Stones in the gallbladder: symptoms, signs, causes. Nutrition and menus for gallstones

Article about the symptoms of cholelithiasis, diet therapy with it and ways of preventing the formation of stones in the gallbladder.

Stones in the gallbladder are affected by every fourth adult male and every third adult woman in Europe and America. In many people, the disease for a long time is asymptomatic, and they do not even suspect that they need any treatment.

But if the bladder gets inflamed or the stones start moving, the patient has pain and discomfort. He faces difficult questions: how to cure gallstones, is it possible to do this without surgery.

What are the symptoms of gallstones?

Stones in the gallbladder are diagnosed in children and adults, men and women, in general healthy or with a "bouquet" of chronic diseases. But, a certain trend is still being planned:

• In most cases, cholelithiasis is found in people after the age of 40
  At this age, more women suffer from an ailment than men.
• Usually, bile stones are found in fat people.

Symptom of cholelithiasis is a sharp pain in the right upper quadrant.

In addition to excess weight, the risk factors for the formation of concrements are:

1. Irrational nutrition. The excesses in both directions are both harmful - both overeating and undernourishment.
2. Elevated cholesterol.
3. Endocrine diseases and hormonal failures, including, and during pregnancy.
4. Diseases of the pancreas.
5. Hypodynamia.
6. Other.

IMPORTANT: Stones are compacted bile particles that have a different composition. Usually, they contain bile pigment bilirubin, cholesterol and calcification.

Concrements of small size can "float" for quite a long time in a jelly-filled bladder, without letting itself know. But only so long as due to strong physical activity, during a trip in transport, after a lavish feast they will not come into motion. Then:

1. Their sharp ends scratched and irritated the inner surface of the gallbladder, causing its acute inflammation. This is a separate disease, acute cholecystitis).
2. They can advance into the ducts that connect the organ to the liver, invoking bile stasis and an acute attack of colic.
3. Inflammation from the gallbladder spreads to organs - neighbors: the pancreas, stomach and intestines.

In many patients, the disease manifests itself unexpectedly, with severe pain during an attack of biliary colic:

• It hurts in the upper abdomen, usually in the right hypochondrium.
• The pain seems to be spreading through the body - it radiates to the right: in the back, collarbone and arm.
• There is a bitter taste in the mouth.
• Nausea and vomiting begin.
• Pain when touching the area of ​​the gallbladder.
• Yellowing of eyes and skin.

At best, the attack ends by itself, when a stone, capable of passing through the ducts due to its size, enters the duodenum and is evacuated from the body with feces. Too large concrements can block the biliary tract.

Blockage of bile duct stones provokes an attack of biliary colic.

IMPORTANT: There are also certain signs that you can suspect gallstones before the symptoms appear. When they appear, it is desirable to undergo examinations, and in case of confirmation of suspicion, and appropriate treatment.

Such features are:

• severity under the right rib
• bitterness in the mouth
• heartburn
• burp
• periodic nausea

Gallstones types and their diagnosis

As mentioned above, concrements in the gallbladder can have different composition.

Types of stones in the gallbladder.

First, they can be single-component, but such are extremely rare. These are the stones:

1. Cholesterol. They are usually round and small( up to 1 cm).The reason for their appearance is malnutrition and metabolic disorders.
2. Pigmentary( bilirubin).Such pebbles are very small in the gallbladder and its ducts are very many.
3. Calcareous calcifications. Formed from calcium salts.

Secondly, concrements can be mixed, and such are found in 80% of patients. Their composition is as follows:

• cholesterol - 90%
• bilirubin - up to 5%
• calcium salt - up to 3%
• other substances

Mixed stones come in different sizes, and the more they are, the more dangerous the disease.

IMPORTANT: Medicine knows cases where the entire cavity of the gallbladder occupied one large calculus up to 100 grams.

In form, the stones formed in the gallbladder can be:

• round
• barrel-shaped
• ovoid
• polyhedral
• other

After examining the doctor - gastroenterologist whoobserves abdominal tenderness in the area of ​​the gallbladder, the patient with suspicion of stones is sent for examination:

1. Blood tests. The general will show elevated leukocytes and ESR, biochemical - elevated cholesterol and bilirubin.
2. Holicestrography( radiologic examination of gallbladder with contrast).
3. ultrasound. This method is very effective, with its help you can determine not only the presence of stones, but their number, shape, size and composition.
4. MRI and CT.Modern and very informative methods.

