Curcumin: People with SOD or Gallstones Should NOT Take Curcumin

Once you read this post about SOD, Gallstones and Curcumin feel free to throw darts at me if you have Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction or gallstones and have taken curcumin because I take it and I have seen the best of results. However ...

IF you have seen good results please hold the darts but consider being cautious :-)

I was just answering some questions for a lady on my facebook page who has SOD and I remembered something that I should have told people about curcumin so ...

This realy proves that I too can be an idiot at times and that I make mistakes. So here it is:

IF you have Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction you should NOT take curcumin or use turmeric in cooking because curcumin induces bile flow and in SOD patients this could prove to be a not so good experience. I am NOT saying that taking curcumin will cause AP (acute pancreatitis) in SOD patients but it may contribute. Since it increases bile flow and since the Sphincter of Oddi is usually narrowed in SOD patients due to possible scar tissue from passing gallstones that increased flow of bile can back up and if it backs up into the pancreatic duct it can cause AP.

People who have gallstones should probably avoid turmeric and curcumin as well simply because increased bile flow could cause a stone or stones to pass and if they block the duct then AP results.

The good news is this ...

Like I have mentioned before I used grape seed extarct and vitamin C first and it worked a miracle. I found curcumin later and added it. So curcumin may not be necessary, just a good addition and natural pain reliever for those who do not have SOD or gallstones.

Again, IF you have Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction or gallstones you may want to refrain from using turmeric or curcumin for pain relief.

Gallstones and Gallbladder Pain - What I Would Do ...

I know you are feeling ill if you have gallstones and/or an inflamed gallbladder. Gallbladder pain can become quite severe. So, I'm almost positive you'd like to know what you can do to relieve your pain.

If you have suffered acute pancreatitis recently due to gallstones you are probably still ill due to your acute pancreatitis episode as well.

If you do have gallstones, your gallbladder is most likely inflamed which will create misery even if you have NOT suffered an acute pancreatitis episode and so you may wish to find some relief in order to function half-way normally.

I'll tell you what I would do and you can do whatever you like because I am NOT a doctor but I am a 30 + year survivor of pancreatitis.

6 Ways To Relieve Your Gallbladder Pain

If it were me I'd go to the store and purchase:

1) Some fresh garlic. Garlic is a natural antibiotic but you must eat it raw for it to keep its antibiotic properties intact. The garlic will help heal any infection that maybe skulking around inside your gallbladder or at least help to keep it from progressing.

I'd eat 3 cloves per day to start. Drink some V8 juice first (I did not say eat solid food) because fresh garlic can be hard on your stomach if it's empty.

2) Grape seed extract (95% proanthocyandins). There is plenty of research on grape seed extract in regards to its amazing ability to do various things but one thing it does is to stop inflammation. It'll help the inflammation in your gallbladder and your pancreas (if you suffer with pancreatitis).

3) Curcumin extract (95% curcuminoid). Curcumin is proven to relieve pancreatitis pain and will most likely do the same with gallbladder pain because it to is a very potent anti-inflammatory.

4) Ibuprofen (motrin, advil) and take some. It will help relieve the inflammation in both your pancreas and gallbladder. If you prefer to use aspirin, aspirin works too.

5) Call your doctor and ask for nausea medication. Phenergan works really well and so does Compazine. Only take nausea meds when you need to do so. If he thinks you need a prescription antibiotic I'd consider that as well, you might ask while you have him on the phone.

6) Low fat diet. Eliminate everything with fat until your gallbladder inflammation resolves. In fact, if I were quite ill I would only be "drinking" vegetable and fruit juices until the inflammation and ALL symptoms resolved. Then I'd do the vegan thing if you have suffered from an Acute Pancreatitis episode in order to allow your pancreas to heal.

What To Do IF You Think You May Have Acute Pancreatitis

If you think you have acute pancreatitis due to gallstones the best advice I can give is to go to the ER and get evaluated immediately. Acute pancreatitis is nothing to play around with. It can become deadly if not resolved and if you have a gallstone stuck in the pancreatic duct you definitely need emerceny care.

Gallbladder Pain

So if it were me, with gallbladder pain I'd being doing the above to fight infection, stop the pain and handle the nausea.

Once your nausea and pain are under control, you need to cut out all food that triggers both gallbladder attacks and possible acute pancreatitis (if you have had acute pancreatitis).

I'm pretty sure that if I had gallstones and an inflamed gallbladder I'd find relief doing the above and would soon be able to function fairly normal after the inflammation resolved.

To keep the inflammation at bay I'd simply continue the process of low fat diet, supplements and add a little fresh garlic in every now and then to keep the bugs at bay.

Pancreatitis?

