I have a medical issue I’m hoping I can self-medicate with and not have to go to a doctor and get prescribed pills to treat.
When I was in the military, I had my gall bladder removed. It turned out that I actually didn’t need my gall bladder removed because the pain that caused me to go to the doctor in the first place persisted after its removal. Since it was during the military there’s nothing I can do about this misdiagnosis and now not having a gall bladder has led to another inconvenience: If I’m hungry for too long I get really bad stomach cramps and/or “the runs”. I’ve tried to prevent this by self-medicating with ginger ale or Tums but those don’t seem to work; the only thing that does seem to work consistently is drinking liquor before I eat if I’ve been hungry for an extended period of time.
I don’t want to have to drink in order to not get these stomach aches, and I have no clue why drinking liquor would work. Is there something else I could use that would have the same calming effect on my stomach?
If ginger-ale doesn’t work, maybe try a teaspoon of dried ginger root powder dissolved in hot water. Tastes pretty good, but its more effective for nausea than cramps.
For the runs, try immodium over tums. Tums will only help with acid reflux, and they don’t even do that very well. Immodium will harden your stool.
I’d bet that the liquor helps for its muscle relaxant properties. It doesn’t meet the no doctor requirement, but a good friend of mine with the same problem of horrible stomach cramps if he doesn’t eat for too long was solved really well with a drug called “Donnatal”. It’s very low-dose phenobarbital with belladonna alkaloids. It’s like a miracle cure for him. He takes it when he feels like it might be starting and it goes away. No side effects for him except slight dry mouth. Also makes it stop after it’s started. Might want to try it out.
He’s had it for so long, he’s typically able to tell when its starting, but before it gets very bad. He’ll just take it at that point and it stops it from happening. I suppose it would be possible to take it if you were just hungry, but it seems to me like a better option in that case would be just to carry a snack bar or a protein bar around and just use the Donnatal if you feel like your cramps are coming on.
A doctor will of course be able to give you real medical advice. This is just anecdotal, but the no eating causing stomach/intestinal cramps sounds very similar.
The problem consistently happens at breakfast, since sleeping 8 hours is 8 hours of me not eating. The only way this would work is if I wake up in the middle of the night and eat a full meal.
It might be worth doing some research at Chris Kresser’s blog—he’s got respect for science and for individual variation, and a huge commenter base—that last increases the odds of someone with the same or a similar problem.
Liquor could have an effect on your gut bacteria. Liquor gets created through fermentation.
I would suggest that you try various different probiotics and see whether they have a similar effect as liquor.
It could also work through the relaxing effect of alcohol. There are various techniques for relaxation that could help, but it’s not straightforward to produce relaxation when there are deep wounds because an organ is missing.
Going to an osteopath might be a good idea. An osteopath can help your body to come to terms with the wounds and relax.
Going to an osteopath might be a good idea. An osteopath can help your body to come to terms with the wounds and relax.
The OP lacks a gall bladder. This means that the biliary ducts empty out directly into his intestines. Crudely speaking, the bile constantly drips regardless of whether there are fats in the digestive system or not.
How in the world is an osteopath supposed to help with such a problem?
I would think that those cramps are no appropriate response to what’s happening in the intestines and that he would profit if his neurons wouldn’t fire in a way that would produce cramps.
Osteopathy is not evidence-based medicine. Although U.S. osteopaths now study the same contents as regular doctors, the specific contents added by osteopathy are as solid as acupuncture.
There actually quite a bit published on osteopathy. According to the NHS:
There is good evidence that osteopathy is effective for the treatment of persistent lower back pain. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends it as a treatment for this condition.
More importantly he’s already using a non-evidence-based treatment when he drinks his liquor to prevent the stomach cramps.
I would doubt that their are good well powered trials that show how to effectively deal with stomach cramps that come up after getting your gall bladder removed.
I have a medical issue I’m hoping I can self-medicate with and not have to go to a doctor and get prescribed pills to treat.
