Gallstones and LCHF help :-(

Long time no see l am still around just getting on with lchf..or l was. Doing brilliant my latest HBA1C was 5.5 my overnight fasting glucose was 5.6

They sent me for a scan (went Tuesday)as my liver enzymes were raised... Big smile from Scanner lady at the "Classic" gallstone
Not a big smile from me.

l have had the odd pain now and again l know what it probably was. Very intermittent, haven't seen the dr yet just scanned on Tuesday. l am refusing surgery unless have to as in extreme pain and if avoidable l want to keep my gall bladder if l do have to have an operation. Just see me in hospital oil and water carbs and more carbs  

l am once again doing a huge change around.
Going to just chicken and fish.
Lots lots more veg
Up my mixed berries but use chia and flax only on that, in fact chia and flax on other meals as well.
Extra virgin olive oil toppings and a lemon a day and drink loads more water and fruit tea.

Dump cream, cheese, fat, red meat I had already stopped bacon was costing a fortune fatty foods.

I don't want to give up eggs so will keep close eye gone from 2 fried to 1 light fried for breakfast and 2 cherry tomatoes grilled and mushrooms grilled.

Every diet sheet l read has opposites on. One will say avoid Avo's next says eat them
Next no tomatoes next eat them. You name a veg and every sheet will say yes the other no.
So l think it is see how l get on go for loads of esp. darker veg.

Having said that any ideas would be welcome please.
Both food and treatment and also anti pain (for if l do get it) ideas
Anything at all you can think of to help guide me.

Poor Andy is doing his nut, finally got hang of LCHF now l am changing it again.

Mud Island Dweller wrote:Long time no see l am still around just getting on with lchf..or l was. Doing brilliant my latest HBA1C was 5.5 my overnight fasting glucose was 5.6

They sent me for a scan (went Tuesday)as my liver enzymes were raised... Big smile from Scanner lady at the "Classic" gallstone
Not a big smile from me.

l have had the odd pain now and again l know what it probably was. Very intermittent, haven't seen the dr yet just scanned on Tuesday. l am refusing surgery unless have to as in extreme pain and if avoidable l want to keep my gall bladder if l do have to have an operation. Just see me in hospital oil and water carbs and more carbs  

l am once again doing a huge change around.
Going to just chicken and fish.
Lots lots more veg
Up my mixed berries but use chia and flax only on that, in fact chia and flax on other meals as well.
Extra virgin olive oil toppings and a lemon a day and drink loads more water and fruit tea.

Dump cream, cheese, fat, red meat I had already stopped bacon was costing a fortune fatty foods.

I don't want to give up eggs so will keep close eye gone from 2 fried to 1 light fried for breakfast and 2 cherry tomatoes grilled and mushrooms grilled.

Every diet sheet l read has opposites on. One will say avoid Avo's next says eat them
Next no tomatoes next eat them. You name a veg and every sheet will say yes the other no.
So l think it is see how l get on go for loads of esp. darker veg.

Having said that any ideas would be welcome please.
Both food and treatment and also anti pain (for if l do get it) ideas
Anything at all you can think of to help guide me.

Poor Andy is doing his nut, finally got hang of LCHF now l am changing it again.

Sorry to hear that MID it's not something I've not come across before among those I know on a LC diet though I suppose given your experience it is a possibility.

Suggested reading if you've not already seen it is "Gallstones and Low Carb" by doctor Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt 
http://www.dietdoctor.com/gallstones-and-low-carb

Best of luck and please keep us updated

@Mud Island Dweller

Hi MID ... great to see you here, but obviously sorry to hear you are having problems with Gall Stones.

I know Graham has given you a link to Diet Doctor another one that may be helpful is this:

https://www.cabothealth.com.au/safe-follow-lower-carb-higher-fat-diet-gallbladder-problem/

Do please keep in touch ... and wishing you

All the best Jan

Hi and many thanks they look excellent will go have a mooch at them :-D
Yes l will keep you updated on how food goes. Had a letter today go to see my dr regards bloods week after next. I am cancelling that will go when they have scan results back as not doing 2 trips and also see other dr the one down for me to see is the one l had the screaming argument with regards statins.

He will insist l have my gall bladder removed and that is only a last resort and at the point he waffles on about operations he and l will have another screaming row.

And at a quick look both have increased my confidence l was going better fats rather than the slam them all l follow so coconut and extra virgin olive oil but also eat them at more set times so try for breakfast and lunch so l can exercise to help things move. Both the sites seem to indicate yes thats a good move :-D

In retrospect I passed my first gallstone while eating an Ornish style high carb low fat grain based vegan diet. I just assumed it was some form of food poisoning.

I had more over the years while dutifully eating HCLF. Obviously they were blamed on "eating too much fat". Anecdotally I knew several people who'd also developed them on low fat diets - I hadn't realised how common this was until reading that Diet Doctor blogpost, or the mechanism that causes them - lack of demand for bile causes it to stagnate and then crystallise in the gallbladder.

I had literally hundreds of small stones - remember Surprise peas? - and ended up passing them almost on a nightly basis until after five years a doctor finally sent me for an ultrasound scan.

The problem is that when you have developed stones, fat will cause the gallbladder to contract and expel them, which is agonising.

I was told (over 30 years ago) that they could be dissolved with drugs, but would probably return unless I had the gallbladder out. Depends to a degree on the type of stone(s). If you can I'd strongly suggest a second opinion. Today's operations are usually laparoscopic so you wouldn't be in hopsital that long but even so it's a place worth avoiding, especially the food.

Sympathies!

Thanks Chris l have decided unless it is an emergency l am not having my gallbladder out. I am going for high quality fats and things like lemon juice, vinegar to help. I do have high cholesterol (according to the Dr but it is coming down slowly. l recon cholesterol is the one l have, but my diet before T2 was the perfect gallstone builder along with cholesterol.

I think it has been there a long time reading it says 8 years before symptoms develop and now l am aware and taking steps l am not going to be bullied into anything. My bloods may not be great on my follow up hence the drs going into panic mode. I am guessing as l got a letter not a phone call but within 4 days of having my bloods done, but as l didn't know and so have had 2 months normal LCHF l am not worried .... yet :-D

My DN is shocked at my hba1c and the dr told me basically l would end up on insulin so as that is now solved l just need time (provided my body helps) to get gb under control.

low carb brings down liver ggt. High carb puts it up, one wonders if high carb produces gall stones?
O.t.h. a lot of fat in diet causes gall bladder pain when one has gall stones.
Gall bladder colic can be extremely painful
regards
Derek

I actually met some very clueful consultants - back in the early 80s, long before Gerald Reaven, one had pretty much figured out Metabolic Syndrome, and epigenetics - but of course blamed everything on fat when in retrospect it was the carbs. Be worth researching if there are treatments that will dissolve the stones - there used to be drugs, and ultrasound and lasers were used to break them up to be passed, but the consensus of opinion was that the stones would only recur unless the gallbladder was taken out. In retrospect of course they did when the treatment was a low fat diet <sigh>

I also had major dyslipidemia - low HDL, high LDL and sky high trigs - which was no doubt part of the cause, and again was blamed on "too much fat" when in fact it was the carbs/high insulin to blame.

Whatever, best of luck!