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Dr. Chrysoula I. Liakou MD, PhD
- Treated online: Assessment online. A doctor can judge whether your pain fits gallstones and how urgently you need to be seen; scans and surgery are in person.
- What they are: small stones, from the size of a grain of sand to a golf ball, that form in the gallbladder, a small organ under the liver that stores bile.
- How common: between 5 and 25 in every 100 people have gallstones, and only about 20 in 100 of them ever get painful symptoms.
- Gallbladder pain: severe, constant pain in the middle of the upper tummy or under the right ribs, lasting more than 30 minutes and up to several hours.
- Emergency: call 112 for sudden severe tummy pain, pain spreading to your back with vomiting, a very high temperature, or yellow skin or eyes.
Do not book a video appointment if you have sudden, severe tummy pain, pain spreading from your tummy to your back with vomiting, a very high temperature or feeling hot, cold or shivery, or yellowing of your skin or the whites of your eyes. Call 112 or go to an emergency department, and do not drive yourself.
Can an online doctor help with gallstones?
Gallstones cannot be treated online: they are confirmed with an ultrasound scan and blood tests, and treated, when they need it, with an operation to remove the gallbladder or a procedure to clear the bile duct. What a doctor by video can do is go through your pain, tell you whether it fits gallstones and how urgently you need to be seen, and explain what to do while you wait, including pain relief and food. A high temperature, yellow skin or severe pain need a hospital.
How an online consultation helps with gallstones
- Does your pain fit gallstones?: Where it is, how long it lasts and what brings it on help tell gallbladder pain from other causes.
- Urgency made clear: Whether you need an emergency department now, a scan soon, or a routine referral.
- Help while you wait: Pain relief, and food that avoids your triggers until you have surgery.
- Questions about surgery: What removing the gallbladder involves, the risks, and life without it.
What the doctor checks in an online gallstones assessment
The doctor checks first for the signs of a complication, then for the pattern of your pain. The doctor asks about:
- Warning signs: severe pain, pain spreading to the back with vomiting, a high temperature or shivering, and yellow skin or eyes.
- The pain: where it is, how long attacks last, whether it spreads to your back or right shoulder, and what brings it on.
- Signs of a blocked bile duct: dark urine, pale poo or itchy skin.
- Earlier tests: any scan that has shown gallstones, and blood test results.
- Your health: pregnancy, recent rapid weight loss or weight-loss surgery, diabetes, Crohn’s disease, and your medicines, including those containing oestrogen.
Before the call, note when your attacks happen, how long they last and what you ate beforehand, and have any scan results to hand.
What are gallstones, and where is your gallbladder?
Gallstones are small, hard stones that form in the gallbladder, or sometimes in the bile ducts. They range from the size of a grain of sand to a golf ball. There are two main types:
- Cholesterol stones: the most common, usually yellow-green, made mostly of hardened cholesterol. In some countries they make up about 75% of gallstones.
- Pigment stones: dark brown or black, made of bilirubin; they form when the bile contains too much of it.
Where is your gallbladder, and what does it do?
Your gallbladder is a small, pear-shaped organ in the upper right part of your tummy, below the liver. It stores bile, a fluid made by the liver that helps digest food, and squeezes it into the bowel when you eat. A rich, heavy or fatty meal triggers a bigger squeeze, which is why attacks often follow such meals.
What are the symptoms of gallstones?
Most people with gallstones never have symptoms. When a stone blocks a duct, it causes gallbladder pain, called biliary colic: sudden, severe, constant pain in the middle of the upper tummy or under the right ribs, lasting more than 30 minutes and up to several hours. The pain can spread between the shoulder blades or to the right shoulder, and can come with feeling or being sick. Attacks can wake you from sleep.
Swipe sideways to compare →
| Problem | What happens | Symptoms | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Biliary colic | A stone briefly blocks the outlet of the gallbladder | Severe, constant pain in the upper tummy or under the right ribs, from 30 minutes to several hours, then easing | Get urgent medical advice if it lasts more than 30 minutes |
| Acute cholecystitis | The gallbladder becomes inflamed, in about 95% of cases because a stone blocks its duct | Sudden, sharp pain under the right ribs spreading to the right shoulder, lasting more than a few hours, a high temperature, feeling sick | Hospital: fluids, antibiotics, and usually surgery within a week |
| Blocked bile duct | A stone blocks the main bile duct, causing jaundice | Yellow skin or eyes, itchy skin, dark urine, pale poo, pain | Call 112 or go to an emergency department |
| Gallstone pancreatitis | A stone blocks the duct from the pancreas | Severe upper tummy pain spreading to the back, being sick | Call 112 |
Yellowing of the skin may be harder to see on brown or black skin; look at the whites of the eyes.
