Gallbladder Back Pain: What Can Ease It?

patient with a liver and gall bladder painted on his body.

The gallbladder is a small pea-shaped organ. It lies on the underside of the liver, which is placed in the upper right portion of the abdomen. The gallbladder is responsible for collecting and storing bile. The main function of bile is to help in the digestion of fats and absorption of fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Bile is created in the liver and is made up of bilirubin, water, phospholipids and electrolytes.

While a healthy one does not let you feel its presence, an unhealthy one can cause severe discomfort. The gallbladder back pain is mainly because of inflammation of the gallbladder or because of gallstones. Inflammation of the gallbladder leads to improper function of the gallbladder that results in disrupting the normal collection and flow of bile.

A diseased gallbladder causes various symptoms in both men and women. The symptoms range from nausea, indigestion, to vomiting and severe pain the upper right abdomen and the ribcage. The gallbladder pain radiates into the lower back also. Various other symptoms include fever because of the inflammation of the gallbladder, severe gas and heartburn, diarrhea, abdominal bloating mainly because of gas and in severe cases, it could lead to jaundice.

There are various reasons that lead to the improper functioning of the gallbladder. Inadequate production of bile by the liver or production of toxic bile by the liver are among the most common causes of gallbladder problems. The other causes are infection in the liver, infections in blood, hormonal disorders during pregnancy and gallstones. Gallstones are formed when there is an excess amount of cholesterol in the blood stream, leading to high amounts of cholesterol in the bile. When the bile gets stored in the gallbladder, the cholesterol gets accumulated and hardens into stone like structure.

Gallstones are also known as biliary calculi and are a mixture of cholesterol, bile pigments and calcium. Gallbladder back pain is a result of the pain in the gallbladder caused by the small gallstones that get stuck in the bile duct. The bile duct is a thin duct that connects the gallbladder to the rest of the digestive system and drains the bile into the stomach. When the bile duct gets blocked it leads to biliary colic, which is a very painful situation. The pain in the abdomen radiates into the lower back and the ribcage.

Although gallstones are a common disorder it is usually not a painful one. One may not even come to know of their existence until the pain arises because of the blockage or inflammation of the gallbladder. Usually, an ultrasound of the abdomen is done to confirm the presence of gallstones and to find out where they are stuck. Proper diet restrictions should be followed if there are gallstones and fat should be specially avoided in your diet since it leads to increasing the problem. In cases, where the problems persist in spite of taking care of the diet, the gallbladder is removed through an operation. This operation can be carried out through laparoscopy or via the traditional method.