If you have had gall stones and had a symptom specifically because of gall stones, either in the form of recurrent abdominal pain or it could be in the form of long term gastritis kind of symptom which is not relieved by medication or some other complication where the doctor is specifically insisting on surgery, but is better to get operated. If not, if you have somebody who has had gall stones and never had a symptom because of this, we can just wait and follow up on a regular basis. But these patient should be aware of two things, one they should tell their doctor that they have gall stones whenever they go for treatment. Second thing, they should be aware off the symptoms and the complications of gallstones. Generally, the problems will be of upper abdominal pain, recurrent pain, mostly on the right side. It may be associated with vomiting, sometimes fever, sometimes may be associated with back pain or shoulder pain. Rarely they may come with jaundice, severe acute pain with vomiting. These are the symptoms that they should be aware of. If you are somebody who had gallstones or the gallstones have been picked up, on ultrasound if it was done for something else and you have never had a symptom, you should know that the symptoms that would arise from gall stones and should be aware of these things. So what are they? Most commonly patients complain of upper abdominal pain, mostly on the right side or the mid abdomen. Pain also may be referred to your right shoulder, sometimes it may be associated with back pain and vomiting. Patients may also have severe pain with jaundice, fever, which is quite severe. So if any of these are noticed in patients who have gallstones, then immediately see the treating surgeon for further management.
