Gall Bladder Problems - How to Avoid Gall Bladder Problems
Gall bladders are tiny.
Tucked away under the liver in the right upper abdomen.
Think kiwi fruit.
But when they really play up think more in terms of hand grenade.
The job of your gall bladder is to collect bile produced by the liver and then release it when needed to aid digestion.
Sometimes though the gall or bile gets thick and sets into stones - often hundreds of tiny ones, or perhaps fewer, but larger ones.
They aren't supposed to be there - your body tries to expel them and can't - often the result is strangely enough pain in your left shoulder.
If a stone is blocking the bile duct you will experience griping pain, nausea or even vomiting perhaps, and certainly an aversion to fatty foods - but also a decidedly dodgy appearance.
It's no wonder that in medieval times an excess of bile was felt to produce anger.
Look in a mirror ( in full daylight rather than under artificial light ) and you will notice first of all a yellowish tinge to the whites of your eyes.
Gradually this jaundice will appear on the skin.
Normally bile goes directly into the intestine and out of the body.
When its passage is blocked the chemicals that make up bile build up in the blood - that is what causes the jaundice.
It is also what causes the itching so often experienced.
The old way of diagnosing was simply to look at the patient complaining of bloating or colic.
Fat, fair, fertile, forty.
If the person fitted these criteria i.
e.
was she overweight, female, fertile i.
e.
pre-menopausal, and about forty years of age? If so the diagnosis was probably correct.
Saying that I've known of a case in a fifteen year old lad, although that is very, very unusual.
Nowadays diagnosis is usually by ultrasound.
Sometimes an x-ray with the use of dye is the choice.
Either way then must come treatment in some form - surgical or otherwise.
Without it the condition will only get worse and could affect other organs.
Treatment could be surgery - open or keyhole.
Some practitioners recommend cranberry juice to help expel tiny stones.
A low fat diet helps to relieve the bouts of colic.
Another treatment sometimes available is lithotripter therapy i.
e.
the gall bladder is bombarded with shock waves which break up the stones so that they can pass on as smaller pieces into the intestine and out.
Why does it affect women more than men? - the answer seems to be hormonal - especially as the condition can appear during pregnancy - it is second only to appendicitis as a reason for surgery during pregnancy.
How to avoid gall bladder problems? It may not be entirely possible, but maintaining a healthy weight and eating more fibre and a low fat, low cholesterol diet will mean you are less likely to run into problems.
Some swear by avoiding dairy products.
If you're a lady you could of course just never reach 40 - Staying 39 forever might do it!
Tucked away under the liver in the right upper abdomen.
Think kiwi fruit.
But when they really play up think more in terms of hand grenade.
The job of your gall bladder is to collect bile produced by the liver and then release it when needed to aid digestion.
Sometimes though the gall or bile gets thick and sets into stones - often hundreds of tiny ones, or perhaps fewer, but larger ones.
They aren't supposed to be there - your body tries to expel them and can't - often the result is strangely enough pain in your left shoulder.
If a stone is blocking the bile duct you will experience griping pain, nausea or even vomiting perhaps, and certainly an aversion to fatty foods - but also a decidedly dodgy appearance.
It's no wonder that in medieval times an excess of bile was felt to produce anger.
Look in a mirror ( in full daylight rather than under artificial light ) and you will notice first of all a yellowish tinge to the whites of your eyes.
Gradually this jaundice will appear on the skin.
Normally bile goes directly into the intestine and out of the body.
When its passage is blocked the chemicals that make up bile build up in the blood - that is what causes the jaundice.
It is also what causes the itching so often experienced.
The old way of diagnosing was simply to look at the patient complaining of bloating or colic.
Fat, fair, fertile, forty.
If the person fitted these criteria i.
e.
was she overweight, female, fertile i.
e.
pre-menopausal, and about forty years of age? If so the diagnosis was probably correct.
Saying that I've known of a case in a fifteen year old lad, although that is very, very unusual.
Nowadays diagnosis is usually by ultrasound.
Sometimes an x-ray with the use of dye is the choice.
Either way then must come treatment in some form - surgical or otherwise.
Without it the condition will only get worse and could affect other organs.
Treatment could be surgery - open or keyhole.
Some practitioners recommend cranberry juice to help expel tiny stones.
A low fat diet helps to relieve the bouts of colic.
Another treatment sometimes available is lithotripter therapy i.
e.
the gall bladder is bombarded with shock waves which break up the stones so that they can pass on as smaller pieces into the intestine and out.
Why does it affect women more than men? - the answer seems to be hormonal - especially as the condition can appear during pregnancy - it is second only to appendicitis as a reason for surgery during pregnancy.
How to avoid gall bladder problems? It may not be entirely possible, but maintaining a healthy weight and eating more fibre and a low fat, low cholesterol diet will mean you are less likely to run into problems.
Some swear by avoiding dairy products.
If you're a lady you could of course just never reach 40 - Staying 39 forever might do it!
Source...