Gallstones

Gallstones: An Overview

When people are diagnosed with gallstones, the first thing most of them ask is, "What is a gallstone?" It doesn't take too long to figure out one thing. They are very painful. Millions of people are afflicted with this condition and it is extremely common in the U.S.

What is a Gallstone?

Inside your gall bladder, there can be times when some of the digestive fluid will become hardened into small pebble like stones. These stones can come in a wide variety of sizes. They can be as small as grains of sand to becoming as large as a golf ball. They can sit inside the gall bladder for years without causing any symptoms, or they can grow very large and be quite painful. A person may only develop one single gallstone, while others may develop several all at once.

Symptoms of Gallstones

Sometimes it happens that someone who has gallstones will not even know it. This is mostly true in people who have very small, grain sized gallstones. There are not really any symptoms until the stones become too big and block the cystic duct or the bile duct. Once this happens then there will be sudden and considerable pain along the right side of your upper abdomen. This pain may also be felt between the shoulder blades or even along the right shoulder.

Will This Pain Cease?

Gallstones are very curious. There are times when you will not need any type of medical intervention. The stone may even pass by itself within a few minutes, or even a few hours. However, there are times when the stone can cause severe pain and will have to be removed.

Treatment of Gallstones

If there are no symptoms with the stones then there really is no need for any type of medical intervention. If the pain becomes very severe, you begin to see yellowing of your skin or in the whites of your eyes, or have a fever, you will need to seek out medical help and have the stones removed.

Removal of the stones used to be an invasive procedure that called an open cholecystectomy which meant an incision in the abdomen to remove the gall bladder. Today, with the advances in medicine, a procedure called a laparoscopic cholecystectomy is used. In this case, incisions are much smaller and are easier to recover from.

How Are They Caused?

There are many different genetic factors that contribute to the forming of gallstones. These include ethnic background, obesity, cirrhosis, diabetes, and even age. However, two of the most common causes have to do with the bile inside the gall bladder. The most common cause is if there is too much cholesterol or bilirubin in the bile. Another common cause is the gall bladder failing to empty properly and leaving the bile deposits inside.

Preventing Gallstones

There is currently no way to prevent gallstones from forming. However, most doctors will agree that a low fat diet and keeping your weight in check will help keep them from forming.

 

 

 

 

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• Gall Bladder Symptoms
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• Inflamed GallBladder
• Pain After GallBladder Surgery



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