Andmore - your opinion please

I need your input on the following quote by a gb surgeon.



The "gallbladder flush" that does not work
You may have heard about a theory that one could "flush out" gallbladder stones with a "gallbladder flush". People swallow a mixture of olive oil and lemon juice or some other concoction and observe their stools for the next few days for roundish structures that are interpreted to be gallstones that passed the natural way.

I had a patient who was convinced that she had passed all her gall stones in that way and that she did not need the gallbladder surgery that I had suggested. I asked her what it would take to convince her to have the surgery. She said first a repeat ultrasound study that would prove that her gallstones were still there; secondly another gallbladder attack to convince her that she was not cured from the stones. The repeat ultrasound was identical to the first one. A few weeks later she had another gallbladder attack that brought her into the hospital. Needless to say that she had her gallbladder surgery shortly after, which cured her of her problem.

What was she passing in the stool, which looked to her like gall stones? The answer is "fecoliths", old stool pebbles that resemble gallstones. They get caught in some pockets of the colon until they are freed by such a concotion or simply by chance.

The human need for magic and myths in medicine is centuries old and will live on despite computers and advances in technology.

"The Gallbladder Flush That Does Not Work"

http://www.nethealthbook.com/gastrointestinaldisease_digestivesystem.html#gallbladderdisease

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