The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
Flax Seeds
Posted by NancyjAdams (Greeneville Tn) on 05/06/2025
★★★★★
Gallbladder Attacks
Flaxseed gel helps me. You use the ratio of 2cups of water 2 cups of water to 2 tablespoons of whole flax seeds—boil for ten minutes take off burner—cover and let sit for another 10 minutes. If it is too thick for you you can dilute with water and also cool it a bit. If you are having an attack you should make sure it as warm as tea. The thickness should at least be as thick as egg whites. There is no taser to it-you just have to get used to the thickness. If you try—you can get past that.
Taurine, Lemon Juice
Posted by KB (Western Australia) on 05/05/2025
★★★★★
Gallbladder Attack Solution
I awoke to what I suspected was a gallbladder attack. I went to juice green apples a 250ml glass at a time with a glug of apple cider vinegar. Drank a few glasses of these until I tried the next solution. This consisted of 2 teaspoons of Taurine powder with a little water followed by the juice of one lemon only ( no water). This was done a couple of times and all the gallbladder pain dissipated and I was back to feeling no pain. What a relief.
Oatmeal
Posted by Carol (Georgetown, USA) on 01/21/2024
★★★★★
Gallbladder Attack
Eating oatmeal will push the bile through the bile tube and clean out the blocked stone. I have done this and it worked.
General Feedback
Posted by Steve (Nevada) on 07/03/2015
The best way to heal the gallbladder is to do gallbladder and liver cleanses: http://www.drclark.net/cleanses/advanced/liver-cleanse-page/liver-cleanse-recipe
For immediate relief of gallbladder attack pain drink a cup of warm water with a TBSP of epsom salt dissolved in it. Lay on your right side with your knees pulled up for about an hour or more. This will open up the ducts in the liver and gallbladder and release some of the stones and sludge that is causing the pain. Doing the full cleanse will get rid of lots of stones and truly get to the root of the issue.
Caraway Seeds
Posted by Alla (Los Angeles) on 05/20/2015
★★★★☆
There are a couple of herbs with anti-spasmodic properties: dill, fennel, caraway seed, cumin, peppermint in lesser degree. They are all relatives, except peppermint. When I feel pain coming in I take 1/3 of tea spoon of caraway seeds and chew them, then swallow. It helps to take the spasms off and does not interfere with digestion. The ACV works also, but the mechanics are different, it reduces need for bile, so it does not try to get out of the gallbladder, so no pain, but you need bile to digest fats and proteins.
There is an over the counter medication in Europe, called No-Shpa. It is widely used to alleviate gallstone attacks and spasms. I do not know if it exists here, the active ingredient is dropaverine.
I use ACV with meats, just pour over a piece. And take some caraway seeds in the end of the meal. Also, add caraway seeds in soups and other dishes.
Just my 5c, :)
Cinchona
Posted by Carol (Oregon, US) on 10/25/2014
★★★★★
To stop muscle or sphincter spasms, use the homeopathic product Cinchona Officinalis at 30X, usually available at health food stores. Take 4 tablets or pellets and allow to dissolve in mouth, repeat in a few minutes if spasm doesn't stop. I have had stomach sphincter spasms for 15 years--thought the first two were heart attacks. Found this remedy and carry Cinchona with me at all times. Stops them immediately.
Hot Bath for Gallbladder Pain
Posted by Jason (Michigan) on 07/12/2013
★★★★☆
I just went through a lasting attack, 3 plus hours or so. I will have to try the Apple Cider Vinegar next time. What helped me tonight was a hot bath. My pain was pretty high when I got home from work, I could not get any relief from anything so I ran a hot bath and laid in there for about a half hour. The pain wasn't completely gone in the bath but it provided so much relief and that made me more comfortable.