What are the first signs of a gallstone problem?
Often the first sign is an attack of pain in the upper tummy or under the right ribs, frequently after a large or fatty meal, that lasts from half an hour to a few hours and then eases. Many people only find out they have gallstones by chance, on a scan for something else.
What do gallstones look like in the toilet?
Small gallstones can sometimes pass into the bowel and out in your poo, where they look like a tiny pebble, often angular, and yellow or brown. You cannot make them pass. Pale poo with dark urine and yellow skin is a different sign: a stone may be blocking the bile duct, which needs urgent care.
What causes gallstones, and who gets them?
Gallstones form when the bile contains too much cholesterol or too much bilirubin, or when the gallbladder does not empty properly and the bile becomes too concentrated. These make them more likely:
- Being a woman: women are about three times more likely to have gallstones, partly because of the hormones oestrogen and progesterone.
- Age: being over 40.
- Weight: obesity, and also rapid weight loss, for example after weight-loss surgery.
- Pregnancy and oestrogen: pregnancy, and medicines that contain oestrogen.
- Diet and activity: a diet high in fat and low in fibre, and too little activity.
- Other conditions: diabetes, Crohn’s disease, liver disease and some blood disorders.
- Family history and background: gallstones in the family, and Native American or Mexican heritage.
Can you prevent gallstones?
You can lower the risk: keep to a healthy weight, lose weight slowly rather than fast, do not skip meals, and eat plenty of fibre from fruit, vegetables and whole grains. If you are losing weight with medical help, ask about your gallbladder, because fast weight loss raises the risk.
Are gallstones dangerous? Can they kill you?
Usually not. Most gallstones never cause symptoms, and 2 to 6 in every 100 people with gallstones develop a serious complication needing urgent treatment within 5 years. But untreated complications, such as infection of the gallbladder or bile ducts, or pancreatitis, can be life-threatening, which is why the warning signs matter. In about 2 or 3 in every 10 cases of acute cholecystitis, emergency surgery is needed. Gallbladder cancer is very rare, though the risk is higher in people with gallstones.
Can gallstones go away without surgery?
Rarely. Gallstones found by chance in a normal gallbladder, without symptoms, usually need no treatment. Once they cause symptoms, the standard treatment is keyhole surgery to remove the gallbladder, and people with more severe pain gain more from it than people with mild pain. Medicines that dissolve gallstones only work on small cholesterol stones that have not caused complications, take months to years, and the stones often come back.
Gallbladder surgery and bile duct procedures compared
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| What it involves | Keyhole gallbladder removal | Open gallbladder removal | ERCP to clear the bile duct |
|---|---|---|---|
| How it is done | Several small cuts in the tummy | One larger cut | A tube with a camera passed through the mouth, and the bile duct opening widened so stones can pass |
| How long it takes | 60 to 90 minutes | 2 to 2.5 hours | 30 to 60 minutes |
| Hospital stay | Usually home on the day of the operation, sometimes one night | Up to 5 days | Usually home afterwards, sometimes one night |
| Recovery | 7 to 10 days if all goes well; back to work after 1 to 2 weeks | About 6 weeks to your normal routine | No driving for 24 hours after sedation |
| Main risks | Bile duct damage or a bile leak needing another procedure: fewer than 1 in 100 | As for keyhole surgery | Pancreatitis: about 5 in 100 mild, 1 to 2 in 100 moderate to severe |
About 57,000 gallbladder operations are done each year in England alone.
Can you live without a gallbladder?
Yes. You can live without a gallbladder and eat a normal, healthy diet: bile flows straight from the liver into the small intestine. Small meals may be easier for the first few days. About 10 in 100 people find their poo looser afterwards, and medicines can help if diarrhoea continues.
What can you do during a gallbladder attack?
There is no reliable way to stop an attack at home, and it may not go away on its own. Take paracetamol or ibuprofen if they are suitable for you, and get urgent medical advice if the pain lasts more than 30 minutes. Call 112 for severe pain, pain spreading to your back with vomiting, a high temperature, or yellow skin or eyes.
What to eat with gallstones
While you wait for treatment, avoid the foods and drinks that trigger your symptoms, and you could try a low-fat diet. Once the gallbladder or the stones have been removed, you should not need to avoid those foods.
What might the doctor recommend for gallstones?
