There's 12 signs that your gallbladder is in trouble, but the most common sign over 80% of the time is a symptom called asymptomatic, which means no symptoms. The great majority of the time, people do not have any clue that they have a gallbladder problem. However, even though there's no major symptoms, there are all sorts of clues that I'm going to cover that will tell you what's going on with the gallbladder.
The gallbladder is a very, very important organ. It's not an extra organ that we don't need. It's a storage place for bile so it can concentrate. So every time you eat, the gallbladder contracts and then that bile is secreted into the small intestines and it helps extract certain fats like fat-soluble vitamins and nutrients.
It helps you break down fat. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. There's many other things that it does.
Number one, it's antibacterial. So in other words, it keeps the bacteria out of the small intestine to prevent this overgrowth or fermentation that can occur. And it's very common with people, especially if they eat fiber or a big salad and they feel bloated, they could have something called SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.
And that's probably because they don't have enough bile to act as a kind of a... anti-detergent, antimicrobial to flush that out. And then what happens is this bile goes all the way down this tube, which is quite long, and then it gets reabsorbed right before the large intestine.
And it actually gets reabsorbed 18 times. So your body is very efficient and it recycles bile because it's very, very important. But if this bile is not the right texture or the right thickness, let's say it's too thick, it becomes sludge. If it becomes too concentrated, you get gallstones, and then you can start plugging up the little tubes.
They're called bile ducts, and then everything kind of backs up. So I'm going to go through these signs. Most of them are a bile deficiency symptom because there's a blockage of some sort, but there's one that is a bile excess, especially if you had your gallbladder removed.
So just to let you know, a stone, a gallstone, is a super concentrated... cholesterol stone normally. And that stone occurs because we have a lot of concentrated cholesterol and, and this is the most important thing to know, you don't have enough bile to keep it flowing or to keep it thin. So this bile helps break down cholesterol.
So really a gallstone or bile sludge is a deficiency of bile for some reason. And I'll get into the reasons. So anyway, this sludge backs up.
or it plugs something up, or it obstructs something. And because these little tubes can distend or stretch, so they have stretch receptors, and when they stretch too much, it can create something called visceral pain, which can feel like a deep burning or gnawing or tightness underneath the right rib cage. It can also definitely make you feel nauseated. Now, because there's a nerve...
that's connected to your diaphragm that goes up to the right side and the left side, but we're going to focus on the right side. If there's pressure on that gallbladder, there's going to be pressure underneath your diaphragm and on something called the phrenic nerve, and that's going to refer pain right here, right in this area, right through in here. And it can literally create a tightness to the point where it can pull these vertebrae out of place and pinch the nerve and actually cause pain down the right side. I've seen it so many times in practice. It can also back up the liver and cause the liver to kind of get congested and cause pain in the back part between your scapula and the spine and the rhomboid muscle right back over here.
And I've had that for probably 12 years. I didn't know what it was. I would get it adjusted because I was a chiropractor. Probably had, I don't know, maybe 5,000 adjustments and it would give me some relief and then it would just keep coming back over and over and over. So Anytime you go to a chiropractor and you get treated and you have to keep going and keep going, suspect there could be something else behind it, like referred pain, usually related to something you're eating or some digestive issue.
Now, you can also have a blockage as it crosses over into the pancreatic duct and cause pain on the left side too. So whether it's the left side or the right side, suspect gallbladder or bile duct sludge. And there's another really good one. a clue to know that you don't have enough bile, and that would be the color of your stool. Normally, it should be brown.
When you lose bile, it's going to become more light, like a pale color or even a gray color. And usually, your stool will float because you're not digesting the fat, so then the fat is going to just... accumulate undigested and make your stool float. That's probably one of the best clues that you don't have enough bile that you might not feel, but you can observe that. And then as a remedy for that, you just want to take more purified bile salts to give your body more bile so then you can actually start digesting fats.
Another common symptom would be itchiness. It could be anywhere in the body and many times it's at night. for some reason.
