Biliary Dyskinesia: Remove or Not Remove the Gallbladder?

By Peter Melamed

In the United States, every year, 750 thousand people, 10% of whom are children, lose their gallbladder. Many of them have biliary dyskinesia, a functional disorder with no inflammation or gallstones in the gallbladder, but some tests show weak contractions of this organ. Unfortunately, the pharmaceutical industry is unable to offer safe, effective, and long-lasting medications for flabby or spasmodic gallbladders. Want to know how to reduce the need for gallbladder surgery? Can we preserve the gallbladder, especially in children and young adults? This book is about that.

We don’t have unnecessary organs. After reading this book, you can restore the health of your digestive system and save your gallbladder and, possibly, your life. A missing gallbladder can eventually cause symptoms of pain and stomach upset. According to medical research, 20-40 percent of people without a gallbladder may suffer from postcholecystectomy syndrome.

This book contains various healing methods thousands of doctors and healthcare professionals use worldwide. Some of these treatments are largely unknown to the American public.

The author, Peter Melamed. Ph.D. has many years of medical experience treating gallbladder problems as a hospital intensive care physician and a holistic practitioner in an outpatient setting. He specializes in non-surgical and non-pharmaceutical treatment of digestive and gallbladder disorders. If your doctor says this has not been proven, references from other American doctors, professors, and researchers from around the world will support the author’s opinion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Peter Melamed
• Release date: Jan 17, 2024
• ISBN: 9798215718100

Peter Melamed

Peter Melamed, Ph.D. received his medical education first as a registered nurse and then as a medical doctor in Russia. He took specialized training in anesthesiology, intensive care, and internal medicine. Working as a physician, he became interested in holistic healing through his clinical experience with herbs, acupuncture, healing mineral water, and internal cleansing. He was granted a license to practice acupuncture in Russia in 1978, and from that time, he combined conventional Western medical treatment with herbs, acupuncture, and other nondrug healing therapies. In 1975, Peter Melamed established Biotherapy as a natural, holistic approach to healing. Biotherapy combines the wisdom of traditional Russian folk medicine, ancient Oriental medical therapies, and European naturopathy with cutting-edge Western technology. After immigrating to the USA and passing all the exams, Peter Melamed succeeded in starting up a private practice in 1996 at the Biotherapy Alternative Medicine Clinic of San Francisco Bay Area. He is the author of many articles and books: 1. Natural European Way of Whole Body Cleansing. Karlovy Vary Mineral Water for Healing and Rejuvenation 2. Healthy Pancreas, Healthy You 3. Natural Health before and after gallbladder removal

Book preview

WARNINGS TO MY READER

This book has been written for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to treat, diagnose, or cure any disease.

The information contained in this book is based on the training and professional experience of the Author. He also mentions some of the treatments that are widely used by physicians and practitioners around the world but are virtually unknown to the American public. Traditional medicine is now based on drugs, surgery, and high-tech tests. Unfortunately, this approach helps mainly with symptomatic treatment without focusing on the root of the problem. The Author believes and will try to prove that congestive, acidic bile is the culprit of many biliary disorders. He backs his opinion with various reputable medical references such as books, articles, and medical reviews.

The biliary system includes the liver, gallbladder, bile ducts inside and outside the liver, and the sphincter of Oddi. Biliary disorders do not suddenly fall from the sky. Like all chronic diseases, they have three stages: functional, structural, and failure. This eBook is designed to open the reader’s eyes to the fact that biliary disorders are very common. The often-heard advice, Live with it. is just plain wrong. If your car was sputtering with fumes coming out of it and you could barely keep it running, would you say, It’s fine! I’ll just live with it. Of course not! You would fix your car so that it could work properly. The same goes for your biliary system.

In this book, it can be a kind of exploration. You can see how many potential ways there are for good health and wellness. You are not fixated on only one way to solve health problems. The methods of modern medicine are not the only options. Don’t settle for less!

It is vital to make a well-informed, rational, not emotional, decision about your health. This is critical when deciding whether to keep or remove the gallbladder, especially in children, young adults, or people with silent gallstones. Once the gallbladder is removed, it cannot be reinserted.

