Gall Bladder Disease and Crohn's

I know a lot of people with Crohn's who when end up having Gall Bladder issues (myself and my sister included). So I thought I would do a little search and see what I could find about the subject and post it here.

Here is the link to where I found this:
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/gallbladderdisease.htm


Gallbladder Disease
Reviewed by Mr Robert Diggory, consultant general surgeon

What and where is the gall bladder?
The gall bladder is a small pear-shaped organ on the underside of the liver that is used to store bile. Bile is made in the liver and is stored in the gall bladder until it is needed to help the digestion of fat.

What is gallbladder disease?
Gallbladder disease is a common condition that affects mainly women, although men can suffer too. The symptoms vary widely from discomfort to severe pain which mainly begins after food. In severe cases the patient can suffer from jaundice, nausea and fever. The most common reason for gallbladder disease is gallstones.

What are gallstones?
Gallstones are solid stones formed in the gall bladder from cholesterol, bile salts and calcium. They can vary in size from a few millimetres to a few centimetres.

What causes gallstones?
Gallstones are formed when bile contains too much cholesterol. The excess cholesterol forms crystals from which gallstones are made.

Who is at risk of developing gallstones?
Gallstones are seen in all age groups but they are rare in the young. The possibility of developing gallstones increases with age.

The following groups are considered to be at increased risk:
people who have relatives with gallstones
obese people
people with a high blood cholesterol level.
women who take drugs containing oestrogen, eg contraceptive pills
people with diseases such as chronic intestinal inflammation (Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis).

What are the symptoms of gallstones?
Not all gallstones cause symptoms and those detected during a scan performed for other reasons do not usually require treatment. This, however, should be discussed with your doctor.

Symptoms can be extremely variable, but usually present in one of three ways.

Chronic cholecystitis (biliary colic)This is a long-term inflammation of the gall bladder and causes:
sporadic pains in the middle of the upper abdomen, or just below the ribs on the right side
pain which becomes worse over an hour and then stays the same
pain that may spread to the right shoulder or between the shoulder blades
pain that can be accompanied by nausea and vomiting and sometimes excessive wind.An attack can last from a few minutes to two to three hours before getting better. The frequency and severity of attacks is very variable.Attacks can be triggered by eating fatty foods such as chocolate, cheese or pastry.It can be difficult to distinguish the pain from other diseases such as gastric ulcer, back problems, heart pains, pneumonia and kidney stones.

Acute cholecystitis (acute inflammation or infection of the gall bladder)
This condition results in:
persistent pain and a temperature lasting more than 12 hours
pain and tenderness under the ribs on the right side
pain that is made worse by movement or coughing.Patients with acute cholecystitis may not always have gallstones, but usually do.The condition must be treated by a doctor and usually requires admission to hospital. Treatment consists of a course of antibiotics. If this is not effective, emergency surgery may be required to remove the gall bladder.

Jaundice (yellow discolouration of the skin and whites of eyes)
This is caused when there is an obstruction to the flow of bile from the liver. Jaundice is not always caused by gallstones. The symptoms are:
increasingly yellow eyes and skin
skin can become itchy.
pale bowel motions and dark urine.

The condition is often preceded by symptoms similar to those of cholecystitis. Fever and shaking chills are serious symptoms and must be treated by a doctor - they are suggestive of infection travelling through the bile duct system.

I hope you find this info useful. There was a lot more at the site so any of these links will give you more if you are looking.

Until Next Time...

Surgery as part of life

So many of the stories I hear about Crohn's patients inevitably come back to a time when they had surgery. Whether it was early on in their diagnosis or later in life - it alays seems to come back to it.

My major surgery was back in January of 1999. My oldest daughter was about 6 months old. I had a resection of my small intestine and large intestine. Where my Crohn's was at, the place where the small & large intestine meets, was taken out. Unfortunately, as all Crohn's patients know - Crohn's never goes away. I was out of work for about 10 weeks, but it truely took me probably a year to fully get over the surgery. Honestly, where they made the incision in my stomach, I still have no sensation of touch for about 3 inches below the incision - which is a really freaky feeling.

I'm had some other minor stuff done - mostly surrounding fistulas, which seems to be pretty common for Crohn's patients as well. But no other surgery as major as my intestinal surgery.

So, that's my surgery story in a nutshell, I'm wondering if anyone else would care to share their surgery stories - either writing a post or commenting here. I'm sure we have a lot of people who would be interested in hearing what surgeries are going on and how everyone has dealt with them.

Until Next time...