If it turns out, after a thorough evaluation at the ER, that you have experienced an acute pancreatitis attack due to gallstones you can read more about MY personal experience and how I conquered the condition with diet and supplements for pancreatitis here on this blog.

I wish you the best!

Gallbladder Flushes to Remove Gallstones Instead of Surgery?

Gallbladder flushes for gallstone removal to me is scary stuff. 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 positive risk versus benefit proof are a much more viable option than toxic drugs or dangerous surgeries. However ...

The key proven risk versus benefit

For example I promote using certain supplements to relieve Chronic Pancreatitis pain and protect the pancreas form more damage but those supplements have been proven, through various studies (you can do research via pubmed.com and verify the efficacy) to be non-toxic or very close and do exactly what they are suppose to do, which I have found through personal experience to be true.

So to resume my lack of confidence in gallbladder flushes, which I alluded to in my last post, gallstones and pancreatitis, and give you reasons for my lack of confidence simply do a search on pubmed.com for:

1) gallbladder flushes,
2) gallbladder flushes using epsom salts, olive oil and lemon juice

Or anything else you deem as an appropriate keyword or search term 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 dilates 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, and, if it doesn't make you puke, 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 dangerous, and potentially razor sharp 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, if you have had one already due to gallstone obstruction, because oil is a trigger.

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 and there is some evidence of long term risk of intestinal cancer due to the bile continually dripping from the liver directly into the small intestines but ...

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

Do research, quality research, (look for expert scientific testimony and stay away from promoters) on gallbladder flushes and gallbladder surgery in order to help you make an informed decision.

Good luck and I wish you better health!

Leave a comment and let me know you are alive!

Gallstones and Pancreatitis

One of the leading causes of Acute Pancreatitis and necrotizing pancreatitis is a gallstone or gallstones that create obstruction.

Obstruction occurs when gallstones travel down the common bile duct and get stuck in the Ampulla of Vater creating a blockage in the outflow of pancreatic juices from the pancreas into the duodenum. The backflow of these digestive juices causes lysis (dissolving) of pancreatic cells and subsequent pancreatitis.

The victim goes from unpleasant pain, nausea and possible vomiting due to gallbladder disease to an actual life threatening situation called acute pancreatitis.

This is why, if you are diagnosed with gallstones, it is a good idea to get rid of them; however, there are only a couple of ways to achieve this goal.

One way is to surgically remove the gallbladder. All surgeries carry risk and of course unpleasant side effects, from the surgery itself or the anesthesia. In fact the mortality rate for gallbladder removal in the elderly can be as high as 19% in emergency type surgeries.

My own father died on the table during a cholecystectomy (gallbladder surgery) due to cancer. They resuscitated my father but he suffered brain damage that he never quite recovered from before he died about one year later.

Another way, supposedly, to rid the gallbladder of stones is via a flush. I personally know little about liver, kidney or gallbladder flushes except that they sound unpleasant at best and potentially dangerous at worst, especially for someone already diagnosed with Pancreatitis.

Promoters of flushes say that flushing gallstones isn't like passing them normally and supposedly doesn't carry the risk of obstucting the common bile duct thereby causing gallstone pancreatitis but I personally don't have their confidence.

I have read where chemists have indicated that the passing of stones, using a flush, may not be actual stones but instead are small lumps of what is basically soap.

From what I understand the combination of oil, lemon juice and epsom salts produces a soap like formation that may look like someone is passing a soft stone but is actually passing a lump of soap.

If anyone reading this blog has concrete evidence, such as actually smashing the the so called stone with a fork (for example) to in fact determine its consistency and can actually testify as to the efficacy and safety of doing a gallbladder flush I'd like to hear it in the comment section.

I'd also like to know if there is any truth behind the usage of chanca piedra in order to dissolve gallstones. I have found some intriguing testimony for chanca piedra but I am always looking for more from those who use it versus sell it.

I have done some research and have found some intersting information in regrads to both but since I have no reason to actually do a flush or try chanca piedra it could prove valuable, to those with gallstones, to hear from those who have successfully used either remedy.

Leave a comment and let me know you are alive!

My Experience with Doctors ...

My experience with docotors isn't, for the most part, what I'd call glorious or even satisfactory when it comes to pancreatitis or diagnosing anything more difficult than strep throat.

I have found that unless a test of some sort slaps them in the face (wake up dumbshit it's ...) most are incompetent and remind me of a monkey trying to have sex with a football.

Now to be absolutely fair I know there are some docotors out there who are absolutely brilliant, but, I have only met and worked with two who have been what I'd call good to very good. Now I'm talking over a lifespan of almost 57 years!

If you start counting with my family physcian who treated me as a kid (I first started having symptoms at 16) I went through 14 doctors, including seven (7) ER docs to reach a diganosis.

