GLPs, Your Gallbladder, And You – Birdwhacker's Guide to Busting Organ Failure

[birdwhacker]

And nothing Gall Bladder related had ever presented. Until I started Reta.

Same lol. My symptom is the first result on Google when you search biliary colic 🤣

 

[QueenMuntha]

Holy shit. Great information thank you for sharing.

I read another post where someone said that their doctor told them that discontinuing the GLP could reverse the gallbladder issues they were having. I assumed this was your usual run of the mill case of doctors talking out of their ass. Now I wonder if there's something to it.

I'm actually down to 3.2mg a week of reta (~14 weeks in) right now and may end up going lower. Interested to see where this goes.

Yeah, here's an explanatory image:

 

[birdwhacker]

Yeah, here's an explanatory image:

Some people don't get the shoulder pain. I'm sure that I would get it if the episodes were worse, thankfully they're quite mild as it stands.

 

[SoCalGirl]

...

Chanca piedra, also known as stone breaker (a little on the nose imo), is some kind of bullshit tea that was originally used to break down kidney stones. Apparently is works for gallstones as well. From what I've seen in my research, this is one of the more effective treatments on par with UDCA. There are extract capsules on Amazon, and it seems that pairing these capsules with tea would be the smart move.

THANK YOU for this - ordering right now for stupid K stones. I had NO idea about this stuff and I spend my life researching. GREAT find! Cheers!

 

[birdwhacker]

THANK YOU for this - ordering right now for stupid K stones. I had NO idea about this stuff and I spend my life researching. GREAT find! Cheers!

You're so welcome! I have a unique blend of autism, perfectionism, and unemployment that leads me to uncover things that less terminally-online adults might have trouble finding.

I really thought I was fucked from my first few rounds of research since UDCA/TUDCA don't have good outcomes at all. But I did one last hurrah and discovered the Chanca Piedra.

Good luck!

 

[Blueeyedme]

THANK YOU for this - ordering right now for stupid K stones. I had NO idea about this stuff and I spend my life researching. GREAT find! Cheers!

Good luck!! Chanca Piedra did absolutely nothing for my kidney stones. After you’ve had laser lithotripsy with ureteral sents a couple of times, you’ll stay as hydrated as a fish to insure you never have to go through that again.

 

[birdwhacker]

Good luck!! Chanca Piedra did absolutely nothing for my kidney stones. After you’ve had laser lithotripsy with ureteral sents a couple of times, you’ll stay as hydrated as a fish to insure you never have to go through that again.

On God that's why I stay drinking water.

 

[lastresort]

All yall gallbladder is just weak.

 

[Terminix8]

After being on Sema for three months, Tirz for eight months, I switched to Reta because of super slow loss.

After 4 weeks of Reta, up to 6 mg- I developed a pain in my upper back between shoulder blades. I thought I just slept wrong, but soon learned that this was more than like Referential Gall Bladder pain.

I stopped Reta, went back to Tirz, and after 2 weeks, the pain went away, never to return. n=1

I lost my gallbladder before starting Reta. So you're telling me I'm safe to blast away with no consequences? 🤣

 

[birdwhacker]

I lost my gallbladder before starting Reta. So you're telling me I'm safe to blast away with no consequences? 🤣

Yessir! Sleep on your right side and ask me if I give a damn! 🤣

 

[lastresort]

Pray hard and you will get a new gallbladder

 

[randompersonrandom]

Jesus Christ. I knew you might be having gallbladder issues a few weeks ago, but I didn't know shit was getting this scary.

I can see that you are in no way seeking or are open to advice, but I hope that whatever you decide to do or have the option to do is whatever you would do for someone you loved very much, because this sucks and sounds serious and scary, and I hate that you're going through it.

 

[birdwhacker]

Jesus Christ. I knew you might be having gallbladder issues a few weeks ago, but I didn't know shit was getting this scary.

It's a lot better now. Between the TUDCA, staying on top of breakfast, and hot drinks, my stools are returning to normal and I haven't had an attack in two days. Nicotine and night eating were making it a lot worse too. And I think dropping my reta dose helped as well.

