Effective Natural Remedies for Gallstone Relief and Prevention

I started having a strange pain on my right side that I basically ignored for months until one day after eating lunch and having an alcoholic beverage, within 20-30 minutes I had pain under my rib cage that was a little more alarming. I immediately related it to the food. I finally went to the doc, he sent me for an u/s and confirmed multiple stones, one being as big as 2cm. He then referred me to a surgeon which I never went to because I started researching all I could about gallstones. I'm a big believer in natural remedies and before going the surgical route I like to try other things. I wasn't completely against it just seemed so definitive and I don't do well with being told to do things without good reason. Anyway long story short I never got the surgery, I am eating like I used to and I no longer have pain. I should add after finding out I had stones the pain did get worst at night and I couldn't sleep well. So here's everything I did asap and nothing is in particular order. I just threw everything I could at this.

• I stated drinking Chanca Piedra 1600mg 2 pills 2x's a day for up to 6 months.
• I changed my diet immediately! No greasy food, no fried food, no sugar, no alcohol, no rice, etc. I instead ate lean meat with raw salad. My salad consisted of kale, radishes, carrots, cucumber, tomato, red/yellow pepper. Radishes are good for this so I made sure to always eat that.
• I started drinking papaya juice and aloe juice mixed together with every meal. 1/2 cup of each 2-3's a day. I found this on this site, under pancreas ailments because I was also getting pain on the side of my pancreas so I wanted to fortify that. This also helps with digestion which your pancreas, liver and gallbladder all work together to do so I wanted to make digestion easy as possible.
• I started drinking a lot of ginger/turmeric tea and I would add 1 tbsp ACV to it. ACV is great if you start having pain. It settles it.
• I took a liver support supplement I found on amazon called Natures Craft Liver Support.
• Okay and lastly I did about 4 liver flushes using the Andreas Moritz method. I could have done more but my pain finally went away after the 4th one and I got lazy.

I should add that though I ate so many apples and apple juice before the flushes, and I would get temporary relief it wasn't until I used Malic Acid (500mg, 3x's a day=1500mg for 6 days before flush) instead for the 4th flush that one *large* stone came out and after that the pain finally was all gone.

Its been more than a year and I still have my gallbladder, no pain, I sleep well, and I am able to enjoy some of the yummy things I used to like doughnuts, chips, fried foods, alcohol. I do this in moderation now but before I couldn't eat any at all or I'd have pain. I still eat my salads consistently and occasionally take some Chanca Piedra. I continue to eat as healthy as possible.

I hope this helps you to not give up!

Since improving my health by exercise, choosing fresh and homemade foods, and taking magnesium supplement, my frequency of "attacks" (what I think are gallblader attacks) is very low to what it used to be. Ocassionally I'll still indulge. Unfortunately when I do, it still triggers an attack about 20% of the time. Usually after eating fast food, red meat, or something dairy-rich.

My definition of attacks is: a horrible pain in my upper stomach that can become so intense, I can barely manage to straighten my torso. I'm doubled over constantly, walking hunched if I can muster the will to walk around. The pain radiates up my sternum and into my upper back between the shoulder blades. It feels like a gigantic pair of fists are shoved into my chest and stomach, squeezing and twisting in opposite directions so that nothing can go further in or out. My upper stomach will feel a little hard or rigid too - like it's all tensed up.

Sometimes I get my boyfriend to pound his fist into my upper back, like he's punching back for me! I'll grind my fist into my back too and sometimes that pressure helps minimally but only while I'm doing it. I know, totally bizarre of me. But it's what makes sense at the time. In the past for attacks, I've taken carrot juice which I read helps digestion and/or a cup of my powdered magnesium supplement (called Natural Calm -it's amazing! ) which takes the edge off. Once, I chewed raw ginger I cut right off the root in pure desperaton. All these things have helped (although carrot juice stopped being as effective for some reason).

The attacks last an hour to several hours and can be mild or severe to where I'm panting and squirming all over the bed, moaning in helpless pain. Sometimes there's oh so ladylike belching involved but if it's bad, it doesn't matter how much my body tries to do this, it doesn't alleviate anything.

