It is Possible To Avoid Gallbladder Symptoms Naturally?
A growing number of people in North America suffer from gallbladder symptoms that affect their enjoyment of food and quality of life. Typically, women experience gallbladder attacks brought on by gallstones more than men, and being obese or over 40 will also increase the odds.
What is the gallbladder and why does it begin to give us trouble?
The gallbladder is a small, hollow organ located under the liver on your abdomen’s upper right side. There it does the work of storing and concentrating bile, which is secreted by the liver. This greenish fluid is responsible for emulsifying dietary fat to be digested and helping us to absorb fat-soluble vitamins like A, E, D and K.
The bile contents are kept in a careful balance of cholesterol, calcium salts and bilirubin, however when this mixture is not ideal, crystals and small stones can form. Typically made up of hardened cholesterol, the gallstones can range in size from small grains of sand to large marbles.
Perhaps surprisingly, many gallstones never cause gallbladder symptoms and pass out of the digestive system or are broken down naturally without us being aware. When one of those stones becomes lodged in a bile duct, however, severe, visceral pain will result, and this is known as biliary colic, or, gallbladder attack. Biliary colic usually comes and goes with episodes separated by several weeks or months. The pain lasts between 30 minutes to a few hours as the body works to pass the stone.
The main bile duct supplies bile to the intestines when signalled by the food we eat. If this pipeline is blocked, other tell-tale symptoms will occur as well. A lack of bile in the gut will cause stools to appear light and chalky, while urine will darken to a cola color because bilirubin is backing up in the bloodstream.
This also leads to jaundice- yellow skin and whites of eyes. The pain and pressure of blocked bile will usually relieve on its own within a few hours but when it doesn’t, sometimes medical attention is required. Developing a fever, chills, prolonged nausea and vomiting or pain lasting longer than several hours means that you should seek medical attention because you may have an infection.
Before you get to the point where you have consistent, painful gallbladder symptoms, there are steps you can take to ensure that your diet and lifestyle naturally support a healthy liver and gallbladder.
Step 1
Exercise more often. Studies have shown that those who exercise a few times per week- even those overweight- reduce their risk of gallstone formation.
Step 2
Avoid unnecessary estrogen consumption. Whether oral contraceptive or hormone replacement medication, consider the negative effects if you know you are already prone to gallstones. Increased xenoestrogens and phytoestrogens in our food and beauty products as well have provided additional sources that overload people’s systems.
Step 3
Avoid excess fat and fried food in your diet. The gallbladder works hard to digest fats and though good, healthy fat are important for nutrition, saturated, hydrogenated and trans fats tax the digestive system and harm our bodies. High levels of cholesterol in the blood have been linked to gallstone formation as well.
Step 4
Do regular gallbladder and liver flushes. A flush is a means by which one can successfully purge gallstones by taking apple juice, olive oil and lemon juice. A flush is a non-intrusive gallbladder treatment.
