Hello ~
I just now stumbled onto your website as I was researching gallbladder and post-removal therapies/protocols. My boyfriend had his gallbladder removed many years ago, and, typically, was told nothing (and, granted, asked nothing) about how it would impact his digestion. Only because alternative medicine is so interesting to me did I figure out that he should, indeed, have been on digestive enzymes all this time. Also, he is quite overweight; has been his entire life, but I see that fats are largely involved and wonder if it is typical for gallbladder removal to cause weight gain or at least make weight loss all that more difficult. Does it affect metabolism? What specific supplements do you suggest? I'd appreciate any information you can give me.
Thank you for your email. While I can't tell you directly about your boy friend and his health, I can tell you what I have seen in my clinic.
Obesity and The Gall Bladder:
I don't know of a correlation between gallbladder removal and subsequent weight gain. That said, their is a correlation between obesity and frequency of gall bladder removed.
Metabolism:
The gall bladder plays very little role in metabolism in the body from an oriental medical perspective. Its fat emulsifying function only plays a role in digesting fats which we consume. It has no interaction with the fats that are in the body outside of the digestive tract from my observation. However, if the body is not digesting food properly, then the body can do very strange things.
Suggested supplements:
Digestive enzymes (I like Thorne BPP, but you may not be able to find Thorne outside of a physician's office, as they only sell to physicians directly and holistic pharmacies).
Milk Thistle Extract (Of course I like Skye Herbals the best, as I personally over see it's production and it is all that our company manufactures. It is on sale right now at our new on line pharmacy:
Milk ThistleI would start with 2 dropper fulls in hot water three times per day. I would not use a capsule style supplement as your boy friends digestion may not be able to break it down in time before it gets to the upper GI tract.
Diet: I would stick to a fairly simple diet. The one I have outlined on our website for hepatitis will work very well for post gall bladder removal as well:
http://www.skyeherbals.com/hepc/liverdiseasediet.html For more about treating the body through diet, there is a book linked at the bottom of the page which I highly recommend. You can use it more as a reference than a straight through read.
Omega Three Fatty Acids: While we usually get plenty of Omega 6 and Omega 9 fatty acids in our daily diets (possibly not if the body is not digesting them properly), Omega Three Fatty Acids can do an amazing job at decreasing inflammation and helping to balance out the body. I like flax seed oil. Make sure that it has been refrigerated and keep it refrigerated while you use it. Do not cook with Omega Three Oils as they will go rancid very fast.
In your email you mentioned Digestive Enzymes. If there is one supplement that you should definitely give your boyfriend, it is digestive enzymes. Best of luck. -Mark