What happens next depends on your symptoms and on whether there are signs of a complication. This is the framework the doctors use, in line with NICE guidance:
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| What you have | Likely first step | Suitable for online care? | When in-person care is needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gallstones found by chance, no symptoms | Reassurance; no treatment unless symptoms start | Yes | Not needed |
| Attacks of upper tummy pain that settle within a few hours | An ultrasound scan and liver blood tests, and a surgical opinion | Yes, to assess | For the scan, the blood tests and the operation |
| Pain now, lasting more than 30 minutes | Urgent assessment of the cause | Yes, to assess | If it is severe, or comes with a high temperature, vomiting or yellow skin |
| Waiting for surgery | Pain relief, and avoiding foods that trigger attacks | Yes | If attacks become more frequent or severe |
| Pain under the right ribs for more than a few hours, with a high temperature | Hospital treatment for cholecystitis | No | Urgent in-person care |
| Yellow skin or eyes, or severe pain spreading to the back with vomiting | Emergency treatment | No | Call 112 now |
| Looser poo or pain after gallbladder removal | Advice and treatment for the symptoms | Yes | If you have a high temperature, yellow skin, or a red or leaking wound |
Pain under your right ribs after meals? A doctor can tell you in one consultation whether it could be gallstones and how urgently to be seen.
See available times →Gallstone treatment
What you can do yourself
- Take paracetamol or ibuprofen for the pain, if they are suitable for you.
- Avoid the foods and drinks that bring on your attacks until the gallstones are treated.
- Do not skip meals, and if you need to lose weight, lose it slowly.
- Keep a note of your attacks, and get urgent help for the warning signs.
Prescription treatment
A prescription is never issued without a consultation. Gallstones that cause symptoms are treated in hospital, by removing the gallbladder or clearing the bile duct. While you wait, the doctor may advise on pain relief that suits you. Medicines that dissolve gallstones suit only a few people with small cholesterol stones, and opioid painkillers are never prescribed online. If the doctor prescribes, use the prescription at a pharmacy near you.
What does not help
Special drinks or diets meant to flush gallstones out: you cannot make stones pass. Dissolving medicines for large or pigment stones. Losing weight very fast, which raises the risk of new stones. Waiting at home with pain that lasts for hours, a high temperature or yellow skin.
Special situations
Pregnancy
Pregnancy makes gallstones more likely. Tell the doctor if you are pregnant, because it changes which scans, medicines and treatments are suitable.
Weight loss
Rapid weight loss, including after weight-loss surgery, raises the risk of gallstones. If you are losing weight quickly and get pain under the right ribs, mention it to your doctor.
Gallstones while travelling in Europe
An attack abroad follows the same rules: pain lasting more than 30 minutes needs urgent advice, and severe pain, a high temperature or yellow skin mean 112. Rich holiday meals can bring on attacks, so if you know you have gallstones, eat the foods that agree with you, and carry any scan reports.
Children
Mobi Doctor consultations are for adults aged 18 and over. A child who is unwell needs a paediatrician or a local doctor in person, and emergency signs in a child mean 112.
When gallstones are assessed online, and when you need in-person care
Assessed online: pain that could be gallstones, how urgently it needs to be seen, gallstones found by chance, what to do while waiting for surgery, and problems after gallbladder removal.
In-person care: ultrasound scans and blood tests, gallbladder surgery and ERCP, and any severe pain, high temperature, vomiting or yellow skin.
When to get in-person care
Call 112 or go to an emergency department now for:
- sudden, severe tummy pain
- pain spreading from your tummy to your back, with vomiting
- a very high temperature, or feeling hot, cold or shivery, with tummy pain
- yellowing of your skin or the whites of your eyes
- vomiting blood or material like coffee grounds
Get medical advice the same day for:
- tummy pain lasting more than 30 minutes
- pain under the right ribs that lasts more than a few hours
- dark urine, pale poo or itchy skin
- attacks becoming more frequent or severe while you wait for surgery
- a wound after gallbladder surgery that is red, swollen or leaking
How Mobi Doctor works
- Book a time that suits you: daily 7am–11pm CEST. You can see a doctor over video, usually within 15 minutes. No subscription, and the exact price is shown before you pay.
- Speak to a licensed doctor about the pain: say where it is, how long attacks last and what brings them on, and mention any temperature, yellow skin or scan results.
- Leave with a plan: what to do, what to take and for how long, and which signs mean you should be seen in person. If the doctor prescribes, use the prescription at a pharmacy near you.
No sign-up needed
Not sure it’s gallstones? Tick every symptom you have to see each condition page that mentions it. It finds the right page, not a diagnosis: a doctor gives you that on a video call.
Tap the body — an area or a point — to browse symptoms anywhere
Similar symptoms, different condition? Indigestion can start the same way. Compare them, or look up any other symptom in the full symptom checker.
