Abdominal Pain? Learn To Identify Gallbladder Symptoms Signs
“Stomach pain” may be one of the most commonly reported and vague health complaints that people have. The descriptions of it and causes for it are varied, ranging from very mild to quite serious. If you have reoccurring pain in your abdomen or signs of indigestion after you eat, you may be wondering, “is my abdominal pain a gallbladder symptom?”
Here are a few of the reasons you can expect your risk of gallstone formation and gallbladder symptoms to be increased.
You are female. Women have twice the likelihood of developing gallstones, mainly due to the hormone estrogen increasing the amount of bile cholesterol, and progesterone slowing gallbladder emptying. Pregnancy, oral contraception and hormone replacement medication can drastically shift hormone levels and contribute to gallstone formation for a woman.
Though the small, hard stones may sit quietly in the gallbladder and cause no pain, they can shift into a bile duct, blocking it and leading to inflammation, pressure and gallbladder attacks.
You Are Over 40
You have a family history of gallbladder symptoms
You are obese. Obesity and a diet high in processed or high-fat/fried foods will not only increase the risk of forming cholesterol stones but will stimulate cramping contractions of the gallbladder and potentially lodge those stones in a bile duct.
Unfortunately, many people who use deprivation diets or lose a lot of weight rapidly, do so to improve their health but this also stimulates gallstone formation. That’s because the body will store cholesterol in the gallbladder when deprived, and a lack of dietary fat consumed means gallbladder contents thicken and stagnate.
Pain, which develops within two hours after eating, persisting 30 minutes to several hours, may indicate gallbladder symptoms. Whereas stomach pain during or immediately after eating could have a different cause and should be discussed with your doctor. If gallbladder pain lasts more than several hours and is accompanied by fever, chills or vomiting, medical attention should be sought.
If you’ve identified your gallbladder pain and want to take action, there are steps you can take to support liver and gallbladder function each day, reducing your symptoms naturally.
First, consider sources for estrogen in medications, food or skin care products. Talk with your doctor about alternatives if you don’t need to take hormone-based medication for birth control or menopause symptoms.
Watch your weight, but don’t crash diet. Lifestyle changes that reduce but do not completely eliminate dietary fat are the best. Reducing excess body weight also requires increased physical activity and regular exercise is shown to reduce gallstone formation.
Try eliminating fried, hydrogenated and most saturated fats, but increase healthy types such as flax, coconut and extra virgin olive oil. Eat fish, nuts and seeds instead of red meat or processed meat products. Add 30 minutes of cardio exercise to your plan, 3 times per week.
A gallbladder-friendly diet contains plenty of leafy green vegetables and liver-friendly foods. It will also limit the amount of fat and spicy food you eat to give your gallbladder a rest and naturally increase bile flow.
There is a way to eliminate gallbladder pain by dissolving the gallstones via this gallbladder treatment that works on cholesterol and calcified gallstones as well as sludge.