What Are True Symptoms Of Gallbladder Problems ?

Fortunately, 80 percent of those with gallstones will never develop symptoms and thus need no treatment.

Most people think that bloating, heartburn, intolerance of fatty food, and vague right upper abdominal pain are sure signs of a gallbladder problem. These symptoms, however, have been found to be unrelated to gallbladder disease and would be better treated by careful attention to diet and lifestyle.

It used to be said that the typical gallbladder patient was "forty, female, fertile, and fat." However, this is not true for many people who have gallstones. The sex difference becomes progressively less after the age of 50.

The 20 percent of women and men who have true symptoms from gallbladder disease usually know it. True gallbladder pain or biliary colic, as it is called, is intense and unforgettable. Sir Walter Scott, when he experienced gallbladder pain, turned away from his family and prepared to dictate his last will and testament. As Dr. Noel Williams, Head of Gastroenterogy at Dalhousie University in Halifax, says in his article in the Canadian Journal of Diagnosis (May/91), "Patients often mention that their biliary pain is the most severe they have experienced, more severe than that suffered with the passing of a kidney stone, perforation of an intestine or childbirth."

Gallbladder pain, known as biliary colic, is usually caused when the gallbladder repeatedly tries to expel the stone or stones which have temporarily been stuck in one of the ducts leading from the gallbladder. This pain is typically steady and severe and characteristically located in the right upper section of the abdomen. The pain lasts more than one hour, but not usually past 12 hours. The pain commonly occurs in the middle of the night and causes a marked restlessness, causing the person to "walk the floor." The pain may also radiate into the right shoulder tip or to the area between the shoulder blades, and be accompanied by nausea and vomiting. Pain usually subsides when the stone passes through the duct, but there may be residual soreness or achiness in the area for about 24 hours.

Serious Complications Of Gallstones

According to Dr. Eldon Shaffer, Chairman, Department of Medicine University of Calgary, in May 1991 Diagnosis, if the severe pain lasts for more than 12 to 17 hours, or is accompanied by fever and chills, you may have developed inflammation of the gallbladder (known as acute cholecystitis) or inflammation of the pancreas (known as acute pancreatitis). This means you should go to the emergency right away, and be prepared to be admitted into the hospital.

With acute cholecystis, what happens is that trapped bile irritates and inflames the gallbladder wall. Seventy-five percent of the time the acute inflammation subsides with medical treatment alone. Of those 75 percent, 25 percent will have a reoccurrence within one year and 60 percent within six years.

The other 25 percent will develop serious complications necessitating immediate surgery. Surgery becomes necessary when the gallbladder becomes infected and full of pus, or when a gallstone causes the intestine to be blocked off or when the blood supply to the gallbladder is cut off. Occasionally, an infected gallbladder bursts, and the pus is localized to the area around the gallbladder. Rarely the pus spreads throughout the whole abdomen, which is a life threatening situation.

With acute pancreatitis, what happens is that the bile backs up into the pancreas where it causes it to become inflamed. This condition is usually treated with pain killers and intravenous fluids. If the pancreas is severely damaged, it can cause low blood pressure, heart failure, kidney failure, respiratory failure, accumulation of fluid in the abdomen and formation of cysts and abscesses in the damaged gland.

Serious complications of gallbladder disease such as jaundice (yellow skin and eyes) from the stone blocking the common bile duct, cholecystitis or pancreatitis occur in about one percent of people with gallstones and are just as common in those who have never had any prior abdominal pain. Once any of these complications has developed, surgery is absolutely necessary.