Brief Answer:
You are having a viral infection- advice on treatment below

Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome to "Ask a Doctor" service,

I carefully read your query and understand your concern.

The symptoms you are explaining are not related to gallstones. Gallstones are many times silent or may cause pain in the upper right abdominal area.

In your case, the sore throat, coughing, runny nose, and little fever sound like a viral upper respiratory infection or the so-called common cold.
Generally, this is a self-limiting condition and gets better within 3-5 days and rarely lasts a week.

No specific treatment is needed as viral infections do not respond to antibiotics but the patients may do the following to feel better:
- take paracetamol and/or ibuprofen to help with the pain and fever. paracetamol 500 mg or ibuprofen 600 mg every 6 hours after the food is generally effective against fever and to help with the pain (sore throat)
- also, drinking plenty of water is important but avoiding hot drinks that may burn the throat and worsen the pain.
- you may take lozenges to soothe the throat, thus relieve the cough and the pain in the throat
- cough medications are not generally recommended as they are not found to be effective but guaifenesin that can be tried if the cough is bothersome

If you are not better with the above measures in a few days or you notice any worsening or the fever lasts more than 4 days, a visit with your doctor is needed to rule out bacterial infections such as tonsillitis or pneumonia and the need for antibiotics.

I hope this answers your query. I remain at your disposal in case the further medical assistance is needed.

Regards,
Dr. Antoneta Zotaj
General and Family Physician

---

Brief Answer:
Detailed answer below

Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome back,

My pleasure to assist you.

If you have a sensitive stomach it may not be advisable to use ibuprofen. In this case, paracetamol 500 mg, 1-2 tablets every 6 hours may be advisable.

If this does not help enough with the pain then you may take ibuprofen but you have to take it after food and probably add Omeprazole 40mg a day to protect your stomach. If you develop any stomach pain or worsening of the stomach irritation you should stop using ibuprofen.

It is normal to feel weak and unwell while having a viral infection, this may last a few days but should be better in 3-5 days. This is why it is important to eat and drink frequent small amounts of food and water and rest as possible, so your body can recover quickly. Vitamin C is found to be helpful to boost immune response and the healing process.

As for the gallbladder stones, the moment they start to become painful, they should be removed because they may move in the bile ducts and block them, causing complications such as cholecystitis or pancreatitis. So, your doctor may need to schedule surgery to remove them to prevent complications.

I hope this is helpful. I remain at your disposal for further medical assistance.

Regards,
Dr. Antoneta Zotaj
General and Family Physician

---