Effective Remedies To Relieve Your Gallbladder Pain

7. Gallbladder Removal Surgery

Cholecystectomy, removing the gallbladder with surgery, is the most common and permanent solution for either a non-functioning gallbladder or gallstones. Not long ago, gallbladder surgery, called an open cholecystectomy, was a major operation. It took days in the hospital, weeks to heal, and complications were rather common. Now, for selected patients, surgeons use a technique called laparoscopic cholecystectomy. In this procedure, surgeons make several tiny incisions in the belly and insert small cameras and surgical instruments through the openings. This gallbladder removal surgery is a vast improvement over the open removal option. Patients a sedated during the surgery. Recovery may take as little as one day, and patients usually go home soon after the surgery. The preparation is similar to getting ready for an endoscopy or colonoscopy.

8. Medications To Break Up Gallstones

Oral dissolution therapy uses medications to break up gallstones for patients who are not good surgical candidates or who don't want surgery. These medications are bile acids that affect the stones chemically through a natural process. Two medications, ursodiol and chenodiol, are commonly used for this purpose. They contain bile acids identical to those the body makes naturally. The medications work better on smaller stones. They supplement natural bile acids to dissolve and decrease the production of cholesterol, thus preventing the formation of gallstones. Patients usually take two or three pills per day, and the medication usually takes quite some time, usually for months, to effectively remove all the gallstones.