If you’re having pain under the right hand side of your ribcage, it could be liver or gallbladder irritation, most often the latter. You often get referred pain in the right shoulder and back too, often under the shoulder blade although I have known it go down the arm. In fact, sometimes you only get the right shoulder pain so consider your gallbladder if pain there is not shifting with normal treatment.

Obviously check this out with your doctor for presence of stones or other pathology. 

Causes of Gallbladder Problems

In-clinic, the most common causes I’ve seen for a ‘grumbling’ gallbladder are poor liver and gut function generally, thyroid problems and oestrogen imbalance in menopause. This latter is REALLY common. If you are getting bloating and burping a lot after the menopause, definitely check your hormone levels.

From my Hormone Plan:

A very common issue in perimenopausal women is gallbladder dysfunction. A clue here is when you just can’t handle hormones well at all or they even seem to have the opposite effect – because you’re not clearing it out well enough. Bloating and not dealing well with fatty foods is a sign that gallbladder might need attention. Hypothyroid, long term use of the pill and even HRT can actually cause slow gallbladder function too.

You can see all key lab tests here if you need to do some testing. Read the text on the pages where I explain about tests and follow links to more info. Just ask me if you get stuck.

Gallbladder Pain Natural Treatment

If nothing untoward is found via your doctor, then following a gluten, dairy and alcohol free diet for 3 months often calms the gallbladder down. Check the books here to help you with that.  The Belly Fat Plan is a good all-round gluten and dairy free, low GL diet that sorts out a lot of problems. Even better, give yourself a full gut and liver MOT by combining it with the Gut Plan.

Supplement-wise, consider something like Metagenics MetaDigest Gall Plus, which is a good all-rounder for improving bile flow and breaking down so-called gallbladder ‘sludge’. You can read much more about it on the Metagenics site here.

If buying from there and you wish to support me, just enter 161026 in the Coupon Code box the first time you order and that will give you a 10% discount on all future orders  If you place your first order by phone, then just give the name Micki Rose (NOT each time you order), bless you x

The MetaDigest is suitable for anyone, including if you’ve had your gallbladder removed as it contains bile acids as ox bile. For a gentler approach, look at Apex Bilemin, which is a bit less strong as it doesn’t contain the Ox bile. That said, I find that, if you start low – 1 per day – with the MetaDigest and build up if you need to (max 3 per day), that works well for most people. If even 1 per day of those upsets you, then start with the Bilemin first and build up more gently. Always take gallbladder supplements with meals, especially fatty ones.

If that doesn’t do it, or you need to delve a bit deeper, here are some resources for you:

3 Natural Treatments for Gallstones

A good podcast (and useful transcript) on gallbladder functional medicine treatment from Dr Hyman

Here’s a summary of a more comprehensive gallbladder treatment protocol from Chris Kresser.

Or ask me, of course!