Abdominal Pain
Stomach pain is pain that you feel anywhere between your chest and groin. This is often referred to as the stomach region or belly. Almost everyone has pain in the abdomen at one time or another. Most of the time, it is not caused by a serious medical problem. How bad your pain is does not always reflect the seriousness of the condition causing the pain.
Abdominal Pain Definition
- Everyone experiences abdominal pain from time to time. Other terms used to describe stomachache, tummy ache, gut ache and bellyache. Abdominal pain can be mild or severe. It may be continuous or come and go. Abdominal pain can be short-lived (acute) or occur over weeks and months (chronic).
What Causes The Abdominal Pain?
This pain can be caused by many conditions. However, the main causes are infection, abnormal growths, inflammation, and intestinal disorders.Infections in the throat, intestines, and blood can cause bacteria to enter your digestive tract, resulting in stomach pain. These infections may also cause changes in digestion, such as diarrhea or constipation.In women, cramps associated with menstruation are also a common source of lower abdominal pain.Other common causes of abdominal pain include:
- constipation
- diarrhea
- gastroenteritis (the flu)
- acid reflux (when stomach contents leak backward into the esophagus, causing heartburn and other symptoms)
- vomiting
- kidney infection
- stress