Ease Gallbladder Pain

Gallbladder pain associated can be mild to crippling. If the pain is mild, you might be able to ease enough at home. If the pain is severe from the start, your only option is to have the underlying cause of the pain treated. This article will teach you how to ease all types of gallbladder pain.

10 Second Summary

• Use a heat pack or heating pad for immediate relief.
• Try a pain reliever. Avoid NSAIDs, unless advised by your doctor.
• Try other home remedies, such as drinking vegetable juice or using a castor oil compress.
• Reduce main long term. Drink more water, reduce fat and sugar intake, and eat more fiber.
• Seek medical care immediately if the pain is moderate to severe.
• Treat underlying problems, if necessary.

Steps

Quick Home Treatment for Gallbladder Pain

1. Use a heat pack or heating pad. For immediate relief, apply a hot water bottle, heating pad, or other heat pack to your stomach, directly over the gallbladder. The heat should help soothe the pain.
   • It is recommended that you apply the heating pad in 20 to 30 minute intervals and keep a layer of cloth in between the heating pad and your skin to prevent burns.
   • If you do not have a heating pad or hot pack, you could also try soaking in a hot bath.
2. Try a pain reliever. An over-the-counter pain reliever like acetaminophen can be taken in most cases to help dull the pain quickly.
   • Avoid NSAIDs unless recommended by your doctor. These over-the-counter pain relievers can upset your stomach, which could end up worsening your gallbladder pain.
   • A pain reliever with anti-inflammatory properties will be best since it can ease your pain while also restricting the amount of inflammation your gallbladder experiences.
3. Sip on a little vegetable juice. One unproven home cure is to mix beet juice, carrot juice, and cucumber juice in equal proportions. Drink this mixture twice daily for two weeks.
   • All three vegetables help flush toxins out of your system. Whether this is true or not, some swear by this remedy and insist that it can help ease gallbladder pain slightly upon digestion and gradually clear the pain after a few weeks.
4. Turn to citrus. The pectin in citrus fruit and juice is believed to help get rid of gallbladder pain attributed to blockages or stones. Lemon juice is especially effective.
   • Squeeze the juice from four lemons and drink it on an empty stomach. Note that this should be anywhere from 8 to 12 Tbsp (120 to 180 ml) of juice. Do this on a daily basis for about a week, and follow the drink with a glass of water.
5. Try an herbal remedy. There are a number of different herbs believed to help relieve gallbladder pain. You can take an herbal supplement in oral pill form, or you could mix four or five leaves from your herb of choice with boiling water to make a tea.
   • Herbs that may help ease the pain include St. John's Wort, quebra pedra, rosemary, dandelion, yellowroot, goldenseal, chicory, calendula, wild yam root, garlic, catnip, nettle, barberry bark, fennel seed, ginger, yellow dock, and milk thistle.
   • Chamomile and peppermint herbal tea may also help soothe the pain and dissolve any stones responsible for it, but it could take four to six weeks before you notice significant results.
6. Blend turmeric and honey. The curcumin in turmeric should help make the bile in your gallbladder more soluble, while the honey has antiseptic properties that can help prevent infection from setting in and making things worse.
   • If you decide to use turmeric, mix 1 Tbsp (15 ml) of honey with 1 tsp (5 ml) of turmeric and consume the combination once a day.
   • To skip the turmeric yet still get the benefits of curcumin, take a 300 mg curcumin supplement, instead.
7. Take a dose of apple cider vinegar. The acidic properties of apple cider vinegar provide quick relief for gallbladder pain and may even significantly ease the pain within 15 minutes.
   • If you have a hard time with the taste of apple cider vinegar, mix 1 tsp (5 ml) into one 8 oz (250 ml) glass of apple juice and drink that. If you have a higher tolerance for the taste, though, you could try drinking 1/4 cup (60 ml) apple cider vinegar followed by 8 oz (250 ml) of apple juice for more immediate relief.
8. Drink salt water. Mix coarse salt into a glass of warm water and drink the water before going to sleep to help loosen painful buildup in your gallbladder.
   • For best results, use Epsom or sea salt. Do not use table salt.
   • Mix 1 tsp (5 ml) of salt into 8 oz (250 ml) warm water until dissolved. Drink.
9. Try a castor oil compress. Placing a rag soaked in pure castor oil on your stomach, directly over your gallbladder, is said to help reduce pain associated with the gallbladder quickly and dramatically.
   • Castor oil is supposed to help neutralize inflammation and bring relief when applied topically.
   • Soak a clean rag in cold pressed castor oil, ringing out the excess before use. Place that rag on your bare skin over the pained gallbladder.
   • For even more effective results, place plastic over the rag, followed by a hot water bottle.
   • Keep this castor oil compress on for 30 minutes to maximize relief.

