Diseases of internal organs are dangerous. Like acute appendicitis, cholecystitis can lead to peritonitis - infection of the peritoneum, the entire body and death. Knowing the signs of the disease allows you to get medical help on time and avoid danger.
What is cholecystitis and its symptoms
The gall bladder located immediately under the liver is a reservoir with bile, without which it is impossible to fully digest food, especially fatty foods. This organ is similar to a small muscular pear, which periodically then increases, then decreases. When food arrives, the gallbladder shrinks and throws into the duodenum the digestive secret secreted by the liver.
What is cholecystitis and how is it manifested? This disease, in which the tender walls of the gallbladder become inflamed. The pathological process begins when the organ gets infected or when it is stretched because of the stones that form. The bladder loses its contractile capacity, it accumulates a lot of bile. As the secret does not find an outlet, stagnation develops, causing attacks of severe pain. The disease can take an acute or chronic form. Each one has its own characteristic signs of gallbladder inflammation.
Chronic cholecystitis - symptoms of
This form is observed much less often, but it is no less dangerous than acute current. The disease develops, as a rule, gradually, long remaining undetected. The cause may be an untreated acute debut of the disease. For a protracted course of the pathology, frequent transitions to the acute stage are characteristic, which are very difficult to predict and control.
Chronic form of the disease may not be manifested, since symptoms with gallbladder inflammation are often absent. There may be signs that are very weak. This:
- burp with a bitter feeling;
- discomfort( can oven in the side to the right);
- loss of appetite;
- deaf or aching pain in the right hypochondrium;
- yellowing of the skin;
- nausea, leading to vomiting, which sometimes complicates the symptoms of cholecystitis;
- diarrhea or constipation.
It is characteristic that the signs of cholecystitis in chronic form become more pronounced after consuming fatty foods or heavily roasted dishes. It is no coincidence that both are subject to a strict ban in dietary nutrition of patients with a gallbladder. If a person often violates the doctor's instructions, the disease goes much more quickly into a severe crisis.
Acute cholecystitis - symptoms of
The most common cause is stones that form in the gall bladder or in its ducts. An acute attack of cholecystitis, the symptoms of which are much brighter than signs of slow inflammation, with a timely medical help receives a favorable prognosis. According to the classification, there are such types of acute disease:
- Catarrhal - without disturbing the outflow of bile.
- Phlegmonous - with a suppurated bladder. Need emergency treatment.
- Calculous - in the presence of stones that stretch it and cause perforation.
- Gangrenous - when the necrosis of the walls of the bladder occurs, which often breaks, causing severe peritonitis( inflammation of the peritoneum).The condition is dangerous for life!
Pain in the acute form of the disease is felt in the liver, therefore called "hepatic colic."Typical signs of this form of the disease:
- wavy attacks of intolerable pain in the right side( and if the pancreas is affected, the pains are shingles);
- temperature rise;
- belching;
- vomiting, after which it does not become easier;
- bitterness in the mouth;
- flatulence;
- yellowing of the skin;
- dark color of urine;
- a sharp decline in strength.
Acid-free cholecystitis - symptoms
The cause of this type of pathology is pathogenic flora or abnormal bile composition. Non-calculous cholecystitis, the symptoms of which can exhaust the patient from one to two days to 2-3 weeks, also develops as a result of a violation of the outflow of bile. However, inflammation does not cause concrements, but infection or parasites( hepatitis, pancreatitis, lamblia and others).
Symptoms of non-calculous disease:
- strong dull pain, but not paroxysmal, but permanent;
- bitter-metallic taste in the mouth;
- frequent belching;
- nausea after eating, vomiting;
- flatulence;
- loose stools or constipation;
- articular, headaches;
- temperature rise;
- sometimes itching;
- extreme weakness.
Calculous cholecystitis - symptoms
The presence of concrements( dense formations) is the cause of 90% of all recorded types of inflammation of the gallbladder. Stones with calculous cholecystitis( cholelithiasis), gradually increasing, interfere with the work of the organ. Often the concrements come into motion and migrate into the ducts, blocking them and preventing the outflow of bile. Signs of a calculous type of pathology:
- burning in the right hypochondrium, deaf pain in the abdomen, "solar plexus" or without precise localization with irradiation( "recoil") in the scapula, shoulder, neck;
- biliary colic - acute painful contractions under the right rib;
- signs of jaundice: yellowing of the skin, sclera of the eyes, mucous membranes, itching, darkening of the color of urine, discoloration of feces;
- signs of bile acid cell poisoning: pressure drop, bradycardia( rare pulse), headaches, insomnia;
- signs of indigestion: belching, bitter-metallic taste, drying of the mouth, nausea, unstable stool.
ultrasound gives a detailed picture of inflammation of the gallbladder, reveals the presence of stones. Frequent echopriznak disease - swollen( thicker than 3 mm) body wall. The most informative method for diagnosing an ailment is computer tomography. If the stones are found in the acute stage of the disease, the gallbladder is removed urgently. In the chronic course of the pathology such an operation can be carried out later.
Symptoms of cholecystitis in men
In representatives of the stronger sex, inflammation of the gallbladder, the symptoms of which are due to the type and degree of neglect of the disease, occurs 4-5 times less often than in women. The signs of the disease are the same as those of the fairer sex. The older the man, the more likely the incidence of cholecystitis. In the risk group:
- obese people;
- alcohol abusers;
- loving fatty foods;
- leading a sedentary lifestyle;
- patients with prostatitis.
Symptoms of cholecystitis in women
The disease is more likely to be full of ladies and lovers of weight loss diets, which often provoke spasms of the gallbladder. Often, the disease occurs after pregnancy and childbirth, inflammation of the appendages, reception of contraceptives. Pathology in chronic form for a long time can actually be asymptomatic. Signs of acute inflammation in women are often more pronounced than in men. The pain intensifies after feasts, fatty dishes with spices, and also on the eve of menstruation.
Symptoms of cholecystitis by authors
Pain syndrome is a sign of paramount importance in diagnosing a disease. Its intensity depends on the localization and degree of development of the inflammatory process, such as dyskinesia of bile ducts. Conducting palpation, doctors are guided by such diagnostic signs, as:
- Kere symptom with cholecystitis - the presence of pain in the place of localization of the gallbladder;
- Murphy's symptom in cholecystitis is its sharp increase during palpation of the organ on inspiration;
- Mussie's symptom in cholecystitis is pain during pressure on the diaphragmatic nerve on the right;
- Ortner's symptom in cholecystitis is pain when tapping the right costal arch.