Gall Bladder, Depression, and Warm the Gallbladder formula

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Here's a very interesting article from Blue Poppy Press and Bob Flaws on the

gall bladder, depression, and Warm the Gallbladder formula.

 

" Vacuity " is the term that Flaws, Blue Poppy Press, and others use instead

of " Deficiency " or " Emptiness " (preferred by Maciocia and others).

Deficiency problems are those caused by there being too little of something.

Excess problems are those caused by there being too much of something. Qi

Stagnation and Blood Stasis are classified as Excess problems because any is

too much. Qi Deficiency and Blood Deficiency are problems in which there is

not enough Qi and Blood. Both Deficiency and Excess problems can exist at

the same time. They frequently do. (A reminder that the TCM concept of

Blood is not identical to the Western anatomical blood. It's possible for a

Western blood test to be normal but yet the person suffers from TCM Blood

Deficiency.)

 

Western doctors such as Mercola are starting to realize that there is such a

thing as cholesterol being too low. Mercola believes that the reason that

some people have cholesterol that is too low is because bile is not flowing

smoothly. When bile flows smoothly, cholesterol is adequate.

 

This article just touches on the basics. Later I want to post something

from Bensky's and Barolet's Chinese Herbal Medicine Formulas & Strategies

that goes into more detail on the Warm the Gallbladder formula. Flaws's

brief article deals primarily with depression and the effect of the Liver

and Gallbladder imbalance on the Spleen, but the Stomach may be affected.

When this happens, there are far more symptoms than Flaws has gone into.

Symptoms like gnawing hunger.

 

" Coursing the Liver " means to get Qi flowing in the Liver. The Liver is

very prone to Qi Stagnation problems.

 

A reminder that unwise dieting can trigger gallbladder attacks in those who

are susceptible. The release of bile from the gallbladder is triggered by

the ingestion of fats. If a person is not consuming enough fat, the bile

stays in the gallbladder. When it stays in the gallbladder, stones are more

likely to be formed than when the gallbladder routinely empties. When the

person finally does eat something with enough fat in it to trigger the

release of bile, this can percipitate a very painful gallbladder attack if

stones have formed.

 

Strictures in the bile duct also can result in a person having problems

releasing enough bile - even if the gallbladder has been removed. These

strictures may be Phlegm-related, or, they may be due to damage to the duct

from very small stones that managed to make it out of the gallbladder.

 

If there is not enough bile to emulsify fats so they can be absorbed, this

not only impacts the production of a number of substances which are made

from cholesterol. Some vitamins are fat-soluable, and these (like A, D, and

E) may not be making it across the lining of the intestine either.

 

Victoria

 

11 Flavors Warm the Gallbladder, Low Cholesterol, Depression & Anxiety

by

Bob Flaws, Dipl. Ac. & C.H., Lic. Ac., FNAAOM, FRCHM

Keywords: Chinese medicine, Chinese herbal medicine, Wen Dan Tang (Warm the

Gallbladder Decoction), low cholesterol, anxiety, depression

 

Most lay people today think the lower their cholesterol, the better.

However, low cholesterol is increasingly being identified by Western medical

researchers as a potential problem. Normal cholesterol levels should be

between 180-200mg/dL. However, 10% of the population has cholesterol levels

below 180mg/dL. Cholesterol is a necessary precursor for the creation of

hormones, such as estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA, and other

corticosteriods. Studies have linked low serum cholesterol levels of

increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke and increased mortality in the elderly.

, For instance, the 24th American Heart Association Conference on Stroke and

Cerebral Circulation found that those with total serum cholesterol below

180mg/dL had twice the risk of hemorrhagic stroke than those with a

cholesterol level of 230mg/dL. Similarly, other studies have linked

depression and anxiety to chronically low levels of serum cholesterol. In a

study of 121 healthy young women, Duke! psychologist Edward Suarez found

that those with cholesterol levels below 160mg/dL were more likely to score

higher on measures of depression and anxiety than women with normal or high

cholesterol levels. Interestingly, cholesterol drops postpartum, and some

researchers are wondering if this accounts for most, if not all, postpartum

depression. An even larger study conducted by Dutch researchers on 30,000

men found evidence of a link between low cholesterol levels and an increased

risk of depression. So the days of thinking the lower the cholesterol, the

better are numbered.

 

As psychiatrists now know, essentially all patients who are depressed are

also anxious. In other words, the hard and fast division of depression from

anxiety disorders is also quickly becoming a thing of the past. In terms of

cholesterol, it is hypothesized that low cholesterol alters the way the

brain cells function. Edward Suarez believes that low cholesterol results in

fewer serotonin receptors, thus preventing the brain cells from using this

mood-stabilizing neurotransmitter, and serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs

such as Paxil, Zoloft, and Prozac) are used clinically to treat both

depression and anxiety. According to Dr. Joseph Mercola, MD director of the

Optimal Wellness Center, the cause of low cholesterol in most people is

non-freely flowing bile from the gallbladder. Bile is necessary to emulsify

fats in the digestate. If a person does not have enough bile to emulsify

these fats, then they cannot be absorbed by the intestinal villi and

converted into cholester! ol. Therefore, Dr. Mercola thinks that chronically

low cholesterol levels are primarily due to a dysfunction of the

gallbladder.