Number 14 was one of those rare, brilliant men who are able to listen to their patient, take the symptoms mentioned, recall his medical training, arrive at a possibility that makes sense (fits the symptoms), order tests for confirmation and make a correct diagnosis.

ONE in 14.

7%

That is a sad percentage considering these people go to school for 8 years or more in order to receive their license to "practice."

Do you know what I get tired of?

I get tired of diagnosing myself or family members in order to point the damn doctor in the right direction just so my relative and I can get whatever treatment is needed to become well - or worse having to make myself well because the doctor either doesn't know how to do it or the AMA protocol doesn't fix it.

Hell I even had to diagnose my own appendicitis attack and removal and then the guy who did the surgery left a scar the size of a damn set of railroad tracks.

I was getting to the point where I thought a veternarian might be a better choice simply because they have to be skilled enough to diagnose something that can't speak the human language and tell them where, how and when it hurts.

Granted docotors have to learn an enormous amount of content and some of that stuff is simply mind boggling. In some cases I can absolutely undertsand where an incorrect diagnosis could be excused, even though a patient might die because have you ever tried to read an ECG?

Many people call them EKG but the correct abbreviation for an electrocardiogram is ECG. There is no K in the word. But ...

There are so many different heart problems that can show up on a 10 second ECG strip it is enough to make your head hurt and when looking at them, trying to see the little variances that can signify this or that is really difficult. Here's just an example of the stuff they need to know: ECG
But not everything is as complicated as reading an ECG.

There's an old saying that I think doctors have tedency to ignore and that is: If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck it probably isn't a pig. And yet ...

The doctors I've met, for the most part, will try to tell me it's a damn pig!

One of the doctors I made an appointment with to get a diagnosis was a gasteroenterologist (digestive disease specialist). He is still practicing, no one has killed him yet and so I am not going to mention a name simply because I don't want to be sued for libel or slander.

This guy, after I completely explained my sysmptoms, told me he didn't think it was anything serious because I was to young (I was diagnosed with panc at 25) and told me, without tests of any kind (he didn't even check me over), he thought I had a spasdic colon.

I immediately rose from my chair and said: "You are an idiot and we're done." And I left.

A couple years later (I had already met Dr. Langdon who diagnosed me properly and most probably saved my life) my mother became quite ill. My step father and I took her to the hospital nearest their home and guess who her attending physcian was? Yep, the idiot that told me I had a spasdic colon.

I said nothing, just listened.

My mother told him she had been suffering for years, he asked her a lot of questions, she told him her symptoms (upper right quadrant pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and when these symptoms most often occurred, how bad they were etc ...

This doctor told her he thought she had giardia, back packers disease, because she had mentioned camping with me when I was younger.

Well, I happened to know the symptoms of giardia and they didn't quite fit.

Close but no cigar.

I whistled, loud.

The doc, my mother and my stepfather turned towards me and I motioned with my finger for doctor boy to follow me. I turned and exited my mom's room and stood in the hall close to the nurses station.

The doc followed me out, so did my stepfather.

I walked up to the doc, who was about 4 inches taller than me, and told him to look at me real good.

I said: "We met 2 years ago do you remember me?"

He said: "No."

"Well let me refresh your memory. I came to you sick as a dog 2 years ago. Explained my symptoms in complete detail. Symptoms that should have rang bells and do you know what you told me doc?"

"Naturally I don't remember," he said "because I don't remember you."

"Well doc you said I was to young to have something serious and you were sure I had a spasdic colon. No tests, nothing, just a song and dance, stupid diagnosis. And do you know what I really had doc? I had acute pancreatitis. I could have F**(&)% died you moron. And if you don't do some tests and find out what is really wrong with my mom I'm gonna rip your head off and shit down your neck."

The doc's eyes got big, my stepfather's jaw dropped open and the nurses at the nurses station started giggling and ...

The doc recovered and asked me: "What do you want me to do?"

I responded: "I shouldn't have to tell you what to do but if it were me I'd order an ultrasound of her gallbladder to see if it's full of infection and gallstones. But whatever you do you better be right with your next diagnosis or I will beat you to death."

Turns out my mother had several large stones and a bunch of sand. She had her gallbladder removed and felt much better.

I've never seen that dumbass doctor again.

The doctor I see now is pretty darn good. At first we had difficulty but after I gave him an attitude adjustment and told him I didn't come to see him because I was lonely and need to hear my jaws flap we made damn good progress. In fact, he is beginning to restore my faith in doctors.

So there are some really fine doctors out there but I sure have had my share of idiots.

Most don't listen, don't care and keep looking at their watch like you are very unimportant. It is no wonder they can't diagnose properly.

If you have one that can diagnose and knows what to do hang on to them because those doctors are hard to come by.

Let me know you're alive, leave a comment!