Gallbladder Symptoms
Gallbladder symptoms are too numerous to count. However, some of the most common symptoms include:
1) Right upper quadrant pain, especially in between meals and usually lasting longer than 30 minutes. The pain may be a sharp or burning “knife-like” feeling, or it can be dull and achy. Generally, the worse the pain, the worse the condition.
The gallbladder is located right under your ribcage just to the right of your stomach in your upper abdomen near your liver and can easily be pinpointed when you feel a painful sensation.
Gallbladder problems always cause pain in the right upper quadrant below the edge of your ribs and above where your belly button is. It may be worse at certain times of the day, when you eat a heavy meal or after fatty foods such as steak and ham.
2) Nausea and vomiting usually accompany gallbladder pain, and it often makes you feel sick to your stomach. You can even vomit bile if the gallstones are blocking the gallbladder ducts.
3) Abdominal bloating is another common symptom. This means that your abdomen seems swollen or tight, which can even make it appear as though you are pregnant. In addition, you may have belching, passing of gas, or indigestion along with this symptom.
Suppose there is a large amount of pressure in the gallbladder causing the swelling. In that case, you may look five months pregnant within an hour after eating because food takes that long to pass through to get out of your stomach into your intestines where it belongs instead of staying put in the wrong place for so long.
Your belly will blow up like a balloon! If you have ever eaten at Outback Steakhouse, where they bring huge baked potatoes covered with sour cream and butter to the table…you can relate to this symptom.
4) Fever, chills, and vomiting accompanying a gallbladder attack mean you probably have biliary colic or pancreatitis. These symptoms usually appear suddenly, along with other signs such as jaundice (yellowing of the skin), clay-colored stools, dark urine, and pain in your right side.
This means that there is inflammation not only of your gallbladder but also possibly of your pancreas, which can become involved later on in complicated cases if left untreated.
This type of inflammation is severe and may require surgery, so you should seek immediate medical attention if these symptoms occur while having problems with your gallbladder.
5) A full feeling in your upper abdomen or just under your ribs after eating is another common symptom. This feeling of fullness may last for several hours, and it is usually more uncomfortable than painful.
6) Low-grade fever, nausea/vomiting, pain in the middle to the upper right side of the abdomen lasting up to six hours without relief, bloating after meals which lasts over six months are all symptoms of chronic cholecystitis.
7) dull aching pain on the right side below your rib cage. Still, nausea and vomiting may occur with acute cholecystitis above your stomach if there is inflammation of your gallbladder only. This condition will usually heal within one week if you have acute cholecystitis and the problem is not complicated.
8) A high fever with severe pain suggests a perforated or ruptured gallbladder. This usually requires surgery immediately to avoid further complications such as sepsis (infection of the blood). The patient will be extremely ill and in urgent need of medical attention if this type of infection has occurred.
9) Aspiration pneumonia can occur when bile enters your lungs due to a tear in one of the tiny tubes that drain bile from your liver called the ducts. This causes an infection that may become very serious since it can settle in your chest cavity, leading to pneumonia. In addition, bile contains digestive enzymes that are toxic to tissue, so a doctor must treat this condition seriously.
If you are experiencing gallstones symptoms, it is imperative to see your doctor as soon as possible.
At the first signs of gallbladder trouble, begin taking care of yourself by following these guidelines:
1) Eat smaller meals that are low fat and high soluble fiber, such as fresh fruits and vegetables or juices that help with elimination, including prune juice (if constipated), vegetable juice mixed with apple juice (for diarrhea), and raspberry/strawberry leaf tea mix (usually sold at health food stores).
Fiber absorbs the bile so the stones can pass more quickly. This speeds up its removal from your body along with any infection or inflammation caused by them. You should drink a minimum of one gallon of water throughout the day. You should also work in at least five 8 oz.
There are glasses of unsweetened cranberry juice in your daily fluid intake (unless you are on medication that causes interactions with cranberry). Cranberry juice is one of nature’s best remedies for gallstones and kidney stones due to its ability to dissolve calcium deposits.
2) Increase your fiber intake by eating more fresh fruits, vegetables, whole-grain bread, pasta, or rice (brown rice is preferable because it takes less time for your body to digest). Add prune juice to cereal, fruit salads, and other dishes like oatmeal in place of sweeteners when possible since it has a much sweeter taste than sugar or honey. Drink lots of fluids; Your body needs plenty of water to flush out the stones as they pass through your system.
