Gallbladder
Gallbladder is in the right side of the abdomen just below the liver. The gallbladder is a small pear-shaped organ. The gallbladder function is to store the digestive juices called the bile, which releases the gallbladder into the small intestine. Digestion Process.
Gallstones
Gallstone is defined as the deposition of the digestive tract in the gallbladder, and the gallstones vary in size and number. Some patients have a gallbladder size as large as a grain of sand, and may be about the size of a golf ball. Others may also suffer from a single pebble, and some may suffer from numerous stones. Most patients do not feel gallstones until they are closed to the bile duct. The pain appears sharply in the meantime, requiring immediate treatment.
Types of gallstones
There are two basic types of gallstones:
- Cholestrol gallstones (cholestrol gallstones): Consisting mainly of insoluble cholesterol in addition to some other compounds, and these stones are the most common types of gallstones, and often appear in yellow color.
- Pigment gallstones (Pigment gallstones): Bile stones are formed when the amount of bilirubin (bilirubin) increases in the bile, often between brown and black.
Symptoms of gallstones
In fact, there may be no symptoms or signs of the patient with gallstones only when the closure of gravel to the bile duct as we mentioned, and then the patient suffers from some pain that lasts from minutes to a few hours, and the symptoms and signs that appear on the injured as follows:
Pulmonary embolism
There are a number of factors that increase the risk of gallstones, and these factors can be divided into three main groups as follows:
- Lifestyle-related factors: The nature of a person’s life plays an important role in the appearance of gallstones, and the factors that stimulate gallstones are as follows:
- Medical factors: The suffering of a person from some diseases and the use of some drugs may increase the likelihood of being infected with gallstones, but it is worth not to stop taking medicines without consulting the doctor and discuss with him, and medical factors include the following:
- Uncontrollable factors: Some factors increase the risk of gallstones but can not be controlled, including:
- There is a family history of gallstones.
- 60 years of age or older.
- Race, as the incidence of gallstones increases in Native American and Mexican Americans.
- Sex, as the incidence of gallstones in females.
Treatment of gallstones
Doctors resort to some procedures to treat gallstones, and these procedures:
- Surgery: Doctors often use surgery to treat gallstones. There are two different types of surgery:
- Laparoscopic cholecystectomy, in which the surgeon makes small incisions in the abdomen, and uses some instruments and a camera. The patient needs to spend that night in hospital, and this type of surgery is the most widespread.
- Open cholecystectomy, in which the surgeon makes larger incisions to remove the gallbladder, often requiring the patient to stay in the hospital for a few days after the operation.
- Medications description: Some of these drugs may be used in the treatment of gallstones, such as cannodiol and Ursodiol. The doctor may prescribe either or both of these drugs. These drugs dissolve the cholesterol stones, It may take years for the whole stone to dissolve, and it may reappear after discontinuing the medication. One of the most common side effects of these drugs is diarrhea.
Prevention of gallstones
Some tips can be taken to prevent gallstones. These tips include:
- Eat regular meals every day.
- Weight loss is slowly equivalent to 0.5-1 kg per week if the person intends to lose weight.
- Maintain an ideal weight by reducing calories consumed per day and increasing physical activity.
- Eat enough water, equivalent to 6-8 cups daily.
- Avoid diarrhea-causing foods such as whole-fat dairy products, caffeine-containing beverages, and very sweet foods.
- Ensure the addition of dietary fiber for daily meals, and should be alerted to the need to be added gradually to the possibility of causing gas.
- Avoid foods high in fat as well as fried foods.