This book is intended for parents, relatives, friends, and people with biliary tract disease who want to learn more about how to save their gallbladder. We are against self-treatment and the use of the Internet as surrogate doctors or medical professionals. The Internet can provide questionable and often dangerous recommendations. Your health is at stake. To be on the safe side, it is imperative that all treatment activities are performed under the supervision of a licensed, knowledgeable physician or team.

The Author provides remote consultation by phone [phone] or https://www.biotherapy-clinic.com/contact.html

The Author,

Peter Melamed, Ph.D.

PREFACE

This book is not for doctors but for patients, parents, relatives, and friends. The gallbladder is essential for good health. I want you to know how your gallbladder functions, how it interacts with the entire digestive team, and why you need a gallbladder.

Most people need to fully understand the vital role of a healthy gallbladder, especially when it comes to proper digestion, acid-alkaline balance, detoxification, intestinal motility and gut bacteria, cholesterol, heavy metals, and metabolism. Some people are misinformed about their gallbladder, leading to unnecessary surgeries, tests and medications, painful side effects, and secondary illnesses. This book is intended for people without a medical background. Medical jargon will be kept to a minimum. Anatomy, details, and medical data are explained so the reader can understand. A simple analogy may also help. The more the reader understands, the more accurately you can make choices regarding your gallbladder and overall health.

Traditional gastroenterology focuses mainly on the stomach and colon, not paying attention to the most responsible digestive glands, namely the liver, and pancreas. Healthy digestion is inconceivable without the unhindered movement of alkaline bile and pancreatic juice saturated with bile salts and digestive enzymes. Without properly digested food in your body, it won’t be easy to live the long and happy life you should have.

We now live in the pharmaceutical and surgical world of medicine and use high-tech tests. If there are medications, then we are talking about a disease. No drug, no disease. This is evident when it is associated with the gallbladder or pancreas. There are no safe and effective medical drugs to increase or improve gallbladder function. There is only symptomatic treatment. If it doesn’t work out, a surgeon with virtuoso technique enters the scene.

The basis of healthy digestion is the proper functioning of the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas. My e-book Healthy Pancreas, Healthy You is dedicated to the pancreas.[1] The paperback book Natural Health Before and After Gallbladder Removal deals with the entire biliary system, including the liver, gallbladder, bile ducts, and sphincter of Oddi.[3] This book will help you understand the crucial role of the gallbladder and explain what biliary dyskinesia is, how some individuals without gallbladder suffer from the postcholecystectomy syndrome.

The author of this book is a European medical doctor with many years of experience in the field of intensive care, anesthesiology, and internal medicine, combined with the wide use of so-called alternative medicine, such as acupuncture, therapeutic diet, herbs, healing mineral waters, abdominal massage, nutritional supplements, medical hypnosis, etc. One of the main reasons he wrote this book is to offer you a complimentary, alternative way to deal with biliary dyskinesia today. There are holes in the current, conventional method of dealing with this disorder. He does not want you or your gallbladder to fall through one of those holes.

If you have digestive problems, the following usually happens pain, pain, pain, so it pushes you to visit the doctor. The doctor did tests. If these are standard, routine tests, they may come back fine. You are sent for a HIDA scan if the imaging test does not show gallstones or inflammation. You have been told that your gallbladder is not working, so you need to see a surgeon. At this point, you can say Goodbye, adiós, sayonara, and arrivederci to your gallbladder, as it most likely will be removed.

Boom! Your gallbladder is gone.

But wait! You can save your gallbladder by using other proven methods to help your gallbladder regain its health.

More than 750,000 Americans have their gallbladder removed every year.[2] Will no one in this country have a gallbladder in 20 years? What is worrisome is the removal of the gallbladder in children and adolescents who did not show signs of inflammation or stones. Being so young without a gallbladder can be troubling. How will life without a gallbladder affect their health as adults? Is gallbladder removal surgery the go-to remedy?

Mother nature is not wrong. The gallbladder is not an add-on to the human body. This is not spare that can be replaced. By the way, many people without gallbladder experience pain and poor digestion. This crowd will run to medical offices and ER of hospitals for symptomatic therapy and additional surgical manipulations.

Fortunately, many people suffering from pain and indigestion due to biliary dyskinesia can improve their condition with complementary, holistic, non-surgical, non-pharmacological alternative medicine approaches. Many of these methods have been used by doctors worldwide for over a hundred years. If these methods did not work, they would not exist today. Either way, they will continue to be used throughout the world. For the skeptics to know more, the author relies on many authoritative sources from doctors, professors, and researchers from around the world.

