16/01/2025
CHOLELITHIASIS (GALLSTONES)
Gallstones are hardened, concentrated pieces of bile that form in your gallbladder or bile ducts. “Gall” means bile, so gallstones are bile stones. Your gallbladder is your bile bladder. It holds and stores bile for later use. Your liver makes bile, and your bile ducts carry it to the different organs in your biliary tract.
GALLSTONES SYMPTOMS
Gallstones generally don’t cause symptoms unless they get stuck and create a blockage. This blockage causes symptoms, most commonly upper abdominal pain and nausea. These may come and go, or they may come and stay. You might develop other symptoms if the blockage is severe or lasts a long time, like:
-Sweating.
-Fever.
-Fast heart rate.
-Abdominal swelling and tenderness.
-Yellow tint to your skin and eyes.
-Dark-colored p*e and light-colored p**p.
WHERE IS GALLSTONE PAIN LOCATED?
Your biliary system is located in the upper right quadrant of your abdomen, which is under your right ribcage. Most people feel gallstone pain in this region. But sometimes, it can radiate to other areas. Some people feel it in their right arm or shoulder or in their back between their shoulder blades.
Some people feel gallstone pain in the middle of their abdomen or chest. This can be confusing because the feeling might resemble other conditions. Some people mistake gallstone pain for heartburn or indigestion. Others might feel like they’re having a heart attack, which is a different emergency.
POSSIBLE COMPLICATIONS OF HAVING GALLSTONES
If a gallstone blocks the flow of bile through your biliary system, it can affect any or all of the organs in that system. Bile that can’t flow backs up into your bile ducts and organs, causing acute inflammation and encouraging bacterial infections. When severe, these conditions can become life-threatening.
Complications include:
-Cholecystitis (gallbladder inflammation).
-Pancreatitis (pancreas inflammation).
-Cholangitis (bile duct inflammation).
-Hepatitis (liver inflammation).
-Jaundice (bile in your bloodstream).
-Septicemia (an infection in your bloodstream).
CAUSES OF GALLSTONES
Gallstones form when there’s an excess of one of the main ingredients in bile. The excess ingredient turns to sediment at the bottom of your gallbladder or bile ducts, and the sediment gradually hardens into stones. Cholesterol stones are the most common type. Pigment (bilirubin) stones are the other.
A variety of factors may be involved in this process, including:
-Excess cholesterol. Your liver extracts cholesterol from your blood to make bile. If there’s too much cholesterol in your blood, the proportions in your bile will be off. Bile needs a balance of lipids and acids to hold all the ingredients together. Any excess will fall by the wayside.
-Excess bilirubin. Bilirubin is a byproduct of broken-down old red blood cells. You might have an excess of bilirubin if you have a blood disorder that destroys too many red blood cells, or if your liver is impaired in some way and struggling to process its normal load of bilirubin into bile.
-Not enough bile acids (bile salts). Certain diseases can cause bile acid malabsorption, which means that you lose bile acids in your p**p. If you lose too many, your liver won’t have enough left to make bile with. The lack of bile acids creates an excess of lipids (cholesterol) in your bile.
-Cholestasis or gallbladder stasis. “Stasis” means inactivity. If your bile ducts or gallbladder aren’t moving bile effectively through your biliary tract, the bile is more likely to form sediment. This might be an issue with the muscles or with the chemical signaling that tells them to move.
MANAGEMENT AND TREATMENT.
If your gallstones never cause problems, you won’t need treatment for them. But if gallstones cause a blockage in your biliary tract, your healthcare provider will want to remove them — not just the blockage, but all of them. Once gallstones have caused a blockage, they’re highly likely to do so again.
Most people who need treatment for gallstones will have surgery to remove them. Surgery is the only way to ensure gallstones won’t cause issues for you again. But if you can’t or don’t want to have surgery, there are some alternative treatments to try, including medications and other procedures.
Know your health and stay safe
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