Treatment of stones in the gallbladder is carried out in several ways, so we can safely say that gallstone disease is not a sentence. This disease is characterized by a violation of the production and secretion of bile with the formation of calculi (solid particles) from bile pigments, lime salts, cholesterol. Pathology mainly occurs in patients of mature age. Women suffer from this disease more often than men.
Disease danger
As a rule, many people think about treating gallstones with folk remedies or medicines only when the symptoms of the disease become simply unbearable. For a long time, the disease may not declare itself, but over the years, stones increase in size, and once they block the bile ducts, interfering with the natural secretion of bile. The disease is accompanied by severe bouts of pain and seizures, up to a swoon.
By the way, gallstone disease is dangerous precisely because of its complications. A displaced stone or its fragment can damage the cystic duct. In addition, the appearance of fistulas, peritonitis, and infection of the biliary tract cannot be completely ruled out.
Is it treated at all
You can remove calculi using the operation. Treatment of stones in the gallbladder is also carried out conservatively, using medicines and folk remedies. Surgical intervention is the most radical method shown in the most severe forms of gallstone disease and the development of complications. If the operation is contraindicated for any reason to the patient, drugs containing acids and chemicals that soften the stones in the gallbladder are used. Treatment is also carried out by crushing large formations using a laser or ultrasound.
Often in combination with traditional medicine, time-tested folk methods and recipes are used, which can be an excellent addition to pharmacy drugs. Each of the methods described below can be effective, while all of them have their own characteristics and contraindications.
To begin, consider the traditional methods of conservative treatment, allowing you to save the organ and its ducts. There are only three of them:
- dissolution of stones with drugs;
- laser and ultrasonic fragmentation of calculi;
- cholelitholysis.
Drug exposure
In the first case, we are talking about oral litholytic therapy. It involves the use of drugs containing ursodeoxycholic and chenodeoxycholic acids (Ursosan, Henofalk). Such drugs reduce the percentage of cholesterol in the composition of bile, increasing the amount of acids needed.
However, treatment of gallstones with medication is not always possible in practice. Firstly, such therapy is suitable only for those patients whose calculi are more composed of cholesterol (the chemical composition of the formations is determined by duodenal diagnosis or cholecystography). Secondly, drugs will only help if there are stones of minimum size (not exceeding 1.5 cm in diameter). Thirdly, sufficient patency of the bile ducts is taken into account.
Contraindications include a number of gastrointestinal diseases and kidney problems. The disadvantages of treating stones in the gallbladder without surgery include a high course duration - at least 6-12 months under periodic ultrasound monitoring. Oral litholytic therapy is highly likely to develop relapses.
Ultrasound and laser lithotripsy methods
This treatment method is based on the principle of grinding formations under pressure, which is achieved by the action of a shock wave. An ultrasound or a laser beam breaks up the stones into small particles (up to 3 mm), which can subsequently pass through the bile ducts and enter the duodenum.
In a predominant number of clinical cases, extracorporeal lithotripsy is combined with the previous option for the treatment of gallstones. According to patients, drug therapy was prescribed after ultrasonic or laser crushing in order to dissolve already crushed stones to ensure their painless exit through the bile ducts.
Extracorporeal lithotripsy is ideal for people who have been diagnosed with no more than 4 large cholesterol stones that do not contain lime impurities. It is usually possible to crush stones to the necessary sizes in 1-7 procedures. This type of treatment is contraindicated in patients with bleeding disorders and chronic gastrointestinal tract pathologies accompanied by inflammation (cholecystitis, pancreatitis, peptic ulcer disease).
Cholelitholysis
Despite the fact that this method allows you to save the affected organ, in practice it is rarely used due to the high invasiveness. Cholelitolysis is the following manipulation: a small catheter is inserted through the skin and liver tissue into the gallbladder, which drip delivers a special calculus-dissolving drug with methyl tert-butyl ether to the diseased organ. The procedure will have to go through several times over 2-4 weeks.
Through cholelitolysis, not only cholesterol, but also calcareous stones are dissolved. The specified technique can be applied regardless of the stage of the disease and the severity of its clinical signs.
