Gallbladder Sludge CURED
I'm posting my story so that others may potentially benefit. Sorry this is so long. About three years ago, I started noticing an intermittent twinge-like pain under my right ribcage. Eventually I realized the problem was my gallbladder and I had an ultrasound which showed sludge.
I was advised to have surgery but opted not to because I wanted to keep my gallbladder. I read everything I could find. I tried many different things, so I am not sure what things helped most though I have some ideas. After about a year of trying various alternative approaches, I was still in pain, so I had another ultrasound. This new test showed no sludge. I also had a HIDA scan which produced a ejection fraction of 83%, which is high.
When I have a health problem, I approach it from the question, what is the underlying cause? In this case, one big clue is that women in their 40s are the most frequent sufferers of gallbladder problems. So why is THAT? This is my theory. I found scientific studies that showed that estrogen reduces gallbladder contraction. Women in their 40s are typically estrogen-dominant. I was certainly estrogen-dominant as I had my hormone levels tested several times during this period. So one of the things I did was to take a supplement designed to help the body detox excess estrogen. It is available from Raw Forest Foods (I have no association or connection with this company). This is something that one only needs to take for a short time. Read about estrogen dominance and how to detox from estrogen overload.
Another thing I did was to quit eating eggs. Eggs are the number one problem food for gallbladder sufferers. I also steered away from fats in general except for extra virgin coconut oil. WHY? Because coconut oil is a medium-chain fatty acid that is metabolized directly-it doesn't need to be emulsified by bile and isn't processed in the liver.
I also took a number of supplements including taurine and lecithin. See this post, which I think was key in my recovery (//www.curezone.org/forums/am.asp?i=179234). I also took NAC some, but I think the taurine was more important. I also used apple cider vinegar. And I ordered some Chinese herbs from Sensible Health. I grew tons of beets and ate them all the time. I also took magnesium citrate. I started taking olive leaf extract every day too. And I did do maybe three liver flushes, but I don't think that these were necessary or helpful. In fact nothing really helped all that much until I addressed the estrogen dominance.
After awhile, I started to feel intuitively that I should massage the area around my GB. When I was in bed, I would take very deep breaths that I would exhale with a sigh. This is a yogic breathing technique. Sometimes I could feel my gallbladder relax and release-it felt like something squirting in that area. I would also press firmly on the area, pushing in on the exhale of a deep breath. After doing this for a couple of months, I realized that I no longer felt constant uncomfortable pressure in my gallbladder as I had before.
I still had pain though. I went through a tough period when my GB was overactive. I had diarrhea and food ran straight through me. So I then went on an elemental diet for a couple of months just to give my entire digestive system a rest. After this period of rest, I cautiously introduced solid foods again, focusing on a clean Paleo-type diet.
Every now and then I would still feel pain, but over time it became less intense and less frequent. Now I am completely pain free and can sit down and eat a plate of bacon with no issue (not that I do so very often).
I believe that my gallbladder became stagnant from estrogen dominance. Once I corrected the estrogen dominance, I was able to use supplements to dissolve the sludge (apple cider vinegar, lecithin, and taurine seemed key). Massage and yoga also helped get things moving, but at first everything was moving too fast, the GB was overactive. But over time that calmed down.
I believe that I saved my gallbladder, in spite of what doctors will say. It took two years but now I am fine. I still don't eat eggs and I do stick to a very clean Paleo diet. Like I said, I am not sure which things I did helped the most, but in the end I still have my gallbladder. And I also have objective proof that I cleared the sludge from my gallbladder. So if you are suffering from this problem don't give up!