Be careful of these diseases of affluence if you sit for long periods of time and eat too much meat and fish!

Author: Liu Jingshan, Chief Physician, Peking University Shougang Hospital

Reviewer: Liu Zhengxin, Chief Physician, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University

Member of the Oncology Group of the Gastroenterology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association

As our living standards gradually improve, the incidence of many diseases is also increasing. One of them is "gallstones", which we usually call a disease of affluence.

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1. Why is gallstones called a “rich man’s disease”?

First of all, we do very little exercise nowadays. We take the car when we go out, sit in the office when we work, do little exercise, and eat very nutritious food, such as a lot of high-cholesterol and high-fat foods, which will lead to increased cholesterol in the blood.

If the cholesterol in the blood remains at a very high level for a long time, it will be excreted into the bile through blood circulation. If the cholesterol concentration in the bile is too high, it will precipitate in the gallbladder, growing like a snowball and forming stones.

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And there are data showing that, for example, in underdeveloped areas, the incidence of gallstones is not very high, for example 5%, 8%, or 10%, which means that approximately 5 to 10 people out of 100 have gallstones.

However, in some large cities, the incidence of gallstones has exceeded 10%, especially in some megacities, the incidence has exceeded 12%, and the incidence of gallstones has continued to increase.

Therefore, gallstones have become a very common disease that affects the health of ordinary people.

2. What symptoms should alert you to the occurrence of gallstones?

Most people with gallstones will have some uncomfortable symptoms, but many people may not pay attention to these symptoms and do not think that they are gallstones.

For example, if you often feel stomach discomfort after eating, or feel a little stomach pain after dinner and before going to bed at night, you may have some medicine at home and it will be better after taking a little, but you will always think that it is a stomach problem.

In fact, this kind of upper abdominal discomfort after meals, or stomach discomfort, is often the earliest symptom of gallstones. When we have these discomforts, we must be careful about this disease.

Of course, if there are serious symptoms, such as severe upper abdominal cramps, fever, or even unbearable pain after eating, it is medically called biliary colic, which is a typical symptom of acute gallstones. Severe colic or pain in the right upper abdomen is actually spasmodic pain in the gallbladder.

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When gallstones occur acutely, the gallbladder contracts strongly, the stone gets stuck in the cystic duct, and the gallbladder spasms, which causes severe pain in the gallbladder. We feel it as severe pain in the right upper abdomen.

If the attack is acute, we can lie on the right side, which can sometimes alleviate the symptoms and temporarily relieve the pain. However, this is only a temporary measure. In any case, we still need to go to the hospital in time for a clear diagnosis.

Of course, if you go to any hospital with this symptom, any doctor will think that it is biliary colic, which must be a problem with the biliary system or the gallbladder, and it may be gallstones.

However, many patients think that they just have stomach discomfort and always treat it as a stomach problem. Biliary colic is often accompanied by yellowing of the skin and sclera. If they do not take it seriously, the stones will grow more and more and larger, and the degree of damage to the gallbladder will become more and more serious.

Therefore, if you have these symptoms, you should go to the hospital for treatment in time.

3. If the gallstones are not large, does that mean the condition is not serious?

uncertain.

Generally speaking, our patients often think that if there is a large gallstone in the gallbladder, it must be very serious, and if the gallstone is not large, it means the condition is not serious.

In fact, large stones are not necessarily serious, and small stones are not necessarily not serious.

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Because large stones are not easy to move, they are not easy to escape from the gallbladder. Small stones are easy to move in the gallbladder and can be discharged from the gallbladder to the bile duct, but they cannot be discharged to the intestines.

If it is discharged into the bile duct, it will block the bile duct and cause common bile duct stones and cholangitis, which are more serious conditions than gallbladder stones. Therefore, small stones can sometimes bring more serious consequences to patients.

Therefore, we cannot judge the severity of the disease based solely on the size of the gallstones. Sometimes small stones are more dangerous.

Of course, for large stones, there may not be obvious symptoms at ordinary times, but timely treatment is also needed.

Because once an attack occurs, it may cause severe pain, and even long-term irritation to the gallbladder wall, the inflammation of the gallbladder will become more and more serious, the function of the gallbladder will become worse and worse, and even cause other lesions in the gallbladder. At this time, treatment will be more difficult and the patient will suffer more.

Therefore, once gallstones are discovered, no matter how big or small, you should actively seek medical attention and receive timely treatment.