Cholycystitis

DEFINITION: Inflamation of the Gall Bladder.   This is a painful problem
and may need surgery. It can be caused by stones in the gall bladder,
inflammation of the gall bladder, and / or a stone in the duct (tube)
that goes from the gall bladder to the duodenum.

THERAPY:  Not all gall bladder attacks need immediate surgery, 
infact, only a few do.  If you have fever and a clear cut
infectious process, then it is a life threatening situation.
If there is only pain, then it is rarely a life threatening
situation.   All oils or fats that reach the stomach trigger
the gall bladder to contract to push the bile into the
duodenum to digest the oils and fats.  When the gall bladder
is inflammed, then any contraction causes severe right upper
quadrant abdominal pain and many times back pain.  The
easiest therapy is to remove oils and fats from your diet
to allow your gall bladder to get some rest.  Unfortuneatly,
oils and fats are in most foods.  To use diet therapy, one
must eliminate all meat from their diet, all butter, all
margarine, all oils, all fried foods, all whole milk,
all cheese, and anything else that has oil or fat in it.
Oat meal with sugar is safe.   Pain medicine can be used
when the gall bladder contractions occur, but it is difficult
to relieve the pain completely.
It is recommended that you contact your physician to discuss
gall bladder surgery.  In most cases, three-six weeks of
eliminating fats and oils from ones diet allows the gall
bladder to heal and one can return to their normal
diet at that time.  However, in most cases, gall bladder
attacks become a periodic event.

IF PROBLEMS: If you get a fever or the start of an infectious
process, this can be serious.  If the gall bladder gets
infected, it becomes a life threatening situation.  You
need to see a surgeon as soon as possible.