Written By: Longjam Dineshwori | Updated : October 16, 2020 9:29 AM IST
Eating a healthy well-balanced diet is the best way to improve and protect your gallbladder. @Shutterstock
The gallbladder is a small, pear-shaped pouch that sits just under the liver. It stores bile, a fluid produced by the liver. The gallbladder sends bile through ducts to the small intestine to help digest food. Bile helps break down fat and also helps absorb some vitamins from foods. It is when this fluid can't get into or out of your gallbladder that you get a gallbladder attack, also called a gallstone attack, acute cholecystitis, or biliary colic. Too much bile in your gallbladder can trigger inflammation and pain. How would you know that you're having a gallbladder attack?
A gallbladder attack usually happens after having large meals as your body makes more bile when you eat fatty foods. Most likely you will have an attack in the evening.
When you have a gallbladder attack, you may experience a sudden gnawing pain in the upper right or center of your belly that may worsen quickly and lasts about 20 minutes to an hour. It may be so intense that you may find it difficult to sit still. The pain may spread from the abdomen to the back between your shoulder blades and in your right shoulder. You might also feel nauseous or vomit at the same time.
Backed-up bile can enter your bloodstream and cause jaundice, making your skin and the whites of your eyes turn yellow. You may also experience other symptoms of a gallbladder attack, such as fever or chills, dark or tea-colored urine, light or clay-colored poop.
A gallbladder attack usually occurs when gallstones block the bile duct or tube, leading to a buildup of bile in the pouch. Gallstones could be as small as a grain of sand or as big as a golf ball. They are made from fats, proteins, and minerals in your body. Gallstones usually won't cause symptoms if they don't block the bile duct. This means you may have gallstones even if you don't get a gallbladder attack. Only about one-third of people with gallstones may experience a gallstone attack or serious symptoms. There are two main types of gallstones:
The blockage and swelling due to the presence of gallstones trigger pain in the abdomen. The gallbladder attack will stop when these stones move and bile can flow out.
Any other conditions that affect the gallbladder function may cause an attack. These include cholangitis (bile duct inflammation), cholecystitis (swelling and redness in the gallbladder), tumors, abscesses, abnormal tissue growth, or chronic acalculous gallbladder disease.
If you have a gallbladder attack, see immediate medical help and don't try to self-medicate with over-the-counter painkillers.
There are various risk factors for gallbladder attacks like age, sex, weight, diet, race, or genes.
Women have higher odds of getting gallstones compared to men. This may be due to the extra estrogen in their body from pregnancy, hormone replacement therapy, or birth control pills.
Eating foods high in calories and refined carbohydrates, less fiber may also raise your risk of a having gallbladder attack. The risk is also higher if you're obese. But don't go under the knife (weight loss surgery) to lose weight quickly as doing so can trigger the attack, too.
The risk of both gallstones and a gallbladder attack increase as you hit 40. You're also more likely to get gallbladder attacks if someone in your family had gallstones, or if you're a Native American and Mexican American.
Other conditions that can cause gallstones can also raise your risk of a gallbladder attack. These include cirrhosis, infection, sickle cell anemia, Crohn's disease metabolic syndrome, high triglycerides, low LDL cholesterol levels, and diabetes.
