Can You Live Without A Gallbladder? An Unbelievable Answer

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In the USA and Australia, gallbladder removal is a very common surgery. 10-15% of the population gets problems related to gallbladder like gallstones. Women have a higher opportunity of gallbladder problems compared to men because of the effects of the female hormone estrogen. Meanwhile, the gallbladder plays a very important role in your body to support many different functions:

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    Digest fatty foods
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    Absorb the fat-soluble antioxidants as well as Vitamin D, K, E and A
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    Remove cholesterol from the body
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    Remove toxins broken by your liver

Now, you may think that can you live without a gallbladder? while it is very important for your body and human easily get a problem related to the gallbladder. I will let you know below:

Can you live without a gallbladder?

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The short answer to the question “can you live without a gallbladder?” is yes, even you can have a perfectly normal life without a gallbladder. How? Your liver still produces bile to take the responsibility for digesting foods. However, it drips into the digestive system continuously in place of in the gallbladder as in the past.

Thus, before your surgery, your doctor will recommend you a special diet. However, you can stop to follow afterward. Maintaining a balanced diet rich in fiber for your good health is what you should do. In some cases, after surgery, you suffer bloating or diarrhea but everything will be better within a few weeks. In the future, you also need to avoid what drinks and foods causing these symptoms.

What happens when a gallbladder is removed?

As I mentioned, in this case, the liver still creates bile but it can't be stored or concentrated in gallbladder anymore. Therefore, it just can go into your intestines directly. This condition doesn't allow you to eat a meal with several fatty foods because your body can't secrete a big level of bile into the intestines to digest foods. In sum, a person without a gallbladder digests fat poorly.
That means the digestion of essential fatty acids (omega 3 and omega 6 fats are also limited. Moreover, it's difficult to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins (A, E, D and K). Fat-soluble are antioxidants in vegetables including carotenoids, lutein, and lycopene.

The poor digestion of fat also comes with a few common symptoms such as painful joints, weak nails, premature aging skin, dry skin, and dry, brittle hair. What's more, the essential fatty acids play an important role to optimize your brain. So, when your body can't digest fat well, it's easy to result in the impaired cognitive function, depression, anxiety, and low mood.

Can gallbladder removal make you lose weight?

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After removing a gallbladder, you may suffer weight loss due to the following causes:

  • Get rid of fatty foods: as you know, after surgery, the capacity of fat digestion is not good until your body itself adjusts. Thus, you may receive the advice from your surgeon that don't eat the fatty and fried foods until you can deal with them well.
  • Plan a bland diet during your recovery: to recover quickly, you need to avoid the spicy foods or anything ending up gastrointestinal upset.
  • Consume small portions: at the beginning period of surgery, your body can’t digest a large level of food at a sitting. Therefore, if you are hungry, just eat small meals more regular
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    Recover: if you perform a traditional surgery for gallbladder removal instead of a laparoscopic surgery, not only your recovery period is longer but the discomfort and post-surgical pain you suffer also last more. All of these things influence your appetite.
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    Suffer diarrhea: diarrhea is one of the potential side effects you experience after the surgery. This symptom can last within a few weeks. Obviously, it will take you calories, leading to weight loss. At least, this condition maintains temporarily.

How to keep your liver healthy and digestion well without gallbladder

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You should know that some gallbladder problems can't be completely addressed by a surgery only. If the location where your gallbladder problem develops is in the first place, that can be a sign of an unhealthy liver or a not good digestive system. And more importantly, it can't handle bile well, leading to the form of sludge and stones in your liver. Finally, the function can’t work properly anymore. Therefore, it's very important to follow the following tips for a healthy liver and the good digestion without a gallbladder:

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    You had better minimize the meals which are high in dairy products and grains such as yogurt, ice-cream, cheese, and milk. It's best to avoid them completely because they can worsen your condition. What's more, all of them are on the list of the hard-to-digest foods. Food intolerance easily leads to gallstones. The lower the intake of grains in your body is, the lower the risk of the fatty liver development is.
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    You can maximize the bile flow and bile production by using the high-quality liver tonic like Livatone, globe artichoke leaves, dandelion root, and St Mary's thistle. Specifically, Taurine is an essential amino acid to produce bile. These supports can help your digestive system more comfortable after each meal even it can reduce the risk of the stones from inside the liver.
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    For the case of the gallbladder surgery, I strongly recommend you use an ox bile supplement. If you don't provide enough bile for your body, there can be the following symptoms (bloating and indigestion) after each meal. Besides, you can get nutrient deficiencies, fatigue after your meals, diarrhea, and light-colored stools. An ox bile supplement will solve this problem completely.
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    When it comes to supplements, we can't but mention digestive enzymes supplement. If you have a gallbladder problem, you can get one even more of these symptoms: Candida overgrowth, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, dysbiosis, and irritable bowel syndrome. A surgery can't get rid of these symptoms completely, moreover, they can cause the insufficient digestive enzyme production. Thus, the digestive enzymes supplement will help you decrease the indigestion symptoms and restore the good digestive health.
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    Cutting completely fat is harmful. Rather than, you should eat good fat. Besides, you should add a moderate amount of seeds, nuts, coconut milk and oil, avocados and virgin olive oil into your diet.
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    Vitamin D3 is also an ideal option for those who come with a compromised liver or digestive function because they lack this Vitamin. The reason is that the liver and kidneys take the responsibility for allowing your body to produce vitamin D through UVB rays of the sun. Normally, an effective and safe dose of Vitamin D3 is 5000 IU. However, it's better to refer to your doctor.
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    Add your diet a little bit bitter and sour taste. They can improve the digestion as well as tolerate good fats easily. Some examples include dandelion leaves, endive, chicory, radicchio lettuce, limes, and lemons. Even you can grow them at home.

The bottom line

Can you live without a gallbladder? Yes, even you have a perfectly normal life. However, keep in mind, after the surgery, there are many things you need to follow. For example, don’t eat the meals high in bad fat because your body at that time can’t consume a large number of fatty foods. Pay attention that some side effects can appear after removing your gallbladder, leading to weight loss.
Don’t worry everything will pass after recovering. And you should apply my tips to keep a healthy liver and good digestion.

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