Another commonly used word to describe
pain is stomach ache or belly pain. We shall use all the above to mean abdominal pain.
What is abdominal pain?
We define abdominal pain as any irritation or abnormal sensation or discomfort in an area of the body from below the level of the breast plate down to the level of the top of the bones of the pelvis in front or on the sides. Pain in the abdomen is also referred to as tummy pain or belly pain.
Types Of Abdominal Pain
There are different types of abdominal pain, depending on the seriousness and potential to be life-threatening, the area of the abdomen involved, and the time span of such pain. For clarity, let us explain what is abdominal pain in terms of the various criteria just mentioned.
Acute Abdominal Pain
Acute abdominal pain refers to any pain in the abdomen, that is recent in onset with potential to have life threatening consequences, if nothing is done. If you suspect that you might be having any of the causes of acute abdomen listed here, please see your doctor immediately.
Examples of common causes of acute abdominal or stomach pain are:
- Acute Appendicitis
- Acute pancreatitis
- Biliary colic
- Cholecystitis
- Epiploic Appendagitis
- Perforated peptic ulcer
- Ruptured spleen
- Kidney stone
- Ruptured Aortic Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm
- Intestinal (or bowel) obstruction
- Diverticulitis
- Acute Retention of Urine
- Complications of Crohns or ulcerative colitis
- Bowel or mesenteric infarction
- Sickle Cell Disease Crisis
- Torsion of the testis
- Ectopic Pregnancy
- Twisted or Ruptured Ovarian Cyst
- Miscarriage
- Complications of Endometrosis
- Acute Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (pelvic infection)
- Acute Urine Infection
- Acute hepatitis (liver infection
- Diabetic Keto Acidosis
- Food poisoning
- Porphyria
- Strangulated or obstructed hernias
- Abdominal migraine
Chronic Abdominal Pain
Chronic Abdominal pain are abdominal pain lasting for more than six weeks, and often does not pose immediate threat to life. In order to understand what is abdominal pain in terms of length of time it is going on, we have listed the following as common causes of chronic abdominal pain:
- Endometrosis
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Chronic constipation
- Coeliac disease
- Fibroid
- Polycystic kidney disease
- Polycystic ovarian syndrome
- Abdominal adhesion (could also cause acute abdominal pain)
- Food intolerance
- Recurrent Abdominal Syndrome
Upper Abdominal Pain
Upper abdominal or stomach pain are pain occurring anywhere in the abdomen, above the level of the umbilicus or navel. Common causes of upper stomach pain are:
- Acid Reflux
- Gastritis
- Helicobacter pylori infection of the stomach
- Stomach ulcer
- Stomach cancer
- Duodenal ulcer
- Biliary colic
- Cholecystitis
- Epiploic Appendagitis
- Costochondritis
- Myofascial Trigger Pain
- Hepatitis (liver infection)
- Pancreatitis
- Myocardial Infarction or Heart Attack
- Epigastric hernia (also called fat hernia)
- Splenic rupture
- Lower lobe pneumonia
- Pulmonary embolism or blood clots in the lungs
Upper abdominal pain could be:
- Right upper abdominal pain ,
- Central upper abdominal pain and
- Left upper abdominal pain .
The more common causes of pain in each of these upper abdominal regions are listed in the illustration above.
Lower Abdominal Pain
Lower abdominal pain is perhaps the most common site for abdominal pain. It is abdominal pain occurring below the level of the umbilicus or navel. The following are the more common causes of lower abdominal pain:
- Urine Infection (Cystitis
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Constipation
- Trapped Wind
- Diverticulitis
- Appendicitis
- Pelvic infection
- Ectopic pregnancy
- Epiploic Appendagitis
- Ulcerative Colitis
- Complicated Hernia
- Spigelian Hernia
- Sport Hernia
- Menstrual pain
- Mid Cycle Pain
- Endometriosis
- Ovarian Cyst
- Acute Retention of Urine In The Bladder (more in elderly men)
- Fibroid
- Miscarriage
- Crohns Disease
- Twisted Testicle
Diagnosis Of Abdominal Pain
In order to find out what could be causing abdominal pain in a patient, doctors usually want a very good story describing the pain, then proceeds to carrying out a physical examination and then blood tests, urine tests, and scans if needed. The true answer of what is abdominal pain for any given patient lies in the result of these questions, examinations, tests and scans.
