Gallbladder Disease: Will You Need Serious Surgery?

Do you need serious surgery for gallbladder disease? A gallbladder is an organ that aids a person’s digestion by storing bile and releasing it in the small intestine. It’s a small organ located right under the liver, with a highly purposeful functionality in the body. Bile is a yellowish liquid that the liver makes and transfers to the gallbladder. This liquid helps break down tiny food particles in the small intestine. Furthermore, it also helps eradicate the waste material.

Types of Gallbladder Diseases

The number of complications of the gallbladder is immense. However, the most common medical issues include gallbladder disease. Gallstones and Cholecystitis are just some of the gallbladder diseases amongst many others.

Gallstones

Gallstones may be the most common gallbladder diseases of all time. This may be due to the average person’s diet since gallstones consist of cholesterol and solidified bile. It shares commonality because people are now more accustomed to eating cholesterol-rich food.

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Symptoms

In this gallbladder disease, a person may or may not experience any distinctive symptoms. However, if the gallstone is in any of the openings, an individual can experience severe pain. They will feel a sudden striking pain between the belly button and the right rib.

Furthermore, other symptoms of the gallstones include:

• Intense abdominal pain lasting several hours
• Fever, along with chills
• Itchiness sensation on the skin
• Sweatiness
• Dark coloration of urine
• The pale color of stool
• Yellowish color on the skin
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Loss of appetite
• Muscular contractions inside the abdomen (this occurs when a gallbladder makes contraction to expel a gallstone)

When facing any of these issues, a person should stay away from foods that contain fat. In some cases, fatty foods act as triggers or initiators of abdominal discomfort. A person must be quick to visit a doctor if they experience pain or discomfort.

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Cholecystitis

This condition supersedes gallstones in terms of severity. When tiny gallstones start accumulating inside the gallbladder, they cause blockages inside the bile duct. These blockages tend to swell up over some time, and this swelling inside the bile duct is cholecystitis. It’s a condition that involves gallstones stuck inside the bile duct, causing blockages, swelling, and other serious complications.

In this case, instant treatment becomes a necessary endeavor. However, there are two stages of Cholecystitis, acute and chronic.

Acute Cholecystitis

Acute Cholecystitis is a condition in which a person experiences pain that lasts only about 6 to 12 hours. The severity of this condition depends on the frequency of the painful episodes. A doctor determines that a person has acute cholecystitis when their pain lasts for a week.

If the painful episodes start lasting beyond seven days, it is an indication that the condition is more severe and may lead to chronic cholecystitis. Other symptoms of this disease, in addition to pain, can involve vomiting, nausea, yellowing, swelling, and fever.

This disease also has other causes apart from gallstones. Major surgeries, inflammation, and illness can also spike cholecystitis in a person. Increased inflammation in the gallbladder has terrible impacts, including the rupture and damage of the gallbladder.

Chronic Cholecystitis

Long-term inflammation in the gallbladder causes Chronic Cholecystitis. In this condition, you can undergo serious complications, as the gallbladder fails to empty the gallstones, and they deposit further inside. This has serious outcomes. When gallstones block out the exit points inside the gallbladder, bile tends to accumulate excessively inside.

Therefore, stagnant bile fluid becomes vulnerable to infections and inflammation. Gangrene can occur inside the gallbladder, causing the tissues to die. This critical condition can also possibly burst or tear the gallbladder because of excess bile liquid.

Will You Need Surgery?

The decision of whether you need gallbladder surgery depends on the severity of your pain. It also depends on your underlying condition, health, and age. Surgeons take many considerations before they decide to send you into surgery.

Furthermore, you will be glad to hear that a gallbladder removal surgery is very safe and has no side effects. You do not even need your gallbladder. Thus, removing it will have no significant impact on your overall health.

If you are suffering from severe symptoms, the best option for you is to go into surgery. Hence, if you show up to the doctor with a series of gallbladder disease symptoms, they are likely to link you to professional gallbladder surgeons.

Gallbladder Disease: To Conclude

If you are looking for minimally invasive gallbladder surgery, visit us at Lenox Hill Surgeons. Our team consists of the most experienced surgeons in New York. More importantly, gallbladder surgery is our specialty. We provide you with the best services, easy operations, and friendly and professional staff. Visit our website for more information, or call us at (212) 988-1136.