What are the symptoms of gallstones?

Gallstones are a common disease. The appearance of gallstones brings great trouble to patients, so many patients with gallstones want to know what problems have caused the appearance of gallstones. In fact, the appearance of gallstones is related to many factors. We need to understand some symptoms of gallstones, which will help us prevent and treat gallstones.

There are many symptoms of gallstones. Gallstones can cause biliary colic and upper abdominal pain. In addition, gallstones may also cause gallbladder effusion and other symptoms.

Gallstones are related to many factors. Any factor that changes the ratio of cholesterol to bile acid concentrations and causes bile stasis can lead to stone formation. Residents of certain regions and ethnic groups, female hormones, obesity, pregnancy, high-fat diet, long-term parenteral nutrition, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, after gastrectomy or gastrointestinal anastomosis, terminal ileal disease and after ileal resection, cirrhosis, hemolytic anemia and other factors can all cause gallstones. The incidence of gallstones in the northwest region of my country is relatively high, which may be related to dietary habits.

Most patients are asymptomatic and are only discovered during physical examination, surgery, and autopsy, which is called silent gallstones. The typical symptom of gallstones in a small number of patients is biliary colic, which manifests as acute or chronic cholecystitis. The main clinical manifestations are as follows:

1. Biliary colic

Patients often experience colic after a full meal, eating greasy food, or when their body position changes during sleep. Due to gallbladder contraction or stone displacement and vagus nerve excitement, the stone becomes lodged in the ampulla or neck of the gallbladder, obstructing gallbladder emptying, increasing pressure in the gallbladder, and causing strong gallbladder contraction. The pain is located in the right upper abdomen or epigastric region and is paroxysmal, or continuous pain that worsens paroxysmically and may radiate to the right scapula and back, and may be accompanied by nausea and vomiting. Some patients cannot accurately tell where the pain is due to severe pain. After the first onset of biliary colic, about 70% of patients will have a recurrence within one year.

2. Dull pain in the upper abdomen

Most patients only feel dull pain in the upper abdomen or right upper abdomen, or feel bloating, belching, hiccups, etc. when they eat too much, eat high-fat foods, work under pressure or do not get enough rest, and are easily misdiagnosed as "stomach problems."

3. Gallbladder effusion

When gallstones are impacted or block the cystic duct for a long time but there is no infection, the gallbladder mucosa absorbs the bile pigments in the bile. Secretion of mucous substances, forming gallbladder effusion. The effusion is transparent and colorless and is also called white bile.

4. Others

(1) Rarely causes jaundice, which is mild;

(2) Small stones can enter the common bile duct through the cystic duct and become common bile duct stones;

(3) Stones in the common bile duct become lodged in the ampulla through the sphincter of Oddi, causing pancreatitis, which is called biliary pancreatitis;

(4) Gallbladder inflammation and chronic perforation caused by stone compression may lead to cholecystoduodenal fistula or cholecystocolonic fistula. Large stones enter the intestine through the fistula and cause intestinal obstruction, which is called gallstone ileus.

(5) Stones and long-term inflammatory stimulation can induce gallbladder cancer.

Above we introduced what gallstones are. We know that gallstones are a common disease. We need to know more about gallstones so that it will be helpful for us to treat and prevent gallstones. Above we introduced the symptoms of gallstones in detail.