Have you heard of gallstones? You must have! Do you think they only affect people who have bad eating habits? Or, it affects just aged people? Keep reading to find out more!
So what are gallstones?
A gallstone is a stone that can form in the gallbladder over time, mainly after persistent and generally excessive eating habits, mostly regarding greasy foods. Gallstones are the product of substances that accumulated over time in the gallstone because the enzymes from the liver could not previously metabolize the excess of cholesterol sodium and other elements. Gallstones can also contain biliary pigments.
Gallstones are of solid matter that can be as small as grains of grit or, on exceptional occasions, so large that they occupy the entire vesicle (these are the big ones, which can reach an area of 2 cm). Most, however, are usually of intermediate size, that is, 20 mm or less. Most of these crystals - about 80% - are made up of cholesterol crystals, the rest are the black pigmented crystals, from the biliary salts, that leave behind biliary pigments.
How can you know you have them?
There are lots of people who in spite of having gallstones, lack symptoms. When they become very evident, the person carrying gallstones can experience:
Strong pain in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen, which can spread to the thorax, shoulders, and back (sometimes confused with the symptoms of a heart attack).
Indigestion, nausea or vomiting are also known to appear along with severe abdominal pain and a very sensible the right side of the abdomen that reveals an inflamed gallbladder.
Gallstones are a mess and hard to detect
The problem with gallstones is that they cannot be detected via common blood tests. So, it's unlikely that they will be detected in any way other than when having a deep medical examination. They are usually found after the patient had experienced abdominal pain and a deeper understanding of his had been done. Then the physician will perform a physical exam, and if it suggests the patient has them, further tests will lead to a diagnosis.
Some of these tests are abdominal ultrasounds, special gallbladder scans, Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and of course a plethora of blood tests that are not specific to gallstones but can help your doctor guess you have them, such as a liver function, pancreatitis tests, and a complete blood count.
Medical treatment that can help you end them takes too long, is reversible and not very reliable.
Medicine Ursodeoxycholic acid, a Bile acid also known as Ursodiol, is used to lower bilirubin and cholesterol levels in the body, this prevents gallstones from forming and also dissolves them. The problem is that gallstones are known to reappear in half of the people who take this medication. It also does not work on gallstones that are calcified.
This is why it is recommended that you prevent gallstones altogether. A home gallstone treatment is an ideal thing. This is, having a balanced diet without excessive fats and salt. It is also important to consider avoiding eating a lot of food during each meal.
Otherwise, you can face further complications and risks you could avoid, consider that:
The risks you face when gallstones worsen are many
It is possible that when the fluid in the gallbladder becomes clogged there can be a pain attack. This increasing pain in the abdomen could last from half an hour to several hours.
In many patients, the stones remain "mute" that is, asymptomatic, and pose few important problems. However, the longer they have been present, the more likely they are to cause complications. In a given patient, the probability that a "silent" stone will produce discomfort is approximately 3% per year. Thus, after 20 years, most people who have asymptomatic stones will eventually experience the symptoms. Once they appear, they will persist. Regarding older people, treatment can be made much more difficult, especially if the person has other medical problems.
As they increase in size, the stones can obstruct the exit orifice of the gallbladder and thus lead to serious disorders. The obstruction may begin gradually or occasionally, accompanied by inflammation of the gallbladder (chronic cholecystitis), and end in total obstruction, with acute inflammation of the gallbladder (cholecystitis), a condition that requires urgent surgical intervention.
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