Question:
Hi I am 1year 1 month post-op and about 3 months ago I had my gallblaadder removed .

   — Lindsay F. (posted on July 7, 2004)

July 8, 2004
I am going to have wls surgery next week. But some years ago I began suffering from gallbladder attacks as a result of the major weight loss I experienced from doing an Opti-fast type of regime for about eight months. The doctor who was supervising this group fast said that about 50-60% of the people who did it got gallbladder problems and usually had to have their gallbldder removed. Well, having a gallbladder attack feels like having a heart attack. Two physicians advised me to consider surgery for gallbladder removal, but at the same time warned me that the incidence of colon cancer after gallbladder removal is just huge. There is a lot of information on the internet about the bile going directly into the colon and causing cancer. It is well documented. But the doctors who told me about it said they still did the surgery frequently because people would show up in the emergency room and just beg to have the surgery. The pain of gallstones is just excruciating!!! So anyway, after much research I got some herbal tablets from Dr. Michael Tierra, that thin the bile and eventually dissolve the stones and make gallbladder surgery unnecessary for many people. I am not a doctor, but I can tell you they worked for me. I have not had one single gallbladder attack in over three and a half years. And I was having them two or three times a week for a period of nearly four years. I felt like I would rather die than live through another attack. These pills are from the company Planetary Formulas, and are called Stone Free. They are available from many sources on the internet, and also easily found in many many health food stores across the country. The researchers are also finding that many people are helped by taking aspirin daily. Because I am menopausal, I had started taking one aspirin a day for my heart anyway. So that combination really works for me. Fast weight loss causes gallstones because of the amount of fat being released is too much for the gallbladder to process. So I would recommend anyone having wls to take these as a preventive measure. But be sure to ask your physician about them first. I hope this saves someone the horrible unbearable pain of gallstones! Many blessings. Susan Q
   — Susan Q.