Who is at Risk of Developing Gallstones?
Conventional Medical Treatment of Gallstones
Standard
Surgery (Cholecystectomy)
Keyhole
Surgery (Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy)
Gallstone disease is a common
cause of abdominal pain, inflammation, and infection of the gallbladder and the
pancreas. Gallstones are pebble-like
formations within the gallbladder. The
gallbladder is a pear-shaped sac located under the liver, which stores the bile
secreted by the liver. When a fatty
meal is eaten, the gallbladder contracts, delivering bile through the bile
ducts into the intestines to aid digestion.
Abnormal composition of bile leads to the formation of gallstones. Gallstones are formed by cholesterol and
pigment in bile. Cholesterol stones are
composed of at least 60% cholesterol; pigment stones are brown or black owing
to their high content of coloured pigment (bilirubin).
Who is at Risk of Developing Gallstones?
Risk factors for the development
of cholesterol gallstones include: age, obesity, contraceptive pills, female
gender, multiple pregnancies, and heredity.
Cholesterol stones are common in the USA and Western Europe; pigment
stones account for over 90% of gallstone disease in Asia.
The most common symptom of
gallstones is pain in the upper abdomen.
In more advance cases, there is pain in the region of the liver, which
is located under the right rib. The
pain can extend to the right shoulder blade, and there can be violent pains in
the abdomen.
Conventional
Medical Treatment of Gallstones
In patients with frequent or
severe pain, or with a history of acute cholecystitis (inflammation and
infection of the gallbladder), surgery is usually advised. Some otherwise healthy patients with mild
symptoms may also consider surgery because their symptoms have not responded to
other treatments. Some patients with gallstones
have no symptoms, and require no treatment.
Diagnosis of gallstones is usually
made with an ultrasound scan of the abdomen.
Oral medication to dissolve gallstones can be taken by patients with
mild and infrequent symptoms. Surgery
(standard or laparoscopic) may be performed on patients with severe symptoms
and patients with cholecystitis.
Standard
Surgery (Cholecystectomy)
Standard surgery is known as
cholecystectomy (removal of the gallbladder), and is performed through an open
technique requiring a standard skin incision and general anaesthesia. In most patients, there appear to be no
long-term adverse health problems associated with this procedure.
Keyhole
Surgery (Laparoscopic
Cholecystectomy)
In addition to standard open
cholecystectomy, laparoscopic cholecystectomy may be carried out, and has now
become the preferred surgical technique.
Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is performed by inserting a video guided
operative system with a camera into the abdominal cavity. Only several puncture wounds (no open
incision) are needed. Additional small
incisions are made to allow access for other necessary operating
instruments. The gallbladder,
containing the stones, is thus removed without open surgery. There can be rare complications with this
technique, in inexperienced hands, which can be serious. These include injury and obstruction of bile
ducts, or leakage of bile into the abdomen, which causes serious infection.
Some patients also have stones in the bile ducts. These can be removed using a treatment known as ERPC, in which the patient is sedated, and a flexible tube passed down the throat to the point where bile empties into the intestine. The opening of the bile duct is then enlarged and the stones removed.
In the vast chronicles of naturopathy, gallstones are considered to be formed by eating a diet that is high in sugar, meats, greasy foods, highly seasoned foods, dairy products, too much starch and too much protein. Additional causes sited are drinking hard water, bicarbonate of soda, and generally not drinking enough water. Often there are symptoms of constipation and liver troubles before the gallstones form. If the liver is overloaded, it is unable to perform its work properly and get rid of waste matter.
Fruit Diet
Undertake a fruit diet for between seven to ten days. This gives the liver a chance to rest from its work overload and also a chance for the body to start eliminating. Fruit Diets – Give Your Body A Boost
A Liver / Gall Bladder Flush is a traditional method used by naturopaths to help the liver to detoxify and in doing so help eliminate gallstones. In our article Liver and Gall Bladder Flush, we outline methods suggested by Jethro Kloss and Dr Hulda Clarke to aid in eliminating gallstones.
Milk Thistle and Dandelion are two of the most popular of the many herbs that can help with liver and gall bladder problems.
Milk Thistle (Silybum marianum) is a powerful liver detoxifier. It helps increase the secretion and flow of bile.
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is a blood cleanser and diuretic. It helps with the inflammation of the liver and gallbladder by improving liver function and bile flow.
Lecithin (derived from soya beans) can normalise the low phospholipid to cholesterol ratios found in gallstone patients by increasing the ability of bile to solubilise cholesterol.
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