Everything in Moderation

I learned a big lesson last night. Yesterday for lunch I ate at a fabulous pizza place in downtown Vancouver, Pizza Paradise. Usually when I go there, I order a salad and a personal cheese pizza with prosciutto ham. I usually only eat 1/2 of the pizza. Well, yesterday I was feeling quite hungry and I ate the entire thing. After eating, I took my medicine that is supposed to help with the secretion of bile in the gallbladder, and went back to work. About 30 minutes after eating, I started to get pain in my back. I thought to myself, maybe I have been sitting wrong at my desk, but after it continued for 1 hour, I realized that this is the pain I get before a gallstone attack. After 2 hours I didn't notice the pain anymore, and so continued on with my day.

When I got home, I went outside in the back yard with Oliver, my puppy, and as I blew the leaves off the ground from our huge maple tree he protected me from the noisy leaf blower! After my husband came home from work, we all went on a walk together which lasted about 1 hour. We had been home from our walk about 30 minutes when all of the sudden I felt like I was starving. I grabbed a zucchini muffin and sat down on the couch. I felt like my chest was really tight, so I took my bra off, thinking that would help. Within 2 minutes, I realized that I was having a gallbladder attack. I started to freak out.

I know the pain from them, and it is something you don't ever want to feel. Luckily my husband was home with me, and so he quickly took control. I was having trouble breathing deeply. The start of a gallstone attack feels like you are having a heart attack. Now, I've never had a heart attack, but they say it feels like what a heart attack would feel like. The only difference, is that the pain is centered in the middle of your chest and radiates to the right side under your breast. (Your heart is on the center-left side of your body.) It is very hard to calm down, when you feel like you can't breath. I finally tried to meditate, which helped to slow my breathing down. A couple of months ago, I bought a book on natural remedies for ailments, and I remember there was a drink you could take if you were having a gallstone attack. I told Raj to go get it and he made the drink for me. It consists of about 8 oz of apple juice mixed with 1 TBS of apple cider vinegar (we only had champagne vinegar and so used that). I drank the glass and within 10 minutes the pain was completely gone. I was amazed! I have never been so thankful for anything in my life! I sat down on the couch, exhausted, while Raj got me my warm pack to put on my chest. However, after resting for 30 minutes, the pain came back, and this time stronger. Raj made me another drink, and I drank it. However this time, the pain didn't leave. So after 45 minutes of being in pain, I drank another. The pain finally started to die down within 30 more minutes, and I was able to lie down on the couch, again exhausted. Raj rubbed my feet and did different pressure points, which put me in a very relaxed state, and I fell asleep. I finally climbed into bed around 11:30pm. I had pain every time I moved, which got steadily worse as I laid down and straightened out my body. So, I curled into a ball, with my warm pack on my chest and tried to go to sleep. It took about 1 hour for me to fall asleep. I was pretty nauseous the entire time. I woke up in the morning at 7am, and the pain was gone. I did still have the referred pain my back.

The whole time I was going through this attack, I kept telling myself, I 'm never going to eat there again! And Raj reminded me that I can eat there, I just have to eat in moderation. I can have a slice or two, just not the whole personal pizza. It's just too much fat for my gallbladder to handle. I guess it was good timing for me to have an attack last night. It reassures me that I really do need to go on a fast and clean out my system. Today I am just eating a diet of mainly fresh fruits, and apple juice. I did have a plain English muffin for breakfast and a small glass of milk with a pear and apple. And, Raj made me another apple drink just for good measure! I am at work now, and for my snack, I think I'll have a banana and some apple juice. For lunch, I am going to have homemade corn tortillas and some beans and salsa, and for dinner I'm thinking just some veg. juice. I am noticing that I still have pain in my back, so I've had the warm pack on my back most of the morning.

So, the moral of the story is everything in moderation, and your body will thank you for it! I've attached a video my husband took of me right after I'd had the attack. As you can tell from the video, I am still feeling quite horrible.