Surgery
Surgery for stones in the gallbladder is indicated in those cases when the stones have an impressive size and frequent relapses occur, accompanied by intense pain, fever and various kinds of complications. Today, surgeons are increasingly resorting to laparoscopic intervention, which is characterized by minimal invasiveness and tissue injuries. However, this method of extracting calculi is practiced in single clinics.
Laparoscopic surgery involves performing a small incision on the right under the ribs to penetrate the peritoneum. Then the surgeon pulls up the gallbladder and makes a dissection at its base. A choledochoscope is inserted through the hole obtained and stones are removed. After completion of the manipulation, the apparatus is removed, the incisions are sutured with absorbable sutures or with medical glue.
Cholecystectomy
Removing the affected gallbladder with solid formations inside it is the most common treatment currently. Experts explain their decision by the fact that the causes of cholelithiasis are, as a rule, in metabolic disorders that affect the composition of bile. Therefore, the elimination of stones will not solve the main problem, calculi will inevitably appear again and again.
With laparoscopic intervention, the bladder itself is removed through small incisions in the peritoneum. The tube with the camera is inserted into the cavity and the inflamed organ is removed under video surveillance. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is contraindicated in:
- obesity;
- a history of complex operations on the stomach, intestines, liver, pancreas;
- gallbladder abscess;
- heart disease
- pregnancy.
The consequences of gallbladder removal
It is worth noting that surgery is not an absolute way to cure gallstone disease. Organ removal alone is not able to solve the problem of pathological changes in the chemical composition of bile. As patients note, after cholecystectomy, the pain-characteristic pains do not recede. In addition, most of the operated people have bitterness in their mouths, food takes on a metallic aftertaste. The consequences of the removal of the bladder in medicine are called postcholecystectomy syndrome, which is a whole complex of symptoms.
After the operation, an increase in the volume of the bile duct is possible, which often leads to stagnation of bile and, as a result, jaundice. After cholecystectomy, there are often liver problems, malfunctions of the pancreas, and duodenitis progresses. The reason for this is the uncontrolled intake of bile into the intestine due to the lack of a natural reservoir for its collection, the role of which was performed by the gall bladder.
Do folk recipes help
In fact, it is the complications and consequences of cholecystectomy that make patients look for safer ways to treat gallstones. Folk remedies are often used, since with their help you can get good results. Instant relief, of course, is not worth the wait. In addition, we must not forget that alternative treatments are only suitable for removing small stones, their particles or sand. The formations can be so huge that it is hardly possible to crush them by natural means.
There are many ways to extract gallstones. Diet and treatment with folk remedies are the simplest and safest, but at the same time they may not be effective enough with an advanced form of the disease. Let's try to figure out with what home remedies you can soften stones and try to remove them from the gallbladder.
Chicken Bile
This remedy may seem strange, but this method of alternative treatment has a logical explanation: small stones pecked by chickens are partially digested in her body due to bile. Accordingly, this substance can help a person. Use the bile of a freshly chilled carcass. An organ of one chicken is usually enough for a couple of days.
First you need to carefully cut out the bile “reservoir” and draw its contents into the syringe. Since bile is very bitter, it cannot be taken in its pure form, so many people do this with bread. From the crumb, it is advised to roll 10 small pea-sized balls and add two drops from the syringe into each of them. The remaining substance should be refrigerated until the next day. Take home-made bread "pills" must be every two hours throughout the day. The recommended duration of such treatment for gallstones with a folk remedy is one month.
Raisins
Proponents of alternative medicine believe that this method of removing stones from the body is the most straightforward and delicious, not requiring additional time to prepare the drug. Raisins help in the treatment of gallstone disease, and with its prevention. What will the patient need?
- Raisins (1 kg). Choose dried dark berries with stalks.
- Rosehip extract (holosas). It has a choleretic effect, is sold in a pharmacy.
- Mineral water "Borjomi", "Essentuki".
Dried grapes divided into 10 parts. Every 100 g of raisins in the evening fall asleep in a thermos and pour a glass of boiling water. The next day, in the morning, the swollen berries are eaten before breakfast and washed down with a glass of mineral water, to which 1 tsp is added. rosehip extract. The tool is used for a month.
