Why do gallstones cause biliary colic?

  This pain is caused by spasmodic contraction of the gallbladder, bile duct or sphincter of Oddi during the movement of gallstones, or by sudden obstruction of the cystic duct or common bile duct by gallstones, resulting in dilatation of the gallbladder or bile duct or an increase in intraluminal pressure. The pain attacks mostly occur after a full meal or eating a lot of fatty food, or after drinking alcohol, constipation, or emotional excitement, or when the abdomen is shaken, such as riding a horse or bicycling on a rugged mountain road, etc. can also cause biliary colic attacks.  Normally, bile duct stones are usually asymptomatic as long as they do not block the opening of the bile duct. However, the stone will move in the common bile duct and once it blocks the bile duct, the bile duct at the blockage site will dilate and when the inner diameter of the bile duct expands to a certain extent, the patient will trigger biliary colic, the stone will drain into the duodenum by itself or float up at the obstruction, the bile duct obstruction will be released and the pain will be relieved by itself.  The characteristics of biliary colic attack are: the patient suddenly feels pain in the upper and middle abdomen or right upper abdomen, which then turns into right upper abdominal colic, sometimes the pain also radiates to the right shoulder or right scapula, and in severe cases, the pain is unbearable, sitting and lying down, holding the abdomen and bending over, rolling on the ground, shouting, pale, sweating, or accompanied by nausea and vomiting, and even shock. If the pain persists for 5-6 hours and the colleague has fever, yellow urine and deepened urine color, then the occurrence of gallstones combined with biliary system infection and jaundice should be considered.  If you have bile duct stone disease, go to a regular hospital as soon as possible once identified, regardless of the onset of the disease. It is recommended that non-invasive transoral endoscopic stone extraction is preferred, which is less traumatic, faster recovery and less risky, and has incomparable advantages over traditional open stone extraction.