A large proportion of patients with gallstones are asymptomatic. We call this situation "hidden stones", "asymptomatic gallbladder stones", also known as "silent gallbladder stones". This situation is often Multiple gallstones are often discovered accidentally during health checkups or during diagnosis and treatment of other diseases.
Symptoms
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The symptoms of gallstones are relatively obvious, but many people do not understand gallstones and do not know what the symptoms of gallstones are. If you suffer from gallstones and do not go to the hospital for treatment in time, your condition will become worse and worse. So what are the symptoms of gallstones? Next, we ask gallstone experts to give us detailed answers.
What are the obvious symptoms of gallstones?
Multiple gallstones (4 photos)
1. Fever and chills are also common symptoms of gallstones:
Fever is related to the degree of gallbladder inflammation. Gangrenous cholecystitis and suppurative cholecystitis may cause chills and high fever.
2. Jaundice is also a symptom that occurs in patients with gallstones.
This symptom usually appears after severe abdominal pain, and the symptoms of jaundice are mild. The cause of jaundice is gallstones accompanied by cholangitis. The common bile duct is compressed by the enlarged gallbladder, causing partial obstruction, or causing infection and damage to liver cells, so jaundice occurs. Some patients with gallstones may develop transient jaundice, usually after severe abdominal pain, and the jaundice is mild. Gallstones accompanied by cholangitis, enlarged gallbladder compressing the common bile duct, causing partial obstruction, or transient damage to liver cells due to infection, can all cause jaundice. It manifests as yellowing of the sclera of the eye.
3. Abdominal pain is one of the common symptoms of gallstones.
The typical symptom that often occurs when gallstones attack is biliary colic, which mainly manifests as pain caused by paroxysmal spasms in the upper abdomen or right upper abdomen. This pain can gradually worsen and can move toward the right shoulder. and dorsal radiation. Biliary colic is caused by the movement of stones in the gallbladder, causing the stones to become lodged in the cystic duct.
Abdominal pain is one of the main clinical manifestations of gallstones. If you have paroxysmal spasmodic pain in your upper abdomen or right upper quadrant, accompanied by progressive worsening and often radiating to the right shoulder and back, it is typical biliary colic during a gallstone attack. Abdominal pain is caused by stones moving from the gallbladder cavity to the cystic duct causing stone obstruction. Because the cystic duct is blocked by stones, the pressure in the gallbladder increases, the gallbladder smooth muscle contracts and spasms, and attempts to expel the gallstones, resulting in severe biliary colic. According to statistics, biliary colic occurs suddenly in those over 90 years of age, often after a heavy meal, overexertion or strenuous exercise. Stones are easy to fall into the cystic duct when lying down, and some patients will suddenly suffer from severe pain at night. In addition to severe pain, they often feel restless, even tossing and turning, upset, sweating profusely, and pale. Each attack can last from 10 minutes to several hours, and it often takes several days to resolve. Relief or disappearance of pain indicates that the stone has retreated into the gallbladder and other symptoms will disappear.
4. Gastrointestinal symptoms are also common symptoms of gallstones.
When gallstones attack acutely, they may also be accompanied by gastrointestinal reactions such as nausea and vomiting. Not only will abdominal pain occur, but the abdominal pain symptoms can be significantly relieved after vomiting. And after this symptom appears, there will be symptoms such as aversion to greasy food and indigestion. That is, after an acute attack of gallstones, there are often symptoms such as aversion to greasy food, abdominal distension, and indigestion.
Dangers of diseases
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What are the dangers of gallstones? This question is a question that many friends are concerned about, whether online or in real life. So what are the dangers of gallstones? Hear what gallstone experts have to say. Introduction from gallstone experts:
1. Recurrent cholecystitis: Common symptoms are biliary colic, dull pain, distension, nausea and vomiting and other discomforts, sometimes involving the right shoulder or back. The frequency of attacks is sometimes once every few years, sometimes once every few months, and sometimes several times a month. If the stone blocks the ampulla or cystic duct, it can cause biliary colic in the right upper quadrant.
If changing body position or taking medication cannot make the stones leave the obstruction, high pressure will be generated in the gallbladder, and the blood supply to the gallbladder wall will be reduced or stopped. Bacteria will easily enter and produce a large amount of toxins, causing gallbladder wall necrosis or even perforation; or even It can rupture into the abdominal cavity and cause peritonitis. In severe cases, it can cause shock and be life-threatening.