Pine nuts
To prepare the medicine, you need 1 kg of pine nuts (along with the shell). The raw materials are crushed through a meat grinder (scroll several times) - the mixture should be very small. Then the raw material is poured into 500 ml of medical alcohol.
The next step is the preparation of sugar syrup (water and sugar are taken in equal proportions). After the liquid has cooled, it is added to the nut tincture. The resulting mass is sent for two-week storage in a three-liter glass jar, covered with a lid. The mixture must be mixed periodically. At the end of the cooking period, a thick dark mass will be obtained, which should be consumed after breakfast, lunch and dinner, one teaspoon each. For one course of treatment, which ideally should last about 2 months, you will need 3 kg of pine nuts.
Olive oil
Another method is popular that can be used to treat stones in the gallbladder. The folk remedy, which will be discussed later, is olive oil. It contains digestible fats, which, when ingested, stimulate the excretion of bile. This vegetable fat has an excellent choleretic effect, preventing stagnation of bile and the development of inflammatory processes, lowering cholesterol and preventing the formation of calculi.
It should be noted that the first oil is the most useful. You need to start taking it with small doses. At first, 1 teaspoon per day is enough, but gradually its daily amount is increased to half a glass. Take the drug on an empty stomach for two weeks.
Medicinal plants
In summer and spring, a trip to the pharmacy can be postponed until later. Use medicinal herbs - treatment of stones in the gall bladder will certainly bring relief. However, you do not need to drink certain decoctions without authorization: before using medicinal herbs, you should consult a doctor.
The following plants are used to treat stones in the ducts of the gallbladder and stagnation of bile, to eliminate cramps and relieve inflammation:
- Wheat grass creeping. Use the liquid that is found in fresh leaves and stems. Drink juice on an empty stomach for 3-4 tbsp. l The medicine is prepared as follows: the stems with leaves are washed, well poured with boiling water and crushed in a meat grinder. Before use, the juice is diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 1, after which it is boiled for several minutes. The product can be stored in the refrigerator for no more than 2 days.
- Hypericum perforatum. For cooking, you need to take 50 g of dry or fresh raw materials, pour it with two glasses of boiling water and let it brew for a couple of hours. After preliminary filtering, the medicine is taken 100 ml in the form of heat half an hour before meals.
- Strawberry leaves. The infusion of leaves has a restorative effect. Prepare a drink in the same way as the previous tool.
- Highlander bird. A decoction of knotweed effectively fights the symptoms of gallstones. Treatment according to a popular prescription is carried out according to a similar scheme: for a half liter of boiling water you need to take 2 tbsp. l Highlander, leave over low heat for several minutes, bring to a boil and set aside for insisting. Drink broth knotweed twice a day, 50 ml for 10-14 days.
What should be the diet
Regardless of the chosen method of treating stones in the gall bladder, it will not be possible to achieve positive dynamics without introducing appropriate adjustments in nutrition. The patient's diet is of great importance in this disease. Doctors advise to adhere to the principles of fractional nutrition, eat food in small portions every two hours. It is important to understand that the intake of food in the body provokes a choleretic effect, therefore, the ingestion of food into the stomach in small quantities at the same time serves as a natural stimulator of the outflow of bile, preventing its stagnation.
Vegetable carbohydrates and fats are the basis of the patient's daily menu, which follows a diet in the treatment of gallstones. Symptoms of the disease will not recede if the patient abuses animal proteins and fats. Of course, such products are not completely prohibited, but still it is worth restricting their intake in the body. In gallstone disease, it is preferable to use products containing magnesium:
- lean meat and fish;
- cottage cheese, milk, kefir;
- buckwheat and oatmeal;
- fresh fruits and vegetables (pumpkin, carrots, zucchini, cauliflower, blueberries, pomegranate, quince, apples, watermelon, prunes are especially useful);
- natural compotes, fruit drinks, mineral water.
Liver, fat and offal should be excluded from the daily menu. Sausages, smoked meats, canned goods and pickles will not benefit. It is advisable to minimize the consumption of butter, fried and sour foods. You need to cook without seasoning, in the oven or for a couple. In case of gallstone disease, during treatment you will have to forget about legumes, radish, eggplant, onion and garlic. Under the strictest ban, coffee, alcohol and strong black tea.