I had an attack that woke me up very early this morning. :( It's my fault. I even thought it might be coming last night. I was SO tired last night I didn't want to cook, even though that little voice inside my head said I should do it. I didn't listen and got a chicken burrito from a taco shop on the way home thinking chicken is a mild choice. It didn't even end up being that good - it was gross and had unexpected amount of greasiness like it was cooked on an uncleaned surface that had been used for red meats. I only ate half feeling how heavy it was getting in my stomach. Less than 2 hours later, I could FEEL like this attack was coming. In preperation I found this page with all the great reviews about apple cider and apple juice working. I was hopeful and meant to go get apple juice and the apple cider from the store but fell asleep with my phone still on my chest, this page still on the screen when the attack woke me up.

It was a milder attack so I took the magnesium, then drove to the grocery store for the apple cider vinegar and apple juice. It got worse at the store but it's so close to my house that I made it. Like described here, I took the suggested 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (the Heinz brand) mixed with a glass of apple juice (Simply Apple brand). It took me 10-15 minutes to finish drinking it. I was a little taken aback a little at the burny feeling in my throat and through my stomach but I thought of that as working magic. The burn is nothing really unpleasant or harsh - nothing compared to the pain of the attack at least! :)

As I took the last few sips I had already started feeling the pain subside. My stomach softened to the touch and the little swell the rigidity creates sometime went away. About an hour later, the pain was pretty much all gone and just some minor discomfort and remnant soreness was all that was left! THIS is the best pain remedy for the attacks I've EVER tried. I've never had the pain go away as rapidly or as close to complete as this before. Now I DID start with the magnesium supplement but it's help was minimal (it's MUCH better for preventative than reactive purposes).

It's drained me though. These attacks take nearly everything out of me. I've mustered the energy to write this post because I want it to be read by people looking for experiences of other people who go through it and what has worked for them. I'm telling you it works! If you're having an attack, my say is try it.

Thank you to Earth Clinic and all who took the time to post their experiences too. I would not have turned to the apple cider/apple juice concoction and gotten my quick relief if not for you!!

Conclusion CHANCA PIEDRA REALY WORKS, however I would cleanse your body for at least a month before you take it. No alcohol which is probably the biggest cause of gallstones plenty of AVC lemon apple ect as you need to be in a position where your gallbladder and internals are healthy and can take the stones passing. Chanca Piedra works by increasing your bile flow and opening your ducts nobody really knows how it works it just dose God knows best, I don't know how many stones I've passed until I have a scan which I'm working on as the doc won't do it and is waiting for me with a scalpel in his hand so will update you. Be Gentle and Patient with your body it takes years sometimes to form gallstones so I can take time to heal Good Luck.

You need to eat a minimum of 8 big apples in a 24 hour period (green are the best as they are the most acidic but you can mix it up).

Starting at breakfast on day one, eat nothing but raw apples for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Day two repeat as per day one. On day two before you go to bed drink 2/3 cup of virgin olive oil, follow this with a 1/3 cup of lemon juice (to get the oil out of your mouth). Then go to sleep on your right side for the night. Freshly squeezed apple juice and herbal teas are ok for these 2 days but don't skimp on the apples, the more the better.

The acid in the apples will break down the gallstones naturally and the olive oil will help with the elimination of the broken down stones. This is amazing and worked for me so well that my awful symptoms immediately passed and I could lie down in my bed again to sleep that 2nd night.

I went to my pre-op appointment and when the nurse asked how I am I said I'm fine now, the stones are gone. She didn't believe me until another ultrasound showed I was all clear! She then asked me how I did it and said she would tell a relative of hers about it.

Unsurprisingly the doctor didn't believe a word of my story and just said there must have been a mistake in my original ultrasound to which I replied "I've not mistaken the pain I've been in the past few weeks, it was real and now it's completely gone". I still have both ultrasounds and my whole body is intact. I do the apple diet every year as a preventative although my diet has also changed for the better so therefore I don't expect to have Gall Stones ever again.

About two days after I made that post I passed a huge gallstone that had been slowly working it's way out, and obviously making me feel nauseous and terrible while doing so. I was sitting on the couch feeling horrible, then, boom! Felt it pass, got a lot of gurgling sounds from up around my gallbladder area and instantly felt much better! Nausea gone! Yay!

