Bilious Attack

There is a tendency among some people to deny overeating and blame something else for a bilious attack. in truth, there are many explanations for such a condition: the stomach doesn't empty properly, the gall bladder is lazy, the colon is too full, there is a hormonal problem (premenstrual syndrome), migraine, etc. Whatever it is, it affects young women between 30 and 40 in particular. They tend to be anxious, over-careful, suffer migraines, work very hard, and are by temperament pessimistic.

The attack starts on awakening with a feeling of illness accompanied by nausea, pains in the area of the liver and solar plexus, pallor, and sweating or a cold feeling. It usually ends with bilious vomiting. Even if the cause is not entirely clear, it would be difficult to deny the pains in the region of the liver or gall bladder that are a source of complaint. Many remedies that reduce spasm are useful or even indispensable in relieving the symptoms.

Dietary advice

This is simple, effective and easy to put into practice: a watery diet composed of vegetable broths and fruit juice followed by 24 hours of a light diet, with boiled potatoes, lean meat, preferably grilled, or poached fish.

Homeopathy

Nux vomica, almost as a matter of course.

Carduus marianus, Chelidonium

- Four granules of one of these remedies at 5c, to be sucked like sweets, two or three times a day between meals

Nux vomica

- Vegetable origin: the fruit of the Strychnos nux-vomica tree
- Homeopathic remedy for digestive disorders due to overindulgence
- Specific sign: improved by a short sleep

Carduus marianus

- Vegetable origin: the milk thistle
- Specific homeopathic remedy to encourage liver drainage

Chelidonium majus

- Vegetable origin: celandine
- Homeopathic remedy for hepatic pain
- Specific sign: pain spreading towards the right shoulder blade

• You can use Chelidonium-Homaccord@ (Heel), which contains Chelidonium and Belladonna in various potencies:
  - Available in drop bottles of 30ml and 100ml
  - In general ten drops three times daily. In acute disorders, initially ten drops every fifteen minutes.

Herbal treatment

Artichoke, boldo, fumitory

Possible Prescription: Ask your herbalist to prepare a 30ml bottle of a mother tincture of one of these plants. Twenty­five drops to be taken in a little water, two or three times a day

Artichoke

Eating artichoke stimulates liver function several of its constituents increase the secretion of bile, accelerating the process of detoxification. It is thus a depurative.

• You can use Cynara Artichoke, a dried artichoke extract (320mg):
  - Available in packs of 30 capsules
  - One capsule daily, preferably before meals
• You can also use Lamberts@ Artichoke 8000mg:
  - Available in containers of 60 tablets
  - One tablet daily, preferably before meals.