 

While the above is cutting-edge Western medical science, Chinese doctors

have known about the connection between mood disorders and liver-gallbladder

function for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. In Chinese medical

psychiatry, the most common disease mechanism of anxiety is a liver-spleen

disharmony resulting in malnourishment of the heart spirit. Because the

spleen is the latter heaven root of qi and blood engenderment and

transformation, liver depression assailing the spleen causing it to be

vacuous and weak may result in a heart qi and blood vacuity. Hence the heart

spirit is not properly nourished and constructed and becomes abnormally

disquieted. Symptoms of depression include irritability, taciturnity, social

avoidance, sleep disturbances, fatigue, a tendency to sorrow and tears with

little reason, and loss of appetite, while symptoms of anxiety include

excessive thinking and worry, a susceptibility to fear and fright, heart

palpitations, chest oppression and p! ain, shortness of breath, dizziness,

and spontaneous perspiration. Chinese medical practitioners should have no

problem recognizing these symptoms as combination of liver depression qi

stagnation and heart-spleen vacuity. In Chinese medicine, this combination

of patterns is referred to as heart-gallbladder qi timidity or

heart-gallbladder qi vacuity pattern. In this case, the word " gallbladder "

is a rhetorical device which encompasses both the liver and gallbladder. As

a rhetorical device, it emphasizes the liver's active or yang role in

digestion and the engenderment and transformation of qi and blood.

Nevertheless, the very name " heart-gallbladder qi timidity " underscores the

Chinese medical relationship between the liver-gallbladder and anxiety.

Because liver depression and spleen vacuity both commonly lead to the

engenderment of phlegm and because enduring depression often transforms into

heat, heart-gallbladder qi timidity is often complicated by phlegm and heat.

 

When anxiety and/or depression present a pattern of heart-gallbladder qi

timidity with phlegm and heat, the treatment principles are to course the

liver and rectify the qi, fortify the spleen and supplement the qi, nourish

the heart and quiet the spirit, transform phlegm and clear heat. Typically,

for these purposes, Chinese doctors choose some version of Shi Wei Wen Dan

Tang (Ten Flavors Warm the Gallbladder Decoction) or Shi Yi Wei Wen Dan Tang

(Eleven Flavors Warm the Gallbladder Decoction). Blue Poppy Herbs 11 Flavors

Warm the Gallbladder formula is specifically designed to address this very

condition. One of the diagnostic indicators of depressive heat is a bitter

taste in the mouth upon arising (if severe, possibly throughout the day),

and a bitter taste in the mouth is due to non-freely flowing bile which is

entering the blood stream instead of the intestinal tract. Because it

address a bitter taste in the mouth, this formula does treat the gallbladder

dysfunction ! that Dr. Mercola believes is at the root of low cholesterol.

This formula may be used alone or in combination with SSRIs in the treatment

of depression and/or anxiety, in which case, 11 Flavors treats the root of

the problem, while the SSRIs merely increase the amount of serotonin in the

brain. In any case, there is a very nice convergence of state-of-the-art

Western medical science and ancient Chinese medical wisdom as it relates to

low cholesterol and depression-anxiety. This same pattern often describes

patients with labile hypertension which, if left unchecked, over time may

result in hemorrhagic stroke, and 11 Flavors may be used to treat this

pattern of hypertension as well.

 

Blue Poppy Press, 2002. All rights reserved.

 

Endnotes:

www.mercola.com/1999/feb/14/low_cholesterol.htm

 

Http://unisci.com/stories/20013/0803014.htm

 

www.pslgroup.com/dg/fff8a.htm

 

Www.mercola.com/2000/mar/26/cholesterol_depression.htm

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Victoria said

>

> A reminder that unwise dieting can trigger gallbladder attacks in those

who

are susceptible. The release of bile from the gallbladder is triggered by

the ingestion of fats. If a person is not consuming enough fat, the bile

stays in the gallbladder. When it stays in the gallbladder, stones are more

likely to be formed than when the gallbladder routinely empties. When the

person finally does eat something with enough fat in it to trigger the

release of bile, this can percipitate a very painful gallbladder attack if

stones have formed.

 

Women over 40 are much more likely to have gallstones than men and this

could fit with your unwise dieting theory in that women are more likely to

be on diets than men. Also in terms of cholesterol, the body needs this to

produce various hormones and for general metabolism, so of course it can be

too low. As always its about balance isn't it? Anyway thanks for the

interesting article.

Susie