What are the symptoms of gallstones?
Many people with gallstones have no symptoms.
The most common symptom of gallstones is pain (usually in the upper part of the abdomen). This tends to occur after meals (especially fatty meals). The size and/or number of gallstones a person has does not necessarily correlate with how many symptoms they experience (if any).
Sometimes, gallstones may fall out of the gallbladder into the tube (or duct) joining the gallbladder to the liver, small bowel and pancreas (known as the bile duct). Alternatively, gallstones can form directly within this duct. Gallstones within the bile duct can cause inflammation of the pancreas (known as pancreatitis), or a blockage and infection in the bile duct (known as cholangitis).
