Gallbladder Attacks in Hashimoto’s: The Root Cause No One Is Talking About

If you’ve ever felt pain under your right rib cage, nausea after eating fats, or bloating that doesn’t make sense—this episode is for you.

In this episode of the Thyroid Strong Podcast, Dr. Emily Kiberd dives into one of the most overlooked issues affecting women with Hashimoto’s: gallbladder dysfunction. She shares her personal story of gallbladder attacks starting in her early 20s, why she refused surgery, and how addressing the true root causes finally resolved her symptoms.

You’ll learn why gallbladder pain isn’t “just digestion” — and how poor bile flow, low stomach acid, estrogen dominance, mold exposure, and even parasites can quietly sabotage your thyroid, hormones, and fat metabolism.

If you’ve been told your only option is gallbladder removal… this episode may completely change how you see your symptoms.

In this episode, we cover:

1. 00:11 — Why gallbladder pain is often missed or misdiagnosed in Hashimoto’s
2. 00:37 — Dr. Kiberd’s personal gallbladder story (starting at age 21)
3. 01:31 — What the gallbladder actually does (and why you need it)
4. 02:49 — The thyroid–bile–gallbladder connection explained simply
5. 03:32 — Key symptoms to watch for (right rib pain, nausea, floating stools)
6. 05:00 — Why gallbladder pain is a signal, not a diagnosis
7. 05:45 — Why gallbladder removal often doesn’t fix the real problem
8. 06:20 — How poor bile flow impacts hormones, detox, and inflammation
9. 07:10 — Root causes surgeons don’t talk about (mold, parasites, estrogen)
10. 08:10 — Labs and imaging that can point to gallbladder dysfunction
11. 09:00 — How Dr. Kiberd approaches gallbladder issues in her 1:1 practice
12. 10:00 — Supporting bile flow, digestion, and fat tolerance safely
13. 10:44 — Final takeaways + next steps for Hashimoto’s healing

This episode is a must-listen if you’re gluten-free, “doing all the right things,” and still dealing with pain, bloating, or stubborn inflammation.

🎧 Listen now and learn how supporting your gallbladder can unlock better thyroid healing.

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Welcome back to Thyroid Strong Podcast.

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This is the podcast for high performing

women who just happen to have Hashimoto's,

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who wanna lift heavy, heal their root

causes, and feel strong without the crash.

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I'm Dr.

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Emily Kiberd.

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Today we're talking about

something that doesn't get enough

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attention in the Hashimoto's world,

and that is gallbladder pain.

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If you're bloated after meals, you feel

pain under the right upper side of your

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abdomen, the right rib cage, or a referral

point on the backside of your right

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shoulder blade, like just to the inside.

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Or you can't tolerate fatty

foods without getting nauseous.

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You need to listen up.

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Your gallbladder is trying

to tell you something.

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I'll give you a little bit of my

own story when I was 21 years old,

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I remember going to this place in

Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I went to

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school at University of Michigan and

I went to have dinner with my mother.

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She drove in 45 minutes and we

had duck, and I had this pain in

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my right upper quadrant, right

underneath my right ribs, and I was

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nauseous and it would come in waves.

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And then I had this pain referral

point on the backside just the

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inside of my shoulder blade.

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And at 21 years old, maybe even 20, that

was the first time I had gallbladder pain.

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My mother has gallbladder pain.

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She actually got her gallbladder removed

and now she has this chronic IBS symptoms.

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And over the years it would get worse.

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And I would cut out foods, I would

cut out fatty foods, I would cut out

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coffee, and I saw multiple surgeons

who, general surgeons who recommended

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getting my gallbladder removed.

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And just something in my

intuition told me, don't do that.

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you need your gallbladder.

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It is not just some vestigial organ or

some remnant from evolution and actually,

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and we'll talk about what it does, but you

actually need it for digesting your food.

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I remember after my second was

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I had a gallbladder attack and

I could not get off the floor.

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And I told my husband he had

Brooklyn strapped to his chest.

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I need you to take me to the hospital.

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we went to the ER and we sat there

for hours and hours and hours.

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I got a morphine drip, which

took the edge off and they're

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like, yeah, we did an ultrasound.

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You have some, gallbladder sludge.

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But I was like, this cannot

be how my life goes on.

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There has gotta be a way.

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And I am a hunter.

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I look for solutions and

not just put band-aids on.

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Yes, I take certain supplements to help

my bile flow, but it was addressing

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it at the root cause, and that is.