A couple days after that I did my first Liver Flush with olive oil and lemon juice. I flushed out over a 1/4 cup of pee sized to almost marble sized stones. I have done three more since then, and durring the third I was amazed when I flushed out two huge stones that were between the size gumballs and golfballs. I couldn't believe it, especially since I hadn't felt any pain or discomfort while doing the flush. I was still passing around the same amount of stones, around a 1/4 or so each time. The last flush I did I didn't pass any at all, which is kinda suspicious considering that in all the ones I'd done before I had passed so many. But I do feel better, so I'm going wait and do another one and see what happens then.

I didn't realize that by doing these flushes you're also giving your body a really good detox. Your liver can hold a lot of toxins so if you do a flush it's likely going to release some of them. So if anyone out there is doing one of these flushes and it makes you feel worse or feel kinda sick afterwards, it might not be that it's made you worse, it could be detox. Remember to drink lots of water to help flush everything out and keep up on your electrolytes and it will pass faster and make you feel better.

Also I wanted to say that I've found that taking 4 Tablespoons of Epsom Salt was WAY too much for me. My mother and have had the same amount of success with only taking 2 teaspoons - 1 tablespoon once in the evening and then once again in the morning. But of course everybody's different, so that might not work for you.

I have had No Problems Whatsoever with taking ACV or Apple Juice since passing that first gallstone, and I take back everything I said about it making me feel sick and nauseous. It's actually very good and recommended for nausea and stomach problems becuase it settles the stomach and is good for your body.

Thank you. Good luck to all of you, and thank you so much to everyone who has posted their stories here, you've helped me so much! - Liz

I just want every one to know that it is the malic acid in Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) that softens gallstones.

One source says, it takes 1 apple to make 1 ounce of ACV or 2 tablespoons. One apple has 0.08875 grams or 88.75 mg of malic acid in it from what I understand.

Another source says there is 200 mg to 1000 mg per apple.

Another source says - The amount of malic acid in two apples is about 3 grams which is the recommended daily dose. If you are eating one apple then you will need to 2 and a half 600 mg tablets. Each pill needs to be taken with a cup a water.

So an apple may range from 88 mg to 1500 mg but this allows you to ball park therapy doses.

I see on the bottle of malic acid that I have that 1 tablet contains 600 mg. You'd also avoid that acid damaging your teeth.

Another piece of info - Apples have a combination effect because they also contain pectin which is an water-soluble fibre. This binds to bile and we pass in out in our stools. Therefore if we can consume more pectin then more bile will be passed and this forces the liver to produce more fresh bile which washes through the biliary system.

This means that it may be easier to take malic acid instead.

I can take malic acid without problem but I get side effect like migraines / neuralgia etc if I take ACV.

Rocio

I picked Wednesday of this past week to do the flush, but realized I didn't have a grapefruit in the house. Once I did lemon juice and olive oil for the flush but thought it tasted awful and not nearly as easy to get down as the grapefruit juice and olive oil.

I did have pineapple juice in the house and decided I would try that. I keep tweaking my gallbladder flush procedure to make it as tolerable as possible.

I think juices only on the day of the fast are ideal, but I needed more energy to function so I did have cream of wheat with blueberries for breakfast and a home-made non-fat pita for lunch. I drank carrot juice and pineapple juice.

I used the Epsom salt water at 7 and 9 pm.

At 11 pm I used 1/3 cup olive oil and 1/3 cup pineapple juice. VERY easy to get down and not bad tasting at all.

I used a castor oil pack over the liver overnight during the flush since that seemed to help a lot one other time.

Thursday I used Natural Calm to keep the flush going instead of Epsom salt. Epsom salt in the morning is nearly intolerable to me.

I had a very successful flush and got out a lot of stones. Seemed like more than a gallbladder's worth, so maybe some came from the liver?

Conclusions: Pineapple juice did not hinder and may have benefited the flush.

Castor oil packs overnight on the night of the flush do seem to benefit. Plus I sleep great with a castor oil pack. I didn't wake up until 5:30 in the morning. No discomfort.

~Mama to Many~

Finally I discovered Alfalfa pills, no particular store brand but they worked!!! 2-1300 mg pills in the afternoon before eating the above listed foods. No more attacks!!

