What are gall stones?

Question

What and how to treat them?

Answer 1

Gallstones form when liquid stored in the gallbladder hardens into pieces of stone-like material. The liquid, called bile, is used to help the body digest fats. Bile is made in the liver, then stored in the gallbladder until the body needs to digest fat. At that time, the gallbladder contracts and pushes the bile into a tube—called the common bile duct—that carries it to the small intestine, where it helps with digestion.

Bile contains water, cholesterol, fats, bile salts, proteins, and bilirubin. Bile salts break up fat, and bilirubin gives bile and stool a yellowish color. If the liquid bile contains too much cholesterol, bile salts, or bilirubin, under certain conditions it can harden into stones.

The two types of gallstones are cholesterol stones and pigment stones. Cholesterol stones are usually yellow-green and are made primarily of hardened cholesterol. They account for about 80 percent of gallstones. Pigment stones are small, dark stones made of bilirubin. Gallstones can be as small as a grain of sand or as large as a golf ball. The gallbladder can develop just one large stone, hundreds of tiny stones, or almost any combination.

Gallstones can block the normal flow of bile if they lodge in any of the ducts that carry bile from the liver to the small intestine. That includes the hepatic ducts, which carry bile out of the liver; the cystic duct, which takes bile to and from the gallbladder; and the common bile duct, which takes bile from the cystic and hepatic ducts to the small intestine. Bile trapped in these ducts can cause inflammation in the gallbladder, the ducts, or, rarely, the liver. Other ducts open into the common bile duct, including the pancreatic duct, which carries digestive enzymes out of the pancreas. If a gallstone blocks the opening to that duct, digestive enzymes can become trapped in the pancreas and cause an extremely painful inflammation called gallstone pancreatitis.

If any of these ducts remain blocked for a significant period of time, severe—possibly fatal—damage or infections affecting the gallbladder, liver, or pancreas can occur. Warning signs of a serious problem are fever, jaundice, and persistent pain.

It has nothing to do with kidneys as suggested in a previous answer.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Gall stones are stones that build up in your gall bladder, I believe they are cholestrol buildup, but am not sure. Sometimes thay can be treated using ultrasound to go in and break them up, or else they are left alone until it gets to the point where you have to have your gall bladder removed. You can survive just fine without a gall bladder, it stores bile from your bile duct......I had mine removed in February due to a large gall stone that caused my gall bladder to rupture. You want to avoid that (gall bladder rupture) if at all possible, it is VERY painful and you can get really sick from the infection. What is normally a couple of days recovery turned in to almost a month for me due to the bad infection. Since having my gall bladder removed, I have not had near the problems with indigestion and heartburn that I had before, so something good did come of it.

Answer 3

Gall stones form in the gall bladder. The gall bladder is a small "pouch" that stores bile to aid in digestion. Pain is caused when stones form in the gall bladder. When you eat a fatty meal, you produce more bile to help digest it. The stones block th bile duct and you fell pain and sometimes nausea. The treatment is bland diet, and in severe cases, surgery. A laproscopic cholecystectomy is where they make 4 incisions in the abdomen and insert a laproscope (camera) and remove the gall bladder. If for some reason they are unable to remove it laproscopically, they will make a large incision and remove it that way.

Answer 4

Gall stones are just that. Stones in the gallbladder. They are painful and create all kinds of nasty symptoms. Treatment is best left to a Dr. who may recommend surgery. This is usually keyhole and you are on your feet again in a few days. Get it done!

Answer 5

gall stones,, the pain is so much like labor pains.. some stones can be passed in 2 weeks after you feel the pain with no treatment other then a pain shot the 1st. day.. others need surgery..

Answer 6

They form on the walls of either your kidneys or bladder and they are past through the urethras and I heard that that is extremely painful to pass gall stones.
You have to have surgery to get them remove or go through the pain of having a bowel movement.

Answer 7

Please see the webpages for more details on Choledocholithiasis, Gallstones, Acute cholecystitis, Gallbladder disease and Gallbladder removal (Cholecystectomy)