Cholecystitis occurs as a result of irritation and inflammation of the gallbladder (an organ located near the liver and taking part in digestion). Bile is excreted from the body mainly through the small intestine, however, sometimes with the exit of it, problems may arise, as a result of which it accumulates in the gall bladder. This leads to pain and infection.
Gallbladder function in the body
What is the function of the gallbladder? This organ secretes a secret that dilutes the food processed by the gastric juice, changing gastric digestion to intestinal. It activates peristalsis of the small intestine and the production of physiological mucus, which plays a protective role. Along with this, it neutralizes cholesterol, bilirubin and some other substances, and also stimulates the production of enzymes.
Who is at risk?
As a rule, cholecystitis occurs in parallel with inflammation of the ducts. The disease is quite common. Most often, treatment for cholecystitis and chronic cholecystitis is required for women. In the fairer sex, this disease occurs 3-8 times more often than in men of the same age.
Why are women more prone to this disease? Most often, it develops during pregnancy due to chronic compression of the gallbladder by the fetus. As a result, there is an imbalance and stagnation of bile.
Progesterone, which is produced in large quantities during pregnancy and with menopause, along with other female hormones adversely affects the work of the gallbladder. In addition, women like to go on diets, leading to a violation of his motor skills.
The risk group, regardless of age and gender, includes people who have previously suffered:
- intestinal or hepatic infection;
- parasitic disease (helminthic and protozoal invasion localized in the intestine or liver);
- gallstone disease with blockage or the development of pressure sores on the gallbladder mucosa;
- a disease that violates the blood supply in the gallbladder.
These reasons are caused either by a violation of obstruction (patency), or a violation of the motility of the gallbladder.
Types of disease
During the course of the disease, liver cholecystitis can be acute or chronic. The physiology of the gallbladder is close to that of a liver, whose functions are quite diverse. The main one is the constant production of bile and excretion into the duodenum. Excess bile accumulates in the gallbladder and is consumed gradually.
Cholecystitis disease can be divided according to the etiological criterion into 2 groups: calculous (translated from Latin Calculus means “stone”) and non-calculous (stoneless).
Inflammation can be of a different nature, depending on which cholecystitis is divided into catarrhal, purulent, mixed, gangrenous and phlegmonous. The last two types of cholecystitis are included in one group - destructive cholecystitis. An exacerbation of the disease most often gives the patient a lot of discomfort. Therefore, it is important to identify the disease at an early stage and in time to begin its treatment. Proper treatment avoids possible complications.
Causes of inflammation
Treatment of cholecystitis and chronic cholecystitis should begin with an examination by a specialist. But first, you should find out why this disease arose. The causes of the development of the disease can be very different. However, most often it occurs as a result of the accumulation of stones in the gallbladder, which greatly complicate the removal of bile from the body. Another common cause of the disease is infection or trauma. Also, bile cholecystitis can occur as a complication of serious diseases, for example, diabetes. In this case, the treatment method is assigned to the patient individually.
As a result of these circumstances, acute cholecystitis can develop , in which inflammation of the gallbladder occurs. Chr. cholecystitis, as a rule, develops in those cases when the inflammation does not go away for a long period and has a protracted nature. This leads to the fact that the walls of the gallbladder begin to condense.
Symptoms and diagnosis of cholecystitis
In the early stages, the main symptom of cholecystitis is usually a sharp pain in the right side, which a person feels just below the ribs. Pain always arises unexpectedly. The main cause of the painful symptoms is a stone blocking the duct in the bladder. This leads to irritation and inflammation.
Painful sensations pass after some time on their own or after painkillers. However, in the future there is a gradual increase in pain, which over time becomes systematic. The development of cholecystitis is accompanied by fever, a feeling of nausea and vomiting, and the person’s condition gradually worsens.
Soon, the patient develops jaundice, as a result of which the skin and sclera become yellowish. This is due to a violation of the flow of bile into the intestines. The main premise for this is the presence of stones blocking the ducts in the bladder. The human pulse allows you to determine the degree of infection and the development of the disease. It should be measured by every patient who is diagnosed with cholecystitis. Exacerbation of the disease can lead to complications. Therefore, if the patient has a pulse of 80 to 130 beats per minute or higher, one should be wary. Since this is a serious sign that indicates that dangerous changes are occurring in the body.
In the chronic course of the disease, the symptoms may not appear much, but in the future the disease may make itself felt in a more neglected form or become acute. In this case, treatment should be carried out in a medical institution - this will avoid complications.
