Gallstones

The gallbladder stores bile. This substance helps digest fats. Gallstones form when bile hardens into pieces of stone-like material. These deposit in the gallbladder or bile ducts (which carry bile to the small intestine). The stones can range in size from less than a pinhead to 3 inches across.

Signs & Symptoms

• Feeling bloated and gassy, especially after eating fried or fatty foods.
• Steady pain in the upper right abdomen lasting 20 minutes to 5 hours.
• Pain between the shoulder blades or in the right shoulder.
• Indigestion. Nausea. Vomiting. Severe abdominal pain with fever. Sometimes a yellow color to the skin and/or the whites of the eyes.

{Note: Gallstone symptoms can be hard to tell apart from heart-related or other serious problems. A doctor should evaluate any new symptoms.}

Causes

• Obesity and excess body fat
• Men 60 years and older and women between 20 and 50 years old.
• Being female due to effects of estrogen and progesterone hormones.
• Genetics. People of Native American or Mexican descent and having a family history of gallstones.

Treatment

• Surgery to remove the gallbladder. This is the most common treatment. You can still digest foods without a gallbladder.
• Healthy diet with smaller and more frequent meals.

Self-Care / Prevention

Same as with treatment following gallbladder removal:

• Eat a healthy, low-fat, high-fiber diet.
• Eat smaller and more frequent meals.
• Get to and stay at a healthy body weight. If you are overweight, lose weight slowly (1 to 1-1/2 pounds per week). Do not follow a rapid weight loss diet unless under strict medical guidance.