The difference between liver pain and gallbladder pain

Because the liver and gallbladder are very close, and the symptoms of liver disease and gallbladder disease have many similarities, diseases of these two organs are often easily confused. Liver disease often causes patients to feel pain in the liver area, and patients with gallbladder disease often feel gallbladder pain, but clinically they may both manifest as pain in the right upper abdomen. Only by accurately distinguishing the pain caused by these two diseases can we take targeted treatment for the diseases.

1. Symptoms of liver pain

The pain of hepatitis is mostly persistent bloating or dull pain, sometimes it is severe pain, and liver abnormalities can also cause many complications, such as loss of appetite, indigestion, nausea, vomiting, abdominal distension, diarrhea, general weakness, etc. The pain of liver pain in patients with liver cancer is generally located in the liver area, and the pain of patients with mid-to-late stage liver cancer is generally located in the right ribs or under the xiphoid process. The nature of the pain is mostly continuous stabbing, dull and dull pain, and there may also be pulling pain in other parts of the body. Some patients have pain in the upper and middle abdomen, which is mostly caused by liver cancer in the left lobe, but sometimes it is misdiagnosed as a stomach disease and delayed treatment. Other patients experience right shoulder pain, which is clinically more common in the right lobe near the diaphragm area, due to the referred pain in the right shoulder caused by the metastasis of cancer cells in the body. When liver cancer metastasizes to other parts of the body, symptoms of metastatic lesions will also appear. When it metastasizes to the lungs, chest pain may occur; when it metastasizes to the bones, bone pain may occur. Therefore, when liver cancer patients experience chest pain or bone pain, they should consider whether it is caused by the metastasis of liver cancer. Most patients with mid- to late-stage liver cancer experience pain in the liver area as the main symptom, but in the early stages of liver cancer there may not be obvious liver pain, so other symptoms should also be noted.

2. Symptoms of gallbladder pain

Biliary pain is colic caused by temporary obstruction of the cystic duct due to the movement of stones in the bile duct and gallbladder. Clinically, there are many similarities between liver pain and gallbladder pain. The pain is located in the right upper abdomen of the human body, but the two can still be distinguished through technical means.

Gallbladder pain mostly refers to pain in the right upper abdomen or middle upper abdomen. The general clinical manifestation is persistent bloating and pain. Some patients only have abdominal distension and discomfort in the right abdomen. Liver pain is characterized by persistent dull pain and swelling, sometimes severe pain, and liver abnormalities can also cause other complications. In case of chronic cholecystitis, the pain is not obvious, dull pain is common, and there are often symptoms of indigestion. Gallbladder pain can be mild, a tearing pain, or severe, a sharp pain or colic, with the pain radiating to the right posterior shoulder.

3. Self-diagnosis of liver and gallbladder pain

Pain in the liver area: Generally, it is a bloating and dull pain. The liver is above the lower edge of the right rib (normal). You can lie flat on your back with your knees bent and tap the liver area to see if there is any pain.

Pain of cholecystitis: Acute cholecystitis is a sharp colic pain that may be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, fever, jaundice and other symptoms. The pain point is at the angle between the right rib margin and the rectus abdominis muscle, and it will be very painful when pressed.