When I was in the military, I had my gall bladder removed. It turned out that I actually didn’t need my gall bladder removed because the pain that caused me to go to the doctor in the first place persisted after its removal. Since it was during the military there’s nothing I can do about this misdiagnosis and now not having a gall bladder has led to another inconvenience: If I’m hungry for too long I get really bad stomach cramps and/or “the runs”. I’ve tried to prevent this by self-medicating with ginger ale or Tums but those don’t seem to work; the only thing that does seem to work consistently is drinking liquor before I eat if I’ve been hungry for an extended period of time.
I don’t want to have to drink in order to not get these stomach aches, and I have no clue why drinking liquor would work. Is there something else I could use that would have the same calming effect on my stomach?
Even if the VA didn’t want to give you partial disability, have you talked with veterans’ advocates? They might be able to help you get compensation.
If ginger-ale doesn’t work, maybe try a teaspoon of dried ginger root powder dissolved in hot water. Tastes pretty good, but its more effective for nausea than cramps.
For the runs, try immodium over tums. Tums will only help with acid reflux, and they don’t even do that very well. Immodium will harden your stool.
I’d bet that the liquor helps for its muscle relaxant properties. It doesn’t meet the no doctor requirement, but a good friend of mine with the same problem of horrible stomach cramps if he doesn’t eat for too long was solved really well with a drug called “Donnatal”. It’s very low-dose phenobarbital with belladonna alkaloids. It’s like a miracle cure for him. He takes it when he feels like it might be starting and it goes away. No side effects for him except slight dry mouth. Also makes it stop after it’s started. Might want to try it out.
When does he take the Donnatal? Is it with meals or any time he is getting hungry?
He’s had it for so long, he’s typically able to tell when its starting, but before it gets very bad. He’ll just take it at that point and it stops it from happening. I suppose it would be possible to take it if you were just hungry, but it seems to me like a better option in that case would be just to carry a snack bar or a protein bar around and just use the Donnatal if you feel like your cramps are coming on.
A doctor will of course be able to give you real medical advice. This is just anecdotal, but the no eating causing stomach/intestinal cramps sounds very similar.
Any thoughts about arranging things so that you can eat often enough?
The problem consistently happens at breakfast, since sleeping 8 hours is 8 hours of me not eating. The only way this would work is if I wake up in the middle of the night and eat a full meal.
It might be worth doing some research at Chris Kresser’s blog—he’s got respect for science and for individual variation, and a huge commenter base—that last increases the odds of someone with the same or a similar problem.
My wife has this exact symptom set with her removed gallbladder. She has not found any reliable treatments/habits. Not helpful but FYI.
Liquor could have an effect on your gut bacteria. Liquor gets created through fermentation. I would suggest that you try various different probiotics and see whether they have a similar effect as liquor.
It could also work through the relaxing effect of alcohol. There are various techniques for relaxation that could help, but it’s not straightforward to produce relaxation when there are deep wounds because an organ is missing.
Going to an osteopath might be a good idea. An osteopath can help your body to come to terms with the wounds and relax.
The OP lacks a gall bladder. This means that the biliary ducts empty out directly into his intestines. Crudely speaking, the bile constantly drips regardless of whether there are fats in the digestive system or not.
How in the world is an osteopath supposed to help with such a problem?
His problem happen to be cramps.
I would think that those cramps are no appropriate response to what’s happening in the intestines and that he would profit if his neurons wouldn’t fire in a way that would produce cramps.
Osteopathy is not evidence-based medicine. Although U.S. osteopaths now study the same contents as regular doctors, the specific contents added by osteopathy are as solid as acupuncture.
There actually quite a bit published on osteopathy. According to the NHS:
More importantly he’s already using a non-evidence-based treatment when he drinks his liquor to prevent the stomach cramps.
I would doubt that their are good well powered trials that show how to effectively deal with stomach cramps that come up after getting your gall bladder removed.