It is common to discuss with a patient in the clinic whether his abdominal pain is caused by gallbladder stones. Indeed, gallbladder stones cause pain in different ways, which can often be confusing. In fact, clinically gallbladder stones can usually cause 3 types of pain, and each has its own diagnostic significance. The first type: pain caused by chronic cholecystitis This pain is relatively mild, but very common. It often appears after meals, and the patient’s sensation is a vague pain in the stomach, which often disappears slowly in about 1 to 2 hours. The typical patient will have a vague pain near the right scapula in the back, which is medically known as “involvement pain” and is caused by a miscommunication of the nerves. The second type: pain caused by acute cholecystitis The pain is most typical when the gallbladder is acutely inflamed, and many patients are diagnosed at this time. The location of this pain is in the right upper abdomen, precisely described as the intersection of the right side of the rib cage and the right edge of the rectus abdominis muscle, medically known as the “gallbladder point”. At this point, pain occurs when pressure is applied to the right upper abdomen. Some patients may also experience pain in the right scapular region during an acute cholecystitis attack, which would be more typical. The third type: biliary colic This pain is often more intense, although it is a gallbladder colic, but the location of the pain is often below the heart fossa, and not the “gallbladder point” place. The cause of biliary colic is simple: a gallbladder stone is stuck in the opening of the cystic duct. Biliary colic attacks are often so painful that they are often mistaken for an attack of acute cholecystitis. The gallbladder is not actually inflamed at this time, but it is likely to be followed by acute cholecystitis, so it should not be taken lightly and should be treated at an emergency clinic. This pain can usually be relieved within a few hours. It is particularly important to distinguish between biliary colic and pain caused by acute cholecystitis. This is because clinically, if acute cholecystitis occurs, then surgery of the gallbladder is best performed after 1 month of recuperation, but if it is biliary colic, then there is no limit to the time of surgery and it can be performed at any time.