Disease du Jour

"Are you nauseous?  Do you feel sick after you eat a meal?  Let's take a look at your gall bladder.  Welp, you've got polyps.  We're going to take your gall bladder out.  How's next week?"

More frequently I have been hearing about middle aged patients that have had their gall bladder removed.  It never ceases to amaze me that medical doctors, the people that are supposed to be really smart, lack the physiologic common sense that would warrant an exceptional physician.

Let's learn a little science.  The gall bladder is located just tucked under the liver, the organ that does it all.  The gall bladder's main purpose is to store and secrete bile.  Bile is made from broken down blood cells and is an emulsifier, or soap.  You know when you have a greasy pan that you need to clean and you grab the dish soap, you start making suds, and the grease starts to break up.  This is what bile does to fat.  It breaks it up into smaller amounts so that it may be digested and absorbed.  If you get rid of the gall bladder your digestive system will have to work extra hard in order to process fat.  This means that your lovely steak, hamburger, cheese fries, ice cream, and even guacamole won't be processed correctly, and could even cause you harm.  Most of the time the patient's that leave the hospital without their gall bladder don't even know this information.

The idea is that if you remove the gall bladder that has polyps it helps you not feel as sick after meals.  First of all, if you're an American, middle aged, and aren't in the best condition, your gall bladder will have polyps.  There are plenty of other ways to get rid of polyps  and gall stones without cutting out your little fat fighting friend, so why aren't these doctors telling you about them.  Frankly, they don't know any better.  This is what they're taught.  You get strep throat alot, lets take out your tonsils.  Your hormones are off, lets perform a hysterectomy and take out your appendix while we're at it because it has no use (actually, its lymph tissue and aids your immune system).

I have an idea.  Let's get rid of everything you that you can still function without to prevent any possibility of disease.  Let's take out a lung: you've got two and you wouldn't want to catch a cough.  Next we'll remove your spleen: you wouldn't want it to rupture in a car accident.  After that we'll snip off your four smaller toes: you won't have to worry about stubbing them at night on your dresser.  We could keep going until you're a shell.

Next time you go to your doctor, remember that everything in and on your body has a purpose.  Ask questions, if you don't get a satisfying answer--don't do it.