GALLBLADDER: not just a spare part

STOP TREATING THE GALLBLADDER LIKE A “SPARE PART”

  

Gallbladder surgery used to be associated with older people.  It was explained away by saying that (over time) the gallbladder just quit doing what it’s supposed to do and it became a problem.   Since it is not a critical component (you can live without it) the easy fix is to remove it.   While it is true that you can live without a gallbladder, that doesn’t change the fact that it serves a very important purpose.

Today, the number of young people having gallbladder surgery is alarming.  In fact, it is reported that the removal of the gallbladder is “the number one surgery in young women today”.   Sadly, the people that I’ve talked to about having surgery at a young age just shrug their shoulders and say “it’s just a gallbladder”.   Apparently we’ve led them to believe that they have spare parts while we should be giving them a biology lesson on the importance of the gallbladder right along with steps that they can take to nurse their YOUNG gallbladder back into a healthy state. 

Most people in the US undergo a surgery at the onset of gallbladder problems because they are eager to get rid of the unbearable pain, bloating, nausea and diarrhea.  THAT’S certainly understandable BUT do they get rid of the symptoms for good? Although almost 60% of the people don’t face any serious symptoms post surgery, many are not so lucky and they face various symptoms in the long run.  Here are just a few:

Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Even after gallbladder removal, the liver continues to produce bile in order to digest the fats. However, due to the absence of the gallbladder, which earlier stored bile, the bile released from the liver has no storage place to go (there goes that spare part again). So the bile is readily dumped into the intestine and digestion takes place. However, even when the person hasn’t eaten anything, bile will continue to flow into the intestines and irritate it. In the long run, this can lead to colon cancer.

Chronic Diarrhea
Some people simply can’t digest the added fat that is dumped into the intestine in the absence of the gallbladder.   Because the bile secreted from the liver has no place to get collected and gets dumped into the intestines (dumping syndrome), it also results in diarrhea. The person gets stuck with chronic diarrhea and must adhere to very strict dietary guiltiness.  This chronic diarrhea may go on for months or even years.   For some, it never goes away.

Gallstones Formation
The liver produces less bile after gallbladder removal, which is thick and sluggish and leads to pain and gallstones formation.  Some people develop gallstones after removal of the gallbladder.

For some people, undergoing a gallbladder surgery is inevitable. However, it is believed (throughout the health and wellness community) that over 70% of patients could avoid gallbladder surgery by opting for natural remedies.  Unfortunately, we live in a disposable society and most people have their gallbladder removed without seriously considering the natural options available.  I encourage you (and the young people in your life) to carefully consider a holistic approach to treating gallbladder “issues” before rushing out to discard of this organ that was clearly designed to be a part of a healthy functioning body.  Nope…we weren’t born with spare parts.