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Gallstones - More Than 20 Million Americans Have Them!
INTRODUCTION: Gallstones are pieces of hard solid material located in the gallbladder and may be as little as a grain of sand or as big as a golf ball, depending on how long they have been forming. They frequently have no symptoms and are often uncovered by a routine x-ray, surgery, or autopsy.
They also may move around within bile, for example, from the gallbladder into the cystic or common duct. They are a common health problem worldwide and happen more frequently in women than men becoming more common with age in both males and females. More than 20 million Americans have them and approximately 1 million new cases are found per year.
SYMPTOMS: They may feel like chest pain produced by a heart attack and other serious problems. Signs usually begin after a large stone blocks the cystic duct or the common bile duct and typically do not return after the gallbladder has been removed. Nearly 80 percent of people do not have any symptoms for many years, if ever, especially if the stones remain in the gallbladder.
If you have symptoms, you most likely will have mild pain in the pit of your stomach or in the upper right part of your belly. About 15% of people who have symptoms also have stones in the common bile duct.
Exactly how diet can produces gallstone formation is not known, but diets which are high in cholesterol and fat, and low in fiber can increase the chance of developing Them.
There are 2 basic types of gallstones. Pigmented (bilirubin) types are found most often in Patients with severe liver disease and patients with some blood disorders such as sickle cell anemia.
Cholesterol types are found most frequently in: Females over 20, especially pregnant women, and males over 60 years old, Persons on "crash diets" who lose a lot of weight rapidly, Patients who use certain drugs including birth control pills and cholesterol reducing agents, Native-Americans and Mexican-Americans.
TREATMENTS: Gallstones that do not produce symptoms do not need treatment, But if they block a duct, they do. Surgery to remove the gallbladder (cholecystectomy) is the option of choice for stones that produce moderate to severe pain or other symptoms. However, only one of five people can have this treatment. Those who have it frequently form new stones after a few years. Half of these need treatment, with a cost to society of several billion dollars annually.
Many novel approaches to treatment have been tried over the past few years, but surgical removal of the gallbladder (cholecystectomy) continues to be the most often used therapy. Non-surgical treatment includes pain drugs, antibiotics to fight infection, and a low-fat diet (when food can be tolerated).
A licensed medical professional should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions.
CONCLUSION: Gallstones usually form in the gallbladder; but, they also may form anywhere there is bile: in the intrahepatic, hepatic, common bile, and cystic ducts. They form when cholesterol and other materials found in bile create stones.
They can develop in many persons without causing signs and do not cause belching and bloating. They usually are found in adults between the ages of 20 to 50, and are more common in women in this age group.
About the Author About The Author: Richard H. Ealom is the Author of this article and the creator of "Free Articles On Sickness and Diseases: How To Prevent and Cure Them". Need more information Please visit us at our websites@ Diabetes & Cancer Secrets OR Go To Heart Disease & Obesity Secrets. You have full permission to reprint this article provided this box is kept unchanged.
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