Hi Shelley,
I apologize in advance for the length this reply will take..
I agree with what pmezak said about digestive enzymes - especially good if you're having a problem digesting protein in the form of meat. What Tazzione said about going light on fats is good, too: It should back off on the specific pain in your lower right abdomen - if what you're experiencing is gallbladder-related pain due to gallstones.
I find it really hard to believe any competent doctor wouldn't check for gallstones, given your sensitivities and your eating patterns. (But it wouldn't be the first time....) There is a simple test (my naturopath did it on me, but can't remember the name) that will tell you if you have an inflamed gallbladder: You lie down on your back, and the doctor probes deeply with the tips of his fingers. As I understand it, if the gallbladder is inflamed, the pain will be intense, and you're an immediate candidate for surgery (which may well be avoided). If there's no pain, it doesn't mean you don't have gallstones, and if you have gallstones, things can go wrong at a moment's notice. So if your doctor didn't do this simple test, or recommend testing that would reveal any gallstones, I would start shopping for another doctor!
I described similar symptoms I was having to a friend who is a Registered Nurse, and she instantly said "gallstones". Several years ago someone described to my wife how they had actually passed their gallstones, painlessly, by drinking some glop that was a mixture of olive oil and Coca-Cola. Sounded wacky to me, and I immediately wrote it off. But now I was truly interested, and I started doing some research on the web.
I found similar remedies, but since I can't handle caffeine, I settled on one I found
here .
In a nutshell, here's a summary of their method of getting rid of gallstones: 1) Eat no solid food, and drink only apple juice and distilled water for 3 days. 2) At the end of 3 days, drink 1/2 cup of olive or peanut oil, chased with 1/4 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice. Then lie on your right side with two pillows under your hip for 4 or 5 hours.
Now I've gotta tell you, as I was first reading this, my brain was thinking, "Yeah, and just when is it the tribal witch doctor is supposed to show up?"
A week later I had my next appointment with my naturopath, and I broached the subject of gallstones and handling them without surgery. He assured me that it's entirely possible to pass stones with natural treatment, and went on to tell me of treating a patient lying in a hospital, waiting for surgery. At the patient's insistence, they held off the surgery. In a matter of days, the gallstones were gone!
I sheepishly described the method detailed at the site above to my doctor, thinking he would laugh in my face. Instead he only smiled, and handed me a sheet of paper containing his recommended instructions. They were nearly identical! (In fact, he modified his instructions slightly, based on a suggestion made in the instructions from the web site.)
Then he described why the process works, which is
brilliant.
The liver creates bile, which is used to dissolve fat in the intestinal system. Much of it is held in the gallbladder until the body detects incoming fats; the muscle wall of the gallbladder then contracts to squeeze just the right amount of bile into the intestine that's required to dissolve the fat. But in many people, the bile gets superconcentrated, which results in "stones", which are actually chunks of cholesterol and lecithin that get covered with a thin brittle shell material that makes them hard. They are too large to make it through the bile duct into the intestine, and they're hard and irregular, so there's no way they can pass. So your doctor will typically tell you that passing the stones is an impossibility, and that surgery (gallbladder removal) is your only option.
So here's what the flush does. First, you're living on carbohydrates and water for 3 days (no fats whatsoever), so your gallbladder gets a total vacation. (Your liver will also get a rest from this.) During the 3 days, chemicals in the apple juice will dissolve the shell on the gallstones, turning them into soft, squeezable chunks, even though still too large to fit through the bile duct.
At the end of the 3 days, you suddenly take in an enormous amount of fat in the form of an oil (peanut oil is definitely more palatable); the lemon juice chaser is to keep you from gagging.
The sudden inrush of this enormous amount of fat shocks the peaceful gallbladder, and it goes nuts! It starts pumping just as hard as it possibly can, which forces those now-pliable globs through the little duct. Lying on your right side presents an easy path for all this to happen.
Does it work? Well, I got rid of about half of my gallstones last year, and I'm planning to do it again this year. If you'd like to see an example of stones that have been expelled (Warning: Not for the feint of stomach!) you can go
see it here .
I apologize again for the really long post, but wanted to pass on to you what is hopefully some valuable information.
-Don
PS: I did purchase the book discussed on the site referenced above. It was inexpensive, was very informative - and I wanted to support the folks who provided me with the information I used.