In this book, you will get a lot of information on how to improve gallbladder function in order to save your gallbladder. It is your right to know your choice! And we want you to make the best decisions for yourself and your gallbladder in particular.

Please relax, and enjoy our book on gallbladder and biliary dyskinesia and your health!

The Author

Peter Melamed, Ph.D.

• • •

References:

[1] http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/236176; http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/240466

[2] Stinton, Laura M., and Eldon A. Shaffer. Epidemiology of Gallbladder Disease: Cholelithiasis and Cancer. Gut and Liver 6.2 (2012): 172–187. PMC. Web. 16 Feb. 2017.

[3] https://www.biotherapystore.com/product/natural-health-before-and-after-gallbladder-removal-book

WHAT IS BILIARY DYSKINESIA?

Biliary dyskinesia, What is it?

You have been told that this is the cause of the pain in the right upper quadrant (RUQ) of the abdomen. Your test shows that the gallbladder is flabby and not contracting well. But all blood and imaging tests look normal. The question is whether or not to remove the gallbladder.

This is a dilemma in which a person has to choose between bad things, going to the surgical table, or suffering from abdominal pain. This is a difficult choice. Before making any decisions, you need more information. Certainly!

No gallbladder, no problem? It’s not that easy. Mother Nature is not wrong, so cutting off organs without signs of inflammation, destruction, or stones just because it doesn’t work well is very doubtful. Many organs in our body may not function well, but no one can remove the colon due to constipation, the bladder due to urinary incontinence, the eye because of poor seeing, and so on. Why is the gallbladder a common target for a surgical knife? Let’s delve deeper into the topic of biliary dyskinesia.

Biliary means bile, Biliary system includes not only the gallbladder but also the bile ducts and sphincter of Oddi. It is an important point. In the case of biliary dyskinesia, the problems happen in the entire biliary system.

Dys means abnormal, and kinesia means movement and motion in Latin. Biliary Dyskinesia is the abnormal movement of bile in the gallbladder, in bile ducts, which are within and outside the liver, and between the common bile duct and the duodenum, also in the sphincter of Oddi. In medical literature, researchers consider biliary dyskinesia and the sphincter of Oddi dysfunction (SOD) type III to be similar conditions.

It is a very common functional disorder of the biliary system. What does functional mean? Typically, even when a person has pain and indigestion symptoms, blood and imaging test, results may come back normal. Doctors would interpret these results and diagnose a person with biliary dyskinesia. However, sometimes you are told that it is in your head, nothing wrong with you.

Nevertheless, there is no agreement among family doctors, gastroenterologists, and surgeons about diagnosis or even the name of the functional disorders of the gallbladder and biliary system. Therefore, this condition is also referred to as functional gallbladder disorder, acalculous cholecystopathy, acalculous biliary disease, or chronic acalculous cholecystitis. Acalculous means no stones. More diagnostic names that can be given are gallbladder dysfunction, gallbladder dyskinesia, spasm of the sphincter of Oddi, low-functioning gallbladder, gallbladder spasm, chronic acalculous gallbladder dysfunction, or cystic duct syndrome. As you can see, there are many different names and viewpoints on biliary dyskinesia.

This book can give you a real key to understanding what’s going on inside your body and perhaps give you a chance to save your gallbladder, digestion, and all of your health. In my first book, What causes gallbladder and biliary tract disorders? on Amazon, you will find a lot of information about this. It is the first book in a series on gallbladder health. Reading this book will open your eyes to why you have gallbladder dyskinesia.[4]

In many situations, simple knowledge of the causes and their elimination can return the gallbladder to its normal state. In my long-time medical career, I have seen it many times.

I’ll list the most common reasons.

• Whole-body acidity is a culprit of the gallbladder and biliary tract disorders

• The impaired gallbladder motility, absence of normal contraction, spasms

• The lack of natural stimulants for the gallbladder contractions

- Poor ways of eating

- Alcohol

- Some medications

• Hormonal and metabolic issues

• Parasites

• Dysbiosis (Candida-yeast overgrowth, SIBO)

• Gluten sensitivity

• Deficiency of the vital nutrients

• Genetic problems

How common are functional biliary tract disorders such as biliary dyskinesia?

