Yasmin Lawsuits

If you have used Yaz or Yasmin birth control pills, you may be concerned about possible damage it can cause to your gallbladder. It's important to understand what bile is and how it functions, as it is an important player in gallstones and gallbladder disease. If you have already suffered problems you may be able to be part of the Yasmin lawsuits that are being filed against the manufacturer.

Bile forms naturally in the liver. It is a yellowish liquid containing water, cholesterol, electrolytes, bile acids and bilirubin. Adults produce 400-800 milliliters of bile each day.

Bile has two main functions. It breaks down fatty acids, aiding digestion, and it eliminates waste products, like bilirubin. It also helps transport the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K.

But before it can do its primary functions, it has to leave the liver and get to the small intestine, where food is digested. Bile leaves the liver through a tube called a bile duct, and goes into the gallbladder. Here it is prepared and stored until needed.

In the gallbladder, bile is diluted when cells absorb excess water, leaving a concentrated liquid. When a person eats, the gallbladder contracts, sending the concentrated bile through a bile duct to the small intestine.

In the small intestine, bile acids act as a detergent agent by breaking down dietary fat into minute droplets for better digestion.

Occasionally, the chemical makeup of bile contains too much cholesterol, too much bilirubin or not enough bile acids. When this happens, the liquid can harden, forming a rock like substance in the gallbladder called a gallstone. A stone may range from the size of a grain of sand to the size of a golf ball.

Gallstones are fairly common. By the time they are 75 years old, 60% of women have gallstones and 20% of men. Sometimes the stones are asymptomatic and can be ignored. However, they may cause intermittent pain, especially after a person has eaten a large or fatty meal. A person may experience sharper abdomen pain, chills, fever or nausea, lasting for several hours. These may be symptoms of gallstones.

If gallstones block or enter the bile ducts, they can cause inflammation and infection, leading to gallbladder disease. Left untreated, an infection could spread to other parts of the body and become fatal.

Doctors usually recommend removing an infected gallbladder or one with a history of developing gallstones. Although the gallbladder is not essential for life, it does provide an important function. Once it is removed, patients may need to make lifelong adjustments in diet to compensate for its absence.

If you or someone you know has had gallbladder problems as a result of using Yaz, you should contact a birth control attorney who handles Yaz and Yasmin lawsuits.

John Davidson is the author of this article on Yaz lawsuit gallbladder. Find more information about Yasmin gallbladder settlement here.