 

[GLPFrodo]

Rapid weight loss caused by GLPs, and perhaps even GLPs themselves, cause gallbladder failure as a side effect.
No, I will not source my claim, because I'm not a nerd. Use Google.
No, I haven't been diagnosed by a doctor. Unless you want to pay for the visit, go to another thread if this bothers you.

Me, 27m 6'0", started reta about 13 weeks ago and I'm down 32lbs (14.5kg) in that time. This is basically a sustained 3lbs per week starting from my first week on reta. Cardio and diet only, no lifts. 1200 calorie defecit.

About two months in, I started having URQ (upper right quadrant) pain while running. A distinct point at the 1 o'clock position at the line of my lowermost rib. Almost like a cramp on the inside. Once it starts, it continues to get worse unless I cut down the activity level. Coming back to the house and eating a meal seemed to make it go away for the rest of the day.

I now know that these attacks were triggered by having a zero fat cold breakfast (whey shake with nonfat milk).

Note that others may have totally different symptoms. Some people like to question this and suggest that I don't know what I'm talking about because I don't have some sawbones telling me to go take ibuprofen about it. I have done more research than you, and my dozens of forum posts and reddit threads trump your medical credentials any day of the week.

What follows will be a short explanation of symptoms, risk factors, and most importantly what you can do to fix it. Feel free to search reddit.com/r/gallbladder, reddit.com/r/altgallbladder, and other forums if you want to read more experiences. I just want to inform people using the search function in future of what they can do to potentially keep their gallbladder (hold out until surgery is required) for as long as they can.

TMI warning:
Ever since this started happening, I also noticed that taurine (any amount) and TUDCA cause me to shit my entire ass within minutes of taking them. These are not normal side effects of either supplement. If you take taurine and immediately shit your pants, you may have issues with your gallbladder! The poo is yellow or orange, burns, and doesn't smell or look like normal poo. It also floats on top of the water due to poorly digested lipids.

Taurine and TUDCA both stimulate the flow of bile. When the gallbladder is functioning poorly due to inflammation, sludge, or stones, taking something to stimulate it causes it to dump out all of the bile which subsequently stimulates the colon to produce lubricating mucous that tells you to shit your britches.

Here are some things that are bad for your gallbladder: Opiates, GLPs, calcium channel blockers, progesterone, merely being a woman, being over 40, being fat, not being fat too quickly after being fat, fasting, keto, skipping breakfast, cold drinks, nicotine, excess calcium, excess copper, excess iron, and beef.

Women are more likely to have gallbladder issues. Men are more likely to require surgery and medical intervention.

Here is what you can do to unfuck your gallbladder:

• Digestive enzymes
• Chanca piedra
• Curucumin (turmeric) extract (with piperine)
• Betaine HCL with Pepsin
• Ox Bile
• TUDCA
• UDCA (Medication: Ursodiol)
• Magnesium malate
• Psilium husk, magnesium malate, zinc, lemon juice, ginger, vinegar
• Oxytocin peptide

UDCA is the medication that a doctor would prescribe you to potentially dissolve gallstones. This does not work in more than half of cases, but you and me are built different so our chances are much better. TUDCA is taurine conjugated UDCA. Research shows that UDCA is more effective than TUDCA in dissolving stones. I haven't tried UDCA yet, but TUDCA produced an immediate relief in URQ symptoms for me (and taurine to a lesser extent). TUDCA is also used by bodybuilders and alcoholics to help protect the liver.

Chanca piedra, also known as stone breaker (a little on the nose imo), is some kind of bullshit tea that was originally used to break down kidney stones. Apparently is works for gallstones as well. From what I've seen in my research, this is one of the more effective treatments on par with UDCA. There are extract capsules on Amazon, and it seems that pairing these capsules with tea would be the smart move.

Curucumin with piperine, it's fucking turmeric. It's gotta be super good for you. The people on reddit told me to take it. Can't hurt, right? When it comes to herbal extracts and more esoteric supplements, I trust nootropicsdepot more than anyone on Amazon, so I'm gonna mention them since they have some high quality curucumin extracts available. I'll be picking them up for sure.

Digestive enzymes and betaine HCL with pepsin: Again, it's in the name. Digestive enzymes? That shit has to be super good for digestion. Betaine HCL with Pepsin, I have actually taken before when I was much younger. It cured my indigestion and I was quite impressed, but I never actually bought more. People on Reddit who have actually have success recommend the stone breaker tea in the morning, and the enzymes+pepsin taken before every meal. I personally would like very much to digest my fish oil again instead of dumping it into my toilet bowl.