Apple Juice
Posted by Jane (Los Angeles California) on 12/24/2013
Be careful with Gall Bladder disease! The daughter of a friend of mine went in for a ultrasound to check for what was causing her gallbladder pain and for some reason the young woman's gallstones were not seen in the image. The doctor missed them? Well in time the woman's gallbladder burst! And this woman had nothing but terrible health problems after her gallbladder burst! This woman was obese and the gallbladder catastrophe cause her not to be able to eat much at all. Doctors tried to mend her medical problems but nothing worked. When I last saw her she was walking around and was as thin as a Barbie Doll! But always in pain. Eventually her mother found her daughter on the floor deceased from a heart attack! Please don't ignore gallbladder pain! With protection laws in the U.S. This woman didn't received one cent in compensation. Judges would not help her in the slightest! She lost her case of malpractice in court!
Avoid Lettuce
Posted by Marsh (Colo) on 10/01/2023
★★★★★
I didn't realize lettuce could cause gallbladder issues in some people. My sweet Dad was uncomfortable after eating salads and here I was fixing healthy salads when we visited to minimize the fried foods his wife fixed. At 86 he was in such agony, his gallbladder was removed. Nightmare. One evening we had pizza, the next morning he had bacon, eggs, butter on toast at our favorite restaurant. He ran to the restroom and didn't come out. I had to ask for the key. Bless his heart, it was a horrible mess, and he was horribly embarrassed. The moral of this story is watch your fat intake if you don't have a gallbladder, keep your body alkaline, and watch your fat intake. Off to buy chanca piedra
General Feedback
Posted by Francisca (Michelbach-le-bas, Alsace, France) on 03/03/2011
Hi, the common mistake is indeed eat little fat! If you want to understand better how it works maybe you should consider reading Barry Groves' book Trick and Treat where he explains the problem of eating a low fat diet and why when you start eating fat the stones start moving and you get pain but after you get rid of them eating enough fat will prevent you from having them! I have just had an ultrasound this afternoon because of high enzymes in the liver, luckily everything was ok and... No gallstones! The book is very interesting........ Whether ACV would help I don't know!
You can also get some information in Adelle Davis' book Let's Get Well. It is pretty much the same advice. She says that people get to afraid of having pain again that they stop eating fat which only makes things worse. She advises a diet rich in Vit. E and A also B vitamins and high in fats, low in carbohydrates. She says you should stay away from saturated fats but keep in mind that this book is very old so some of the information may be out of date. Still.... a very interesting book advised to me by some on this site and luckily I could get my hands on one! I hope this helps.....
Multiple Remedies
Posted by Shanti (Bangkok, Thailand) on 12/25/2009
Ej, Hopefully you are feeling better by now, but I thought I would say what works for me. I have been having Gallbladder attacks several times a month for over 15 years. I won't go into the list of things I have done long term that have helped right now, but what definitely helps me when an attack is taking place is Epsom Salts. It is the most vile tasting stuff on Earth, so I put it in capsules and take at least 5, sometimes up to 20, depending on the severity of the attack. I am pretty sensitive by now to how much I need to take. It helps for sure. It also causes the runs, but it's MORE than worth it! It doesn't always work quickly (sometimes it does), but always eventually. The Epsom Salts allows the bile ducts to relax. I am like you, no stones come up on multiple tests and no other issues either, though I have done well over 50 liver flushes and got multiple stones and other CRAZY stuff out of my liver/gallbladder over the years (including parasites). All this has been part of what has worked for me. Now that I am posting I will also say that there is an Amazonian herb called Stonebreaker (Phyllanthus niruri) which is supposed to heal the gallbladder and help remove stones. It has had amazing success rates in studies. I ordered some of this and took it (about a table spoon of powdered herb) during attacks and it definitely seemed to help! This is not the prescribed way to use it. You are meant to use it long term, but I went overseas and didn't take it with me, so I can't report on its long term effects. I will do it again when I get back.
Over the years the severity of my attacks has reduced very substantially... I rarely have an attack these days that has me begging for death, but that used to be very frequent a few years ago.
ACV sometimes helps me a little bit, but not enough to write home about (during an attack). Hot tea with lots of honey is a great help always, if only to calm me down. I sometimes drink litres of this during an attack.
Here are a few other things that have helped during bad attacks:
- enemas
- charcoal
- magnesium tablets (from the pharmacy)
- HOT HOT baths
- massage of area and the same area on the back
- doing a Hulda Clark liver flush during the attack sometimes releases the spasm
- sugar seems to help so sometimes I eat cough lollies if I don't have honey on hand to put in herbal tea.
