Gallstones
January 20th, 2007
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Some 20 million Americans have gallstones, crystallized pellets in the gallbladder that can suddenly cause painful spasms a few hours after eating a rich meal. A high-fiber diet, along with certain supplements, can help prevent, relieve, or even dissolve these troublesome stones.
Symptoms Intermittent pain on the right side of the upper abdomen. The pain typically develops after a meal, lasts from 30 minutes to 4 hours, and may move to the back, chest, or right shoulder.Nausea and vomiting may accompany pain. Heartburn, gas, or bloating may also be present.
When to Call Your Doctor If you develop severe abdominal pain, or pain with nausea, vomiting, or fever. Either symptom may signal gallbladder inflammation or a blockage of the bile duct. Both are medical emergencies.
If you have upper right abdominal pain and nausea with shortness of breath and sweating — this may be a heart attack. Call an ambulance right away.Reminder: If you have a medical condition, talk to your doctor before taking supplements.
What It Is Gallstones are rocklike clumps of cholesterol or other digestive substances that form in the gallbladder, the pear-shaped organ that sits in the upper right section of the abdomen, just under the liver. The gallbladder stores and concentrates bile — a thick greenish yellow fluid that’s produced by the liver — and eventually releases it through the bile duct into the small intestine to aid in the digestion of fats. Gallstones can develop if the bile contains very high levels of cholesterol, bile acids, pigments, or other substances. Whether they’re really tiny or as big as a golf ball, gallstones often produce no symptoms and need no special care. Sometimes, though, they can block the bile duct or inflame the gallbladder, causing intense abdominal pain and requiring prompt treatment.
What Causes ItThough the exact cause of gallstones is not known, several factors may contribute to their formation, including a low-fiber, high-fat diet; intestinal surgery; inflammatory bowel disease; or other disorders of the digestive tract. Gallstones tend to occur in people over age 40 and are three times more common in women than in men. Obesity is also strongly linked to gallstones, as is rapid weight loss. There may be a genetic component as well: Among Arizona’s Pima Indians, nearly 70% of women over age 30 have gallstones.
How Supplements Can Help The supplements recommended in the list may all aid in preventing or dissolving gallstones. Three months of treatment may be effective in dissolving small existing stones, though Vitamin C, liotropic combination, lecithin, and flaxseed oil can also be used long term to help prevent gallstone attacks.
What Else You Can Do Eat a diet high in fiber and low in refined carbohydrates, sugar, and fat. Fruits and vegetables, oat bran, and pectin (found in apples, bananas, cabbage, carrots, oranges, peas, and okra) may be especially important in preventing and dissolving gallstones.Keep your weight down and drink plenty of water daily.
Supplement RecommendationsVitamin CLipotropic CombinationTaurineLecithinFlaxseed OilPeppermint OilPsyllium
Vitamin C Dosage: 1,000 mg 3 times a day.Comments: Reduce dose if diarrhea develops.
Lipotropic Combination Dosage: 1 or 2 pills twice a day.Comments: Need 250 mg milk thistle (take extra if needed); may also include choline, inositol, methionine, and dandelion.
Taurine Dosage: 1,000 mg L-taurine twice a day for up to 3 months.Comments: After 6 weeks, add a mixed amino acid complex.
LecithinDosage: 2 capsules of 19 grains (1,200 mg) each twice a day.Comments: Or 2 tsp. granular form twice a day before meals.
Flaxseed Oil Dosage: 1 tbsp. (14 grams) a day in liquid or pill form.Comments: Can be mixed with food; take in the morning.
Peppermint OilDosage: 2 capsules (containing 0.2 ml of oil each) twice a day.Comments: Buy enteric-coated capsules. Take between meals.
PsylliumDosage: 1 tbsp. powder dissolved in water or juice twice a day.Comments: Be sure to drink extra water throughout the day.
Source:Your Guide to Vitamins, Minerals, and Herbs(Reader’s Digest)
Are women who are forty, fat and fair more likely to get gallstones?
Asked by Sonia Axtens of Sacramento, California
The old wives’ tale that women who are forty, fat, and fair are more likely to get gallstones has some basis in fact, but not in its entirety.
According to Dr. Terry Bolin, a gastroenterologist at the Gut Foundation Institute at the Prince of Wales Hospital and the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, women who are in this category are indeed at some risk of developing gallstones. However, many who are older or younger are also sometimes affected.
Weight is a definite factor. Obesity, rapid weight loss, pregnancy, taking birth control pills, or undergoing hormone replacement therapy may be contributing factors to developing gallstones
According to the American Liver Society of Nashville, Tennessee, rapid weight-loss dieting (more than 3 pounds per week) increases the risk of developing gallstones more so than a slower rate of weight loss. However, claims Dr. Bolin, fair hair or fair complexion does not increase risk of developing gallstones.
In the folk medicines of certain cultures, bovine gallstones are believed to be an aphrodisiac. Today, the gallstones of dairy cows constitute a valuable commodity that fetch up to $1000 per ounce. In the meat-packing industries of some nations, workers are checked before they leave to be sure they have not stolen bovine gallstones. This is rather like what happens in the diamond mines of South Africa.
“Porcelain gallbladder” is a condition in which deposits of calcium build up in the wall of the gallbladder resulting in the gallbladder becoming calcified, fragile, and brittle. The gallbladder becomes breakable like a small porcelain vase, hence the name.
The condition was named by Dr. R.H. Kazmierski in a 1951 article in the American Journal of Surgery. According to Dr. Tsung-Chun Lee and three colleagues from the National Taiwan University Hospital in Taiwan, writing in the American Journal of Medicine in October 2005, fortunately porcelain gallbladder is rare, occurring in less than one in every 1000 gall bladder patients requiring hospitalization.
What are gallstones?
Gallstones are crystalline bodies formed within the gallbladder. The gallbladder is a small and rather pear-shaped organ beneath the liver on the right side of the abdomen. The gallbladder is only about 3 inches (7.62 cm) long and one inch (2.54 cm) wide. The liver manufactures bile which is stored in the gallbladder.
The gallbladder contracts and releases the bile into the intestines greatly assisting digestion by helping to break down fats in food. The medical term for a gallstone is a choleith. 80 per cent of gallstones are actually cholesterol stones since they are made up mostly of cholesterol. The other 20 per cent of gallstones are pigment stones since they are made up mostly of bilirubin, a reddish-yellow pigment, and calcium salts. A gallstone can be the size of a grain of sand or as large as a golf ball. They can occur one at a time or many together - even in their thousands.
The American Liver Society of Nashville, Tennessee estimates that one of every 12 Americans has gallstones. At that rate there are 25m people with gallstones in the US, 5m in the U.K., 2.7m in Canada, and 1.6m in Australia. Gallstones may form in one of three ways: when bile contains more cholesterol than it can dissolve, when there is too much of certain proteins or other substances in the bile that causes cholesterol to form hard crystals, or when the gallbladder does not contract and release bile regularly.
Most of the time gallstones are painless. This condition is called “silent gallstones”. However, when they are painful the condition is called “symptomatic gallstones”. Each year, just in the US, symptomatic gallstones trigger serious health problems, cause some 800,000 hospitalizations, and result in more than 500,000 operations.
Stephen Juan, Ph.D. is an anthropologist at the University of Sydney
s.juan@edfac.usyd.edu.au
