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Hi. I am a bit overwhelmed at the moment. I have been in pain for

over two weeks, supposedly with a gall bladder attack, but then I had

shingles (right side) diagnosed on top of that. The shingles are

improving each day, but the gall bladder pain is worse, despite the

fact that I'm on codeine plus tylenol. I live in fear of the day

when the doctor says I can't have any more pain killers.

The doc wants me to see a surgeon about having my gallbladder

removed. My environmental illness doctor said the same thing after

looking at the ultrasound. All I had done for diagnostics was an

ultrasound. That showed an enlarged/dilated gallbladder, but no

stones, and some other duct that could have been dilated was not. My

bloodwork is supposedly fine, including my white blood count.

I don't know what to do next. Should I see a naturopath, or another

doctor who is more wholistically inclined? My HMO seems pointless,

so anybody else I see would have to be paid by me. Needless to say,

I don't have money to try lots of things, and need to know the best

things to do. Oh, I had two acupuncture treatments this week, but

they helped the shingles, not the gallbladder pain.

Years ago (15-20?) I did one gallbladder flush and I really didn't

notice any effects, so I never tried another one. Would a naturopath

be likely to know about flushes? Being in chronic pain, I'm hesitant

to try flushes again without some local supervision.

What would you recommend for the next step? I really don't want to

lose my gallbladder.

As for food, I think maybe too much fat was the culprit, as I was on

a kind of modified Zone Diet. I say modified, because I've been a

vegetarian for 30 years, and refuse to eat flesh foods. Therefore, I

had started eating cheeses more the last few years, as a protein

source. Now I want to go back to the near-vegan diet I'd been on for

the 20 years (before about the last 4-5 when I was doing the

modified Zone diet).

I don't drink or smoke. I do some supplements. I have a history of

aspirin abuse, due to chronic migraines, but as of three weeks ago

I'm finally off aspirin and will never do it again. I told my doctor

I thought my stomach was the problem, as the " gallbladder " pain would

always start after an aspirin, or after caffeine (I'm now off that

forever, too). But the pain is/was always in the area under my right

rib, which is why she thinks it is gallbladder (that and the

ultrasound showing it is dilated).

Right now the pain gets bad in the gallbladder area at night, when

I'm in bed. It wakes me up and the codeine doesn't do enough to keep

it at bay. Then when I get up and out of bed, most of the pain moves

to my upper right shoulder-blade area, though some of it stays in the

gallbladder area.

I guess I need to know what to do next. I tried castor oil packs the

first week--I will try those again. Why would I have so much pain if

there is no sign of stones? The pain is my big issue right now, that

and wanting to do what I have to do to avoid surgery.

All suggestions, comments welcome. I have skimmed through the files

and will read them more thoroughly after work.

Thanks.