3) Herbal remedies may be used in place of prescription medications that you may have been taking for various conditions, including heartburn, stomach ulcers, intestinal disorders, and gallbladder disease.
There are many herbal remedies available at health food stores that you can try first for their soothing effects on your gastrointestinal tract. This reduces inflammation by calming your intestines, allowing them to rest so they can heal naturally with little or no medication necessary.
Other medicinal herbs that promote bile flow include dandelion root (which helps cleanse the liver), goldenseal (a cleansing herb that will help with infection), juniper berries (an antiseptic agent that helps with tissue repair), peppermint leaf (helps reduce gas pain), red clover tops (a natural anti-inflammatory that stimulates the immune system), and yellow dock root (helps with infection).
4) Increase your intake of lecithin to 3 grams per day, which is found in foods such as soybeans, eggs, fish, organ meats, peanuts, corn oil, wheat germ, brewer’s yeast, or whole grains. This will help flush out toxins from your body more efficiently without taxing your liver. In addition, this reduces strain on your body since it has the minor foreign matter to filter through its detoxifying system. It also enhances cellular energy production by improving blood flow into cells, where nutrients are then carried into the bloodstream for use throughout the body.
5) Go on a simple, low-fat diet that includes lean meat, skinless chicken or turkey, fresh fruits and vegetables, rice or noodles, and water.
This reduces strain on your digestive system by giving it a rest from digesting all the fat that is difficult for it to soak up properly. This will also help reverse any weight gain if you overeat fat before the onset of gallstones.
You should avoid greasy foods such as chips, french fries, crackers (especially those with molasses), cheese (including cottage cheese), ice cream, donuts, hamburgers (unless they are 90% lean ground beef), fried foods (chicken especially), processed lunch meats (salami and bologna), and any other food that is exceptionally high in fat.
6) Eat a few Brazil nuts. Brazil nuts contain selenium, which helps the body produce glutathione peroxidase, a substance that breaks down lousy cholesterol (LDL). It can also help reduce inflammation from inflammation-related conditions such as arthritis. Magnesium found in Brazil nuts also facilitates calcium absorption to ensure your bones stay strong since it helps prevent osteoporosis.
7) Avoid red meat for a while to reduce strain on your kidneys as they try to filter out all of the toxins created when the byproducts of red meat metabolism (such as ammonia) enter your system. Ammonia is very toxic when it enters your bloodstream through the digestive tract.
Since it is a poison, your liver tries to break down its components before sending them into your system for use as energy or excretion from the body. When there’s too much ammonia in your system at one time, you will experience symptoms of poisoning such as vomiting and nausea.
8) Cure an upset stomach naturally with ginger or peppermint tea. These can help soothe an upset stomach while giving your digestive tract some rest until the stones pass on their own accord.
They reduce inflammation by relaxing intestinal muscles and healing while reducing pain and cramps associated with them since they contain volatile oils that provide these soothing effects when ingested orally. In addition, Peppermint reduces gas while ginger helps relax you mentally so you can also rest while your body tries to heal itself.
9) Increase consumption of fresh vegetables and fruits for their anti-inflammatory effects that help reduce pain in the liver, gallbladder, and associated tissues.
They are an excellent source of antioxidants that will help cell membranes reverse any damage caused by free radicals. They also contain high amounts of vitamin C, which reduces inflammation throughout your body, so you won’t experience any additional discomfort during this time when undergoing treatment for gallstones.
What causes gallbladder pain:
The most common cause of gallstones and your diet is the only factor I would suggest you immediately change.
Several factors can cause gallstones, but nothing as simple as overeating fat or causing inflammation from autoimmune diseases. The main reason for their development is not having enough bile salts to process excess cholesterol in the liver with other dietary fats sent into the digestive tract.
This leads to lipid peroxidation, which causes oxidation damage to cellular membranes, reducing their functionality significantly with time until eventually causing them to become inflamed and form gallstones as a symptom of this occurring within the body.
I’m going to give you a list of all possible conditions that lead to gallbladder issues so you can look them up and see if you may be at high risk for developing gallstones as a result of these conditions.
Viral hepatitis, such as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), and herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1)
Inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis
Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation throughout the digestive tract from mouth to anus.
Ulcerative colitis is another inflammatory bowel disorder that affects the large intestines rather than your entire digestive tract.
Both of these diseases cause pain in the abdomen due to inflammation which often results in abdominal cramping.