What Are the Best Foods to Eat When Your Gallbladder Is Acting Up?

Gallstones (cholelithiasis) are small stones that form inside the gallbladder. They can range in size from tiny specks to as large as the entire gallbladder, up to 6 inches long. Most are smaller than 1-inch. 

There are two types of gallstones:

• Cholesterol gallstones
  • Made of cholesterol
  • Usually yellow-green in color
  • 80% of gallstones are this type
  • These are more likely to respond to non-surgical treatment 
• Pigment gallstones
  • Made of bilirubin
  • Smaller and darker than cholesterol stones
  • 20% of gallstones are this type

Symptoms of gallstones may include:

• Pain in the upper abdomen, usually on the right side, just under the ribs
• Pain in the shoulder or back on the right side
• Upset stomach
• Vomiting
• Indigestion
• Heartburn
• Gas
• Chest pain

The gallbladder is a pear-shaped organ located under the liver that stores bile, a fluid that helps the body break down fat in food.

A gallbladder attack occurs when a gallstone blocks a bile duct, resulting in severe, stabbing pain in the belly that can last several hours. Medications may be tried first, but they can take months to years to dissolve the stones, and gallstones often return.

Symptoms of a gallbladder attack include:

• Severe, stabbing belly pain  
• Abdominal tenderness
• Back or shoulder pain
• Chest pain
• Fever or chills
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Pain after eating 
• Yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice)
• Tea-colored urine and light-colored stools