How do stones from the gallbladder come out?

If the stone has a significant size, its exit from the gallbladder is accompanied by a colicky attack.

1. Concrement, driven by bile, enters the mouth of the duct. There is a blockage and a violation of the outflow of bile.
2. Under the action of concrement and bile pressure, the mouth of the duct is stretched, which gives the person a sharp pain.
3. The stone is pushed through the ducts and enters the duodenum. The pain releases a person, he feels relieved.
4. Concrement goes along with the calves.

Stones in the gallbladder during pregnancy

In pregnant women, cholelithiasis is found quite often. Because:

1. During this period the woman undergoes a thorough medical examination. She had stones before, but did not make herself felt. Unfortunately, few young women examine the body for preventive purposes, so no one suspected the disease before the onset of pregnancy.
2. Pregnancy provoked the formation of calculi. The fact is that during the gestation of a baby in the body of a woman in increased quantities, a hormone progesterone is produced, one of the functions of which is the relaxation of smooth muscles. The outflow of bile under its influence becomes slower, because of its stagnation and stones are formed.

Gallstones are often found during pregnancy.

A woman who is diagnosed with cholelithiasis during pregnancy, the doctor prescribes:

• dietotherapy
• spasmolytic type No-shdi
• is easy choleretic if the stones are small

IMPORTANT: If the ducts are obstructed during pregnancy, laparoscopic removal of stones from the gallbladder is possible.

Is it possible to avoid surgery for gallstones?

If a stone is found in the gallbladder, the doctor will immediately tell you about the operation to remove them and the bubble itself. Of course, this prospect frightens. You can try to cope without it.

Only the doctor determines the method of treatment of gallstones.

IMPORTANT: You can postpone the operation only if the disease is asymptomatic, the stones in the gallstones are small, their size is small.

In this case, it is necessary to dissolve and remove stones with the help of medications and folk remedies. More details about this in the article "Treating stones in the gallbladder."

If surgery is not avoided, most often cholecystectomy is performed by the method of laparoscopy, which is considered the least traumatic. But sometimes classical open operations are also carried out.

VIDEO: Laparoscopy: operation of gallbladder removal

Menu for feeding in gallstones: what can and can not be done

In case of cholelithiasis, a therapeutic diet No. 5 is prescribed.

Patient with cholelithiasis shows curative diet number 5. Its main principles are as follows:

1. Fast food and snacks are prohibited.
2. Baking, confectionery must be limited to a minimum.
3. Soda , low alcohol and alcoholic beverages, coffee is prohibited.
4. It is recommended that have warm first courses. If they are on meat broth, the meat should be low-fat, and broth - the second.
5. Vegetables are also the basis of the diet. You can eat everything, except for raw cabbage and legumes.
6. The consumes fresh fruit and berries. These are apples, bananas, melons, strawberries, and others.
7. The sharply restricts the intake of fried and fatty foods, in particular of animal origin, which is a provoker of increasing cholesterol and, as a consequence, the formation of gallstones.
8. Recommended fractional and frequent food intake, 4 to 6 times a day. This ensures optimal movement of bile.
9. Regarding consumption of food: fats need to be reduced. The norm of carbohydrates( complex) on diet No. 5 - up to 350 g, fats and proteins - up to 90 g.
10. It is not necessary to lower the daily norm of the caloric intake. With stones in bile, a person should consume about 2500 kcal per day. If he is overweight, this moment is discussed with the doctor.
11. Doctors also advise to introduce in the diet fiber and useful fats in the form of bran, food supplement Omega3.

VIDEO: Diet for Gallstones

Prevention of gallstones

Prophylaxis of stones in the gallbladder, above all, implies a healthy diet.

The health of all digestive organs, however, and the whole organism, is interrelated. Therefore, the prevention of gallstones is a general improvement and strengthening, which includes:

• healthy food
• gradual weight loss if necessary
• sufficient physical activity
• timely detection of health problems and their correction

VIDEO: Cholecystitis. How to prevent the formation of gallstones?