What Happens to Your Body Years After Gallbladder Removal

Name: What Happens to Your Body Years After Gallbladder Removal
Uploaded: 2026-08-14T12:00:21.000Z
Duration: 11 min 48 s
Channel: Dr. Eric Berg DC

Dr. Eric Berg DCAugust 14, 202611m

Topics14

Lack of Informed Consent for Gallbladder Removal0:00 Gallbladder Function and Bile Production0:32 Role of Bile in Nutrient Absorption1:00 Bile's Role in Detoxification and Microbial Balance1:31 Bile and Peristalsis2:30 Gallstone Formation and Risk Factors2:30 Personal Experience with Gallbladder Issues4:31 Hypothyroidism and Gallbladder Problems5:03 Choline and Gallstone Prevention5:03 Post-Gallbladder Removal Complications6:00 Symptoms of Insufficient Bile7:01 Solutions for Bile Deficiency7:32 TUDCA and Pancreatic Enzyme Support8:33 Acupressure Technique for Pain Relief11:00

In a Nutshell

Gallbladder removal often leads to bile imbalances that impair fat digestion, nutrient absorption, and detoxification, causing constipation or diarrhea, floating stools, and deficiencies in fat-soluble vitamins. Without the gallbladder, excess bile may trigger diarrhea while insufficient bile leaves sludge in ducts, raising cholesterol and causing right-shoulder pain. Daily ox bile, TUDCA, targeted fiber, and choline-rich foods can restore balance and relieve symptoms years after surgery.

AI-Generated Notes

These notes were generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.

Every single year in the United States, 700,000 people have their gallbladder removed. Most are told there's really no other option, and when you have the gallbladder out, it's not going to be a problem, so you don't have to worry about it. The lack of informed consent means patients aren't told what could potentially happen if they have their gallbladder removed.

The gallbladder is a little sack that stores and concentrates bile, and then when you eat, it contracts to release the bile into your small intestine so you can actually break down fats. Bile that's stored in the gallbladder is produced in the liver. The gallbladder doesn't produce bile, it just stores it and concentrates it. The liver makes bile, and it goes down this tube, and it ends up in the gallbladder so it can be concentrated. Then it contracts when you eat, and it can help break down fat.

When the fat breaks down, it turns into fatty acids, cholesterol, fat-soluble vitamins like vitamin A, D, E, and K, omega-3 fats which have anti-inflammatory properties, and phytonutrients in vegetables like curcumin or carotenoids. A lot of the phytonutrients in vegetables are fat-soluble. Healthy bile is needed to extract a lot of good stuff from food to pull it into the body. Without this bile, the benefit of phytonutrients from vegetables cannot be obtained.

Bile helps remove toxins from the body, excess hormones like estrogen, pesticides, and all sorts of stuff. Bile is the primary route to get rid of excess cholesterol. Bile is also antimicrobial. There's a condition where there are too many microbes in the small intestine called small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. A lot of people have it without knowing, but it creates a lot of bloating, excess fermentation which is the microbes breaking down food, and gas. Bile is antimicrobial and is involved in working with the microbes to help ensure a healthy thyroid. Thyroid hormones also rely on bile as well.

Bile is involved in peristalsis, the pumping action of the digestive tract. If there isn't enough bile, people tend to be constipated. If there is too much bile, diarrhea occurs.

One of the reasons people have the gallbladder removed is they get a stone in the gallbladder. The stone is typically made out of a crystallization of too much cholesterol. When there is too much cholesterol and not enough bile salts or bile acids, thickening or sludge develops, which is the precursor to turning into a stone. The stages go from normal bile to sludge to a stone. This results from the sluggishness of the gallbladder contracting, which may not be contracting hard enough and is weak.

Sign in to read the full notes

Get access to AI-generated notes, topic timestamps, and more.

What Happens to Your Body Years After Gallbladder Removal

Lack of Informed Consent for Gallbladder Removal00:00

Gallbladder Function and Bile Production00:32

Role of Bile in Nutrient Absorption01:00

Bile's Role in Detoxification and Microbial Balance01:31

Sign in to read the full notes