8 Essential Facts About Your Gallbladder

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Homeopathy Clinic For Gallbaldder In Vellore, India| aarogya clinic

Liver has the function of making bile to help in the digestion process. The gallbladder plays the role of storing the bile until it actually needed in the body.

The gallbladder is just placed right below the liver’s right lobe and has a shape that of as a pear. When it gets filled with optimum amount of bile to digest the food, the organ grows as long about 8-10 cm and about 4 cm.

This organ is very less considered unless you have had a prior gallbladder surgery or gallstone problems. Most of the time the organ functions properly fine. However, if you find any serious pains or any other problems, then you may have to get it removed.

Below are some essential facts about Gallbladder:

8  Essential Facts About Your Gallbladder | Homeopathy Clinic For Gallbaldder In Vellore, India
8 Essential Facts About Your Gallbladder | Homeopathy Clinic For Gallbaldder

1. Gallbladder serves as a storage pouch

“The gallbladder holds the dark colored green bile which is produced by the liver and uses when it is needed,” says Dr. V R Sudhakar BHMs, MD, a Consultant homeo Physician and Acupuncturist at Best Homeopathy Clinic For Gallbaldder-aarogya clinic. “Gallbladder concentrates the bile in the right form to be later used for better digestion. After we eat something, the bile is squeezed out and from the common bile duct it flows into the initial part of the small intestine known as the duodenum”.

While the liver has the ability of producing up to 500 to 1000 ml of bile per day, the gallbladder has the capacity of concentrating the bile up to tenfold and can store 30 to 50 ml of denser bile.

2. Gallstones are formed mostly from hardened cholesterol.

Gallstones are formed when either of the two substances cholesterol or bilirubin gets supersaturated in the bile to crystallize (something similar to sugar crystallizing while making rock candy). Bilirubin, a brownish yellow substance, is formed when the old red blood cells in the liver break down and the bile is mostly consisting of it. Bilirubin is mostly eliminated from the body through the bowels and that explains the colour of the feces. The probability for gallstones arising due to bilirubin is far less compared to those formed from hardened cholesterol. The cholesterol gallstones are common for those people who are suffering from blood disorders, such as sickle cell anemia.

3. A low-cholesterol and low-fat diet is best for a healthy gallbladder.

If you are wondering what should be the diet to maintain a healthy gallbladder? Then the answer is a low cholesterol diet. Since most gallbladder stones are formed due to cholesterols eating a diet low in cholesterol and fat will be the best solution to having a healthy gallbladder.

Diet For Healthy Gallbladder | meopathy Clinic For Gallbaldder In Vellore, India
Diet For Healthy Gallbladder | Homeopathy Clinic For Gallbaldder

4. A diet good for your heart is good for your gallbladder, too.

A “gallbladder-healthy “diet would be the one that easily pass as heart healthy diet. These would include those foods made of mono-saturated fats such as the ones found in the oils extracted from nuts, avocados, seeds, olives, peanut butter etc. Similarly, polyunsaturated fats, those found in walnuts, flaxseeds, vegetable oils, and fatty fish, should also be a part of your diet.  You can avoid the risk of gallstones by avoiding food items that can raise the cholesterol levels.

Another factor which is as important as what you consume is how frequently it is eaten. “Having a heavy meal once in the day increases the likelihood of stones as the bile is sitting in the gallbladder for a prolonged period of time prior to its excretion,” states Dr V R Sudhakar. The longer time that bile stays in the stomach results in increased time for the cholesterol in the bile to supersaturate and crystallize to form gallstones.

5. Rapid weight loss could cause gallstones.

Apart from a healthy diet, one should maintain a healthy weight to keep the gallbladder functioning well. People who are obese have higher risks for gallstones. But don’t get the idea that you go on a crash diet to lose weight. A sudden weight loss can also increase the likelihood of stones. So you can lose your weight but don’t try to lose it all at once.

One other way to keep gallstones at bay is keep your cholesterol level under control. “You can maintain the constant level by taking statins in case you have high cholesterol,” informs Dr V R Sudhakar. Other methods are by having regular intakes of vitamin C supplements as they are proven remedy to prevent gallstones and by drinking coffee. It is seen that coffee provides protection and prevents the gallstones arising from cholesterol.

6. Close to 12 percent of the population have gallstones, but only a few cause problems.

Along with people with obesity and those who have an inappropriate or high-fat diet or with high cholesterol levels, pregnant women are another section of people who are more likely to get gallstones. Therefore, they have to pay more attention while consuming fatty foods during pregnancy period. Similarly, those people having certain blood disorders like the sickle cell anemia meet with higher risk of gallstones formed due to bilirubin.

If there is a history of people having gallstones in your family, then the risk of having stones are doubled up. Further, some medicines like oral contraceptives increase the risk of gallstones. However, this risk is relatively low and one should not prevent from taking these medications if required due to the fear of gallstones.

Studies have found out that nearly 12 percent of the population gets gallstones, but a very low minority suffers problems due to those.

7. The most common sign of gallstones is intense pain.

Though a huge population has gallstones, up to 80 percent will never face any symptoms due to those gallstones. In case there is some problem, you will normally get to know about it. The pain would get intense then. “The pain is described as something sharp, stabbing and quite excruciating which can be 10 on a scale of 1 to 10”. The pain is usually felt intensely after consuming a fatty meal as fat is one of the strongest trigger for the gallbladder to empty up.  

The gallbladder is located below your breastbone which then extends to your back. The pain could last for several hours and sometimes is accompanied with nausea.

There could be different kinds of pain. Another could be a dull ache on the right side, like an upset stomach or heartburn with bloating.

8. The best test for gallstone is an ultrasound.

The best way to diagnose gallstones is an ultrasound. It is a safe yet quick method to get all the information regarding the gallbladder like its size, shape. Further, it is an accurate way. The ultrasound technology allows finding the gallstones as well the gallbladder irritation like a thickened wall or fluid around the gallbladder.

HIDA (hepatobiliary) scan is a scan done to some patients in which a chemical substance is injected into the arm of the patient and the technology aids in watching what happens inside as it enters the gallbladder. These tests are rarely carried out that too on patients who have other underlying conditions or those who have no stones found out through ultrasound but suffer from gallbladder pain symptoms.

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