Among chronic diseases, cholecystitis is one of the first places. Doctors make this diagnosis so often that sometimes they do not attach any importance to this ailment. But what is it, we begin to truly understand only at the time of exacerbation. However, most of us make the mistake of trying to immediately start treatment for cholecystitis with drugs. This disease is treated quite difficult, most often the condition only stabilizes a little, but without a special diet, unpleasant symptoms will return again after a few days. Therefore, it is extremely important to constantly adhere to a healthy diet, to avoid alcohol and stressful situations. Then the treatment of cholecystitis with drugs may not be required.
What is cholecystitis?
This is an inflammatory disease of the gallbladder, and the cause of its appearance is most often the vital activity of a colony of bacteria. At first glance, everything is simple, you need to take an antibacterial drug, and everything will be fine again. However, before you go to the pharmacy and ask the pharmacist to find the treatment for cholecystitis with medicines for you, it’s nice to understand the causes of this disease, its etiology and the features of the course. There are many subtle points that are difficult to understand without a medical education.
Development mechanism
The main reason, as we have already noted, is microorganisms. That is, all the same streptococci and staphylococci, Pseudomonas aeruginosa or Proteus (as well as shigella, typhoid bacillus, sometimes various fungi, etc.) enter the gallstones from the intestines, where they are found in small quantities even in a completely healthy person. This is the usual contact path. In addition, they can get with the flow of blood and lymph from any source of inflammation, whether it is caries, tonsillitis or pyelonephritis. Therefore, the treatment of cholecystitis with drugs is not always the right choice. Antibiotics, of course, will defeat the colony of microorganisms in the gallbladder, but they will be replaced by other of the remaining chronic foci. Therefore, this problem must be approached comprehensively.
How can cholecystitis occur?
Before starting treatment, you need to know what you are dealing with, whether a person really has chronic cholecystitis. Symptoms and treatment are what a professional gastroenterologist should deal with. Therefore, do not console yourself with hopes that you can buy a magic pill in a pharmacy and forget about the problem. The fact is that the symptoms of cholecystitis are skillfully disguised as dozens of other diseases.
The patient may complain of pain behind the sternum, palpitations, emotional lability. Dozens of patients turn to a neurologist complaining of dizziness and headache, sweating, which can also be caused by this disease. Gastrointestinal symptoms are a little closer, which also do not always directly indicate cholecystitis. This may be causeless nausea and vomiting, frequent heartburn, bloating. Finally, this disease can provoke allergic reactions. As you can see, even a therapist may not always be able to easily determine the cause and diagnose cholecystitis. Treatment - drugs, a special diet and folk remedies - gives good results, but only if the scheme is selected correctly.
Catalysts for the development of the disease
Sometimes a person has many preconditions for its occurrence for many years in a row, but at one moment one or more factors are added and the rapid development of the disease begins. In order for us to present the picture in its entirety, it is necessary to analyze in detail how chronic cholecystitis arises. We will consider the symptoms and treatment for educational purposes, this does not replace a trip to the doctor. Low physical activity and irregular or too plentiful food contribute to problems. In addition, among the predisposing factors, one can distinguish excess weight and intestinal dysbiosis, constipation.
How does cholecystitis develop?
The process is not too fast. Usually pathogenic flora enters the gallbladder and contributes to the development of inflammation of its membrane. If at the first stages this can manifest itself in slight discomfort, then the disease will only progress further. The inflammatory process goes to deeper layers, submucosal, and then muscle. In the affected area, connective tissue grows, which deforms the gallbladder. Bile begins to thicken, that is, prerequisites for the formation of stones arise. With a strong decrease in immunity, serious errors in the diet and constant stress, acute cholecystitis can develop. Symptoms, treatment and features of the course, we will consider a little later.
Symptoms
If you happen to encounter this disease, then get ready for the fact that there is an endless chain of remissions and exacerbations. Moreover, the more carefully you follow the diet, the less chance that exacerbation of cholecystitis will develop. Treatment of the disease in remission is not carried out. The main symptom of chronic cholecystitis is pain. It is often localized in the right hypochondrium, and may be different. In some, it is constant, but weakly expressed, most often aching. If, on the contrary, the gallbladder tone is increased, then the pain is manifested by attacks, it is cramping, very intense. Most often, the reason is food errors, fried and greasy dishes, alcohol.
Patients tend to complain of a feeling of bitterness in their mouth, especially at night and in the morning. They are tormented by a bitter belching, sometimes it is accompanied by vomiting. In addition, frequent symptoms are digestive problems, itchy skin, and fever up to 38 degrees during exacerbations. In addition, fatigue and irritability are characteristic.
Treatment
Methods of treating cholecystitis have been known for a long time, the most popular and recognized among gastroenterologists is diet therapy. To smooth over the acute symptoms will allow a hunger strike for a period of several days. Next, broths and mashed purees, cereals should be gradually introduced into the diet. Gradually, you should go to a full-fledged diet table number 5. This diet should be observed constantly. Even on holidays, one should not deviate too much from it, so as not to cause exacerbations. It should be noted that effective treatment of cholecystitis is possible only with proper nutrition.
The basic principles of nutrition
Forget about the lack of breakfast and a plentiful dinner, you need to eat at least five times a day, a little. You can eat only freshly prepared food, in the form of heat. A full, varied diet is required, and it should be based on steamed or boiled dishes. Baked foods are allowed. Alcohol is strictly prohibited. In the chronic form of the disease, it is easy enough to maintain a normal state, for this you need to adhere to the above principles of healthy eating, and if you experience discomfort for several days, switch to a lightweight or completely drinking regime.
