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Gallstones

Gallstones

Alternative Names

Cholelithiasis, Gallbladder attack, Biliary colic, Gallstone attack, Bile calculus, Biliary calculus

What is Gallstones

Gallstones are deposits of digestive fluid, commonly made of cholesterol, that form in the gallbladder and may be of different size. The gallbladder is a small, pear-shaped organ placed underneath the liver. It holds a digestive fluid called bile that's released into your small intestine. You may have only one gallstone or several gallstones and one time.

There are different types of gallstones:

cholesterol stones
pigment stones
mixed stones

Signs and symptoms

Sometimes gallstones do not cause any symptoms but in other cases you may experience:

sudden and rapidly intensifying pain in the upper right portion of your abdomen
sudden and rapidly intensifying pain in the center of your abdomen, just below your breastbone
back pain between your shoulder blades
pain in your right shoulder
gallstone pain may last several minutes to a few hours

Possible complications

Most people do not have severe complications. But if you ignore this disease, it can cause jaundice (a yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes), pancreatitis or infections in the gallbladder or bile duct . In some cases people experience inflammation of the gallbladder (cholecystitis), inflammation of the bile duct (cholangitis), inflammation of the pancreas (biliary pancreatitis), and obstruction of the intestine (gallstone ileus).

What causes

Gallstones may be triggered when:

the amount of cholesterol or bilirubin in the bile is high
other substances in the bile may promote the formation of stones
a person have high levels of bilirubin
a person have poor muscle tone
a person is overweight
a person takes certain medications such as birth control pills or cholesterol lowering drugs