In 2001, FOF Teresa Gordon, 53, experienced “excruciating”
stomach pains one day while at work. “It’s was like a knife
cutting me from my stomach to my back,” says the Utah resident.
She began having sudden attacks like these almost weekly, and
for six months doctors couldn’t figure out what was causing the
pain. An MRI finally determined the source of her agony--“sand-
like” particles in her gallbladder. Gallstones occur in nearly
25% of American women by age 60, and as many as 50% by age 75,
according to a research report published by the University of
Maryland Medical Center. The good news: You can prevent
gallstones from ever becoming a painful attack, like Teresa’s
did. The bad news: If you ignore the signs, it can lead to a
serious infection or in rare cases, be deadly. Here, two
Harvard-trained gall-bladder experts, Dr. Dixie Mills and Dr.
Chung-Jyi Tsai, explain why FOFs are especially at risk for this
painful problem and what we can do to prevent it. Dr. Dixie
Mills describes the gallbladder as “a cut