Here’s Why Gallstones Are a Danger to Your Gallbladder Health
Most of us know what gallstones are, and we may have even seen gallstones that have been removed from a friend or relative’s gallbladder (some people some people who have had their gallstones removed like to hang onto them as souvenirs). But many people don’t really understand how gallstones form, or why they are a threat to overall gallbladder health.
Gallstones can be a sign that you have other dangerous health problems.
Gallstones often indicate that you’ve not been kind to your digestive system. You’ve been eating too many fatty, cholesterol-rich foods. Eating such a diet over an extended period of time can cause Edit this text for a lot more than your gallbladder. It can have life-threatening consequences for other systems in your body – especially your heart – and your circulatory system.
When you have gallstones, you also often have high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure (also known as hyperttension). Both conditions – as you may well know – can shorten your life because they’re risk factors for heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and many other health threats.
What Are Gallstones?
Gallstones got their name because they really do look like stones. While some may be as tiny as a grain of sand and barely visible – others can reach two inches in diameter. There can be a single large stone or a lot of small ones or combinations of both.
All Gallstones Are Not the Same
The most common type of gallstone is made from hardened cholesterol.When you have too much cholesterol in your diet, your gallbladder can’t handle it all. Some of it basically “dries up” into stone-like formations. Usually, they’re white, greenish white, or yellow in color.
The other common type of gallstone is known as a pigment stone. These are made up of red blood cells that have been broken down. They are not as common as cholesterol stones.
Some people may have only pigment stones or cholesterol stones but you can have both at once.
Why Do We Get Gallstones?
As mentioned above, when people who eat a diet that contains a lot of cholesterol, stones are more likely to form.
You can also get gallstones because bile becomes lodged in the gallbladder and causes stones to form.
The tendency to form gallstones may also be inherited.
Obesity is also a factor. People who are extremely overweight are more prone to get gallstones than others who are trim.
What Are the Symptoms of Gallstones?
it’s not out of the ordinary for an individual to get gallstones and not even realize it. When this situation happens the stones are called silent stones. Most of the time, they are only found some other underlying complaint is being investigated.
Symptoms do present themselves sometimes, however.
Someone with gallstones will probably experience pain under the ribs, pain in the upper middle back just under the neck, or pain in the area of the right shoulder. The intensity and duration of this pain can vary as well.
If you have gallstones, you’ll notice a change in the color of your stool during bowel movements. Stool will look slate colored or clay-colored.
Symptoms similar to those of influenza are also typical.Gallstones can also cause symptoms that resemble symptoms of influenza.
One of the classic signs is feeling ill after eating a big, fatty meal. Symptoms are similar to those of food poisoning. This is because of the fact that the gallbladder is being deluged with fat and cholesterol and cannot process it all quickly enough.
Gallstone Treatment
Those who suspect they have gallstones should get in to see their doctor as soon as possible. This is particularly true when there is a great deal of pain or discomfort.
Remember, you can live without your gallbladder. The liver takes over the duties performed by the gallbladder when it has been removed. Gallbladder removal surgery is often preferable to living your life in pain because you have gallstones.
For information related to this article, see Gallbladder Problems.
