Gallstones on Keto and IF Diet

(Michael Silva) #1

Hi, I’ve been on a daily IF Fast (18 hours) and Keto Diet for about 1 year. Recently I started to feel a fullness in my stomach and pain under sternum after eating a High Fat meal especially at night wich led me to have to go to a hospital on 2 ocasions on one month. Fatsre an Ultrasound a large 2.5 cm gallstone was detected and now I’m going to have to remove my gallbladder in a couple of weeks. I think my diet had an important role to play in this situation.

Anyone had a similar situation? If so what did you do? Any links to articles online where I can read about this aparent link? Thanks!

New Keto follower, first post
Holy Gallbladder Batman
Worried and scared
(VLC.MD) #2

Fat intake triggers the gallbladder.
Don’t go overboard on fat until you get your lap chole done.

Is preventing the operation a possibility ?

Hard to say.

A low fat diet can reduce gallbladder symptoms.

Maybe what you need is to get the pesky gallbladder out and the you can LCHF your way to health !

(Khara) #3

This is anecdotal but since going low carb I’ve had fewer, almost no, gall stone “attacks”. Back when I was high carb I had read somewhere that years of eating extremely low fat was actually problematic and possibly causal to forming gallstones. Maybe the doctor can chime in here? My understanding of it was that with so little fat coming in, the gallbladder rarely triggered the release of bile to digest fat and thus would get gummed up or sticky and form gallstones. I read this years ago, not sure where, but it made complete sense to me at the time as I had been eating extremely low fat for 25-30 years. My gallstone attacks would then be after a special occasion of overindulgence. With 2 years now on intermittent Keto, I think I’ve noticed gallstone discomfort maybe twice. It seems to be another benefit of this WOE. I’ve been wondering if with the constant cycling of ingested fat being the norm now maybe/hopefully the gallstones are decreasing in size or possibly passing.

(VLC.MD) #4

Could be !

Risk factors for gallstones are 4 Fs
Fat
Female
Fertile
Forty

(Khara) #5

Oh great. Just hit the 40. :crossed_fingers:t3:The symptoms don’t come back.
Kinda refreshing you agree that low fat could be an issue. It just made such sense with my personal experience. Also, looking at the bigger picture of human physiology - the gallbladder is here and I assume meant to be used! Gives me one more reason to believe we should eat rather than avoid fat.

(Michael Silva) #6

Unfortunately, I have no chance of avoiding Gallbladder removal. I hope to get back to an adequate diet after it’s removed.

How about Fasting? Doesn’t fasting also lower gallbladder activity therefore upgrading the chance of gallstones?

(VLC.MD) #7

It could.

IF / Keto is such a major tweak to the SAD, a lot of the regular rules of medicine may apply or not apply.

(Allan L) #8

Why don’t you try and contact Dr Jason Fung or his team on https://idmprogram.com/ ?

Maybe they could offer some remote advise before you embark on such a radical path? I’m not saying its the wrong path but getting a more opinions from people is not going to hurt.

All the best

(Michael Silva) #9

Thanks to everyone who took the time to help me out!

Best Regards!

(VLC.MD) #10

Liver Pancreas and Gall Bladder Structure and Function

Following a very low fat diet can sometimes cause more stones to form. Instead, eating a diet that is lower in fat (but still has some fat) is often recommended to try and reduce symptoms.

https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/digestive-diseases/gallstones

Rapid weight loss. As the body breaks down fat during prolonged fasting and rapid weight loss, the liver secretes extra cholesterol into bile. Rapid weight loss can also prevent the gallbladder from emptying properly. Low-calorie diets and bariatric surgery—surgery that limits the amount of food a person can eat or digest—lead to rapid weight loss and increased risk of gallstones.

(Elizabeth) #11

I never knew I had gallstones until I got to my goal weight on keto and started having gallbladder attacks, apparently this is a common thing. My Dr told me I needed to have my gallbladder removed, but I wanted to try a natural approach first. I did a gallbladder flush and collected over 1/2 cup of stones (looked like fish tank gravel). I was told that I would probably have to do it again in 6 months because more stones would still be around.

I started having attacks again 6 months later and did another flush. There were lots of stones, but less than before. I’m going to keep doing them until I don’t see any more stones.

I blame my low fat/high carb 20’s and the contraceptive pill!

(VLC.MD) #12

What’s that ?

(Suzi Smotrycz-Guilford) #13

I was one of the lucky people that developed dumping syndrome after having my gallbladder removed in 2010. Ugggh! The pathology came back as positive for early gallbladder Ca so ultimately it would have had to come out no matter what. I am so blessed because usually gallbladder Ca spreads and is untreatable when you start to have signs and symptoms. It might be worth it to see what you can do to save it, I think the gallbladder is so much more important of an organ then the doctors say it is.

(Elizabeth) #14

Basically you empty everything out with a few epsom salt drinks, then before bed drink a lemon juice and olive oil mixture. During the night the stones make their way out of the GB and into the digestive system, in the morning you go to the toilet and out they come.

(VLC.MD) #15

Is the treatment proven effective ?
This person isn’t convinced

(Khara) #16

Interesting. The first half of her video sounds logical. But at this point in my life whenever I hear someone recommend low fat I cringe. I’m convinced my low fat, high carb way of eating in my teens and twenties is what led to many health issues including PCOS and gallstones. I also don’t believe the gallstones being caused by too much dietary cholesterol comment as in my younger years I ate virtually zero cholesterol. Anecdotal of course but living through something makes for pretty strong opinions. This seems like one of those health topics that we just do not yet have the answers for.

(Elizabeth) #17

I’ve read this before, if you google photos you can see the difference. Some are green (olive oil) but real gallstones are yellow. The first flush I did, I collected them and washed them, they were hard yellowish pointy little pebbles. I guess this is one of those things that you don’t believe until you try it, I wasn’t convinced before I did it either, but I was desperate. I knew mine were up to 3mm in size (from an ultrasound), I don’t know if it would work if you had large stones.

I have had a terrible year, I couldn’t get back into ketosis and stay there, carb cravings, chronic constipation, low energy, very dry skin. After doing the flush, I am like a new person. Constipation has gone, I am getting ketone readings over 1 mmol (never been over 0.5mmol), no cravings, lots of energy… I am finally back in ketosis! The only thing I have done differently is to take liver support herbs and do the flush. I think I am digesting the fats much better.

(Annika) #18

This is strange to me. I read that the more fat you eat the more your gallbladder uses it to keep digesting the fat. It sort of fluches itself. That gives less stones!? At least, that is the information I have.

(VLC.MD) #19

The body is complicated! So many exceptions and our knowledge of things is very often incomplete. I would agree with your overall idea … that would be my line of thinking.

(Elizabeth) #20

From what I can understand, if you already have lots of gallstones (from years of low fat/high carb eating) sitting in the GB, then change to a high fat diet, the whole bile system can’t work properly. Now that my gallstones are gone, I can now digest fat like a normal person can. I agree, the body is complicated, but I am enjoying learning about it.