01/08/2026
Western medicine is very good at quieting symptoms.
What it rarely asks is what happens to the body after something is removed.
As we move beyond Western medicineâs narrow version of âhealthâ and begin trusting ourselves, plant medicine, and the bodyâs innate intelligence, itâs important to acknowledge what we lost while we were asleep inside that system.
One of Western medicineâs most common approaches is to remove whatever is screaming the loudest.
I fell for that approach more than once.
Debilitating gallbladder pain after eating? Take it out.
Chronic tonsillitis for months? Remove them.
A benign thyroid nodule? Remove half.
Wisdom teeth might cause jaw congestion? Pull them.
Cavities? Drill, fill, crown, root canal.
And each time, I was told some version of the same thing:
This will make things better.
Sometimes it did.
The pain stopped.
The symptom quieted.
Life went on.
What never happened, thoughânot onceâwas a conversation about what my body would need after losing part of itself.
No one talked about how the rest of my system would adapt.
No one talked about increased workload elsewhere.
No one talked about maintenance.
Our bodies are not a pile of unrelated parts thrown together.
They are a structure.
Like a house, every system is designed to work in relationship with the others.
Plumbing affects electrical. Load-bearing walls affect the foundation. Airflow affects everything.
When one part is removed, the house doesnât collapse.
But the load redistributes.
Imagine a house with two bathrooms.
If the toilet in the basement floods, you have a choice:
You can fix the clog or you can seal off the bathroom entirely and stop using it.
Sealing it off might feel like a solution. The flooding stops. The problem appears gone.
But now the upstairs bathroom takes on more use.
More use means more strain.
More strain means more maintenance is required.
If the maintenance schedule doesnât changeâif you pretend nothing shiftedâthe upstairs bathroom will eventually clog too. And now the issue isnât just one toilet. Itâs the entire plumbing system.
This is how organ removal works in the body.
The body adapts.
But adaptation always comes with redistribution of effort.
If youâre like me and have had organs or teeth removed, drilled into, or altered ; itâs okay.
Most of us were never taught to think in systems.
We did what we were told.
We trusted.
What matters isnât what we did in the past.
What matters is how we maintain the house weâre living in now.
Below are examples of how the body adapts after some common removals and why conscious support matters more afterward, not less.
Gallbladder: Flow and Pressure Control
The gallbladder doesnât make bile.
It stores it, concentrates it, and releases it at the right time; especially when fat enters the system.
Bile is not just for digestion.
Itâs one of the bodyâs primary detox exit routes, carrying out excess hormones, metabolic waste, toxins, and inflammatory byproducts.
Gallbladder pain often reflects:
thick, sluggish bile
mineral imbalance
chronic dehydration (cellular, not just water)
liver congestion
hormone overload
impaired fat metabolism
When the gallbladder is removed, nothing replaces it.
The liver still produces bile, but instead of releasing it in powerful, timed pulses, bile now drips continuously. Itâs less concentrated and less effective.
The body compensates by shifting workload to:
the liver (constant bile production without storage support)
the intestines (handling fats and toxins less efficiently)
the pancreas (enzymatic compensation)
the lymphatic system (processing waste that didnât exit well)
The house still functions.
But the plumbing now requires more intentional care.
Tonsils: The Front Door of the Immune System
Tonsils are immune surveillance tissue.
They sit at the front door of the body, sampling what enters through the mouth and nose and deciding how the immune system should respond.
Chronic tonsillitis often reflects:
repeated pathogen exposure
sluggish lymph drainage
gut imbalance
mineral deficiency
immune overwhelm elsewhere
When tonsils are removed, immune responsibility shifts deeper into the system.
The load moves to:
lymph tissue in the throat and chest
the gut-associated immune system
the sinuses and lower respiratory tract
Without that first line of filtration, the body often handles immune challenges further inside the house.
This doesnât mean immunity disappears.
It means maintenance of lymph flow and immune balance matters more.
Thyroid: The Thermostat
The thyroid is not an energy generator.
Itâs a regulator.
It sets the pace at which every cell uses energy â influencing temperature, digestion, heart rate, hormone signaling, brain clarity, nervous system tone, and repair.
Thyroid dysfunction rarely starts in the thyroid itself.
It often reflects chronic stress, adrenal overdrive, liver congestion, mineral depletion, immune imbalance, or long-term undernourishment.
When part of the thyroid is removed, regulation doesnât disappear but flexibility does.
The body compensates by leaning harder on:
the adrenals (stress hormones to maintain output)
the liver (hormone conversion and detox)
the gut (nutrient absorption and signaling)
the nervous system (sympathetic drive)
This is why many people with partial thyroids feel fine until stress, depletion, illness, or burnout arrives.
The thermostat still works.
But the system runs closer to the edge.
Itâs also important to say this: you donât have to be missing an organ for a system to need extra support.
Some parts of the body have always been working harder.
A childhood illness, chronic stress, repeated infections, inherited weakness, or long-term depletion can turn a system into a quiet weak point even if itâs still physically present.
In the house metaphor, the room is still there, but the pipes have been under pressure for years. Those systems deserve maintenance too.
Support isnât only about whatâs been removed; itâs about recognizing where the body has been compensating all along.
When capacity shifts anywhere in the body, certain systems quietly take on more responsibility.
Filtration, drainage, regulation, and pacing matter more.
This is where simple, consistent support can make a meaningful difference as maintenance.
Mineral-rich herbs like nettle and goldenrod support kidney filtration and fluid balance.
Burdock and red clover nourish lymphatic flow and hormone clearance.
Dandelion supports the liverâs role in bile flow and detoxification.
Lemon balm offers steadying support to the nervous system, especially when regulation feels fragile.
And adaptogenic herbs like schisandra and ashwagandha help buffer the adrenals, supporting resilience rather than forcing output.
These are quiet ways of tending the systems that are working harder now.
Every body has a history.
Surgeries, illnesses, stress, depletion â these are part of the architecture.
Maintenance isnât about fixing something broken.
Itâs about acknowledging where capacity has shifted and responding with care.
That support doesnât have to be complicated.
It can look like:
-drinking mineral-rich tea daily
-cooking with bone broth
-supporting liver, lymph, and kidneys
-nourishing instead of restricting
-choosing rhythms that respect your nervous system
You donât need to overhaul your life.
You just need to live in your body like itâs a house you plan to stay in.
Because when we stop pretending nothing changed â and start caring for what remains â the house doesnât just hold us.
It supports us.
P.S. The teas I create are designed with this kind of maintenance in mindâŚ
If you feel called, take a moment to notice where your body has been asking for support, and let that awareness guide what you reach for. The teas I create are meant to meet those systems gently, offering nourishment rather than direction.
Check out our offered teas here
https://www.celestialrootsco.com/category/teas
This reflection is part of a longer conversation Iâve been having with my body. If it resonates, you may feel drawn to another piece I wrote, If Nothing Changes, Will You Still Stay?
https://www.celestialrootsco.com/post/if-nothing-changes-will-you-still-stay
That question has shaped everything Iâm learning about what it means to live in relationship with this form, and to care for it without demanding proof or results
