About gall stones

Hello,
I am new to this group. I had my first gallstone attack about 2 1/2
weeks ago. I didn’t know what it was — had chest tightness/pain,
pain between my shoulders, nausea and vomiting. I went to the ER
and spent a horrible time there. I am now about 34/35 weeks
pregnant, so I was about 32 weeks pregnant at the time. The doctor
did a lot of tests — an EKG, a chest cat scan, and a chest x-ray.
Ultimately, he said I was having heartburn and pregnancy related
nausea.
This is my third pregnancy and I KNOW this was not what the
doctor was diagnosing. I was very tired from not having slept all
night, frustrated and still vomiting a lot. I was also upset for
having agreed to so many tests that are best not done during
pregnancy (though later in pregnancy the risks are not as high). As
a precaution, the doctor sent me up to Labor and Delivery to have

the baby checked. A nearby nurse said that she thought I had
gallstones. I mentioned this to the nurse in L&D. They wanted to
do an ultrasound to make sure the baby was ok — so they decided to
go ahead and look at my gallstone too.
My gallbladder apparently has lots of stones and sludge. They gave the
ultrasound report to the ER staff and then they added the gallstone problems to
my “heartburn” diagnosis. They said I would need surgery but it
could wait until after the baby is born. I had a follow-up appt
with my regular family doctor and she said pretty much the same
thing — gave me a referral to a surgeon. I am not one who just
accepts things my doctor tells me and had been doing some research
about gallbladder surgery, as well as some alternatives to dealing
with gallstones. I mentioned the alternatives, but my doctor
brushed them aside. I don’t agree with her and I feel like I would
like to try cleansing and other measures first.
I am surprised by how common gallbladder surgery is. Both my mom
and step-dad have had their gallbladders removed and now seem almost
alarmed that I told them I am looking at other ways of approaching
this instead of surgery. I think they think I am afraid of having
surgery. Well, of course I know there are risks to any surgery and
am reading about the risks in this particular surgery. My mom said
she is a “gallbladder expert,” but I don’t think she read anywhere
about people having bowel problems and higher cholesterol after the
gallbladder is removed.
At leave five people have told me that they just had the surgery and it was so
easy. They raise their eyebrows when I respond that I am going to try other
measures before the surgery. *sigh* I should be used to this sort of thing
because not all of my childbirthing choices line up with mainstream thoughts,
but I do get so tired of how people are so quick to believe/accept
anything a DOCTOR says as the gospel truth.
I have been trying to make dietary changes to avoid further
attacks. I have read/heard about avoding so many different things
(some even conflicting). I think this will be a learning journey
for me and I hope I don’t have to learn the “off limit” stuff the
hard way. For now, I am trying to make sure I don’t eat too much
fat (eating non-fat or low fat protein sources). I am also trying
to watch refined carbs/sugars…which is my big downfall. I am also
limiting soy protein, which is something I tend to rely on as a
source of protein. Apparently, soy protein leads to an increase in
estrogen — and between being pregnant and being me (an estrogen
dominant person), I don’t need any more estrogen. I have read about
various foods that are supposed to help, such as radishes, beets,
lemon juice, and apple juice.
I have to say that I am a little depressed to think about living a highly
restrictive diet for the rest of my life. In some ways, it does seem just
having the gallbladder removed would be easier, but I sort look at this as a
wake up call to make some changes in my life. I think God gave me
this gallbladder for a reason — maybe even if that reason is a way
to keep my diet in check. I am taking a few supplements to help:
milk thistle/dandelion combo and lechitin. Since I am pregnant, I
am not doing too many herbal remedies because it is hard to know
what is safe and what is not. I am also nursing (two year old) and
will nurse my newborn too — so it may be quite some time before I
can do too much in the way of herbal treatments.
I would like to do some cleansing. My midwife is sort of leaving
this up to me. Another midwife that works with her says it will be
fine to do now. She did cleansing during pregnancies and had quite
good results. The main concern is that the cleansing *could* send
me into labor. I am thinking about waiting another couple of weeks
so it won’t matter if the cleansing starts labor for some reason.
My midwives don’t feel the amount of oil is anywhere near what you
would use if you were taking castor oil to try to start up labor. I
kind of want to do it BEFORE the baby is born because I feel it will
be easier than trying to do it AND take care of a newborn. I am
unsure though and any feedback about this is welcome. My chiro is
very supportive of cleansing and thinks most gallbladder surgery is
unnecessary. I guess I need to keep searching for a family doctor
who is more open to alternative choices…or who at least doesn’t
want to send me to a surgeon without trying other remedies first.
Rondi