Gallstone Causes
The cause of gallstones and other gallbladder-related conditions is still (mostly) unknown. The color of the gallstones can give some clues as to a contributing imbalance in the body. Cholesterol gallstones, which occur when there is too much cholesterol in the liver and bile, are yellow in color. However, gallstones that are brown or black indicate that there is too much bilirubin in your bile.
There are some risk factors that increase your chances of getting gallstones or gallbladder disease. For example, women experience gallstones much more frequently than men.
Other risk factors include:
- Native American or Hispanic heritage
- Being over the age of 40
- Sedentary lifestyle
- High fat, high cholesterol diets
- Low fiber diets
- Pregnancy
- Family and/or personal history of gallstones
- Diabetes
- Being overweight or obese
- Sudden, rapid weight loss
Surgical removal of the gallbladder seems to be the go-to treatment anymore, but living without a gallbladder comes with its own set of complications and side effects.
19 Home Remedies for Gallstones
Even though cholecystectomies are now minimally invasive and somewhat routine, gallbladder surgery should be a last resort. To that end, preventative treatments should be utilized as much as possible, beginning with these home remedies for gallstones.
1. Reconsider Taking Birth Control
So, this one isn’t a home remedy so much as a strong recommendation to double check.
Certain types of birth control are known to increase the risk of gallbladder disease, including gallstones. If you are susceptible to gallstones, avoid birth control containing desogestrel, drospirenone, and norethindrone (6).
Below are examples of the brand names associated with these ingredients:
- Desogestrel: Apri, Azurette, Caziant, Cesia, Cyclessa, Desogen, Emoquette, Kariva, Mircette, Ortho-Cept, Reclipsen, Solia, Velivet, Viorele (7).
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Drospirenone: Drospirenone and ethinyl estradiol, Ocella, Safyral, Syeda, Yasmin, Zarah, Beyaz, Gianvi, Loryna, Yaz (8).
- Norethindrone: Camila, Errin, Heather, Jencycla, Nor QD, Nora-BE, Ortho Micronor, Incassia (9).