2. Secondary common bile duct stones: Sometimes small stones or bile sludge can be discharged into the common bile duct by the gallbladder, causing common bile duct obstruction, jaundice, liver function damage, and even suppurative cholangitis. Severe cholangitis has a very high mortality rate.
3. Acute pancreatitis: Small stones or bile sludge discharged into the bile duct are further discharged into the duodenum, sometimes becoming lodged in the same opening of the bile duct and pancreatic duct or damaging the end of the common bile duct. If this happens repeatedly, it will cause stenosis and edema at the end of the common bile duct, causing pancreatic juice excretion disorder or bile reflux into the bile duct, secondary to biliary pancreatitis. Severe cases can be life-threatening.
4. Cancer: Gallstones are the main cause of gallbladder cancer. The gallbladder is long-term stimulated by chronic inflammation and bile acid and bile salts in gallstones, which can easily lead to canceration of the gallbladder mucosa. Gallbladder cancer is extremely malignant and the treatment effect is very unsatisfactory.
Treatment methods
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Surgery
1. Surgical treatment:
Surgical treatment is treatment Important measures for gallstones include choosing different surgical therapies according to different conditions. However, surgical treatment may not necessarily achieve a cure. One operation or sometimes multiple operations still cannot achieve the purpose of cure. For some elderly patients, surgical treatment is generally not recommended due to their poor physical condition and high surgical risks.
Extracorporeal lithotripsy
2. Extracorporeal lithotripsy method:
The principle of the hydraulic lithotripsy is to use the huge electromagnetic discharge generated by the hydraulic high-level discharge. Energy, through multiple continuous discharge shocks, crushes the stones and then excretes them from the body. With lithotripsy treatment, even if larger stones are broken into small stones, there is still the problem of incomplete discharge or recurrence. In addition, vibration wave lithotripsy can cause damage to liver tissue.
Western medicine drugs
3. Western medicine treatment:
Western medicine treats gallstones, but its effect cannot directly reach the focus of the disease. It treats the symptoms but not the root cause. Moreover, Western medicine contains hormones and has side effects. Large, overdose may cause other harm to the human body.
Treatment with Traditional Chinese Medicine
4. Treatment with Traditional Chinese Medicine;
Treatment of gallstones with traditional Chinese medicine requires syndrome differentiation and treatment.
Stone experts remind that stone patients should live a regular life, pay attention to the balance between work and rest, regularly participate in physical activities, eat breakfast on time, avoid gaining weight, reduce the number of pregnancies, etc. are also very important preventive measures. Drinking a glass of milk every night or eating a fried egg for breakfast can cause the gallbladder to contract and be emptied regularly, reducing the residence time of bile in the gallbladder.
Gallstone experts remind everyone that once you suffer from gallstones, you must choose a regular professional diagnosis and treatment institution for timely treatment. Do not blindly seek medical treatment to prevent being deceived and delaying the best opportunity for treatment.
Preventive measures
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1. Stay optimistic and cheerful, and feel comfortable. Optimism is the primary factor in preventing cholelithiasis. Any negative mood can cause cholesterol metabolism disorders, leading to stone formation or recurrence.
2. Eat reasonably and regularly. Eating regularly is the best way to prevent stones, because the gallbladder is filled with bile when not eating, and the gallbladder mucosa absorbs water to thicken the bile and increase the viscosity of the bile, eventually forming gall sludge.
3. Stop drinking and eat less fatty food. Eat less alcohol and high-fat foods, have moderate nutrition and appropriately limit the fat and cholesterol content in your diet.
4. Drink more water. Drink 5-8 cups a day, even if you are not thirsty, so that bilirubin can be excreted in the urine. In addition to preventing and improving the treatment of stones, tea as a drink in daily life can also regulate the balance of human body mechanisms. It can effectively inhibit bacteria and relieve pain, diuretic and relieve pain, dissolve and expel stones, enhance the body's resistance, and greatly reduce the risk of complications caused by stones. A series of complications. This type of Chinese herbal tea mainly includes dandelion, disc grass, honeysuckle, coptis, etc.
5. Exercise more. Exercise appropriately every day to promote blood circulation and accelerate the excretion of metabolic waste in the body.
6. Ensure adequate protein intake. According to research, long-term insufficient protein intake is related to the formation of bile pigment stones.
7. Eat more fresh vegetables and fruits to meet the various vitamins and trace elements needed by the body and enhance the body's metabolism.
8. Pay attention to food hygiene. Prevent bacteria and eggs from entering through the mouth, thereby preventing parasites such as roundworms from entering the intestines and causing biliary tract infections.