Hi everyone, after reading Jerry's post I thought maybe it would help to tell you all a little about the gallbladder.
The gallbladder is a small, muscular, pear-shaped sac just under the right side of your liver.
Cholelithiasis (ko-le-li-THY-a-sis) refers to gallstones, and cholecystitis (ko-le-sis-TY-tis) to an inflamed gallbladder.
Gallstones are hardened masses that consist mainly of cholesterol, blood, bile (fluid produced in the liver and stored in the gallbladder), calcium, and other substances. The stones form in the gallbladder or in the bile duct leading into the small intestine. When bile contains excessive amounts of cholesterol, the unnecessary cholesterol separates from the solution and forms stonelike masses
Symptoms that do appear are usually chronic (long-term) in nature, including discomfort and pain in the upper abdomen, indigestion, nausea, and intolerance of fatty foods. Sometimes the gallstones may pass through the bile duct into the intestines to be excreted naturally. However, symptoms can occur when a stone that had been floating in the gallbladder becomes trapped inside the bile duct. In an acute gallbladder attack, a sharp pain (often on the right side of the upper abdomen) may travel to the back and under the right shoulder blade (causing shoulder pain and sometimes chest pain). Frequently, the pain develops suddenly after a meal and leads to fever, chills, vomiting, and possibly jaundice (yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes caused by the presence of excess bile pigment in the bloodstream). Serious complications of liver damage can develop if gallstones become lodged between the gallbladder and small intestine and block the flow of bile. Since the gallbladder is not necessary to maintain life, some doctors suggest removing a gallbladder containing stones even if they are not causing any obvious symptoms.
Liver disease can increase the risk of gallstones.
This information came from this site: health.howstuffworks.com
I added the chest pain and shoulder pain because we see this in the ER quite frequently. The patient often thinks they are having a heart attack and based on their symptoms we think so too. After testing for possible heart attack we look at the possibility of gallbladder problems.