Almost 20% of children complain of pain in the upper abdomen after unhealthy food. For some, this is an episode, but for many it becomes a chronic problem. It has been established that the prevalence of biliary pain without gallstones reaches 7.6% in men and 20.3% in women.[5]

Blood tests and imaging studies are normal. Doctors are trying to use a pharmaceutical approach that can mask the real clinical picture and not delve into the root of the problem. If symptomatic therapy fails, the patient is referred to a surgeon. This is where the statistics begin. 750,000 Americans lose their gallbladder each year; 10% - are children. According to medical statistics, the number of diseases of the biliary tract is increasing in an alarming proportion. Biliary dyskinesia is a disease of civilization. It’s a nod to today’s sedentary lifestyle, stress, processed foods, alcohol, drugs, medications, and more. Let’s dig deeper into what’s going on.

As you already know, Biliary means relation to bile.

Bile: Its primary functions and content

Bile production is a unique liver function vital to the body’s survival.[6] Bile is a bitter, alkaline, yellowish-green liquid produced by the liver cells 24/7. Generally, bile is redirected to the gallbladder in the absence of food in the duodenum. Here bile is stored between meals, concentrated, and prepared for the digestion of fatty foods when it enters the duodenum.

Why do we have bile? What can bile do in our bodies? It is a very important point, so let’s take a closer look.

The main function of bile is the digestion of fats. Bile salts in bile act as detergents. They break down large fat globules in food into small droplets of fat. Smaller fat droplets are more easily processed and broken down by a pancreatic digestive enzyme called lipase. The bile salts also help the intestinal cells absorb these fat droplets. Without good quality, concentrated bile from the gallbladder, people cannot properly digest fatty foods and fat-soluble vitamins. It often occurs in people without a gallbladder. This is called fatty food intolerance. Problems with the digestion of fatty foods can occur when bile is congested such as in the case of biliary dyskinesia.

The liver, our chemical factory, performs many functions critical to overall health. One of these functions is metabolism, the neutralization of toxins and harmful substances and their subsequent removal from the body. There are two important ways to do this. One makes toxins less harmful, water-soluble substances and transports them into the circulatory system. And then through the kidneys and urine out of the body. I can draw an analogy with dirty dishes in the dishwasher to dispose of dirty things down the drain to move dirty stuff into sewage.

Some toxic substances are fat-soluble. For simplicity, we will draw an analogy with cleaning the house. You have a house full of rubbish, and you put the rubbish in a pile. The trash is then collected in a bag so it doesn’t stain your home. The last process is to move the garbage bag from the house to the trash can for the garbage truck to take it out. The liver, gallbladder, and bile ducts work together to convert waste (toxins) and move it into the intestines and feces. So, the trash bag has left your house.

In this case, the liver moves them with bile and then exits through the intestines with a bowel movement. So, bile helps the body get rid of toxins, alcohol, heavy metals, pigments, drugs, and so on.

Discoveries related to bile continue. Scientists are increasingly learning about the relationship between bile and the ratio of beneficial and harmful microorganisms in the human intestine. Healthy bile, along with pancreatic juice, destroys unwanted invaders, clearing them of the duodenum. Bile stimulates the innate immune system in the gut.[7]

Lack of good quality and quantity of bile leads to dysbiosis. Dysbiosis is a condition in which beneficial bacteria disappear, and an opportunistic infection captures the gastrointestinal tract. A lot of bad things happen to digestion, immunity, hormones, mood, inflammation, etc. It’s no surprise that many people with biliary dyskinesia have problems that are very far from the gallbladder.

Another less discussed function of healthy bile is its ability to regulate blood sugar levels and predict the risk of diabetes, IBS, high cholesterol, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), heart disease, cancer, and even the risk of certain neurological conditions.

All these actions of bile really depend on the correct content of ingredients in bile.

What is bile made of?

The main components of bile are:

• Water

• Cholesterol

• Lecithin (a phospholipid)

• Bile pigments, including bilirubin

• Different fat-soluble toxic substances

• Small amounts of heavy metals and other excreted minerals

• Bicarbonate and other electrolytes such as sodium, potassium, magnesium, chloride, calcium

• Vitamins, hormones

• Bile salts and bile acids

These ingredients are known to play a role in biliary dyskinesia.

