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Gallstones
9 min read
Also known as: cholelithiasis · biliary sludge · gallstone concretion · cholesterol stones · gallstone · gallbladder stones · gallstone disease · biliary gravel · biliary colic from stones
Your Body Is Speaking
It often begins without warning. A stabbing, cramping pain in the upper right abdomen, radiating into the back and shoulder. Sometimes it lasts minutes, sometimes hours. Sometimes it comes after eating, sometimes in the middle of the night. Medicine calls it biliary colic — small stones that have formed in the gallbladder and are blocking the outflow.
But why does a body form stones? Why does something harden that should be fluid — bile, that sharp, bitter digestive juice designed to break down fats and make the indigestible usable? Why does something crystallise that should flow?
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