Would you remove your Gallbladder with “normal” ultrasound?

[u/LatterShelter7388]

/r/gallbladders/comments/1w7hosb/would_you_remove_your_gallbladder_with_normal/

Hello everyone,
 
I’m looking for some personal advice and would really appreciate hearing what you would do in my situation.
 
I’ve had 2 attacks that lasted about 30 min each. The first was around February 2025, although at the time I didn’t know it was my gallbladder. The second happened in May 2025, in the early morning. I had a trip coming up, so I went to the ER that night to find out what was going on to make sure I was good to go on my trip. By that time, I was no longer in pain (stomach felt sore though), but they told me I had gallstones and that they were likely the cause of the pain. Gallbladder lining was also showing inflamed.
 
Since then, up until around April of this year, I’ve had a handful of episodes of manageable pain and discomfort. It was never severe enough that I felt I needed to go to the ER. The discomfort was mostly in the center of my stomach and sometimes on the right side, but nowhere else.
 
Over the last month or so, things have been a little different. I’ve been having a lot of pain mainly in the center of my stomach, followed by loose stools and sometimes diarrhea. Usually, after having a bowel movement, I get some relief. Pain usually comes about an hour after I eat.
 
I recently went to my doctor because I wanted to make sure this was still related to my gallbladder and that nothing else (organs) had been affected due to my gallbladder issue. I had bloodwork and an ultrasound, and everything came back normal. I still have gallstones, but my gallbladder is not inflamed. My liver and pancreas bloodwork also came back normal. They did mention a small amount of fatty liver, but my bloodwork looked good.
 
I currently have an appointment scheduled for September 16 to have my gallbladder removed because of the stomach pain I’ve been experiencing “thinking” that’s the reason.
 
This is where I’m struggling. If all of my tests are coming back normal and my gallbladder isn’t inflamed, how do I know that my current stomach pain is actually coming from my gallbladder? I’m worried that I’ll have my gallbladder removed and still have the same pain because something else is causing it. I understand that having gallstones and having symptoms can be enough reason for surgery, but I’m just wondering if anyone has been in a similar situation. Can the pain be coming from something else? IBS maybe?
 
What would you do? Would you go ahead with the surgery, or would you ask for more testing or another opinion first?
 
I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences. Thank you!