Typical Treatments For Gallbladder Symptoms
In today’s conventional healthcare system, “typical” may not always mean best. If you experience gallbladder symptoms and pay a visit to your primary care physician, what are they likely to tell you?
Perhaps you’ve experienced the unpleasant shock of a sudden gallbladder attack. After eating a fried, high fat or heavy meal, severe aching pain may start in the upper abdomen and move to the back, right shoulder or chest. This pain is described as gnawing and often severe enough to send people to the ER for relief. You may not have had an attack yet, but instead you feel consistently nauseous after meals, experience bloating, gas, belching and other indigestion. These are often gallbladder symptoms and they may mean that you need gallstone treatment or have thickened bile, known as biliary sludge.
The gallbladder is a small pouch-like organ that sits just below the liver where it holds and regulates release of bile. Bile, created in the liver, is a greenish fluid our body uses to digest fat. It is an important key to fat soluble vitamin absorption as well and when adequate bile cannot be released from the gallbladder, painful, digestive and nutritional issues often begin.
A gallbladder attack can seem very scary and the pain that often comes on after eating a high-fat meal, can radiate to the back and chest. The discomfort ranging from a mild ache to severe pain is typically felt in the upper, right abdomen and across the upper belly. At times, severe pain may lead to nausea and vomiting.
The good thing about gallstones is that they are often asymptomatic. People will discover they have them accidentally when receiving imaging such as abdominal ultrasound for another reason. Discovering them does not necessitate a surgery, however it should prompt you to make healthy choices through diet and exercise to help reduce them and avoid future problems.
When gallstones begin causing pain it is usually because a small stone has lodged itself in a bile duct and inflammation, spasms and pressure build around it. This sensation may last anywhere from 15 minutes to several hours.
If an attack occurs more than once, your doctor may advise you to have the organ removed. The rationale provided is that eventually it will get worse, and we can live without our gallbladders- and this is true- however we cannot underestimate the roll they play either. Reducing known contributing factors such as obesity, excessive consumption of fat and sugar, inadequate exercise and hormone medication are some effective ways to treat gallbladder symptoms without surgery.
In some rare cases, chronic, unresolved gallbladder symptoms may lead to a serious blockage, infection and potential for rupture. This is considered a medical emergency and would likely necessitate gallbladder removal.
If you aren’t there yet and you’ve just begun noticing occasional discomfort or indigestion, there is time to take action and naturally breakdown gallstones while preventing future ones from forming.
Typical treatments for gallbladder symptoms include pain medications and gallbladder removal surgery. Without regulation and concentration of bile, in the absence of a gallbladder, patients often find themselves struggling with long term food restrictions and GI problems such as diarrhea and bloating after eating meals which contain fat. Absorption of key vitamins is less efficient and bile salt supplementation is often required.
