... to my diet for a few weeks to soften things up before I started my flush and to take the magnesium to start loosening things up in the gallbladder.

Finally, on Saturday, I woke up and decided it was the day. I started the morning with some sprouted whole grain bread and apple sauce/preserve spread from Trader Joes and an apple and since I was already noon decided that would be my last meal of the day.

At 6:00 I took my first dose of chilled Epsom Salts ala the Clark method and waited around and took the next dose at 8:00. I didn't like the taste at all but it was much better chilled in my opinion. I put a little lemon in. Between 8 and 10 I got rid of the last of the normal bowel contents and started the diarrhea. I was cleaned out. The timing of the last was dangerously close to the 10:00 olive oil time but made it out in time. Immediately took the Olive-Oil (1/2 cup) mixed with quite a few squeezed grapefruits mixed in. Only juice of course. Used a raw honey chaser after every gulp. 2 total. Went to bed and laid down as per Clark's instructions. On back. Facing up. No movement whatsoever, except hands in my case, as I was on the internet (cheating?). Now I had already experienced tenderness in the gallbladder that day. In fact I had started to have more and more olive oil over the week and the day before had felt tenderness. After the Epsom Salts it really kicked in. Now my pain has never been that bad and this was no different. It actually was great because I could feel it working. I knew what was going on down there.

Well, when I got in my bed it was show time. I can't say it was specific enough that I could actually feel the stones as they made their way down. For me it was a no pain pinching sensation like a tightness. It was obvious what was going on. I felt that tightness any time I really thought about it and concentrated on my body and also times when I did not. Certainly nothing to be worried about. Then after an hour or two it kind of went away.

I was planning on sticking to the Clark method but while I lay there (not sleeping because I don't usually go to bed that early) reading posts on this website I decided that I wished I would have done the "extreme" method with two cups of olive oil. I decided that would be foolish for my first one so I decided to just double up and take another 1/2 pint (with grapefruit juice again) just to be sure I got some out. I don't know if this helped or not but I immediately felt more tightness so I was glad. btw I had no trouble with nausea at all.

Next morning woke up after sleeping soundly and not going to the bathroom all night and still didn't need to go. Took my epson salt (two doses, one 2 hours later that the first) and busied myself doing other things.

When it was time I really didn't think anything aside from water would come out. So as I sat there enduring the odd sensation of "urinating out my #$%$#" I was pleasantly surprised that something very hard came out followed by some more hard things.

Lo and behold I gazed at my first gallstones to be expelled. Some pea sized, some almond, some as big as the end of my thumb, some wrapped up in very sandy slightly yellow dry substance. I would say a modest 50. Not a whole lot but very satisfying indeed. I was amazed at how green and waxy these were. I tried to post them but I have a mac so I will do it later on my pc. I cut one open and knew this was definately gallstone material. I've had a whole lot of olive oil in my life and I have never seen anything like this. I am very satisfied and look forward to doing another very soon. Maybe even within the week.

So if you are on the fence and you are unsure.... do it! Take your time, soften them up, enjoy the ride.