Upper abdominal pressure---Gall bladder question

beth8648

My mother had her gallbladder removed a little over a year ago. For the past few weeks she has pressure in her upper right abdomen under her ribs and it extends to the side. She says it feels like when she had gallstones. Question.... Can you still have "gall stones" w/o a gallbladder? Any other ideas what it could be? Thanx!

DanDan · Supporter Joined: 27 Mar 2006 Posts: 209

The pressure your mother feels is just the natural consequence of having the gallbladder removed as the pains occur in the right upper quadrant abdominal which is pain just under the rib cage on the right side. She can still get the gallstones even without a gall bladder as the liver still produces the bile salts and sends them down to the duodenum. While the bile salts pass through the ducts, they can crystallize and form gallstones in the ducts and cause inflammations and infections and require surgery. 80% of them are made of crystalised cholesterol and 20% of crystalised calcium. These come from excess cholesterol and calcium that the liver just dumps down to the gallbladder that is not there anymore. If the cholesterol and calcium that the liver produces is not there anymore, the incidence of crystalisation will also be reduced.

Upper abdominal pressure---Gall bladder question

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