What does your stool look like with gallbladder problems

TREATMENTS FOR GALLBLADDER DISEASE

DIAGNOSING GALLBLADDER DISEASE

There are several different types of treatments available. The level of treatment will depend on the severity of your symptoms. In order to diagnose and treat gallstones, your doctor will use one of the following methods to assess the extent of your symptoms.

• Ultrasound
• CT Scan
• Endoscopic Ultrasound
• Blood tests
• Imaging Tests

GALLBLADDER TREATMENTS

If you deal with periodic gallbladder attacks, you can take pain relief medication and, possibly, nausea relief medication. It’s also possible to prevent more gallbladder attacks with self-care and certain medications.

However, for larger gallstones or more severe symptoms, you will likely need surgery. In this case, you may be referred to a gallbladder specialist at a general surgery center.

The main surgical procedure used to treat gallbladder problems is called a cholecystectomy. Generally, this procedure is performed laparoscopically, but can also be performed as an open procedure. The difference between an open and laparoscopic gallbladder removal is the intensity of the procedure.

Open surgeries require more invasive processes to remove the gallbladder. In contrast, a laparoscopic procedure uses minimally invasive devices inserted into small incisions to remove the gallbladder. Regardless of which procedure you receive, you will be under general anesthesia for your comfort and to keep you pain-free.

STOP A GALLBLADDER ATTACK WHILE IT IS HAPPENING

Gallbladder attacks can be so painful that many people end up in the emergency room. While nothing can be done to completely stop the attack while it is happening, there are ways to relieve some of the pain.

• Apply a heated compress to the area for 10-15 minutes to relieve gallbladder pain
• Try sipping menthol tea which is pain relief properties
• Sip apple cider vinegar to stop inflammation and relieve pain
• Take a magnesium supplement to ease gallbladder spasms
• Acupressure to the area of the chest opposite the gallbladder

While rare, it is possible to pass a gallstone. When this happens, the gallstones are small and may exit the gallbladder through the bile ducts and move on into your intestines. Gallstones are excreted in your stool, unlike kidney stones which are expelled through the urinary tract. You may notice tiny gallstones in the toilet after a bowel movement. Gallstones are usually diamond-shaped and yellowish but can come in any shape, size, or color.

GALLBLADDER SURGERY RECOVERY

Generally, patients of laparoscopic surgery, or keyhole surgery, can leave the hospital the same day of their procedure. However, after open gallbladder removal surgery, patients usually stay in the hospital for 3-5 days.

Your doctor will give you instructions for your recovery. Usually, this includes avoiding heavy lifting or high levels of activity.

What Does Your Gallbladder Do?

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This small, pear-shaped pouch is tucked right under your liver. It stores a fluid called bile your liver makes. Bile breaks down fat. When you eat, your gallbladder sends bile through ducts to your small intestine to help you digest food.

What Are Gallbladder Attacks?

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When bile can’t get into or out of your gallbladder, it causes the symptoms that make up an attack. Too much bile in your gallbladder irritates it and causes inflammation and pain.

Common Symptom: Pain

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A gallbladder attack usually causes a sudden gnawing pain that gets worse. You may feel it in the upper right or center of your belly, in your back between your shoulder blades, or in your right shoulder. You might also vomit or have nausea. Pain usually lasts 20 minutes to an hour.

Other Symptoms

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Backed-up bile can enter your bloodstream and cause your skin and the whites of your eyes to turn yellow. Doctors call this jaundice. You could have a fever or chills, and your urine might turn the color of tea. Your poop also may be light-colored.

Common Cause: Gallstones

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Too much cholesterol or bilirubin in your bile can make crystals form. They clump together and make stones. These could be as small as a grain of sand or as big as a golf ball. They aren’t a problem unless they get stuck in your bile ducts and block bile from leaving. This is the most common cause of gallbladder attacks.

Other Causes

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Any other kind of condition that keeps your gallbladder from working the way it should can cause an attack. These include cholecystitis (swelling and redness in the gallbladder), tumors, abscesses, sclerosing cholangitis (scarring of your bile ducts or gallbladder), abnormal tissue growth, or chronic acalculous gallbladder disease, which keeps your gallbladder from moving the way it needs to in order to empty.

Your Sex Makes Them More Likely

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Women aged 20 to 60 have a higher chance of getting gallstones than men do. Extra estrogen in your body from pregnancy, hormone replacement therapy, or birth control pills may be why. After 60, though, men and women are at equal risk.

Weight and Diet Play a Role

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If you eat foods high in calories and refined carbohydrates and don’t get much fiber, you raise your risk of a gallbladder attack. You’re also more likely to get them if you’re obese. Quick weight loss can bring them on, too. For example, your risk goes up after weight loss surgery.

Age, Race, and Genes Raise Your Risk

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As you get older, you’re more likely to have both gallstones and a gallbladder attack. Once you hit 40, your risk starts to rise. If someone in your family had gallstones, you’re more likely to get them. Native Americans and Mexican Americans tend to get gallstones more often than other races do.

Other Conditions That Boost the Odds

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Certain conditions can cause gallstones and raise your risk of a gallbladder attack, such as cirrhosis (a disease in which your liver stops working because of disease or injury), infection, sickle cell anemia, intestinal diseases like Crohn’s disease that keep you from getting certain nutrients, metabolic syndrome, high triglycerides, high LDL cholesterol levels, and diabetes.

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