What does a Gall Bladder Do?

Many individuals are affected by gall bladder disease, so it’s imperative that everyone understands that this can be a serious illness if they do have gallbladder problems and should learn how to prevent or treat it. Over the last decade, gall bladder surgery has become one of the most common surgeries performed in the US.

So what does a gall bladder do and how does it function? The gall bladder is one of your smaller organs that is typically shaped like a pear and is found near the duodenum and the liver. The role of the gall bladder is very simple; it is needed to store the bile in your body.

This is the yellowish substance that is vital to help the fats in your body to be digested properly. Fats are not usually altered by water which means they cannot dissolve it at all. This is why the body needs and provides bile, which helps to emulsify fats so that their amino acids and proteins can be easily absorbed through the intestine’s walls.

Your liver helps to produce the bile and then the gall bladder steps in and stores the fat. When you eat foods that are high in fat the bile will be released from your gall bladder into the stomach and used to separate the fat from the other nutrients and chemicals in the food and is stored while the rest is digested.

Unfortunately, at times the gall bladder does not function properly and leads to health problems. Usually if caught early you can have minimal surgery to remove the gall bladder which will fix the problem completely. The cause behind why a gall bladder becomes sick varies from aging to other parts of the body or illness causing it to function improperly. As you age the bile’s composition changes and it may start to collect more cholesterol and may cause small stones to appear which can cause major pain and will require surgery to remove them.

When you have gallstones there are a few symptoms that may occur other than sharp pains. Other signs of gallstones may include vomiting, nausea, and gas. You may have increased pain after eating a meal that was high in fat. There is no cure for gallstones other than surgery but once it has been removed you should not have any more pain other than healing from the surgery.

There have been times when gallstones disappear on their own but that is rare. The reason surgery is normally required to remove the gallstones is because they often obstruct the bile duct. Normally you will have laser surgery to remove the gall bladder and can be back at work within just a few days of having the surgery.

Once you heal from your surgery you will need to be very careful about what you eat because you no longer have the organ that helped to digest and prevent fats from storing in the wrong place in your body. Since the body has a hard time digesting fat you should avoid greasy foods, fatty foods, and foods that are full of carbohydrates.