We had another poster here that was possibly poisoned by her pigments. (pointing her brushes with her mouth!)

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/post1053214-621.html

I used to paint alot in the past, then I had to work overtime to pay for my son's college training etc, and didn't do much (only a little drawing)

I am returning to it now, and discovering that many of the pigments I was familiar with are gone, and replaced by synthetic non heavy metal ones. ( I use watercolors predominately).. so I am buying a whole new range of colors!
(this has been a surprisingly complex task!)

Cobalt is on the way out.
Cadmium reds and yellows are being replaced
Chromium greens
Manganese blue
Mercury
(of course Lead white...but that has been gone a long time)
There is arsenic in many earth pigments too.

I was always very careful not to get anything on my skin.

You can also breathe in pigments from pastels. I see pastels are much less commonly used today compared to the past.

The mineral spirits used for clean up of oil based paints are also not good long term for nerves.

When you get your blood work done, have them test you for heavy metals, just to see what is going on.

To help with sluggish gall bladder, there is a supplement for that. Taurine has been found to complex the cholesterol in bile and help move it out so it won't form stones. I use it because I have gall bladder attacks but all the tests show "no stones".
500mg a day whether I need it or not seems to prevent the big attacks. When you get yours removed, you will still have to help the bile move out... so if this works for you now, you will still need it post surgically. (people taking lithium cannot take taurine)

The MTHFR problem is becoming very common as it is being tested for with the new DNA testing.
Here is a link to one very good resource on the net:
http://mthfr.net/
B12 and folic acid must be methylated in the body to work in the tissues. Since you had 2 drugs that deplete folate, if you could have a MTHFR issue, you would become MORE depleted than other people. So the testing for this may reveal quite a bit for you. The solution is to use methylcobalamin B12 and methylfolate (Metafolin). Poor methylation means you cannot repair nerves and other tissue (blood vessels)..