Long-Term Pain Reduction

1. Drink plenty of water. Water can help keep bile in your gallbladder and make it easier for your body to break down fat that could otherwise build up and cause or worsen gallstones.
   • Get the maximum amount of benefit by drinking six to eight 8-oz (250-ml) glasses of water daily.
2. Reduce your fat and sugar intake. Both fat and sugar can cause gallstones or further agitate pre-existing stones that already cause pain.
   • Note that omega-3 fatty acids, like those found in salmon and other types of fish, might actually help your body defend your gallbladder against stones.
   • In particular, you should cut unnatural fats like hydrogenated oils, soy, and canola from your diet. When you need to use a fat in your food, stick with something more natural, like butter.
   • Your fat intake should only make up 25 percent of your daily calories.
   • Dietary cholesterol should take up no more than 300 mg each day.
3. Get more fiber. Fiber helps your body eliminate problematic cholesterol from your body. As a result, there is less cholesterol in your body that could build up in your gallbladder.
   • Whole grains, lentils, and raw fruits and vegetables are typically good sources of fiber. Among vegetables, dark green leafy vegetables tend to have the highest fiber content.
4. Take more vitamin C. Some nutritionists claim that vitamin C can help your body prevent gallstones from developing or getting worse. It makes cholesterol more water soluble, which allows the body to flush it out of your system instead of allowing it to continue building in the gallbladder.
   • Try to get at least 60 mg of vitamin C each day, if not more.
   • Vitamin C can be found naturally in many fruits, like oranges, as well as several vegetables, like red bell peppers.
   • Consider taking 200 mg of supplemental vitamin C daily if you are prone to gallbladder attacks.
5. Avoid soy. Soy products can throw off the hormones in your body, increasing your risk of gallstones and increasing any gallbladder pain you already feel.
   • Phytoestrogens in soy attack the thyroid, causing hormonal imbalance. Some preliminary research suggests that gallstones and gallbladder pain have some form of relationship with hormonal imbalance.
6. Increase your calcium, if necessary. Calcium can bind the acids present in gallbladder bile. As a result, new stones are less likely to form and stones you currently have are unlikely to worsen.
   • Women should get between 1000 and 2000 mg of calcium from all sources, and if necessary, they should consider taking 500 to 700 mg of calcium in supplement form. Men should limit calcium consumption to 500 to 600 mg from all sources.

Medical Care

1. Talk to your doctor. When you feel pain in your gallbladder, you should schedule an appointment with your doctor as soon as possible, especially if you believe the pain to be a result of gallstones or if more severe symptoms also accompany the pain.
   • No matter what is causing your gallbladder pain, you should talk to your doctor before taking anything for it, just to make sure that what you take will help instead of causing further damage. This is especially true of home cures you ingest.
   • See the doctor immediately if your gallbladder pain is moderate to severe, or if it is accompanied by fever, chills, a yellowing of the skin or eyes, or stomach pain in new areas other than the gallbladder.
2. Treat the underlying problem. While home treatments can temporarily ease gallbladder pain, the only way to ease and get rid of that pain in the long run is to treat the condition responsible for it. Gallstones are usually the primary culprit, but gallbladder cancer could also be a risk.
   • Gallbladder pain caused by cancer is either treated by surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy.
     • In early stages of the disease, surgery is an option. Your gallbladder will be removed and part of your liver may be removed, as well.
     • In late stages, chemotherapy and radiation therapy might be used.
     • If blockages in your bile ducts form, causing further pain and infection, a surgeon may insert a hollow metal tube into the duct to hold it open or surgically reroute the duct around the blockage.
   • Gallbladder pain caused by gallstones is usually remedied via nonsurgical removal of the stones or surgical removal of the gallbladder.
     • You might go through a cholecystectomy, during which your gallbladder is surgically removed, if you have frequent or severe gallbladder attacks.
     • A stone breaking technique called "lithotripsy" might be used, instead, or drugs that are able to break up the stones can also be prescribed.
3. Get a prescription pain reliever and antibiotic. If your pain is bad enough, a doctor may prescribe a stronger painkiller and an antibiotic to help stop infection from setting in or getting worse. Many of these prescription medications can be taken orally and at home, but in extremely severe cases, the doctor may give you painkillers through an IV. Depending on how serious your overall condition is, that doctor may also give you fluids and antibiotics intravenously, as well.
   • Intravenous painkillers include meperidine and ketorolac, but the latter should be avoided if the patient may need surgery. Morphine and other opioids are not recommended for use with gallbladder disease or pain.
   • Intravenous antibiotics will only be issued if the patient has a fever, elevated white blood cell count, or other signs of infection.

Things You'll Need

• Heat pack
• Pain reliever
• Vegetable juice
• Lemon juice
• Herbal tea or herbal supplements
• Turmeric or curcumin supplements
• Apple cider vinegar
• Apple juice
• Coarse salt
• Warm water
• Castor oil

Related Articles

• Prevent Gallbladder Disease
• Dissolve Gallstones
• Diagnose Gallstones

Sources and Citations

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