Yes, it is scary stuff and there is a ton of what I would call bad information on the Net in regards to "natural cures." Now, please don't get me wrong! I believe that whenever possible natural, alternative remedies (if they can be proven effective and safe with true rsik versus benefit being positive) are a much more viable option than toxic drugs or dangerous surgeries. However ...

The key is in proven risk versus benefit.

For example I promote using certain supplements to relieve chronic pancreatitis pain but those supplements have been proven through various studies (you can do research via pubmed.com and verify the efficacy) to do what exactly what I have found through personal experience to be true.

So to resume my lack of confidence in gallbladder flushes and give you reasons for my lack of confidence simply do a search on pubmed.com for gallbladder flushes, gallbladder flushes using epsom salts, olive oil and lemon juice or anything else you dem appropriate and you'll find exactly what I did - NOTHING.

The thing about pubmed.com is this: they research and post abstracts (with their conclusions) on just about anything that may have validity in regrads to a solution for some particular medical problem. In the case of gallbladder flushes there is absolutely nothing that shows even one speck of promise.

The only place you'll find anything good about gallbladder flushes is from those who promote it in order to sell an ebook or something else and don't get me wrong on this point either. I too market digital ebooks online for various niche markets BUT I do NOT promote something that has no validity, promising research or could be down right harmful.

The proponents of gallbladder flushes indicate or profess it is safe. How on earth can passing gallstones be safe, especially for someone who has already experienced one episode of mild acute pancreatitis due to gallstones?

They say that the use of epsom salts diolates the common bile duct.

There is NO proof of that being true.

They say that passing stones via a flush is much different than passing them without a flush.

How is that possible? Do they think that just because you swallow a cup of olive oil that it, the oil, in some way greases the common bile duct making it slippery and the stones simply slide down the shute (bile duct) like a kid on a water slide?

That isn't possible!

The oil dumps into you stomach, then into your small intestine.

It never even sees your gallbladder or bile duct.

All the oil does is to make your gallbladder spasm like a roller coaster and spit out potentially danger stones that could lodge in your common bile duct and cause another episode of acute pancreatitis. That much oil at one time could also cause YOU to have another episode of acute pancreatitis because you have had ONE episode already and oil is a trigger.

So what about gallbladder surgery, is it safe?

No surgery is what I'd call safe.

There is ALWAYS risk.

Risk from a slip of the scalpel, risk from general anesthesia, risk from infection.

Gallbladder surgery is NOT what I would call safe, in fact, there is a mortality rate as high as 19% in elderly patients who present with emergency type senarios in need surgical gallbladder removal.

My own father died on the table while having gallbladder surgery.

He had Hodgkin's Disease, now called Hodgkin's Lymphoma and it had invaded his gallbladder. Granted this was in 1973, years ago, and there were underlying complications which attributed to his cardiac arrest. They resuscitated him but he suffered some brain damage and never fully recovered before his death about a year later.

Now, I am certainly not trying to put the fear of God in you, or scare you away from having gallbladder surgery. THOUSANDS of gallbladder surgeries are done each year in the U.S. with no more side effects than nausea and vomiting due to the general anesthesia but ...

What you need to determine, in your own mind, is which offers less risk with the greatest amount of potential benefit for you.

Good luck and I wish you better health!

Living with Pancreatitis