Symptoms are found during examination, as well as in laboratory and instrumental examination. Based on the patient's complaints, diseases of the liver, gastrointestinal tract and other organs that a person has previously suffered are determined. When confirming the diagnosis, certain drugs are prescribed. Treatment of cholecystitis and chronic cholecystitis begins only after consultation with a doctor.
Most often, patients complain of severe pain in the region below the ribs, indigestion, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation or bloating. Among other symptoms, one should highlight the coated tongue, which is a sign of stagnation of bile in the bubble. The main sign of cholecystitis is pain, which can be determined by palpation. Usually it manifests itself regardless of the position of the body.
A fairly common sign of this disease is nausea, which often leads to vomiting. In certain cases, these symptoms serve as a protective reaction of the body to intoxication. With cholecystitis, they are always part of the course of the disease. A feeling of nausea can be observed not only with cholecystitis, but also with appendicitis, poisoning, renal colic, ulcer, pancreatitis, or ectopic pregnancy.
To accurately determine the cause of nausea and vomiting, you should pay attention to what time of day these symptoms appear, and also when they occur after eating. It is important to pay attention to the duration of nausea, whether it ends with a gag reflex. It is necessary to study the composition of the vomit (whether the food has been digested or not, whether there are blood clots and impurities), and if there is relief after vomiting.
Diarrhea, constipation and bloating are symptoms of various gastrointestinal diseases, including cholecystitis. If the disorder occurs suddenly, this indicates a complication of the disease.
Diarrhea most often occurs with dysbiosis against the background of taking antibiotics to treat cholecystitis. It can also appear in various intestinal disorders when other digestive organs are connected to the pathogenesis of the disease.
Constipation and bloating usually occur with peritonitis, acute cholecystitis. Often they occur in sedentary patients who have been in bed for a long time.
Diagnostics
In the presence of these symptoms, a person needs to seek medical help. The doctor finds out the complaints of patients, on the basis of which the medical history is compiled. Cholecystitis is diagnosed by various laboratory and instrumental methods. Basically, to determine cholecystitis, specialists use sounding of the duodenum, x-ray and ultrasound. Using these studies, peristalsis and permeability of bile into the duodenum, as well as other relevant indicators of this organ, are established.
Non-calculous cholecystitis
6-7 people out of 1000 have a stoneless form of cholecystitis, most often chronic. In women, it is more common than in men. Some doctors believe that this type of disease can subsequently develop into calculous. Therefore, the treatment of cholecystitis and chronic cholecystitis is important to start in a timely manner. Patients need to understand that this is not worth joking.
Why does stoneless cholecystitis occur? The main causative agents of this disease are: E. coli, Enterococcus, Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus or mixed flora. If the patient has dysbiosis, colitis or enteritis, the infection can pass from the intestine to the gall bladder, or from the hepatopancreatic zone, if the patient was sick with chronic pancreatitis. In rare cases, infection develops from more distant foci in which chronic inflammation occurred. Such diseases include: chronic tonsillitis, periodontal disease, appendicitis, pneumonia and others.
The disease is usually treated with traditional methods. The patient must be prescribed a special diet. It is very important that the patient ate fractional and frequent. It is necessary to completely exclude fatty, fried, spicy foods, as well as carbonated and alcoholic drinks from the diet.
Currently, stoneless cholecystitis is treated with such drugs as Amoxicillin, Cefazolin, Erythromycin and some others. To normalize the digestion process, the intake of these agents is usually combined with enzyme preparations, for example, Festal, Mezim Forte, and Pancreatin. To stimulate the secretion of bile, the patient is prescribed choleretics ("Cholenzym", "Allohol" and others). To reduce the gallbladder, magnesium sulfate or sorbitol is prescribed.
Chronic form of the disease
Chr. cholecystitis characterizes the presence of stones in the gallbladder, a mild inflammatory process and a periodic manifestation of the symptoms of the disease. The disease can be almost asymptomatic or remind of itself by hepatic colic. If the disease proceeds in a latent form, the patient may experience a feeling of heaviness on the right side in the hypochondrium. Along with this, he is tormented by flatulence, diarrhea, heartburn, belching. These symptoms are accompanied by bitterness in the mouth. When overeating or after eating fatty foods, these unpleasant sensations are exacerbated.
Sudden hepatic colic usually occurs with diseases such as cholecystitis, pancreatitis, the treatment of which should be carried out under the supervision of a doctor. As a rule, colic is preceded by non-compliance with the diet, heavy physical exertion or some kind of emotional overstrain. The attack provokes contractions of the gallbladder and its ducts, which arise as a result of irritation of the mucous membrane with stones. In this case, the person experiences acute stitching pain, localized in the right hypochondrium, flowing into the neck, right shoulder and shoulder blade. The duration of the attack varies from a few minutes to 2 days.
