Why Treat the Disease When You Can Cut up the Patient?

As is so often the case, I am hopping mad.

I've been having what I think are mild gall bladder symptoms. Before rushing to the doctor, I have been checking around to see if there are ways to fix up a sick gall bladder without having it yanked.

I learned, to my amazement, that American doctors don't even try to prevent gall bladder disease. You think I'm exaggerating? Read about it. They love cutting those babies out. It's quick and easy, and I assume it makes them lots of cash. I mentioned this the other day. It sounds like something a quack-worshipping loony would say, but it's true.

I wouldn't mind, if I thought American doctors were right. But it looks like doctors in other parts of the world think gall bladder disease is worth preventing, and that it's also worth treating without surgery. I mean real doctors who cure people. Not fakes and charlatans in tin foil hats.

Here's something of interest, if you think your gall bladder might be an issue. In Europe, doctors tell patients to use a medicine called Rowachol. It's just a few plant oils (like menthol) in capsules. Does it always work? No. But sometimes it does. And it has no known risks or side effects. Damn, isn't it worth a try? Isn't it better than losing an internal organ and wondering for the rest of your life what the consequences will be?

The same company, Rowa, makes a product called Rowatinex. In studies, this crap helped people pass kidney stones. I looked that up at the National Institutes of Health. WHY DIDN'T MY DOCTOR TELL ME ABOUT IT? Jesus, I could have used something like that a while back. Here's the horrendous part: supposedly, it also prevents kidney stones from forming. And it's cheap! At least compared to surgery and X-rays and prescription drugs and doctor's visits.

It's hard for me to believe that there's a serious disease doctors make no effort at all to prevent or to treat without surgery. Especially since surgery used to involve cutting people up like watermelons. It was pretty invasive.

And there are so many things you can do to protect yourself. Avoid fast weight loss. Exercise. Eat fiber. Don't skip meals. Take lecithin. Go easy on cholesterol. Avoid eggs, pork, chicken, and onions. Eat nuts. Would it kill the medical establishment to make an effort to point these things out?

This is one of those times when I am positive someone needs to be punched in the face, but I can't figure out who.

If you're fat, for God's sake, don't crash-diet. And don't skip meals. And make sure you get a little fat in your diet. Don't give yourself a big bag of stones that are damned hard to get rid of. Don't wait for your idiot doctor to grin and say, "Here's what you SHOULD have done. Now let's start cutting on you so I can make another payment on my Bentley."

Arrgh. The world is positively insane.