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All about what I do, not only when I

have my practice in Manhattan, which

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was a rehab practice and we were looking

for the root causes of people's pain.

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Same thing with this.

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You're having gallbladder pain.

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I was having gallbladder pain and I was

like, This cannot be how my life goes on.

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And now I don't get gallbladder attacks.

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I haven't had one in years.

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So I'm gonna share with you what the

gallbladder is, what bile is, the

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importance of it, how you can keep

it moving, and some root causes that

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can contribute to gallbladder pain.

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Let's start with the basics.

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Why are gallbladder issues so

common in women with Hashimoto's?

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when thyroid hormones are

low, bile flow slows down.

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That means that bile, which is stored

in the gallbladder, which helps emulsify

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and digest fats, becomes thick and sludgy

sluggish bile leads to poor fat digestion.

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Which then leads to stress, on our

gallbladder, add in low stomach acid,

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which is incredibly common for women.

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With Hashimoto's in your ability to

properly break down, fat is compromised.

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and let's not forget estrogen.

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Estrogen dominance is another common

pattern I see in my one-on-one coaching

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clients elevated estrogen, thickens,

bile, and it makes you more prone

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to gallbladder sludge and stones.

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So symptoms to look for if you're

like, oh my God, is this me?

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Do I have gallbladder issues?

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I know I have Hashimoto's.

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I know I have some bloating

and some gut issues.

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Listen up, get a pen and paper.

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Write 'em down.

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So pain under the right side of your

rib cage pain that refers to your

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shoulder blade, nausea after eating,

fats, floating stools or stools

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that are pale in color and chronic

bloating or burping after you eat.

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Okay, so just take note.

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Even if you have a couple of those,

you could be having gallbladder issues.

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So gallbladder pain is a sign.

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But it's not necessarily a

diagnosis, so pain is your body's

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way of sending you a message.

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Gallbladder pain doesn't

automatically mean you need surgery.

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It's a signal that your body is struggling

to process fat, to detoxify your body

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efficiently and to regulate inflammation.

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Here's the kicker.

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In conventional medicine, the

first response is often, let's

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just take the gallbladder out.

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That was my case.

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Here's the truth.

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Your gallbladder isn't the problem.

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It's the canary in the coal mine.

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Removing it won't fix the sluggish bile.

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It won't remove that poor digestion

or nutrient deficiencies that led

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to the issue in the first place.

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And guess what?

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After gallbladder removal,

most women still have symptoms

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and sometimes they get worse.

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My mother is one of these, she had her

gallbladder removed 'cause she was having

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frequent gallbladder attacks and she

actually still gets gallbladder attacks

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and her doctor told her, I think you're

having phantom gallbladder pain and

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actuality there's other stuff going on.

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So just getting surgery doesn't

mean you're gonna get better.

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Sometimes you feel like

you can be getting worse.

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What gallbladder dysfunction means

for your Hashimoto's healing.

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When bile is not flowing well, your

body cannot absorb fat soluble vitamins.

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Vitamins like Vitamin A,

vitamin D, vitamin E, K.

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These are all critical for your

thyroid health, your immune

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health, and your hormonal health.

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When your bile is not flowing

well, you are not breaking your

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fats down properly for energy.

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When your bile is not flowing properly,

you cannot bind and excrete toxins like

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mold or estrogen or heavy metals properly.

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So what happens?

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Estrogen dominance happens or worsens.

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Hashimoto flares become more frequent.

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You feel fatigued.

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Inflamed, stuck.

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Where your weight is at your skin can

break out and your poops, they float.

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This is about your gallbladder being a

key role in your thyroid healing plan.

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So what labs or symptoms should

you look for if you're like,

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Hmm, do I have a thyroid issue?

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What are the functional clues that

your gallbladder is kind of waving?

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The red flag, right?

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So take out a pen and paper, grab

it again, and let's make a list.

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So lab marker to check for

A-L-T-A-S-T, which are liver enzymes.

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If the bile backs up can affect

liver, GGT, which is often, elevated

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with bile congestion, bilirubin.

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If bile is not moving well,

bilirubin will be off.

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alkaline phosphatase, and then also

an ultrasound of that upper right

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quadrant looking at the gallbladder,

looking for sludge or stones.

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And again, most common symptom is pain

under that right rib, with a pain referral

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point to the medial side of your shoulder.

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Okay, burping, bloating after meals,

nausea after high fat meals, pale or

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floating, or what could be like greasy

looking stools, itchy skin, or breakouts.

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You don't need to have all the markers

present or out of range to have your

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gallbladder be functionally sluggish.

