Gall stones or cholelithiasis: Symptoms, Causes and Risk Factors
Gall stones or cholelithiasis is a condition caused due to the accumulation of small pebbles like pieces mainly composed of cholesterol, or bilirubin in the gall bladder, ranging of the size of a grain of sand to a golf ball. The gall stone can either be one single large stone or multiple small stones or both large and small stones.
The gall stones sometimes causes do not cause any symptoms or discomfort. These type of gall stones is known as silent gall stones and they do not need any treatment until they cause discomfort.
Gall stones usually are very painful condition causing pain in the right side of the upper abdomen. The pain associated with gall stones is called biliary colic. In cases where the pain is persistent, treatment is indicated to prevent further complications associated with gall stones.
Types of gall stones:
Gall stones are of two types:
- Cholesterol stones, which are yellowish-green in color and is mainly composed of cholesterol.
- Pigment stones are dark in color and composed of bilirubin.
There are people who have developed both types of gall stones.
Symptoms:
The symptoms of gall stones are:
- Sudden pain in the upper part of the right abdomen.
- Referred pain in between the shoulder blades.
- Pain extending to the right shoulder.
- Nausea and vomiting
- Indigestion
- Loss of appetite
- Sometimes jaundice
Causes:
The exact cause for developing gall stones is not exactly known, however, it is believed that the following reasons cause gall stones:
- Excessive cholesterol in for your bile to dissolve, leading to the formation of crystals initially, which finally forms gall stones.
- If the bile has excessive bilirubin due to some liver or blood ailments. The excessive bilirubin forms gall stones.
- If the gall bladder does not empty its entire content thus concentrating the bile further, forming gall stones.
Risk factors:
The people who are at higher risk of developing gall stones are:
- Fertile females
- Who are forty or more than forty years
- Obese people
- People with a sedentary lifestyle (Know about how does physical inactivity affect humans?)
- High cholesterol levels
- Diabetic
- Family history Of developing gall stones
- Low fiber diet
- Women who take oral contraceptive
- Women who are on hormone therapy drugs
- Pregnant women
- People suffering from liver ailments
- People who lose weight very fast.
Complications:
The complications associated with gall stones are the following:
- Cholecystitis or inflammation of the gall bladder which causes severe pain and fever.
- Blockage of the common bile duct causing jaundice, sometimes along with infection of the common bile duct.
- Blockage of the pancreatic duct causing pancreatitis which is very painful and can be fatal.
- Gall bladder cancer especially in people who have a history of having gall stones.
Lifestyle tips:
To reduce the risk of developing gall stones one needs to follow the following tips :
- Do not skip meals. Try to have meals at a fixed time. Skipping meals increases the risk of developing gall stones.
- Lose weight gradually and not rapidly.
- Maintain a healthy weight.
- Eat a healthy diet
- Exercise regularly.