- hot coffee sometimes can help (I have had no luck with coffee enemas during an attack)
- lying on a very hot surface or using hot water bottles front and back.
- Sounds silly, but sometimes TV is a great distraction during an attack. I don't normally watch it at all, but during an attack the distraction can help the relaxing of the gallbladder area in my experience.
- lying on my left side so the gallbladder can drain is less painful than on the right side normally.
- I used to have a yoga teacher who could stop an attack in its tracks with some very skillful manipulation/massage. It took him about 5 minutes to release the spasm and I was all good! :) Sorry I don't have his details anymore.
I have tried the flax remedy above with no luck, but I know many have benefited from it. Flax tends to make my gallbladder flare up more, whether it's oil or gel or seeds/flour. But that's only me perhaps.
I hope some of this helps. I know the desperation of a bad GB attack and would have loved to have known all this 15 years ago.
I wish you all the best!
Multiple Remedies
Posted by Marilene (TN) on 09/04/2023
I wonder if you have a functional gallbladder disorder. I believe that is what we are dealing with. It can happen as a result of viruses (covid/spike proteins) from the reading I'm doing now. It can happen in adults and children. Traditional solutions don't work well for this disorder, however, I believe by treating it with high dose vitamin C and being careful not to aggravate with fat, along with lots of prayer, we will see healing around the corner. It can take up to 3 months for this to resolve so do not get gallbladder removed before that point!
Flax Seeds
Posted by Faith (Forest Park, Ohio) on 01/04/2012
Use it DAILY INSTEAD of waiting on an attack, it helps to CLEANSE the liver and IT HELPS TO EMULSIFY FATS... Reducing cholesterol in the body!
Celery and Mint Leaves, Lemon Juice
Posted by Rossana (Toronto, Ontario, Cnada) on 07/01/2009
★★★★★
For gallbladder attacks, or when you feel it coming, boil water and in a 250ml cup add fresh celery leaves, mint leaves and 1/2 lemon juice and drink it gradually. This may cut down the pain from regularly 3 hours to 1 hour. I have been scheduled for surgery in August and had been using this as backup.
Apple Cider Vinegar, Lettuce
Posted by Eleana (Sweeden) on 03/22/2021
Do you know why? Why lettuce can make it worse? I eat a lot of veggies with lettuce - we just call it lettuce - It is mainly spinach and red cabbage and ruccula - which should be good because of the bitterness.
Lettuce
Posted by Angela (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) on 05/26/2008
★★★★★
I had about 15 atleast gallbladder attacks in 2 weeks -hospitalized one night as well and they wanted to take out the gallbladder for my "diamonds" gallstones which I'd had for 16 yrs. at least with no probs. except very sick in my 4 pregnancies because of excess bile... The attacks started due to taking digestive enzymes for 2 days and then going off them. The attacks began the next night with coleslaw, sausages, and saurkraut ..but continued for the next 2 weeks pretty much whatever I ate. In my worst attack I practically crawled to the computer to earthclinic.com. The 1/2 cup lettuce cure came up with 2 yeas. Sent son running to store for it and 20 mins. later after eating the 1/2 c. I had complete relief. As one writer speculated that it stimulated the liver to produce digestive enzymes that would stop the body from calling on the gallbladder to produce digestive bile.. So for the next 24 hrs. I ate nothing but iceberg lettuce -lots of it - and slices of organic apple. The next day I tried out eating whatever I wanted which had caused attacks throughout the prev. 2 wks. (except the cabbage/sausages -bad memory!) Even McDonald's failed to give me an attack. I am so thrilled with this cure of course!
Hearing once recently that digestive enz help people lose a lot of weight, I wonder if the stimulation of the liver a couple times a day with particularly iceberg lettuce (as it's supposed to work the best rather than other lettuces) would be a natural weight loss cure as well? I know it seems to make less of the slight puff around my ankles -more definition. So it might also help with fluid retention. As well my new pretty set wrinkles of 6 mos. ago have almost completely disappeared within a few days of ingesting 3x per day atleast (vertical ones beneath my eyes -not the crow's feet). Try it and I'd love to hear your feedback as I'm a personal trainer and would love to see if it helps people lose weight -at least it brings down the glycemic index of each meal you eat it with some.