The main treatment for cholecystitis
If the patient comes with severe pain, then first of all the doctor should take care of its relief. Such complaints are not uncommon if you are diagnosed with cholecystitis. Symptoms (treatment should be supervised by an experienced doctor) may vary in degree of intensity, and depending on this, either the traditional No-Shpa is prescribed, 2 tablets three times a day, or, if the pain is severe, a more effective drug called "Duspatalin." Unlike drotaverine, its active substance acts more directly on the focus of pain.
Removal of the inflammatory process
Here, the choice of drugs will depend on the condition of the patient. Acute cholecystitis is treated with stronger antibiotics. Symptoms (treatment at first will be aimed specifically at relieving acute symptoms) are primarily expressed in increased pain, cramping and severe bloating. The choice of gastroenterologists is usually ciprofloxacin and amoxicillin. Drugs are quite gentle, because an extra load on the liver with this disease is completely useless. We emphasize once again that it is especially important to prescribe antibiotics if we are talking about acute cholecystitis. Symptoms that require immediate treatment include severe pain, nausea and vomiting, fever, chills, and stool and gas retention. We want to draw your attention to the fact that the acute form is treated quite effectively and rarely becomes chronic.
Already after the condition normalizes, the doctor often recommends conducting a tube, or "blind sounding." To do this, you need a bottle of mineral water without gas, which you need to drink early in the morning (preferably at 6 in the morning) for 20 minutes, then lie on your right side on a warm heating pad and lie down for about an hour. The doctor prescribes choleretic drugs , depending on the individual characteristics of the course of the disease.
If stagnation of bile predominates (hypokinesis)
That is, there is not enough intense contraction of the gallbladder. In this case, the pain is usually unexpressed, dull, constant. Tubing also helps in this case. Of the drugs, holokinetics are often prescribed: these are Flamin and Berberine, Sorbitol, and Magnesium Sulfate. In addition, choleretic herbs help very well in this case. It can be immortelle and corn stigmas, St. John's wort. They can be brewed and drunk for a long time, like regular tea. In the autumn and spring, they connect a pink and lemongrass radiola, eleutherococcus, ginseng, which can increase the tone of the gallbladder and vitality in general.
Hyperkinetic dyskinesia
In this case, the gallbladder tone is increased, it contracts too quickly and often, and the sphincters are not opened enough. In this case, sharp bouts of pain are observed, which usually do not last more than one hour. In this case, choleretics are used, these are preparations containing bile, such as Allohol and Liobil. In addition, these are the vegetable “Holagol” and “Olimethyl”, as well as the synthetic “Nicodin” and “Oxafenamide”. There are herbs that help well, these are mint and chamomile, motherwort and valerian, they help relieve spasm and normalize the outflow of bile. In addition, coniferous baths are recommended, with courses of 10 days, the water temperature is not higher than 35-40 degrees, in time, stay in the bath for no more than 15 minutes.
Cholelithiasis
Gradually stagnation of bile leads to the formation of stones. That is why you can’t just give up on an inflamed bile (cholecystitis). Treatment of cholelithiasis is more complicated, requires a special examination and prolonged medical support. Moreover, the form of this disease can be different, hidden, or dyspeptic, in which bouts of pain are periodic in nature, but they themselves are not too pronounced. The most severe pain is characterized by hepatic colic, which occurs with acute obstruction of the gallbladder and duct. In any case, if the process of stone formation has already begun, this is treated only by surgical intervention.
Treatment with folk remedies
If there is an exacerbation of cholecystitis (symptoms, treatment we briefly discussed above), then you should not do phytotherapy on your own, you need to seek help from a doctor. But when the stage of remission begins, then it's time to extend it with the help of special fees. In the autumn-winter period, tincture from the following mixture of medicinal herbs is useful to you. These are yarrow and wormwood, mint and fennel fruits, immortelle flowers. Two tablespoons of the mixture is poured with boiling water, insist night and take a third of a glass three times a day before meals. In spring, an infusion of birch leaves is made (2 teaspoons of chopped leaves in a glass of boiling water). In summer, an excellent option would be juice from the leaves and roots of dandelion. It is diluted with water one to one and taken in a tablespoon three times a day. This is how phytotherapy of such a complex disease as cholecystitis takes place. Treatment (drugs should be selected only by a doctor) should be systemic, therefore, in addition to herbs, you will also have to take various medications and follow a diet. However, this disease very often develops simultaneously with other ailments of the gastrointestinal tract, so we will devote a little more time to describing them.
Treatment of cholecystitis and pancreatitis
In fact, they very often develop simultaneously, because the provoking factors are the same in most cases. Signs and symptoms, complications also coincide, and even the treatment regimen itself is largely the same. Pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas, which is also caused most often by bacteria. With cholecystitis, bile in the bladder stagnates and inflammation begins, and with pancreatitis, instead of entering the intestine, pancreatic juice remains in the gland and digests itself. First of all, the doctor will prescribe antispasmodics, and only then will he deal with the disease. If the pancreas produces too much secret, then drugs such as Omeprazole are prescribed, if on the contrary it is not enough, then Festal, Pancreatin.
Inflammation of the gastric mucosa and cholecystitis
Also a frequent duet. Moreover, if gastritis and cholecystitis develop together, treatment can be quite successful, if pancreatitis also develops with them, then you are guaranteed a long and difficult path of rehabilitation. All three of these organs are prone to self-destruction, since enzymes involved in the digestion of food are present in them. So, gastritis is an inflammation of the gastric mucosa. Pain and discomfort with it are localized in the central, upper abdomen. For the treatment of gastritis, drugs such as Omeprazole and Pariet are used. In addition, it is recommended to drink fresh potato juice, motherwort and valerian, licorice, plantain and calendula.