Understanding 'Bile' and your 'Digestive System' ...
We all know that food goes into the mouth, mixes with saliva, travels down the oesophagus and enters the stomach for processing. That's what I like to call "Stage One" of digestion.
PSC affects "Stage Two" : Think of your liver as the chemical processing plant of your body. By now, your brain has already sent messages to your liver (back when you had your first bite) telling the gall-bladder to start contracting and begin emptying the reserves of 'bile' that have been accumulating since your last meal.
In "Stage Two" of digestion, the remnants of your food exit the stomach, and mix with bile (and other fluids) for further breakdown of those items strong enough to survive your stomach acids. Depending on the ingredients in the meals you have, and depending on the size of the quantity you eat, your liver will regulate it's levels of bile in anticipation of the next meal.
An "attack" often strikes soon after a meal of high fat/spice content, and I've learned by own bad habits that skipping meals, or not regulating portions well enough, can contribute to an attack. Skip a meal and you have too much bile lying around. Over-indulge on a meal and your liver will think it'll need to produce extra bile in case the next meal is big too.
Bile is a very thick substance. Stones are formed in bile by crystalised cholesterol or bilirubin. The words I like to use to describe it are 'sludgey' and 'gravely'. It oozes out of bile ducts and can contain these small crystals. A build up of these crystals causes the development of stones the otherwise healthy people often suffer. In the absence of stones, narrow ducts are still at the mercy of bile due to it's 'gravel and sludgey-like' nature.
While PSC does not prevent you from eating, it might turn you off trying. Often PSC patients are skinny. That being said, larger body types are not immune, and I'm sure plenty of folks bigger than me have it too.
PSC affects "Stage Two" : Think of your liver as the chemical processing plant of your body. By now, your brain has already sent messages to your liver (back when you had your first bite) telling the gall-bladder to start contracting and begin emptying the reserves of 'bile' that have been accumulating since your last meal.
In "Stage Two" of digestion, the remnants of your food exit the stomach, and mix with bile (and other fluids) for further breakdown of those items strong enough to survive your stomach acids. Depending on the ingredients in the meals you have, and depending on the size of the quantity you eat, your liver will regulate it's levels of bile in anticipation of the next meal.
An "attack" often strikes soon after a meal of high fat/spice content, and I've learned by own bad habits that skipping meals, or not regulating portions well enough, can contribute to an attack. Skip a meal and you have too much bile lying around. Over-indulge on a meal and your liver will think it'll need to produce extra bile in case the next meal is big too.
Bile is a very thick substance. Stones are formed in bile by crystalised cholesterol or bilirubin. The words I like to use to describe it are 'sludgey' and 'gravely'. It oozes out of bile ducts and can contain these small crystals. A build up of these crystals causes the development of stones the otherwise healthy people often suffer. In the absence of stones, narrow ducts are still at the mercy of bile due to it's 'gravel and sludgey-like' nature.
While PSC does not prevent you from eating, it might turn you off trying. Often PSC patients are skinny. That being said, larger body types are not immune, and I'm sure plenty of folks bigger than me have it too.