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Gallbladder stones what are the symptoms?
Abdominal pain due to stones or misnamed "stones" in the gallbladder is a very frequent reason for consultation, especially among females, whose incidence is between the second and fourth decade of life.
Likewise, the way of resolution of stones in the gallbladder will always be surgical.
It is important to mention that the clinical consequences of the presence of gallstones are an emergency that must be resolved as soon as possible.
What is the gallbladder?
The gallbladder is a fibromuscular organ whose main function is to concentrate and store bile.
The gallbladder is located in the cystic pit of the posterior aspect of the liver. In turn, the external configuration of the gallbladder is as follows.
Bottom
Body
Neck
Infundibulum
All parts of the gallbladder are relevant, but the critical area that can lead to complications is the infundibulum.
This part of the gallbladder has certain measurements. However, if one of the stones becomes embedded in that area, the result will be pain and dilation, which later allows the stones to exit.
How are stones formed in the gallbladder?
Since you know what the gallbladder is, it is good that you know how such stones are formed. First, there are two types of stones, cholesterol stones and pigmentary stones.
At the same time, pigmentary stones are divided into black and brown. The difference in the calculations lies in their composition.
Also, the stones take about 5 to 10 years to form.
So how do gallbladder stones form? They are formed by an imbalance of the elements that make up the bile. Remember that bile is stored in the gallbladder.
Cholesterol calculations
Cholesterol stones are made up of cholesterol, which accounts for 80% of all stones. They are usually large, yellow-surfaced stones.
Now, there are three known ways in which cholesterol stones originate.
By cholesterol supersaturation
Cholesterol nucleation
Poor motility of the gallbladder
In cholesterol supersaturation, what happens is that there is an excess of cholesterol, either from a diet rich in cholesterol or there is a decrease in bile salts in the bile.
Consequently, the concentration of cholesterol in the bile increases and the stones are created. Now, the nucleation of cholesterol occurs due to the formation of solid bodies.
Finally, the poor motility of the gallbladder is due to the fact that the muscular wall of the gallbladder does not contract properly, so that the bile remains in the gallbladder for longer.
Pigmentary stones
The calculations symbolize 30% of the reported cases. Black and brown stones are made up of bilirubin, specifically unconjugated. That is, one that has not undergone liver metabolism.
Physically, these stones appear smaller and softer in consistency.
What is biliary pathology?
It is essential to clarify that gallstones is only the tip of the iceberg. In this sense, biliary pathology is a conglomeration of histopathological clinical entities that affect the biliary tree.
This means that only the gallbladder is involved, if not the ducts through which the bile flows.
Likewise, this pathology begins from the formation of the stones, since normally there should not be stones in the gallbladder.
What is gallstones?
What you can commonly refer to as gallbladder stones is given the medical term for gallstones. Basically, it is the presence of stones in the gallbladder.
The stones inside the gallbladder will not cause complications, the problem is when they become embedded in specific places or migrate from the gallbladder to the bile ducts.
Risk factors for the development of gallstones
Female gender
Obesity
Dyslipidemias
Mellitus diabetes
Cirrhosis
Pregnancy
Women are more prone to developing lithiasis, it is believed to be related to the presence of estrogens, since they increase the saturation of bile.
During pregnancy, the emptying of the gallbladder is delayed and in obesity, a greater deposit of cholesterol.
What are the symptoms of gallstones?
It should be noted that gallstones can be asymptomatic or symptomatic, that is, whether it generates symptoms or not.
In this way, if the person does not present symptoms, it is most likely that they will find out about the stones through a routine abdominal echo-sonogram.
On the contrary, when the patient manifests gastrointestinal symptoms, it is important to determine how long the symptoms last. The symptoms that may occur are.
Abdominal pain
Sickness
Vomiting
Decreased appetite
It is considerable to say that these symptoms are caused when the stones are impacted in the infundibulum, after the ingestion of food, when the gallbladder begins to contract to pour bile into the duodenum.
Then, when the pain is established, according to the duration, it can be called biliary colic or persistent biliary colic.
The first lasts less than two hours, while the other lasts longer than that time.
On the other hand, in the examination carried out by the doctor there is a semiological maneuver, which in case of being positive indicates inflammation of the gallbladder.
How is abdominal pain due to gallstones?
Believe it or not, pain has a series of characteristics that must be evaluated, not only pain caused by gallstones in the gallbladder, but any type of pain.
Pain from gallstones generally appears abruptly, is located in the upper right part of the abdomen. In addition to this, the pain is of moderate intensity, which can extend to the back.
Besides, it can be accompanied by nausea or vomiting and is established after eating, especially, copious foods.
What medications are used to treat gallbladder stones?
In reality, a drug that is specific for gallstones does not exist. However, antispasmodic medications may be prescribed, in case it is symptomatic.
Antispasmodics are drugs whose mechanism of action is to interrupt the involuntary contraction of the intestinal smooth muscles.
This is how the most used drugs are trimebutine and hyoscine butylbromide.
In relation to the above, gallstones do not warrant the administration of antibiotics.