I went to my primary care doctor the following Tuesday with the diagnosis. The recommended treatment plan was surgery. A good friend referred me to Earthclinic.com where I familiarized myself with the recommendations for non-surgical alternatives.I started immediately with Stone Breaker capsules 3 times a day. I drank copious amounts of organic, unfiltered apple juice. I also took unfiltered apple cider vinegar and then switched to apple cider vinegar pills also 3 times a day. Within a few days I had no more pain. I did the flush recommended on Earthclinic and other sites twice one month apart. Apart from a good cleansing, I noticed no 'stones' being eliminated. By the end of May, I was taking the Stone Breaker caps and apple cider vinegar pills twice a day. I had added Chanca Piedra extract along with essential oils of cinnamon, ginger, and clove in juice once a day.Last Tuesday October 10th, I had a CT scan of the abdomen for another reason. The results came back with no issues with the liver, pancreas, spleen or other abdominal organs. No mention was made of any kind regarding gall stones.

Therefore I am a believer. Happy to have my gall bladder intact and happy to be living pain free with no significant change in diet.

Eating no to low fat diet, my gallbladder became very, very sluggish and wouldn't work properly. So in 2005 Dr recommend me schedule a gallbladder removal. Scan showed me having 6 stones. I know 6 stones back then was NOTHING!! THEY love to yank out body parts on a whim with out any trying to save it. BOTH MOM and sister got out theirs and never the same since, always having diarrhea. I didn't want that life.

Feeling I caught it in time, I did save my gallbladder with 2 weeks of hour nightly HEATED CASTOR OIL packs and months of weekly use to maintain. Changed my diet to more grass fed butter grass fed beef and beef fat, and LOWER CARBS no gluten, no sugars or potatoes, PERIOD.

Here is is 2022 and still have my gallbladder. I do have some issues few times a year, but I have found Im pretty sure its histamine issues, happens with aged foods or shellfish. I now eat GLUTEN FREE, sugar free (use keto sugars instead) Low oxalate food and low histamine food.

Older I got the worse I felt eating those foods. Yeah, I mess up few times a year, but only proves to me, I am doing the right thing other wise.

I had several smaller size stones 1mm-2mm from memory. I suggest for bigger stones to extend the cleanse to 3 or 4 days perhaps. After 5 years I'm happy to report I have not had a recurrence of gallstones.

It is challenging to eat only apples but the results are worth it. As the old saying goes - an apple a day keeps the doctor away.

I also changed to a healthy diet (Namely the Eat Right 4 Your Type - Blood Type Diet), regular exercise and meditation in the last 5 years, taking a holistic approach to my health and well-being.

Health and happiness to you all :)

The annual herb Phyllanthus niruri is best known by the common names Stonebreaker(Eng. ), Chanca Piedra(Sp. ) and Quebra Pedra(Port. ), Seed-Under-Leaf(Eng. ) but has many other common names in assorted languages, including dukong anak, dukong-dukong anak, amin buah, rami buah, turi hutan, bhuiaonla, Meniran (Indonesia), (Malayalam) and / Keela Nelli (Tamil). The herb is known as Nela Nelli in Kannada and "Nela Usiri" in Telugu. It is a widespread tropical plant commonly found in coastal areas. It is a relative of the spurges, belonging to the leafflower genus of Family Phyllanthaceae.

I should say about this herb. Phylanthus Niruri, used to grow in abundance around my house in India. I used to pluck and eat it just like that during my childhood.

This is the top most potent herb for liver than Milk Thistle or any other herb. It is used in Unani, Ayurvedha, Siddha herbal medical system for more than 5000 years. If possible, you can contact any Indian herbal practitioner for accurate dosage.

Himalaya company also sells P. Niruri capsules. You can follow their dosage.

You can start with 2 capsules per day. If you want to be very safe then eat 2 tsp of chywanprash which contains Phylanthus Niruri (chanca piedra) and many other herb for your whole body.

One more info, Phylanthus Niruri is extremely potent and Heat(in ayurvedic and Siddha theory)Producing herb, so don't over use it. EC, pls don't mention this as a side effect because there will be no side effect by using this herb other than it is heat producing.

*Heat is the body's fire - Pitta (fire/water)

Even I am going to start eating this herb occassionaly for general health.

Hope this helps someone.

I found also through research the Chanca Piedra. I bought a box of the tea off Amazon. I felt such relief quickly. I took it until the pain was gone, a few days. Then it started again. So I took it again until the pain was gone, a few days. I always stopped when the pain was gone. Within a month, it must have broken up and passed. I have not had pain or issues there since. I still have the original box with a few bags remaining, and I gave 2 bags to friends. The tea tastes nice too! ~ Lisa