Shelley I have a gb question?

[Kirk]

Hey Shelley,
I am on my vacation and have run into some problems with my gb. I did a LF about 2 weeks ago. I told you about this pain awhile back but it disappeared and returned last nite. As soon as I got off the plane the pain started but is much worse today and hurts to push on gb. I'm having some indigestion along with it. I can't do a LF right now. I'm 3000 miles from home and will be gone for 2 weeks. Can you suggest some things I can do for now. I did some ES earlier and it helped a "little" bit. I don't want to take to much and I guess you know why:) If I drink apple juice or take some malic acid do you think that would help? A friend here has some Coptis from Julia Chang, do you think that might help. Should I continue doing ES, if so how much and how often. Sorry for all the questions but I don't want to spend my entire trip like this:( Thanks you. Gayle

[shelley]

OH dear what bad timing!

Coptis won't help, but apple cider, especially if spiked with apple cider vinegar, will help tons. You'll have to sip it all day for best therapeutic results. Definitely take malic acid if you have it. Take 500 mg prior to each meal you eat. If you get burning tummy, stop. If you don't, keep taking it, one dose 3x a day minimum.

Also drink peppermint tea and/or peppermint candy of any kind. Ginger/fennel/peppermint tea would be ideal.

Hot baths, massaging the area, will help too. Heating pad if you have one.

You're safe to take 500 mg of magnesium as a single dose, and can have 1-3 doses a day to keep things relaxed. If you take 3 doses, tho, try to also take some calcium, 500 mg 2x daily.

You can do a minor flush, which is 2 tablespoons of oil preferably blended with garlic cloves and ginger root. Drink that down best you can, immediately chased by a tasty sweet and tall lemonade drink, brush your teeth, and then preferably one hour later follow it with a fiber shake with laxatives, preferably cascara sagrada.

What that does is gets things moving in the right direction without putting you thru the entire strain and inconvenience of a full flush. Do it in the morning on an empty stomach and you should be able to have a full day of sight-seeing afterwards.

Hope that helps!

[Kirk]

Thank you so much Shelley. I'm doing most of what you suggested and things are much much better today. I had a few questions. Is it ok to stay on the malic acid for a two or three weeks? I plan on doing a LF when I return home and don't want anymore problems or pain. Also, I have done 14 LF's and was wondering why I haven't been able to get the stones out of the gall bladder by now? Are they harder to remove then the liver stones? If I have a really big stone in my gb what is the best way to break it down so I can get them out? Thanks again. Gayle
p.s. I'm in Reno and the weather is soooooooooooo beautiful, are you getting some of this in your neck of the woods?

[shelley]

The weather here keeps changing! We had some beautiful days but now it's all cloudy and windy again, which really irks my Vata-ness! argh!

It is safe to take malic acid long term. To be totally safe, skip it like one or two days out of seven, as there is some evidence that the stomach will slow down on the production of acid if you keep adding acids to it.

What happens to some people is their gallbladder atrophies. The tissues get so dried out, dessicated, that they lose their flexibility and become very much like leather left out in all weathers without lanolin to protect it. It can then no longer contract with the force necessary to remove large stones, it just looks like a raisin. Carefully dissolving the stones and giving the body good skin food will resolve this situation over time. And when you do a liver flush, be sure to massage the liver area by reaching under the ribs and pressing down. That will help the gallbladder contract and expel.

Good luck!