Hormone Replacement Therapy: Weighing the Pros and Cons

Hormone Replacement Therapy: Weighing the Pros and Cons: "As with oral contraception, taking hormone or estrogen therapy can double your risk of developing gallstones. For women at high risk of gallstone attacks, oral hormone therapy should be avoided because it contributes to the formation of cholesterol crystals in the bile duct, which in turn supports the growth of gallstones. If you do decide to take hormone therapy, consider taking it via patch or vaginal cream."

Avoid eating summer squash if you have gallstones

Summer Squash for Summer Eating: "There are health concerns regarding summer squash. They are among a small number of foods containing a measurable amount of oxalates. Oxalates are hard lumps of salt crystals formed when oxalic acid combines with calcium, iron, sodium, magnesium, or potassium. Oxalate acid is a toxic organic acid naturally found inside certain plants. Oxalate Acid binds with nutrients to form oxalates.
When oxalates become too concentrated in body fluids they can crystallize. People with existing or untreated kidney or gallbladder problems may want to avoid eating summer squash for this reason. Oxalates in summer squash may also interfere with the absorption of calcium in the body. Calcium supplements should be taken two to three hours before or after eating summer squash. "
--
Interesting, I've never heard of this before.

Healthy fats from nuts might help prevent gallstone surgery in women

Farm Bureau News and Features: "According to recent research from Harvard Medical School, help to curb gallstones in women might be as simple as reaching for peanuts.

The healthy mono- and polyunsaturated fats in nuts that help control blood cholesterol might also help prevent gallstones and the need for gallbladder surgery, researchers say. They found that among 81,000 women followed over 20 years, 7,800 had had their gallbladders removed because of stones."
--

Peanuts, a great source of protein, may also reduce the risk of gallstone stone formation

Gallstone Attack uring Pregnancy

I'm a dad!: "For the first three or four days my wife was in really bad shape from the c-section, but she slowly got better after that, although constantly drousy from the painkillers. She started getting out of bed and even walking around a bit. Then at the sixth day the chest pains struck again with full force. The doctor did several checks and eventually found the cause. In an ultrasound they discovered a gallstone and an inflamed gallbladder. This was the missing piece of the puzzle. Now the symptoms started making sense. The chest pains, the vomiting, it all could be explained by the gallstone. And gallstones are, although very painful, completely harmless."
--

Gallstone attacks during pregnancy can be misdiagnosed as Preeclampsia