The gallbladder is a sack where your body stores bile.  Bile is a liquid that helps aid digestion.  Your liver makes the bile where it is moved to the gallbladder to be stored until you eat.  When you eat your gallbladder releases the bile to help break down foods in your lower intestines.  

After eating a large meal, or after eating in the evening you may experience something that is called a gallbladder attack.  This is severe and sudden pain.  This pain usually radiates from your stomach and can feel one of these ways; sudden, sharp pain that lasts minutes or hours, a dull cramping that worsens in the upper right of your abdomen, sharp pain the middle of the abdomen below the breastbone, intense pain that makes it difficult for you to sit still, pain that doesn’t lessen or get worse when you move, or tenderness in your abdomen.  Other symptoms of a gallbladder attack are fever, chills, nausea, vomiting, light colored stool, yellowing of skin, or yellowing of the whites of your eyes.  Pain from gallbladder attacks are usually so terrible that patients end up in the emergency room.  Which is usually a good thing, because pain from a gallbladder attack can look very similar to a heart attack, appendicitis, or an ulcer perforation.  

There are lots of things that can lead to a gallbladder attack.  Gallstones are one of the main ones.  Gallstones are substances that buildup in the gallbladder.  They can vary in size from the size of a grain of sand to the size of a golf ball.  You can develop just one gallstone or many.  Gallstones in many cases do not cause other symptoms.  Bile duct stones, gallbladder inflammation, gallbladder disease, gallbladder polyps, gallbladder cancer, or bile duct cancer can all lead to a gallbladder attack.  There isn’t much you can do to ease pain if a gallbladder attack happens.  You can try a warm compress on your stomach to help, try not to lay on your right side where your gallbladder is located, or drink peppermint tea.  Pain medications may help a little to alleviate temporary pain, but you may experience another gallbladder attack.  Antibiotics if there is an infection in the gallbladder.  Your doctor may be able to do an endoscopy where they can remove gallstones through a tiny microscope.  

Surgery is usually the end result when you have gallbladder problems that keep coming back or don’t get better between episodes.  You can have a laparoscopic cholecystectomy, an open cholecystectomy, or a robotic cholecystectomy.  A laparoscopic cholecystectomy is when a few small incisions are made to insert cameras and tools for a surgeon to remove the gallbladder.  An open cholecystectomy is done by a surgeon making a full incision in the abdomen to get to the gallbladder and remove it.  Robotic cholecystectomy is done by a robot machine, a Davinci, that is manned by a surgeon but the machine removed the gallbladder.  

Diet changes can also ease gallbladder attacks.  Eating foods such as lean meats, fish, plant-based foods, fruits, vegetables, high fiber foods, whole grains, and low fat dairy can be beneficial when suffering from gallbladder issues. 

Gallstones are very common.  15% of people will have gallstones that never cause them any trouble.  Gallstones can cause no symptoms.  If a gallstone becomes lodged and causes a blockage is usually when you start to see signs or symptoms.  Symptoms include sudden intensifying pain either in the upper right of the abdomen, or in the center of the abdomen.  Back pain between the shoulders, pain in the right shoulder, nausea, or vomiting are all symptoms.  These symptoms can either last minutes or a few hours.  

Gallstones can be caused by a few different things.  You can have gallstones that are caused by the bile containing too much cholesterol.  This happens when the liver produces more cholesterol than the bile can break down.  The bile can contain too much bilirubin.  This can occur if you also suffer from liver cirrhosis, biliary tract infections, or certain blood disorders.  These conditions cause excess bilirubin.  Your gallbladder not emptying completely or often enough can also cause gallstones.  

You are at a higher risk of producing gallstones if you are female, over the age of 40, Native American, Hispanic, overweight, sedentary, pregnant, or have a family history.  Eating a diet that is high in fats, high in cholesterol, or low in fiber also puts you at a higher risk.  Having diabetes, certain blood disorders, taking oral contraceptives, hormone therapy drugs, or having liver disease can also raise your risk.  

If your doctor believes you suffer from gallstones they may want to do an ultrasound or a CAT scan to show if there is inflammation in the gallbladder, gallstones are present, or a blockage is somewhere.  After this treatment options will be laid out.  Non surgical options are available but usually end with a relapse or gallstones coming back.  There are medications that can dissolve cholesterol gallstones, but they have a tendency to return.  A gastroenterologist can use a lithotripsy to break apart gallstones instead of doing gallbladder removal.  

 

 

READ MORE: Digestive Aids: Help Your Digestion & Ease Discomfort


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