Stomach ache

Stomach ache

Abdominal pain can be caused by many reasons, and not necessarily by disorders of the stomach or intestines. Thus, pain in the epigastric region sometimes serves as a leading manifestation of coronary heart disease, inflammation of the heart membrane or pneumonia, pleurisy and other respiratory diseases. Superficial pain, the nature of which can be clearly defined (stabbing, cutting, burning), is observed when the roots or trunks of the nerves extending from the spinal cord located in the spine are affected (sciatica, neuritis, including those caused by herpes zoster even before the appearance of the rash). Some neuroses are accompanied by deeper and less distinct, and sometimes cramping, pain. Abdominal pain is also observed in many other diseases (diabetes mellitus, some types of jaundice, lesions of the vessels passing behind the abdominal cavity, kidney and ureter diseases). However, most often abdominal pain is caused by one or another lesion of the digestive organs, some of which require immediate surgical treatment.

It is absolutely necessary to immediately consult a doctor if abdominal pain occurs for the first time or if the patient has already consulted a doctor about this, but the nature, strength, duration, location and conditions of the pain have changed dramatically within a short period of time (several hours or days). Sometimes a patient goes to the doctor with a complaint of abdominal pain that has arisen for the first time, but the doctor does not detect objective signs of the disease, because they have not yet developed. In this case, even if the doctor reassures the patient, saying that he does not find anything serious, if the abdominal pain intensifies or other symptoms join it (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever), it is necessary to consult the doctor again.