Care and Mobility Considerations

• Most people with gallstones have no symptoms and therefore no functional disability (‘silent gallstones’). Some may experience minor symptoms of indigestion, particularly following a meal with a high content of fat.
• Problems can occur when either the gallbladder becomes inflamed or infected (cholecystitis) or when a stone or part of a stone is dislodged and passes into the bile ducts. These cause acute symptoms relating to systemic effects of infection, biliary colic or obstruction and need urgent treatment.
• Following treatment of acute symptoms recovery would be expected to be good with no residual disability. Occasionally people may experience recurrent attacks of biliary colic if definitive treatment to remove the stones has not been completed. Between attacks, apart from the possible need to make minor adjustments to diet for the majority of the time, the person should be able to live a normal life.
• In acute cholecystitis the patient is acutely ill until the condition resolves either spontaneously or with treatment. The attack may be short-lived with spontaneous recovery in 2-3 days. If it does not recover spontaneously or the condition rapidly deteriorates the patient will probably need to be admitted to hospital.
• Episodes may occur infrequently and between attacks the person would be normal with no ongoing disability apart from perhaps the need for some dietary adjustment. Some patients may experience only a single episode with no further problems.
• In chronic cholecystitis symptoms can recur regularly but there would again be no ongoing loss of function between episodes other than possibly some vague abdominal pain associated with meals.