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let's talk about some root causes

that can affect your gallbladder.

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So if you have parasites that are living

in your gallbladder, and yes, parasites,

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do not just live in your intestine,

they can live in your gallbladder.

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This can add load to the gallbladder

and then can cause gallbladder pain.

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Another thing that I found very

frequently, and this was my root cause

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and then also my mother's root cause,

was that mold exposure can cause the

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gallbladder to have a big dump of bile.

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'cause the body's like, I

gotta bind up those mycotoxins.

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I need to bind them up

by releasing some bile.

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With your bile being sluggish, now you

have this gallbladder attack and what.

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For me, when I address my mold

exposure symptoms, that is when

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everything changed from my gallbladder.

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So those are potential true root causes

that you will never hear a general

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surgeon or your primary care talk

about when it comes to gallbladder

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pain, when we're looking for these two

things, either a urine mycotoxin test,

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and I will share the one that I love.

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In the show notes, it's

from real time labs.

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It is the most accurate, the

most sensitive and specific.

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and then there's a specific

parasite test that I use.

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It is not a GI map, it is not PCR testing.

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It is microscopy, like what the

old school parasitologists use.

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Plate it and look at

it under a microscope.

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So that is, there are the two methods

that I use to pick up parasites and mold.

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And when those come up,

now you can address them.

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You can go at it from the root cause.

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Also still supporting your gallbladder

with supplements but this is what

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a root cause approach looks like.

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So if you've had the gallbladder

ultrasound, if you're having gallbladder

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attacks still, if you're taking

supplements, if you're like this close

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to about to get your gallbladder out, I

suggest looking at it from a root cause.

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there's certain questions to

ask when someone has a potential

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parasitic infection, there's

certain questions to ask.

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I have a whole mold questionnaire around.

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Are there certain things to look at

to see if there's for mold exposure

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and then we test not guess, right?

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And that is the thyroid strong

functional medicine way.

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let's talk about what I do with one-on-one

clients in my one-on-one coaching program.

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Thyroid, strong functional

medicine when it comes to someone

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having gallbladder issues.

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so here's how we support the gallbladder

We look at is someone producing enough

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stomach acid to break down their food?

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Because if they're not doing that, as

the food moves through the digestive

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tract and bile gets secreted by the

gallbladder, when food is not broken

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down properly, it's gonna require more

work on the rest of digestive tract.

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The way we.

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Check for stomach acid is we typically

check with either a battan HCL

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challenge or a GI map stool test.

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So we use this when appropriate.

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You can use things to help

support the gallbladder to

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thin the bile to help it move.

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For example, ox bile

phosphatidylcholine for, bile thinning.

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I like to incorporate bitter

herbs to stimulate bile flow.

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And then let's address it

from the root cause approach.

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Do you have mold, parasites,

sibo, estrogen dominance?

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If those are potential root triggers in

my one-on-one practice for my clients.

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And we test not guess for that.

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I like to optimize liver detox pathways.

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So most importantly, we build your

body's capacity to tolerate and

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utilize fat again, because fat is

so crucial for hormone production,

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for brain function, and for energy.

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All right ladies, so I just gave

you like gallbladder bile 1 0

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1 as it relates to Hashimoto's.

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And if your gallbladder is

screaming at you, do not ignore it.

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It is not just a digestive

issue, it's a thyroid issue.

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It could be a hormone issue.

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It's a detox issue.

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So inside of my one-on-one

thyroid, strong functional medicine

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coaching, we go deeper than just.

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Let's get rid of your symptoms.

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We go deeper than just

throwing a supplement at it.

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We c uncover the root cause and create

a personalized plan to support your

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thyroid, your gallbladder, your gut.

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And if you're interested, I'm gonna

drop a link below where you can set

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up a time where my team to get on a

call and see how I can support you.

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And if you're a good fit for me and

I'm a good fit for you, your body.

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Let me just remind you, ladies

is so smart and it's so strong.

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Let's support it properly, not just by

throwing supplements at it, but by really

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addressing things at the root cause.

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Let's help you get your bio flow to

match the strength that you exude

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on the outside and get you feeling

like yourself again, especially

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if you have gallbladder attacks.

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That is not forever.

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That is not a way of life.

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There is a solution.

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All right, ladies.

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I will see you next time

on Thyroid Shark Podcast.

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If you like this episode, rate and

review on your favorite podcast

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listening channel, whether it's Spotify,

iTunes, or wherever else you listen.

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All right, ladies.

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I will see you next week.