Experience of gallstones please...

I’ve been told I have a gallbladder full of stones, after an abdo ultrasound for unrelated matter. No symptoms so far. Was supposed to be evaluated by the Gastroenterologist but all stopped because of Covid.

Gall stones can be quite painful and can cause problems with biliary ducts ....so I had my gall bladder removed about 2 years ago as I didn’t want to risk further problems. I was told at the same time that I have a cyst on my liver but that wasn’t removed. Havnt had any problems since. It was a simple day case.

I had the scan for an unrelated matter and they discovered the stones however as I have no pain I am not too bothered at the moment. Thank you ladies ??

My gallstones were also unexpectedly found as scan was another matter, but I had a couple of attacks later and it was really painful ?. Obviously your doctor will discuss. Good luck.

Same here. I was surprised to have a phone call from my GP to let me know that a scan for something else had shown up 'numerous' gallstones. That was about 6 years ago and so far they have stayed put. I did have a nasty turn after eating a creamy trifle one Christmas, but now avoid fatty dairy products. I don't even like cream!

I had terrible pain and vomiting for 12 hours one day last November. Transpired that I have one single ‘ very large’ stone measuring 3.8cm diameter , and will be growing ...

Awaiting gallbladder removal , waiting list about 1 year apparently.

Have been told that if I get another attack not to leave it, don’t ring GP or 111 but to go straight to A&E as it can be very serious if left .
Advised not to leave the country until I’ve had the operation.

I’ve had no other symptoms since thank goodness.

Anyone who has them and are not bothered with them are so lucky . I had years of terrible pain and it was only when someone looked again at an X Ray taken some time earlier that my small stones were seen . Because they were small they got trapped in the gallbladder. I had 10 years of this before they were removed.
I asked to keep my stones and the old lady next to me in hospital got hers too though she had not asked for them . After coming round she asked the nurse when she had to take these tablets on her bedside . They were the stones.

I have a cyst on my liver but that wasn’t removed
silverlining I can beat that!
A few years ago I had a gallstone about the size of a medium gherkin, same colour too, and the specialist also discovered a" pseudo-cyst on the pancreas"
Turned out to be about 1 litre! Must have hidden itself very well because wasn't presenting any problems'
Given that my brother 67 had died of pancreatic cancer (a terrible thing) not long before, I was anxious for him to fix it.
He emptied cyst and took out gall bladder complete with stone saying that he always removed bladder at first sign of stones, reckoning it's not essential as liver can produce enough bile to cope with fatty foods in moderation.

Proof? I can handle chish and fips; no problem!

Good Luck.

I had an ultrasound after going to my GP about the periodic pains that I was experiencing in the right side of my abdomen. The scan found that I had tiny grains of gall stones. I opted to have my gall bladder removed and was on a waiting list for around 10 months. During this time the pains came and went and on one occasion reached an excruciating level for a (very long) 10 minutes or so.

The operation was by key hole surgery and I was home the same day, and felt fully recovered within a week. I was so grateful that this had been caught early as I had heard of people suffering endless bouts of the same excruciating pain that I had - the one occasion was enough for me.

I've not had to substantially change my diet since, though after saying that my diet was not a high fat one.

Best of luck with it.

Hi. I had a scan last year because of pain around my rib cage, and was found to have gallstones. I was sent to see a surgeon who thinks my pain is costochindritis an inflammation of the ribs and nothing to do with the gallstones. He said I can have it removed, but doesn’t recommend it, as it’s not always a straight forward operation, lots of things can go wrong apparently including being left with chronic diarrhoea.
No one can say if they’ll ever cause a problem I’ll have to wait and see ?

Strange because I was told the opposite, which was that it is a simple straight forward keyhole operation to avoid the risk of blockage and worse, pancreatic problems. Nothing was said about post operation problems, especially not diorhoea which would have made me think ?

I had my gallbladder out years ago, because of lots of gallstones. The symptoms I had - diarrhoea, terrible pain in the area under my right breast which spread round the back, nausea, tiredness.

Looking at some of the replies on here, I have to say that I suffered from diarrhoea for a few months, but once I adjusted my diet, it went. If I have cream, ice cream, cheesecake, anything too fatty like that, I have occasional diarrhoea afterwards for a couple of days.

I had keyhole surgery to remove my gallbladder five weeks ago. It followed a year of intermittent bouts of severe pain and hospital visits due to gallstones and an impacted stone in my bile duct which caused pancreatitis.
The surgery was straightforward and I was back to normal in about 10 days. But just like PinkCakes, I have to avoid large fatty meals, but that's all to the good for me!

DH had keyhole surgery to remove his gall bladder two weeks ago. It flared up about two months ago and made him very ill indeed, our GP was so concerned she had him admitted to hospital and he had four IVs of antibiotics. His infection score was 200, the normal is 5. Thankfully he was placed on the urgent list so didn’t have to wait too long for the procedure. The op took longer than normal as the wall of the gall bladder was considerably thicker than normal but he has recovered well and feels better than he has for some time.