What to do if you have gallstones during pregnancy

Women should change some of their eating habits after pregnancy. They should stop eating fried and spicy foods and avoid drinking carbonated beverages. Health should be the top priority. Avoid getting sick during pregnancy because taking medicine can be harmful to the development of the fetus. If you already have a certain disease, you need to prevent its attack. But what should you do if you have a gallstone attack during pregnancy? What are some good treatments?

What should pregnant women do if they have gallstones?

Pregnant women, as a special group, carry two lives, and it is a special period in a woman's life. Therefore, it is very important to know how to treat gallstones in pregnant women and never take it lightly. So how should gallstones in pregnant women be treated? Expert analysis: The treatment of gallstones in pregnant women should be determined based on the size, number and location of the gallstones. If the stones are large, the symptoms are severe, and the pain is intense, you need to go to the hospital for treatment to avoid adverse consequences such as miscarriage due to the pain. However, treatment must be carried out with caution. It is best to use conservative treatment and not to perform lithotripsy. Under the guidance of an experienced physician, patients can choose drugs that have less impact on the fetus for symptomatic treatment. Particular caution should be exercised when using medications during pregnancy, otherwise it is likely to have adverse effects on the fetus.

If the stones are relatively small and there are no uncomfortable symptoms, regular B-ultrasound examinations are necessary to pay attention to the growth of the stones. Some food therapies can also be used to control stones. The following points must be noted in dietary therapy: Eat more high-fiber foods; limit cholesterol intake. It is best not to eat foods rich in cholesterol, such as animal offal and egg yolks; supplement more vitamin K; avoid foods that easily produce gas; drink only skim milk; eat more yellow-green vegetables rich in vitamin A; use less frying and deep-frying when cooking, and use more boiling, stewing and steaming methods; keep the taste as light as possible, and use seasoning in moderation. These can play a certain role in controlling the condition of expectant mothers with gallstones, and then carry out more systematic treatment after the baby is safely born.

What should pregnant women with gallstones pay attention to?

Gallstones have no obvious symptoms! They have no effect on pregnancy. However, the acute attack of gallstones during pregnancy and the complication of pancreatitis will have a greater impact on you.

Although the incidence of pancreatitis during pregnancy is very low, approximately 0.1%, its mortality rate is very high, reaching 20% ​​to 50%. Therefore, it must be taken seriously. The occurrence of acute pancreatitis during pregnancy is mainly related to gallstones. During pregnancy, a series of changes occur in the biliary system, resulting in bile duct relaxation and slow gallbladder emptying. Especially in the middle and late stages of pregnancy, the enlarged uterus compresses the bile duct system, causing poor bile excretion and easy formation of stones. If the patient already has stones, the symptoms will be aggravated. The uplifted uterus also compresses the pancreas, causing increased pressure in the pancreatic duct. Once pancreatic juice is not discharged smoothly, it is likely to cause pancreatitis.

An unscientific diet can often lead to increased blood lipids and worsening gallstones.

Do not eat too much meat or fried food. If you experience persistent upper abdominal pain accompanied by nausea, vomiting, fever, rapid heartbeat, difficulty breathing, etc., you should consider the possibility of pancreatitis. Timely treatment is necessary. Severe pancreatitis often causes bleeding and necrosis, and a large amount of bloody exudation in the abdominal cavity, which stimulates the uterus and causes continuous uterine contractions, endangering the fetus.

Since pancreatitis is very harmful to pregnant women and fetuses, it is very important to start with prevention. In principle, women with gallstones or who have had biliary colic should have their gallbladders removed and their biliary diseases treated before pregnancy. Women with biliary tract diseases should be monitored under the guidance of a doctor throughout the pregnancy to avoid the onset of gallbladder disease.

Maintaining a healthy diet is important. For pregnant women, the more nutrition they eat, the better. In particular, they should avoid eating large amounts of high-fat and high-protein foods at one time. Some pregnant women need a lot of calcium supplementation in the late stages of pregnancy to adapt to the growth of the fetus's bones. They think that bone soup has the highest calcium content, so they drink bone soup desperately to supplement calcium. In fact, the calcium content in bone soup is not high. Not only does it fail to achieve the purpose of calcium supplementation, but it also causes the intake of a large amount of fat, which increases the risk of pancreatitis.