Liver Cleanse

[Guest guest]

After doing my deadly

cleanse back in Dec, I received this from a friend. She is a Biologist and has

access to some incredibly hard to find and hard to read information. I trust

her research and her opinion very much. I hope this helps in someone’s

choice for a liver/gallbladder cleanse. Chrissie

I got this off of an

great alternative medical site. It has some interesting information about gall

stone flushes.

http://www.pathguy.com/altermed.htm#gallstone

“People

who have gallstones, or think they have gallstones, are invited to

" flush " them out by swallowing a concoction of 1/2 cup of olive oil,

a big grapefruit, 4 tablespoons of Epsom salts, and three cups of water.

It

was a nice idea, and interesting things will appear in the toilet bowl soon

after. But I'm afraid that they're not your gallstones. Here's why:

Real gallstones are faceted polyhedra, like

the ones in the picture on the links below, or else shaped like

mulberries. What you'll get from the recipe are spheres. One of my

correspondents describes a friend who saved the spheres and displayed them

to his friends.

Real gallstones hurt bad when they pass

through the cystic and common bile ducts.

Real gallstones sink in water. (As an autopsy

pathologist, I'm very familiar with this.) The " gallstones "

you'll produce from this recipe will float, as the " alternative

thinkers " themselves point out. (They claim that real gallstones

float, too. Liars.)

If you know a little basic chemistry, you'll realize what

is happening. The Epsom salts are magnesium sulfate, and the grapefruit

contains some complex carbohydrates. When these slosh around in the stomach and

small intestine, they'll form a tough film that will encase drops of olive oil.

This will produce some yellowish balls that will float in the toilet.

Hulda

Regehr , the author of " The Cure for all Cancers " and " The

Cure For HIV/AIDS " promotes this. Since she claims to have both a

doctorate in naturopathy and a Ph.D. in something (the latter implying having

done substantial original lab research), one would think she would have made an

experiment with a real gallstone and discovered that it sinks. There's a nice

photo, which she stole from my friend, pathologist Ed Klatt MD. She calls them

" such small stones " though they're obviously 7-10 mm across. She

thinks the stones she displayed formed in the liver and " rolled " into

the gallbladder, which is silly. You see many more stones in the gallbladder

because that's where bile is concentrated and stored; if they all

" rolled " there from the liver, we'd see much more biliary colic. She

says gallstones " can be of any color " , which is a hoot. She also

claims that the major cause of gallstones is wearing shoes.

If

you want to believe these people, that is your business. If you try the purge,

please chew your grapefruit up thoroughly. Otherwise, you're asking for a

gastic bezoar and a trip to the endoscopist to remove the obstruction.

Gallstone cleansing: The premiere

site is now down.

Gallstone

Flush from Hulda Regehr . Much of the material on these sites is

identical though it's not clear who has borrowed from who.

Follow-up: April 2003. My notes on the gallstone flush

have generated considerable " controversy " . I look forward to a real

surgeon taking these people on a visit to the surgical ward to see whether it's

really true that 99% of people who pass a gallstone have no pain, or whether

most gallstones sink or float in water. (The impurities make them heavy. They

sink. If you have any doubts about who is massively ignorant, go ask any

general surgeon or pathologist.) There are also photos, some of which appear to

be real smooth faceted gallstones, and others showing shaggy surfaces that are

obviously not gallstones. Instead of continuing to sling mud at me, these

people should take somebody with ultrasonographically-proven gallstones,

administer the " flush " , and repeat the ultrasonogram. If there are

now no gallstones, publish the finding in a non-refereed junk journal. The fact

that nobody's done this invites the obvious conclusion. If you are presented

with the physical results of a " gallstone flush " , cut it in half.

Real gallstones have concentric layers of colors often varying from pale yellow

through black, sometimes with a center of radiating crystals.

The

world is full of crooks. It's your money.

If you decide to take these people to court, I would welcome

the opportunity to testify on your behalf as a courtesy. I'll bring some

gallstones and show the court what happens when you put them in water.

Follow-up:

August 2007. My cyberfriend Curyer, who tells me she's not at all

hostile to alternative health claims, decided to try the gallstone flush,

complete with Chinese herbs. She also decided to take my challenge and get an

ultrasound before an after a gallstone flush. " To say I was disappointed

is vastly understating the case. There appeared to be more stones (my surgeon

concurred). On top of that, I immediately felt worse... I have had pain and

nausea on a daily basis since the last flush. Previously, these episodes had

been uncomfortable but infrequent. " Of course, to date no one has written

me about a gallstone flush shown to have worked by real imaging. The

mud-slinging on the message boards has also stopped. Thanks.”