Olive Oil, Lemon Juice, ACV, Apple
Posted by Doris (Santa Ana, CA, USA) on 04/15/2008
★★★★★
Cramps under my ribs began a month ago after each dinner. I often felt nausea, overfull of food, irritable. When hubby had a kidney stone attack and this site had his (
lemon + oliveoil + water) cure, we also bought ACV hoping to fix his allergies. I knew an apple slice before bed prevents heartburn, and helps gall bladder. I feared my years' lower back pains also pointed to gall bladder, liver.
I googled "gall bladder holistic" and read here and at alive(dot)com the liver, gall bladder, small intestines, stomach issues and holistic fixes. I decided to try a light purge.
My breakfast was mostly fresh fruit and lots of water, with hot lemon tea (gall bladder cleanse beginning), by lunch while hubby drank his 2nd day's kidney stone cocktail, I also drank one (2 oz lemon juice blended with 2 oz olive oil chased with big glass water) - my gall cleanse at work. 5pm dinner my usual cramps above stomach in ribcage began. But this time with bloating. At 530pm I drank a mix of 1 oz ACV with 3 oz water. At 6pm still bloated, despite the full meal, I ate an apple. At 620pm instead of worse pain from eating more volume, my stomach felt MUCH better. Rib cage felt light yet low belly felt very heavy - gall purge building. When at 630pm I sat down as lower intestines really were gathering momentum, I wondered if I had some diarrhea bug and didn't know it. I hoped it was the lemon-olive oil, ACV and apple working. At 6:40pm I suddenly felt relief under my ribs and looked down, watching bloat go away before my eyes; it not only left, but my stomach was flattening too. My tshirt was loose! My stomach didn't hurt at all, NO bloating at all, I was visibly thinner! Lower intestines were churning. Decided to eat an half-inch apple slice just before 9pm bedtime. It canceled slight nausea from the churning. In a few minutes, a repeat of the slight bloat, lower instestine churning, then relief with disappearing bloat and visibly flattening stomach. I expected gas from the disappearing bloat. The gas bloat feeling didn't travel south, it disappeared! Amazing. I woke up about midnite with slight stomach upset, so I ate 1 more bite of apple. The repeat pattern never happened. It felt so good to not be bloated, and have a happy stomach for once. At the morning toilet I did flush a terrible lot of mucousy greenish light-brownish sludge then 15 minutes later a much lesser quantity of the same. Immediately I felt like energetic and upbeat, ready to take on the day. Miracle of natural healing! My body operates like I'm 18 since then - no heartburn, no coffee cravings, no bloat, more often smaller stools, lower intestines feel calm, sleeping deep and rested, far more energy, no nausea ever after meals, no heavy stomach feeling anymore. The scale shows slow and steady weight loss too HOORAY! Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Orange Juice
Posted by La Saundra (Montgomery, AL) on 08/11/2006
★★★★★
At the first sign of a gall bladder attack/Biliary Colic, I run for the orange juice or an orange. Every cholestoral Rx I've been prescribed, so far, causes my attacks!
Ox Bile
Posted by dashiell123 (Los Angeles, CA) on 03/11/2021
★★★★★
Hi I had sludge in my gallbladder which was causing a lot of discomfort. After taking ACV to manage the pain, the doctor suggested taking Urso, OX Bile to reduce the amount of sludge. Within two months after taking Ursodiol and Taurine twice a day, I did an ultrasound and the sludge was gone. I am also managing my diet by avoiding fats, oils, dairy, and other triggers. I do not need to continue the Urso and Taurine anymore but may need to take it the sludge comes back. I am so thankful for this site and for everyone's generosity in sharing their tips for managing their ailments.
Aloe Vera Juice
Posted by Elizabeth (CA) on 10/14/2023
★★★★★
Yes, it will either say "whole leaf" or "inner fillet." If you have an aloe vera plant, cut off the spine on a leaf and then crosswise into about 2" pieces, soak in cool water for about 30 minutes to allow the yellow latex to seep out. Cut off the peel, place 2-3 pieces in blender with about 1c. of water, blend and drink. To prepare beforehand, prepare aloe vera plant as above (a large leaf). Puree in blender (WITHOUT water), freeze in small amounts. This is great to add to smoothies.
