It depends: Some gallstones are painless. Some gallstones can cause right upper abdominal pain after eating, called billiary colic. Gallstones can slso block the drainage duct for bile fluid from the gallbladder, which results in a severe gallbladder inflammation requiring surgery, called cholecystitis. Some small gallstones can travel further down into and block the common bile duct, also needing surgery.
Answered 3/9/2012
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Maybe nothing: Many patients have gallstones that never cause them any symptoms. Just having gallstones is not necessarily a reason to have an operation to remove them. If you do not have pain or nausea with eating or have never had jaundice, you may not need an operation. Decrease fat in your diet and try to achieve a healthy body weight to minimize your risk of having gallbaldder symptoms in the future.
Answered 10/24/2012
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