Now, the next one is different. This one is too much bile, which normally happens after you have the gallbladder removed. And then now we don't have anywhere to control it. So now they're just a constant trickle. And sometimes it can actually be too much.
And so that symptom would be diarrhea, watery stools, and no control over your bowel movements. And with that problem, you're going to have to go to the doctor and they're going to give you a certain... medication to slow down this bile production.
Another sign that you have a gallbladder problem is that your urine is dark, yellow, or it could even be a brown type coloring because part of your bile is a waste product of your red blood cells. And so it can cause a different color of the urine and stool. If there's a stone involved and it's backing up the bile into the liver and out through the skin. you can develop jaundice. So that's where your skin is yellow and the whites of your eyes are yellow as well.
Another symptom would be vomiting. I mean, just think about if you have a blockage in your bile ducts and it's backing up into the liver, you're going to have a sick stomach. And because excess bile causes diarrhea, a deficiency of bile will cause constipation because there's no lubrication there. But I think we should talk about what can cause the gallbladder to be in trouble. Interestingly, when people have a gallbladder, they're told to not consume fats.
Go on a low-fat diet, which is not the right answer because what triggers the contraction and release of bile is fat and protein. When someone goes on a low-fat diet, they're at risk for developing gallstones. If you have gallstones, taking a little more fat.
is not a bad thing. It's going to increase more production of bile. Another common thing that can cause this problem is birth control pills or the spike in estrogen from being pregnant or any type of estrogen therapy. Another thing would be high levels of cortisol.
That could be from stress or it could be from the drug prednisone. Insulin is another cause. If you are on a high carb diet and you have high levels of insulin... you're more susceptible to having gallstones.
And this is why a lot of diabetics who are basically probably doing too many carbs have more problems with gallstones. And also certain type of medication that remove or block acid from the stomach, like PPIs, can put you at risk for having gallstones, probably because that hydrochloric acid is another trigger for the release of bile. because as that protein and fat is going into the stomach, it's going to tell the liver to, let's go ahead and make sure we have enough bile stored in the gallbladder to be able to digest this fatty piece of meat. So if you're removing the acid from the stomach, you might not get the signals. And so in some people, the way to actually get the bile back is to fix the stomach, add more hydrochloric acid in the form of betaine hydrochloride.
So it's important to have a full knowledge of the gallbladder and all the potential causes. So you could... find out what your cause is, and then tailor make it to what caused your actual problem. Because as you can see, there's a wide range of things that can cause a problem with this. Now, there's an interesting relationship between melatonin and bile.
People that have low melatonin, they have enhanced cholesterol turning into a stone. Now, in Chinese medicine, they use bile salts to help reduce fever. Bile salts can also be used as an anti-inflammatory. Bile salts can help you get more absorption from the fat-soluble vitamins, vitamin A, D, E, and K. And bile salts can also help prevent the excessive growth of microbes to keep the microbes in check.
What do you do if you have some of these problems? I would recommend to take some form of purified bile salt right after the meal. I'd probably take one or two.
And then on an empty stomach, I would take something else called Tudka. Tudka is a very specialized type of biocell that works better. on an empty stomach because it starts to thin the bile.
And it's really good for a lot of problems, especially that sludge. And the problem is if you took it with a meal, then it's going to work more on the dietary food and not what's happening inside your liver and your body, which is usually either a stone or sludge. Now fiber, like I'm talking about salads, can also help with this condition as well because it's really good for the liver.
and it does help to balance out the fiber as well as the cholesterol potential for developing into a stone. And lastly, don't go on a low-fat diet. I already mentioned fat and protein increasing the production of bile, but I didn't mention this. Ketones, which are a byproduct of fat, can also help contract that gallbladder. So ketones can help increase the production of bile as well as the gallbladder contracting to release the bile.
So now that you have this information, there's other causes of bloating other than the gallbladder being an issue. And if you haven't seen this video, I think you'll be quite interested.