What Is Abdominal Pain Story
For doctors to be able to point to what is causing abdominal pain in a patient, a good story describing the pain is important. The typical questions doctors would like to find answers to are:
- Where is the pain
- When exactly did it start
- How severe is it on a scale of 1 to 10
- What is the character of the pain - is it sharp, dull or burning? Is it cramping?
- Does the pain spread anywhere
- Is the pain continuous or goes and come
- What makes it worse
- What makes the pain better
- Is there any associated symptoms like nausea or vomiting
- Any loss of appetite?
- Is there any abdominal bloating or distension
- What is your bowel habit like (any change in the frequency of your stool or the texture?)
- Is there blood or slime in your stool, or has your stool gone black?
- Are you passing urine normally? Any burning sensation on passing urine
- Is there fever?
- When was your last menstrual period if a woman
- Any blood or abnormal discharge from the vagina?
- Any pain during intercourse?
Providing clear and definite answers to those questions could help doctors, in most cases, to reach at least 70% of the diagnosis what might be causing abdominal pain.
The doctor may then proceed to do a physical examination and order some blood and urine test.
Tests For Abdominal Pain
In other to verify or glean further information, after a thorough physical examination, the following blood test are typically requested:
- Urine test for infection, sugar, blood and ketones
- CBC - Complete Blood Count (also called - Full Blood Count in the United Kingdom)
- Blood Amylase level
- Urea and Electrolyte testing in blood (BUN in the USA)
- Clotting Or Coagulation Profile
- Stool testing for parasites or serology for H.pylori
- ECG to exclude heart problems or ensure patient is well enough for surgery if required
- Radiography or X-rays of the Chest and abdomen if needed
- Ultrasound or HIDA Scan if needed
- CT Scan
- Endoscopy
- Colonoscopy (a form of endoscopy)
- MRI
Treatment Of Abdominal Pain
Once the cause of an abdominal pain is identified, treatment will depend on whether it is a cause that is amenable to watchful waiting, or medication or surgery or any other type of intervention.
The following are common treatment for a few causes of abdominal or stomach pain.
Acid Reflux..................................................................Gaviscon, Losec
Alcohol or stress Gastritis..........................................Omeprazole, Rannitidine
Helicobacter pylori (H.pylori) infection gastritis.......Amoxyl or clarithromycin Omeprazole and Metronidazole
Appendicitis................................................................. Surgical removal
Biliary colic....................................................................Pain killers
Cholecystitis..................................................................Antibiotics, Surgery
Constipation..................................................................Movicol, Lactulose, Senna etc
Diverticulitis...................................................................Antibiotics
Ectopic pregnancy - depending on severity and stage............Observation, do nothing, methothrexate, or surgery depending on stage and severity.
..............Contraceptive pills, danazole, GnRH
Endometrosis................................................................Pain killers, Embolisation of the blood supply of the womb, myomectomy, hysterectomy
Fibroid ...........................................................................
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)....................................Depending on type of dominant symptoms - pain, constipation or diarrhaea, painkillers, antispasmodics like buscopan or mebeverine, loperamide, atropine, high fiber or low fiber diet.
..............Antibiotic like trimethoprim, augmentin, nitrofurantoin, cefalexin,
Kidney Or Urine Infection ...............................................Peppermint Oil Capsules, simple pain killers like paracetamol, mebeverine, buscopan.
Trapped Wind.................................................................
What is abdominal pain?
That is an overview of what abdominal pain is and the journey you expect to go through, should you suffer with abdominal pain.
We hope you found this page useful in helping to define what is abdominal pain for you. It could also help as a starting point in initiating a discussion with your doctor, if you suspect that any of the issues discussed here might be what is causing your abdominal pain.
What Is Abdominal Pain For You - Have Your Say
Do you or your loved one surfer with abdominal pain? What is abdominal pain for you? Comments or queries? Share it here!
If you have a question regarding abdominal pain or any other medical question, to increase your chances of getting a reply, please include the following information:
- Age
- Any past medical problem
- Detailed description of the site of your pain, exactly when it started, how it has progressed so far, what seems to make the pain worse or better, if any associated nausea, vomiting or change in bowel habit, any weight loss, etc
- Any other information that might be useful as stated above under the 'What Is Abdominal Pain Story' heading.
The more detail you give the better please.
Feel free to contribute answers or comments to queries posted by others here and let's create a helpful community to minimize the effect of abdominal pain and related illnesses.
I've had a stomach ache for a long time this article is very helpful and explanatory. So, do you have any medication suggestions?
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