Happy Chinese Dragon-Year (2012)! And wish you are healthy through the year, including able to deal with gallstones and acute cholecystitis safely yourself, if any. Gallstones are formed  from the bile , which is crated and sent from the liver. Presence of gallstones in the gallbladder may lead to acute cholecystitis, and people who had suffered from such a condition often end up at an emergency room. Why?

        Talking about gallstones it might remind you of constipation, and the longer the constipation the harder the stools could be; however you might never hear of intestine stones for the diameter of the small intestine and large intestine are big enough for the stones to pass out freely. Unfortunately, if someone had fasted too often he could develop “gallbladder constipation” as a result, for the bile stored in his gallbladder became ignored and gradually crystallized. The following is one of the best cases for you to think about.

    　 Over a decade ago, a woman who was divorced for she was too fat at the time. Therefore she wanted to lose weight so badly, and that’s why she was recommended to me. She had two acupuncture treatments in two weeks, and had lost seven pounds. But during her third treatment she told me that there was a program, with guaranty of losing 40 pounds or more in three months, and all she had to do was taking pills and drinking coffee, instead of eating foods. Certainly, she did lose over 40 pounds in three months, but within one month that followed she had ended up at emergency room twice due to acute cholecystitis. On the contrary, in the 1980s one of my patients who told me that he had drunk 2 to 3 cups of apple juice early in the morning with empty stomach, and a week later his so-called acute cholecystitis was cured. 

        In fact, not only acute cholescystitis but also jaundice are illnesses that related to the liver and gallbladder, and a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine might do acupuncture on auc-points LV 3, LV 13, G 41, etc., as well as using Chinese herbs (such as Yin-Chen-Hao) to treat these illnesses. You may take some more time to learn the herbs, and / or to learn acu-massage to be able to treat yourself safely though.  

　　 However, don’t drive your liver and gallbladder crazy --- don’t intake too much chemicals, including vinegar, salt, alcohol and drugs; don’t go fasting too often, which might cause “constipation” of the gallbladder and formed gallstones as a result. Therefore, to prevent an acute cholecystitis from happening is better than to have a cure of it....but, if you use your fingers to irritate your throat strongly, it may cause vomitting again and again, as if you are experiencing a severe seasick -- the foods, bile and gasllstones may come out of your mouth quickly. People in Taiwan used to use this technique to dischange food poison and acute cholecystuitis as an urgent care at home. It is worth to try?