I have had diabetes my entire life, and I am very thankful for the fact that modern medical discoveries have helped me live a happy, healthy life despite my disease. I have had to watch what I eat and take medications daily for most of my life, and while i used to feel like I was "missing out" when other children were able to eat sugary candy and I wasn't, I eventually learned that sugar-free candy tastes great. I am always keeping up on the latest diabetes research, and while researching, I have also learned about many other diseases and ailments and how they are treated and controlled. I know others are too busy to browse a bunch of medical websites, like I like to do, so I decided to start a blog that others can visit that contains information on a variety of medical topics all in one place!
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Symptoms That Might Indicate You Have Gallstones And When Surgery Might Be Needed
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Your gallbladder is a small organ next to your liver that secretes bile to help you digest food, particularly fatty foods. When abnormalities of the bile develop, such as having too much cholesterol, gallstones can form. These can be very tiny, like a grain of sand, or much larger. You can have a single stone or many. Here are some symptoms you may have when gallstones are present and when surgery might be necessary.
Symptoms Of Gallstones
It's possible for you to have stones in your gallbladder without having any symptoms at all. Your doctor may discover you have gallstones when running tests for a different condition. However, it's common for the stones to cause pain. You might have a gallbladder attack after eating a large meal of fatty food. The pain is caused when the stones move into a duct and block the flow of bile. The pain usually passes, but it might take hours to do so. In addition to pain, you might experience nausea and vomiting. Stones can also cause infections and problems for your liver and pancreas. This could lead to fever, chills, and generally feeling unwell.
When you have pain in the area of your gallbladder, your doctor may order an ultrasound test that will show images of the stones. This lets the doctor know the size of the stones and how many you have.
Treatments For Gallstones
Gallstones don't usually go away on their own. However, if they don't cause pain, then your doctor may not recommend treatment. When you experience gallbladder attacks, surgery is usually recommended. Medications that dissolve the stone can be used sometimes along with lithotripsy that breaks up the stones, but these treatments aren't used as often as surgery. Medications can take many months to dissolve stones while surgery can get rid of them immediately.
Gallbladder surgery can be done laparoscopically or you can have open surgery that requires a larger incision. Laparoscopic surgery is usually chosen when appropriate since it is easier to recover from and has fewer complications. However, in some cases, your doctor has to perform surgery to remove the gallbladder. Surgery is necessary to eliminate the pain of your attacks, to treat or prevent infection, and to prevent problems with your pancreas and liver due to obstructed ducts.
Your body can function well without the organ since, after the surgery, bile from your liver is deposited directly into your small intestines rather than being stored in the gallbladder. This allows your body to adapt and digest food from a normal diet.
If you are experience pain in your gallbladder, call your physician.
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