Gallstones are small stones, usually comprised of cholesterol, created in the gallbladder.
Usually, they don’t cause any symptoms and don’t require treatment.
However, if the gallstone is caught up in the duct opening inside the gallbladder, it may trigger strong and intense belly pain which can last between an hour and five hours.
This pain in the belly is known as biliary colic. Some individuals with gallstones may develop complications like inflamed gallbladder or cholecystitis.
As a result, they will experience jaundice, constant pain, and fever.
When gallstones are causing complications, a person is diagnosed with gallstone disease. Our gallbladder is a small pouch-like organ located under the liver.
The primary purpose of this organ is to store and concentrate bile. Bile is a liquid that the liver produces to aid the digestion of fats.
It goes from the liver into the gallbladder through the bile ducts. The bile remains in the gallbladder and as time goes by, its concentration increases, and its digestion of fats is better.
The gallbladder releases the bile into the digestive system when necessary.
What Are the Main Triggers for Gallstones?
Gallstones are thought to appear due to an imbalance in the chemical content of the bile inside the gallbladder.
In most cases, the cholesterol levels in the bile are too high, so the surplus cholesterol transforms into stones. Gallstones are more common than you think. However, only a minor part of these individuals develops signs.
The risk of gallstones increases if you’re overweight or obese, if you’re a female and you’ve had kids, and if you’re 40 or over.
Getting Rid of Gallstones
Treatment of gallstones is only needed if they’re causing symptoms like belly aches and complications such as acute pancreatitis and jaundice.
In such cases, surgery may be needed to remove the gallbladder. This is a laparoscopic procedure that is easily performed and the risk of complications is low.
Living normally without a gallbladder is possible. The liver will still make bile for food digestion; however, the bile will flow into the small intestine instead of building up in the gallbladder.
Some people also try gallbladder cleanses or liver flushes. These are specific diets created to prevent people from getting gallstones or to treat gallstones.
However, research on whether these cleanses really works is scarce. Proponents of natural and alternative medicine recommend it for the reduction of gallstones.
They claim that the flush helps the gallbladder remove the gallstones. In ideal situations, the gallstone is passed through the stool. If this happens, the person will have fewer gallstones remaining that cause unpleasant symptoms and may avoid the need for surgery.
There are several gallbladder cleanses. Several recipes and remedies are available.
Below, check out some of the cleanse methods suggested by the Alternative Medicine Review.
- Apple juice and veggie juice
According to this method, you should drink only apple juice and veggie juice until 5 pm.
After, you should consume 18 ml of olive oil and 9 ml of lemon juice, every 15 minutes. Do this until you’ve consumed eight ounces of olive oil.
- Lemon juice and olive oil
For this method, you’re not supposed to eat anything for 12 hours during the day.
Then, at 7 pm, you consume four tablespoons of olive oil and a tablespoon of lemon juice.
Repeat this eight times, every 15 minutes.
There are people who use enemas along with the first method to encourage bowel movements.
However, research on these methods’ effectiveness and safety is scarce. One may notice lumps in the stool that look like gallstones, but they’re actually lumps of the juice and oil from the cleanse.
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