Colic is accompanied by fever and vomiting, which does not bring relief. The patient feels arousal, his pulse thus becomes arrhythmic. The disease affects the blood pressure slightly. In patients aged, reflex angina pectoris often begins.
The tongue during the attack becomes very wet, often a plaque appears on it. Along with this, the patient may experience bloating and pain in the hypochondrium on the right side. It is noteworthy that in this case, a blood test does not show any abnormalities, and the gall bladder and liver do not increase, signs of irritation are also absent. Attacks of colic stop as suddenly as they begin, while the patient feels some relief and weakness.
Prevention of cholecystitis
How to warn yourself against the development of this disease? For this, it is necessary to try to maintain an optimal body weight and level of physical activity, since bile stagnation and the formation of stones in the bladder occur due to a sedentary lifestyle. The patient is recommended to adhere to a special diet. From drinks it is allowed to drink compotes and weakly brewed tea. The list of allowed dishes and products includes: wheat bread, low-fat cottage cheese, vegetable soups, beef (low-fat), chicken, crumbly cereals and non-acidic vegetables and fruits.
It is forbidden to eat: fresh pastries, lard, spinach, sorrel, fried meat, fatty fish and meat, mustard, pepper, coffee, ice cream, alcoholic beverages, convenience foods.
For the purpose of prevention, specialists prescribe ursodeoxycholic acid to patients, which prevents the appearance of stones during sudden weight loss (from 2 kg per week).
With an existing disease, preventive measures are aimed at preventing the occurrence of relapses of inflammation and associated complications. It should be noted that they may appear even after treatment. In this situation, the patient needs surgery. Cholecystitis can not be ignored, at the first signs of the disease should be examined.
Recipes of traditional medicine in the treatment of cholecystitis
The treatment of cholecystitis based on the use of various herbs and infusions must be agreed with the attending physician. This is necessary in order to avoid a possible deterioration in health and well-being. Among the well-known folk remedies, good results are shown by the medicinal preparations of immortelle-based herbs with a choleretic effect.
Before starting treatment, it is important to accurately determine the type of disease, since the intake of any choleretic drug is not allowed with calculous cholecystitis. Alternative treatment of cholecystitis can be used only if the patient suffers from non-calculous cholecystitis. In the presence of a calculous form of the disease, it is possible to stimulate the release of bile with the help of herbs and medicines exclusively according to the individual doctor's prescription.
The patient can drink herbal infusions, which improve intestinal motility and blood circulation. In this case, various soothing infusions and herbal teas, as well as fresh carrot and pumpkin juices are very useful.
Many treat non-calculous cholecystitis with the help of homeopathy, which in some cases improves overall health. Reception of these or other homeopathic preparations can be prescribed only by the attending physician.
- With cholecystitis, it is very useful to drink rowan juice. It should be taken 50 ml 3 times a day 30 minutes before a meal.
- To treat diseases such as chronic cholecystitis, pancreatitis, you can decoction with St. John's wort. It has not only choleretic effect, but also anti-inflammatory. To prepare it, you need 1 tablespoon of St. John's wort and 1 cup of hot water. The broth is boiled for 15 minutes and filtered. Take 50 ml three times a day.
- A decoction of birch leaves is also quite effective in combating the disease. For him, take 1 tablespoon of leaves and pour them with 200 ml of boiling water. The broth should be boiled for 30 minutes, after which it must be cooled to room temperature. During cooking, the amount of broth will decrease, so it will need to be added with water to the volume of one glass. Drink the broth 3 times a day, 50 ml before meals. This recipe is used to treat giardiasis cholecystitis.
- You can make another decoction of St. John's wort, but with the addition of immortelle and corn stigmas. All ingredients are mixed in equal amounts to get 1 tablespoon of herbal. Then this mixture is poured with 200 ml of boiling water and boiled for 30 minutes. After which the broth will need to be cooled to room temperature and diluted with boiled water a little. You need to take this tool for 1/3 cup half an hour before meals three times a day.
- Chamomile decoction helps treat non-calculous cholecystitis. For him, you need 15 g of chamomile per 1 cup of boiling water. The broth should be drunk in a warm form. It can also be used for enemas, which should be done no more than 2-3 times a week.
It is important to remember that in the human body everything matters, each organ is important in its own way and affects the duration and usefulness of life.Alternative methods are part of maintenance therapy. Since folk recipes are not able to replace antibacterial and other drugs, the patient must follow all the instructions of the doctor and not neglect the medication. To treat the disease of cholecystitis only with herbs is not recommended. It is important to monitor your health and not ignore the symptoms of cholecystitis, even if they are minor.