Julia, I hope all is going well with your recovery. I unfortunately do not have an answer to your question but did want to commiserate with your situation and offer advice for those debating on having surgery. I had laparoscopic surgery five days ago (March 26). I'm still feeling a little bloated.

I only had one attack (February 19). The doctors in the ER said that I would most likely need gall bladder surgery. I saw a surgeon, who said it should come out. I was quite put off by his cocky resident who kept telling me how I shouldn't be "scared" about surgery, because I asked about holistic alternatives. Even when I corrected this resident and told him that I was not "scared," he didn't listen to me.

I ended up trying Dr. Lewis' olive oil and lemon recipe, since the biological explanation for this remedy made more sense to me than the arrogant surgical resident. The flush did produce what I think were cholestrol gall stones stones.

I did get a second open from a resident in internal medicine. She was a bit skeptical about the flush, but was concerned that if such flushes did work, they might do more harm than good if the stones in the gall bladder end up clogging the common bile duct (which would lead to pancreatitis and other problems). I consulted Dr. Weil's website (he's generally no fan of surgery but says in the case of gall bladders, it may be necessary). I decided to have the surgery.

As it turned out, it was good that I had it. My gall bladder took the surgeon by surprise. It was almost completely packed. It contained 23 pigment stones (1/2" to 3/4" each in size). Had I waited, I would have had to have open surgery rather than laparoscopic.

My conclusion: Flushes aren't a waste of time, but should be done with caution. They may be great preventative measures. But, if you have problems, at the very least, get an ultrasound done before doing the flushes. If you have pigment stones, you could clog your common bile duct and hurt your body more than help it.