Frequently asked questions about gallstones
What are the first signs of a gallstone problem?
Often an attack of severe pain in the upper tummy or under the right ribs, frequently after a large or fatty meal, lasting from half an hour to a few hours. Many people only find out they have gallstones by chance on a scan.
Is it gallstones or something else?
Gallstone pain is constant, severe, under the right ribs or in the upper middle of the tummy, lasts 30 minutes to hours, often after a fatty meal, and may spread to the right shoulder. Indigestion or reflux burns behind the breastbone and eases with antacids; a stomach ulcer gnaws and relates to meals over weeks; pancreatitis bores through to the back with vomiting and needs hospital; and a heart attack can present as upper tummy pain with sweating and breathlessness, which is 112.
What triggers a gallbladder attack?
Eating. The gallbladder squeezes when you eat, and a rich, heavy or fatty meal triggers a bigger squeeze, which can push a stone into the outlet. Attacks can also wake you at night.
Where is gallbladder pain felt?
Gallbladder pain is felt in the middle of the upper tummy or under the right ribs, as a constant, severe ache rather than cramps, often starting an hour or two after a fatty meal or at night; it can spread between the shoulder blades or to the right shoulder tip, and it typically lasts from 30 minutes to a few hours before easing, which is what separates a gallstone attack from indigestion.
What helps a gallbladder attack while it is happening?
There is no reliable way to stop a gallbladder attack at home. Take paracetamol or ibuprofen if they suit you, and get urgent medical advice if the pain lasts more than 30 minutes. Call 112 for severe pain, a high temperature or yellow skin.
What causes gallstones?
Gallstones form from bile that contains too much cholesterol or bilirubin, or a gallbladder that does not empty properly. Being a woman, being over 40, obesity, rapid weight loss, pregnancy and a diet high in fat and low in fibre make them more likely.
Can gallstones be prevented?
Partly. Gallstones are less likely with a healthy weight reached slowly, because crash diets and rapid weight loss, including after weight-loss surgery, trigger stone formation; regular meals rather than long fasts keep the gallbladder emptying, a diet high in fibre, fruit, vegetables, nuts and olive oil and low in refined carbohydrate helps, as do exercise and coffee in some studies. Women on oestrogen-containing contraception or HRT carry a slightly higher risk, which is worth knowing rather than a reason to stop.
Can gallstones go away without surgery?
Rarely. Gallstones without symptoms usually need no treatment. Once they cause symptoms, the standard treatment is keyhole surgery. Dissolving medicines only work for small cholesterol stones, take months to years, and the stones often return.
How can I get rid of gallstones?
If they cause symptoms, by having the gallbladder removed, usually by keyhole surgery, or by having stones cleared from the bile duct with ERCP. Diets and drinks cannot flush them out.
Can gallstones kill you?
Rarely. Most gallstones never cause symptoms, but complications such as an infected gallbladder or bile ducts, or pancreatitis, can be life-threatening if untreated. A high temperature, yellow skin or severe pain needs emergency care.
What do gallstones look like in the toilet?
Small gallstones that pass in the poo look like a tiny pebble, often angular, and yellow or brown. Pale poo with dark urine and yellow skin is a different sign, of a blocked bile duct, and needs urgent care.
Where is your gallbladder?
The gallbladder is in the upper right part of your tummy, below the liver. It is a small, pear-shaped organ that stores bile and releases it when you eat.
Can you live without a gallbladder?
Yes. Without a gallbladder, bile flows straight from the liver into the small intestine, and you can eat a normal, healthy diet. About 10 in 100 people find their poo looser afterwards.
Can an online doctor diagnose gallstones?
A doctor by video can tell you whether your pain fits gallstones and how urgently you need to be seen. Gallstones are confirmed with an ultrasound scan and blood tests, and treated in hospital.
- Gallstones, NHS, National Health Service (UK), reviewed 11 August 2025.
- Gallstone disease: diagnosis and management (CG188), NICE, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2014.
- Making a decision about gallstones, NHS England decision support tool, updated September 2023.
- Acute cholecystitis, NHS, National Health Service (UK), reviewed 21 February 2023.
- Gallbladder removal, NHS, National Health Service (UK), reviewed 3 July 2025.
- Definition and facts for gallstones, NIDDK, US National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, reviewed November 2017.
- Gallstones: symptoms and causes, Mayo Clinic (US), updated 16 April 2025.
- Gallstones, Cleveland Clinic (US), reviewed January 2024.
This page is for information only and is not a substitute for a medical consultation. Guideline links are provided for transparency; treatment decisions are made with your doctor.
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