BEHIND THE ABDOMINAL PAIN

What Is Abdominal Pain?

Abdominal pain is discomfort or other uncomfortable sensations that you feel in your belly area. Just about everybody at one time or another will get a bellyache.

Types of Abdominal Pain

There are several types of abdominal pain, which are based on how quickly your pain starts and how long it lasts: 

Acute pain:  starts over a few hours or days  and may come with  other symptoms.

Chronic pain: lasts longer -- from weeks to months or more -- and may come and go.

Progressive pain: gets worse over time  and often comes with other symptoms.

What causes abdominal pain?

Many conditions can cause abdominal pain. But the main causes are:

• infection.
• abnormal growths.
• inflammation.
• obstruction (blockage).
• intestinal disorders.
• inflammation.
• diseases that affect the organs in the abdomen.

Other common causes of abdominal pain include:

• constipation
• diarrhea
• gastroenteritis 
• acid reflux 
• vomiting
• stress

Diseases that affect the digestive system can also cause chronic abdominal pain. The most common are:

• gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
• irritable bowel syndrome 
• Crohn’s disease 
• lactose intolerance 

Causes of severe abdominal pain include:

• organ rupture or near-rupture 
• gallbladder stones
• kidney stones
• kidney infection

The location of the pain within the abdomen may be a clue as to its cause.

Pain that’s generalized throughout the abdomen (not in one specific area) may indicate:

• appendicitis 
• Crohn’s disease
• traumatic injury
• irritable bowel syndrome
• urinary tract infection
• the flu

Pain that’s focused in the lower abdomen may indicate:

• appendicitis
• intestinal obstruction
• ectopic pregnancy 

In people assigned female at birth, pain in the reproductive organs of the lower abdomen can be caused by:

• dysmenorrhea
• ovarian cysts
• miscarriage
• fibroids
• endometriosis
• pelvic inflammatory disease
• ectopic pregnancy

Upper abdominal pain may be caused by:

• gallstones
• heart attack
• hepatitis 
• pneumonia

Pain in the center of the abdomen might be from:

• appendicitis
• gastroenteritis
• injury
• uremia 

Lower left abdominal pain may be caused by:

• Crohn’s disease
• cancer
• kidney infection
• ovarian cysts
• appendicitis

Upper left abdominal pain is sometimes caused by:

• enlarged spleen
• fecal impaction 
• injury
• kidney infection
• heart attack
• cancer

Causes of lower right abdominal pain include:

• appendicitis
• hernia 
• kidney infection
• cancer
• flu

Upper right abdominal pain may result from:

• hepatitis
• injury
• pneumonia
• appendicitis.
  
  Foods, natural remedies, and OTC treatments for certain causes of abdominal pain
• contact your doctor or other health care professional before using any home remedies.

Common home remedies and over-the-counter (OTC) medicines include:

•Eat less food

•Take small amounts of baking soda

•Use lemon 

•Start a BRAT diet (banana, rice, applesauce, and toast) for a day or so for symptom relief.

•Don’t smoke or drink alcohol.

•Taking ginger.

•Peppermint.

•Licorice.

•Chamomile tea.

•Medications such as bismuth subsalicylate (Pepto-Bismol), loperamide (Imodium), famotidine (Prilosec, Zantac 360), and other over-the-counter substances

•Taking aspirin or NSAIDs should be avoided until the cause of the pain is diagnosed because the medications could make some causes worse (for example, peptic ulcers, intestinal bleeding).