Ox Bile: Gonna be honest, I don't know if this is totally necessary with UDCA/TUDCA since those are already bile salts. Use at your discretion, it comes up a lot so I had to mention it.

Magnesium Malate: Magnesium and zinc are good for the gallbladder. To be honest, if you're not already supplementing one or both of these, I have to wonder if you're responsible enough to be using peptides at all. I recommend malate, because I heard through a little birdy that malic acid is also good for stone dissolution and this seems like a good way to kill two paraquets with one cholesterol stone.

Oxytocin: This is a fun one and it's actually been super beneficial in my routine. Oxytocin is known for two things: Making you poop, and causing headaches. It excels at both of these tasks. In-fact, I have a headache right now. I was curious and I looked up the mechanism and found out that oxytocin causes contractions in the gallbladder that help push out bile acids.


My routine currently is as follows: Wake up, go make a hot toddy with honey, ginger, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper (surprisingly good). Then I chug down some psilium husk, and I chase it with 500mg tudca and a few grams of taurine while sipping the warm mixture. Then I have a few prunes and drink a shit load of olive oil. Then as I'm nearing the end of my drink, I blast 200-500mcg of oxytocin. After about ten minutes, the gall bladder starts dumping and I have a BM.

Today is day 3 of this routine, and I actually haven't pooped yet today because the gallbladder is getting better. Poops are looking slightly more normal, and I'm actually doing the routine for a second time right now after i had my dinner (7pm here). I'm going to add all of the above in next month and try to actually dissolve the stones and keep them dissolved moving forward. Thank God I'm unemployed and had the time to figure all of this out because the surgery is wildly expensive and good luck getting one immediately if it isn't like threatening or you don't have 10k sitting around.

Birdwhacker out!

Edit: Big update everyone, I managed to digest all of my food today and my poop was solid and somewhat brown for the first time in weeks. There is hope after all.

Havent tried Taurine yet, but sounds like it "helps" with weightloss... 🙂

Why dont you think its pancreas? 1 o-clock position is more likely that than gallbladder which sits at noon or 11 (upper right). I have acute pancreatitis, have had trips to the ER for it and imaging done with diagnosis. Add to that the anecdotal evidence of pancreatitus issues being triggered by some GLP1's, you might have correlation there.

Doesnt change anything about your post or experience really, just thought I would mention it. pancreas/bladder... kind of symaptics for what youre talking about with bile, Tudca, BM's etc.

Good luck, its painful and annoying shit! (pun intended)

 

[birdwhacker]

Havent tried Taurine yet, but sounds like it "helps" with weightloss... 🙂

I liked taurine before this ever became an issue – taking it with glycine for sleep is heavenly. And yes, there's some evidence that it can function similarly to creatine and help prevent muscle wastage during weight loss!

Why dont you think its pancreas? 1 o-clock position is more likely that than gallbladder which sits at noon or 11 (upper right). I have acute pancreatitis, have had trips to the ER for it and imaging done with diagnosis. Add to that the anecdotal evidence of pancreatitus issues being triggered by some GLP1's, you might have correlation there.

I'm not writing anything off! I found more people whose experiences mimicked my own who turned out to have gallbladder issues, than I did pancreas issues.

Also I'm not sure we're describing the position the same way. Looking straight ahead would be 12 o clock for me, 6 o clock would be my spine. So if I'm looking down at my solar plexus, the pain is about five inches to the right of that.

Doesnt change anything about your post or experience really, just thought I would mention it. pancreas/bladder... kind of symaptics for what youre talking about with bile, Tudca, BM's etc.

Good luck, its painful and annoying shit! (pun intended)

Lol yeah, good point.

Functionally I'm doing a lot better by just being dilligent about breakfast and taking the TUDCA. I've stopped having attacks and random aches now, and some of my droppings are more solid.

Nicotine and excess copper were two things in my lifestyle that were causing big issues. I also think that lowering my reta dose helped – of course, I didn't lower it just for that reason. Being a skinny queen takes priority over organ failure!