Political correctness has reached medical school. Last week, I was talking to a student about what sort of patients tend to be affected by gallstones. I mentioned the handy, alliterative phrase by which, in my day, we used to remember this at-risk group, and was told in no uncertain terms that medical students didn’t talk like that any more.

The gallbladder is a hollow pear-shaped organ, in the right side of the abdominal cavity. Its main job is to store around 50ml of bile, first formed in the liver. After a meal, a hormone prompts the gallbladder to contract, releasing its contents into the duodenum. Once here, bile coats any fat which has been eaten, so facilitating digestion by enzymes.

Cholangiocarcinoma (gallbladder cancer) is the most serious disease to affect this organ. almost always a disease of old age, it tends to be diagnosed at a late stage, by which time the liver bed is often involved. This makes surgery difficult and the prognosis poor.

Gallstones are much more common, formed from cholesterol, calcium and bile salts. Problems occur when the stones become too big to pass easily through the neck of the gallbladder, or when they get stuck in the duct that drains from the gallbladder into the duodenum. Symptoms may include a temperature, pain in the right upper quarter of the abdomen and jaundice. sometimes the offending stone will pass by itself. but it may be necessary to remove the gallbladder surgically.

Back when I trained, the arrival of a patient suffering from abdominal pain who happened to be “40, fat, fair, female and fertile” prompted a diagnosis of gallstones.

Gabriel Weston is a surgeon and author of Direct Red: A Surgeon’s Story

I have upper back pain, my intestines and stomach are always gurggeling and I also have some (not much) pain in the upper part of the abdomen right at the sternum. it feels like a small tingling or burning sensation. Could it be gastritis? I take Nexium every night, but that only helps a bit. I eat and get full right away, but a little while later I feel hungry again! the Dr. gave me Creon to help digest food and it hasn't really shown improvement.

Gallbladder, ulcers, IBS? See a gastrologist. Try enzymes before you eat to help digest your food and probiotics to get the balance of good bacteria in your gut. but see a gastrologist if it continues.

I have been recently diagnosed with acute pancreatitis one week ago but experienced symptoms a month ago.. I have a few questions i forgot to ask my doctor.. I know you should eat no fats and a good diet but what happens when you eat fats? they go on yoir bloodstream pr something? Than what? Also .. I have galstones and getting them removed in 2 weeks… and to make my life suck more my 19th (legal in canada) bday is coming up.. Can i actually not drink alcohol? Haha .. Also.. Does pancreatitis stay with you forever? like if i eat healthy fir years then eat ba will it come back? Is it a disease? Thankyou for your help

Getting the gallstones or your gallbladder removed may solve all of this. The stones block the flow of enzymes and back up, causing the pancreas to become inflamed – thus "pancreatitis". unless you want to have a really severe bout with this, absolutely no alcohol is allowed, otherwise, you will pay dearly with pain. You need to go to WebMd.com and type in gallbladder disease and read up on that for dietary suggestions and then, type in pancreatitis and read up on that. You need to be very, very careful with foods right now to prevent another attack. This may all go away after your surgery but there are no guarantees.

usually when i get bit by mosquitoes I get a huge thing that looks like an enlarged mosquito bite, I know it's not a spider bite because it usually gets smaller after like an hour. and I was wondering if I might be allergic to mosquitoes.

Just about everybody is allergic to mosquito bites, the allergy is caused by proteins and other enzymes contained in the mosquitoes saliva which it injects to stop the blood coagulating.

Most people develop some immunity after being bitten several times and the allergic symptoms lessen, though being bitten by a different strain of mosquito, or going a long period without being bitten can heighten the symptoms again.

The most common symptom of a fatty liver is a lack of symptoms, because problems with a fatty liver are most often found in blood tests. Find out why an ultrasound will discover most liver problems with information from a doctor in this free video on fatty liver symptoms. Expert: Dr. Peter Kramer Bio: Dr. Peter Kramer attended medical school at the University of new England College of Osteopathic Medicine, and graduated with a medical doctorate in 1998. Filmmaker: Reel Media LLC

Tags: diseases, dysfunction, Enzymes, fatty, function, health, healthy, hepatic, liver, livers, problems, ultrasound