Understanding Gallstones To Achieve Gallbladder Pain Relief?
Today, cholecystectomy, (gallbladder removal surgery) is the top prescribed treatment for gallbladder pain relief in North America. Many people are familiar with the term, “gallbladder attack” but they may not understand how their gallbladder works or the role that gallstones play.
What Does The Gallbladder Do?
The gallbladder is a small, oblong pouch designed to store and manage bile distribution for dietary fat digestion and elimination of waste. The liver creates bile which contains pigments, bile salts and cholesterol, then the greenish fluid follows a path to the gallbladder and eventually through the cystic duct, into the intestine.
What Are Gallstones?
Gallstones, also referred to as cholelithiasis, are usually made from cholesterol deposits and sometimes calcium deposits and other bile ingredients. The gallbladder was designed to contain liquid, so when hardened stones build up inside the walls of the gallbladder can become inflamed and irritated or the gallstones themselves can shift into a duct and block it.
Though many people will have silent gallstones and never experience a blockage, these stones which range in size are usually the cause of pain known as biliary colic. As well, thickened, sludgy bile can cause similar pain as it struggles to squeeze through narrow passages and impairs proper contraction of the gallbladder.
Gallbladder pain can be felt in the mid/upper abdomen, upper back, chest or right shoulder blade. People often don’t understand what’s causing their pain when they first experience it, but for those who need gallstone treatment, the onset is often predictable after high-fat meals or late at night.
Who Is At Risk For Gallstone Formation?
There are multiple contributing factors for this common health issue. Those which are considered unchangeable include gender, age and heredity.
Controllable risk factors include body weight and activity level, a poor diet, Rapid weight loss and fat deprivation, type 2 diabetes, high triglycerides and low HDL, pregnancy and hormone medications.
How Can You Reduce Gallstones?
Unfortunately, surgical removal of gallstones is often promoted as a guaranteed and problem-free option for gallbladder pain relief, but it is neither. Gallstones can still form in the liver and ducts after gallbladder removal when the underlying cause is not fixed. As well, removal of the gallbladder leaves bile to trickle in a dilute, steady flow to the intestines without effectiveness for fat digestion and fat-soluble vitamin absorption.
Though removal is sometimes necessary in cases of infection and medical emergency, gallbladder pain relief can be found naturally in may cases too and you can make healthy changes to dissolve and flush out gallstones.
Try switching saturated, high fat and fried foods for healthy fats like wild caught fish, flax, coconut and olive oil. Plenty of leafy greens like kale, spinach, swish chard and other bitter plants will increase bile flow and act as a tonic for this part of your digestive system. Certain herbal supports for liver function like milk thistle have also been demonstrated as effective to help support this important organ.
Other gallstone treatment options include naturally formulated supplements, like the Pulverexx Protocol that help break up and remove hard stones. They can easily be incorporated into a daily routine along with a gallbladder friendly diet and increased daily exercise.
