Chronic cholecystitis refers to chronic inflammatory changes in the gallbladder, most of which are chronic calculous cholecystitis, and a few are non-calculous cholecystitis, such as typhoid carriers. This condition can be caused by repeated acute cholecystitis or can start as a chronic condition.
The clinical manifestations of chronic cholecystitis are non-specific, commonly including dull pain in the right lower abdomen or epigastric region, fullness and discomfort after eating, belching, nausea after consuming fatty foods, and occasional vomiting. In the elderly, there may be no clinical symptoms, known as asymptomatic cholecystitis.
Chronic cholecystitis falls under the categories of "hypochondriac pain" and "gallbladder distension" in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Its causes are dietary preferences, emotional disorders, incomplete resolution of damp-heat, evil affecting the gallbladder, leading to liver qi stagnation, abnormal communication and descent of gallbladder qi, qi and blood stasis, and accumulation of damp-heat.
- Liver and gallbladder stagnation type: Symptoms include mental depression or irritability, pain in the hypochondriac and upper abdominal areas, epigastric stuffiness, frequent sighing, and frequent eructation, or unsatisfactory bowel movements; the tongue is pale, with a white or greasy white coating, and the pulse is taut and taut.
- Liver and gallbladder damp-heat type: Symptoms include abdominal pain that worsens with pressure, bitter taste in the mouth, sticky mouth, aversion to greasy food, poor appetite, eructation of foul odors, constipation, and dark yellow urine; the tongue is red, with a yellow and greasy coating, and the pulse is taut and rapid or slippery and rapid.
- Liver depression and spleen deficiency type: Symptoms include distending pain in the hypochondriac area, sometimes mild and sometimes severe, especially with annoyance and depression, abdominal bloating and discomfort, or poor appetite, abdominal bloating, bowel sounds, loose stools or sometimes dry and sometimes loose, and unsatisfactory bowel movements; the tongue is pale and swollen or has tooth marks, and the pulse is taut, thin, or taut and slow and weak.
The above three syndrome types are treated with basic acupoint moxibustion, and the latter two syndrome types require additional moxibustion of related acupoints.