The Gallbladder – The Curious Case of the Hanging Bag

You often hear about certain parts in the body that you can literally live without. There is the appendix, some random tendons and the occasional muscle. Science is looking for the answer for their existence and we have made progress in many areas. The gallbladder is one such example.

If you’re wondering what this green bag does then you’ve come to the right place. You must have heard about ‘bile’. That green sticky fluid that breaks up your fat? It has many other functions, but its favourite thing to do is to hang out in the gallbladder and often form clumps or stones. It’s a bit mischievous like that. Most of the time you don’t even feel any of these but when it comes, oh boy are you going to know about it.

Gallstone pain has often been described as the most excruciating pain after labour. In fact, if a man wants to experience labour he only needs to form gallstones. Patients often need morphine to settle it down, but some go by with minimal pain relief. Surprise!

So here are the 5 facts about gallstone disease:

1. Bile is made up of cholesterol and other pigments. About 90% of those who have the disease don’t have any problems. They happily live together with their stones.
2. Anyone can form stones in their gallbladder. Those at particular risk include women, elderly, smokers and obese people. Some things you can’t help like aging but other things you can. Remember that prevention is always better than cure.
3. Symptoms include upper tummy pain, vomiting, fever and pain going through to the back. Sometimes the stone can travel down a tube (or duct) and block off the flow. In that case you can get jaundice (or looking yellow). So if you experience these chances are that you may have gallstones. There are other causes that can precipitate these symptoms. Bottom line is if you experience any of these hop over to your local doctor and get it checked out.
4. The treatment depends on the cause. If it is stones that are causing you pain, then you may need your gallbladder out, or cholecystectomy. If you have associated infection of your gallbladder, then you’ll need it sooner rather than later. The surgery is safe but of course not without risks. So if you have concerns about your gallbladder make sure you chat to your local doctor or general surgeon.
   Find a GP near you or general surgeon.
5. As always prevention is better than cure so make sure you give your gallbladder the best chance to live happily under your liver. Eat healthy, exercise regularly and ditch those bad habits of smoking and heavy booze. Your gallbladder will thank you for it.

So there you have it. Your body has a gallbladder which sits under the liver and stores its bile. Certain conditions make the gallbladder form stones which sometimes can lead to problems. The best thing is to prevent this from happening in the first place but if it happens and you have to part with your gallbladder you’ll still be alright because the liver makes enough bile to help you live a normal life. You’ll just have to live a healthier life. So start now before having to wave goodbye to your Gallbag.