Stones or surgery
The ward · 4 threads
Working out whether gallstones actually need an operation, or whether they can be left alone.
The most useful thing this board does is slow people down at the one fork that matters: do these gallstones need removing now, or are they the silent kind that can safely be left. A first attack is frightening, and it is tempting either to rush toward surgery or to avoid it out of fear, so the threads here are readers working out which their stones are, and what happened when they chose to operate or to wait.
5 replies · 320 views · last reply by threestones54, Mar 24, 2026
4 replies · 360 views · last reply by DeniseR59, Feb 4, 2026
5 replies · 360 views · last reply by DeniseR59, Dec 19, 2025
5 replies · 400 views · last reply by threestones54, Nov 2, 2025
Read these before you decide
A pattern runs through this section: the readers who were calmest afterwards are the ones who understood which kind of stones they had before they made the call. Symptomatic stones, the ones causing real attacks, carry a steady yearly risk of something worse, which is why they are usually treated; silent stones found by chance on a scan are usually left alone. The site's guide to whether you actually need your gallbladder out and silent gallstones set out where that line falls.
The other recurring theme is the hope of dodging the operation entirely. Readers ask about dissolving tablets and very strict diets, and the honest answer, covered in whether you can avoid gallbladder surgery, is that they work slowly, suit very few people, and the stones commonly come back, so surgery stays the definitive fix.
What this section cannot do is tell you which your stones are, or how urgent they are for you. A gallbladder that has turned hot and inflamed is a different conversation from one that twinged once after a fatty meal. Only a surgeon who has your scan and has examined you can weigh that. Go in with the question, not the conclusion.