Bile consists of about 95% water, in which some components of bile are dissolved. All causes of dehydration make bile sticky and less mobile.

Bile is the main route of cholesterol excretion. Too much cholesterol in the bile leads to the formation of bile sludge or stones, causing congestion and problems with movement.

Lecithin (a phospholipid) enhances bile secretion and prevents bile congestion.[8]

Bicarbonate is needed to maintain the alkalinity of bile. The liver is an alkaline gland; therefore, bicarbonate concentration may be higher in bile than in plasma.[9]

Bile is the main excretion route for heavy metals, including copper, iron, zinc, manganese, mercury, lead, silver, and cadmium.[10]

Bile contains both water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins. Steroid hormones, estrogens, prolactin, and insulin are other important substances excreted in the bile.[11]

Finally, I will explain the vital role of bile salts and bile acids in the development of almost all digestive disorders, particularly problems with the gallbladder, bile ducts, pancreas, and sphincter of Oddi.

Bile acids and bile salts are important components of bile

Learning about the role of bile acids and bile salts explains why biliary dyskinesia occurs. It also answers how to save the gallbladder from the surgical knife and improve the entire health. The big problem is in medical and popular literature, bile acids and bile salts are called by one name, bile acids. That brings a lot of confusion. Bile acids are called unconjugated, hydrophobic, lipophilic, and secondary bile acids. On the other hand, bile salts are called in medical papers conjugated, primary, hydrophilic bile acids. Even pundits can get confused here, not to mention ordinary people without a medical education.

The author points out that the liver’s bile in a healthy state consists mainly of bile salts.[12][13]

Let’s keep it simple. Bile acids are made in the liver from cholesterol. They are very aggressive detergents, so liver cells transform them into salts with sodium and weak amino acids (glycine conjugates and taurine conjugates). Bile salts travel into the small intestine, where they assist in emulsifying dietary fats, promote the absorption of fat and fat-soluble vitamins (ADEK), and allow the fecal excretion of excess cholesterol. Before reaching the duodenum, most bile salts are collected in the gallbladder.[14]

Bile salts pass into the duodenum, where the detergent action of bile salts emulsifies fats that are broken down by the pancreatic enzyme-lipase. Bile salts also assist with the absorption of the end products of fat digestion. Bile and lipase are necessary to absorb fats properly in the small intestine. Without proper quality and quantity of bile and pancreatic lipase, there is a deficiency of the vital fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. Malabsorption causes fat to appear in fecal mass, medically known as steatorrhea.

So far, this may sound like medical mumbo jumbo to you. What is a fat-soluble vitamin? Bile acids sound like something from another planet…is it? (No! You’re safe.)

Bile salts are the good guys, and bile acids are the bad guys.

The good guys help us digest fatty foods and vitamins, kill microbes and yeasts in the small intestine to prevent overgrowth, and promote intestinal motility.[15]

These good guys are so important that a person does not excrete bile salts. As if these bile salts were a 1952 Mickey Mantle baseball card, the body stores 95% of them by reabsorbing them from the small intestine for reuse. Bile salts affect the intestinal flora and vice versa. Remember that bile salts are the alkaline component of bile with a pH greater than 7.0.

In contrast, the bad guys are very aggressive, irritating detergents that corrode and irritate mucous membranes, leading to inflammation, ulcers, and even cancer. In this case, our body does not want to retain them and removes bile acids through the colon. Too much bile acids in the colon can cause irritation and bile acids diarrhea.

Bile acids are the acidic component of bile, and bile salts are neutral or alkaline. Bile salts, combined with bicarbonate, are the alkaline component of bile. Usual bile contains 12 grams/liter of bile salts and bile acids with a ratio of 99.98% bile salts and only 0.2% free bile acids.[2] Wow! Who cares! Your body needs a lot more good guys than bad guys.

I will share with you a big secret that even many medical professionals underestimate. Keep reading!

The deficiency of electrolytes and bicarbonates in the body causes a shortage of them in the bile, which leads to a harmful change in the pH of the bile. The pH of the bile may be less than 7.0, indicating that the bile is acidic. When bile becomes acidic, there are many more bile acids (bad guys). The ratio of good and bad (99.98% to 0.2%) changes in an unhealthy way.

Acidification of bile can cause the appearance of aggressive bile acids.