Treatment Of Gallstone

If your gallstones haven’t caused any symptom, then you probably don’t need treatment.

But if you are having a gallbladder attack or other symptom, you will need to consult your doctor for treatment.

Gallbladder symptom may subside in few days but they can reappear and cause severe complications . So it is always better to treat the gallstones rather than to delay it.

Surgery is the best treatment for gallstones. Cholesterol stones may be treated by medication but medication have no effect on pigment stone.

Gallstone Surgery

Individual gall stones cannot be removed through surgery. In surgery , entire gall bladder is removed which is called cholecystectomy. It is one of the most common surgeries.

You don’t need to worry about your life style after gall bladder removal. You can live a normal life even without gallbladder .

Surgeons perform two types of surgeries :

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy: Almost all surgeons perform cholecystectomies with laparoscopy for gallstone treatment. It is minimally invasive. Total of four small incisions are made in the abdomen . Patient is kept under general anesthesia . The patient is usually discharged on the same day or tomorrow. You can return to normal life in few days. The chances of complications during laparoscopic cholecystectomy are rare.

Open cholecystectomy: It is also called conventional cholecystectomy. This procedure is usually done if the gallstones have shown complications like inflammation, infection or scar formation.   Your doctor may perform a cholecystectomy if problems occur during a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. After the surgery, you may need to stay in the hospital for up to a week. You will probably be able to return to normal physical activity after about a month.

What happens after gallbladder removal

You may have frequent and softer stool. These bowel changes subsides in few weeks. You don’t need to avoid fatty diet .

Non – Surgical Treatment

These treatment aren’t reliable and need to be continued for lone time. Gallstones may reappear after stopping the treatment. So these treatment options are only applicable for those who cannot undergo surgery. Only cholesterol stones can have non surgical treatment. The possible options are :

Oral therapy. Ursodiol and Chenodiol can be used to break small cholesterol stones . But it will take several years to months to break up all stones and these stones may reappear when you stop treatment.

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). Sometimes doctors use ERCP to remove a gallstone if it is stuck in the common bile duct.

How to prevent Gallstones ?

You can reduce the risk of gall bladder stone by eating healthy diet and living a physically active life. You should focus on following things in your diet:

• Avoid refined carbohydrates
• Eat foods that are high in fibre
• Eat healthy fats, like fish oil and olive oil, to help your gall bladder  contract and empty on a regular basis.
• maintaining healthy weight

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SACHET SUBEDI

Sachet Subedi is 3rd year medical student from Institute Of Medicine, Maharajgunj . He writes on health, diet, wellness and science. He likes cricket and loves to study books and research paper on productivity, diet , health and wellness.