Tonic Water
Posted by Lucy (Us) on 04/22/2018
Tonic water is a miracle for gallbladder attacks (for me, at least). Apparently the quinine stops the gallbladder from contracting (hence the discomfort).
Orange Juice
Posted by Diana (Canada) on 12/06/2025
★★★★★
I just woke up with terrible burning which I thought was heartburn so I saw to try mustard on your site. Went back to bed and the pain & burning wouldn't settle. Then I thought oh oh that's my right side, perhaps gall bladder. I didn't have access or apple juice but saw your comment Frank about orange juice. I had a can of frozen oj. I scooped a heaping tbsp into approx 4 to 5 oz of tap water & problem solved in the time you said. Thank you Frank!
Triggers
Posted by Ozzy (Orlando, Florida) on 01/25/2015
What seems to bring on my gall bladder attacks are: hot melted cheese, heavy creme, spicy mexican food, hot chocolate.
Best remedies: organic apple cider with apple cider vinegar, warmed up but not hot.
1 apple grated and mixed with 1-2 inch grated ginger root. (Both grated with a micro-plane grater)
20 drops of peppermint oil in warm peppermint tea.
Use one of these combinations but if you don't feel much better you can try any of the other remedies.
I recommend the grated apple-ginger in addition to any of these remedies.
Lavender Oil
Posted by Anna (Evans, CO) on 09/06/2014
★★★★★
Wow. After supper last night my sister had another severe gallbladder attack. We already ran out of pain pills and after $4000+ in urgent care bills she decided she didn't want to spend that much again just for acetaminophen. After searching the web we tried the Apple Cider Vinegar/Apple Juice mixture. After 3 minutes she threw it up sending her into worse pain then before. We tried the ACV and apple juice once before to try to help with the pain and she had the same reaction, vomiting and worse pain. Then we saw the one comment about 1 drop of PURE ESSENTIAL OIL OF LAVENDER IN A TALL GLASS OF WATER SIPPED SLOWLY BUT STEADILY. She said it tastes terribly bitter but Praise the Lord, within 5 minutes the pain level went from 10 down to 7 and she stopped shaking from the pain. Thank you so much Jim for sharing your discovery of this use for Lavender oil. I hope the ACV and apple juice works for those of your reading this, but if not please try the lavender oil. I'm so glad we did!
Two Types of Gallbladder Attacks
Posted by Phil (San Jose, California) on 07/18/2014
Consider adding magnesium to your diet. Magnesium is needed for muscle relaxation, while calcium is needed for muscle contraction. Muscle spasms may indicate magnesium deficiency. Dark leafy greens contain magnesium, since it is part of the chlorophyll molecule. You could also use a supplement such as magnesium malate tablets, which readily decomposes in the digestive tract into a bio-available form of magnesium and malic acid, the latter being found in apples.
Betaine HCL
Posted by Xanadu (Memphis) on 11/04/2017
It is weird that you would say B6 helps with gallbladder attacks in that on the very day (yesterday, 11/3/17) I started taking vitamin B6 for other issues I had an attack that evening. I didn't know what is was at first because the pain was moving all over the place, right mid abdomen, right side at waist, left side at waist, under right ribs into right waist, even the pelvic area, and then sort of concentrated in the right waist. I wondered if the large amount of grass fed butter I had eaten on an ear of corn had anything to do with it, so looking up info on the gallbladder it talked about biliary colic which can have different causes, among them the gallbladder or even the heart, and the pain can radiate to different areas along with the nausea and lightheadedness. So to hopefully pin down if it was my gallbladder I came here to remind myself what I had done in the past from the methods here for my gallbladder and since I had no apple juice I just mixed up some ACV with the live mother in water with stevia to sweeten to taste and an hour later I was much better. This morning I am still a little nauseated and weak so I will continue the treatment. I am going to take another B6 and hope it doesn't aggravate the condition.
