Have you ever experienced gallbladder pain? If so, it’s something you won’t easily forget. The pain typically starts in the middle or upper right side of your abdomen and can last anywhere from a few minutes to several hours. It can come on suddenly and be quite intense.

If you’re fortunate, the pain may subside, but in many cases, it can come back even stronger. Some people may also feel discomfort in their back, usually between the shoulder blades or in the right shoulder.

A gallbladder attack can also bring symptoms such as mild to intense nausea, vomiting, sweating, fever, and chills. In some cases, your urine may turn dark yellow or brown, and your stools may become a dull greyish color.

Anatomy of a Gallstone

While the pain and symptoms of a gallbladder attack can feel overwhelming, the cause is often quite small—sometimes as small as a grain of sand. Gallstones are the most common reason for gallbladder pain, and they can occur in both your gallbladder and liver.

These hard, solid stones vary in color, from dark green and off-white to red. They are made up of elements found in bile produced by the liver, including bile salts, bilirubin, and cholesterol.

Gallstones can range in size and quantity. Some people have multiple small gallstones, measuring around 0.5 cm, while others may have one very large stone (up to 5 cm) or even hundreds of tiny stones, the size of sand granules.

No matter their size, color, or number, these stones can cause significant issues in your body if they start overwhelming your gallbladder.

What Does Your Gallbladder Do?

Your gallbladder is a small, pouch-like organ located just under your liver. It stores bile, a digestive juice produced by the liver. Before eating, your gallbladder typically fills with bile, expanding to the size of a small pear. After eating, bile is excreted to aid in digesting fats, and the gallbladder deflates, much like a balloon losing air.

While the gallbladder stores and releases bile, conventional medicine believes it is not an essential organ. Doctors state that many people live normal, healthy lives after having their gallbladders removed, in a procedure called a cholecystectomy.

Although there may be some minor risks, such as diarrhea or problems with fat absorption after the surgery, people have been getting their gallbladders removed since 1733, with the method becoming viable in 1878. By the 1990s, laparoscopic cholecystectomy, a less invasive treatment, became the preferred method and is still in use today.

Prevalence of Gallbladder Disease

According to a 2002 study published in The Annals of Surgery, gallstones affect more than 30 million Americans annually (about 12% of the population), leading to over 750,000 cholecystectomies. A 2012 study shows that this figure is rising, affecting about 15% of the population.

Gallbladder disease is becoming more prevalent in industrialized countries like the U.S., Europe, and Canada, likely due to changes in lifestyle, such as poor diet and lack of exercise.

Though it's possible to have gallstones without any symptoms, stones can cause your gallbladder to become inflamed, leading to pain and possibly infection. Gallstones are highly permeable and can absorb bacteria, parasites, and other organisms as they pass through the liver channel, potentially causing severe complications.

Why You Need Your Gallbladder

Despite the belief that the gallbladder isn’t essential, there’s growing evidence that removing it can lead to various issues. When bile acids are formed in the liver, they flow into your gallbladder, where they are stored and concentrated up to five times.

Normally, when fat enters the small intestine, your body signals the gallbladder to release bile, which helps emulsify the fat and makes it easier for your body to absorb. This process allows your body to effectively emulsify fats and absorb fat-soluble vitamins like A, D, E, and K, which are necessary for various bodily functions.

If you no longer have a gallbladder, bile is released continuously into your digestive tract, even when there’s no fat to digest. When bile isn’t properly released, it can negatively affect fat digestion, leading to deficiencies in fat-soluble vitamins and essential fatty acids, poor cholesterol metabolism, and the absorption of improperly digested fat.

Thus, it's important to preserve your gallbladder whenever possible by safely removing stones, rather than resorting to surgery.

How to Remove Gallstones Naturally

This simple gallstone remedy can help remove gallstones in just one day. You’ll want to make sure you have no other obligations, as this process requires you to relax at home. Eat only low-fat foods for breakfast and lunch on the day of the treatment and avoid taking supplements the day before.

Gallstone Remedy

Ingredients:

• 3 grapefruits (1 large, 2 small)

• ½ cup cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil

• 4 teaspoons Epsom salt (unrefined)

Instructions:

1. Eat your regular breakfast and lunch, avoiding high-fat foods. Don’t eat anything after 2 PM.

2. At 2 PM, mix 4 teaspoons of Epsom salt with 3 cups of fresh filtered water and refrigerate the mixture. You will need to take four doses of this mixture.

3. At 6 PM, drink the first dose (¼ of the mixture).

4. At 8 PM, drink the second ¼ of the mixture.

5. At 9:45 PM, squeeze the grapefruits and mix the juice with ½ cup of olive oil. Shake until the mixture is smooth.

6. At 10 PM, drink the grapefruit-olive oil mixture and lie flat on your back for 20 minutes without moving. The gallstones will start to flow out of your liver and gallbladder.

7. The following morning (not before 6 AM), drink the third ¼ of the Epsom salt mixture, followed by the last ¼ within two hours.

You may experience diarrhea the next day, but you will have successfully removed gallstones without needing to remove your gallbladder.

If you continue to experience gallbladder pain after a few days, consult your doctor to ensure there’s no serious issue.