It can be a real pain when your stomach hurts for a week. In such a situation, it is necessary to seek help from a qualified doctor as soon as possible, but this is not always realistic - for example, a person may be far from civilization. A difficult situation arises when a tourist falls ill in another country and access to local doctors is not only expensive, but also difficult due to the language barrier.
Should I be worried?
If your stomach hurts a lot, this probably indicates a serious illness, and it is difficult to predict which one - such symptoms are characteristic of a wide list of pathologies. It is not always the pain of the stomach that manifests itself with pain, the pathology can be completely different, only pointing to itself through this symptom. To understand what the reason is, you need to go to the doctor and describe in as much detail as possible what kind of pain syndrome you are worried about. Precisely according tosensations can often significantly limit the list of possible states of the patient.
If the stomach of a child, an adult, has an acute pain, an ulcer is possible. In such a situation, the sensations are sudden, sharp, very strong. The same goes for pancreatitis. Strong and sharp pain is possible with a chemical burn, poisoning. Sometimes patients describe the sensations, comparing them to a knife wound. This is more typical of ulcer perforation. A peptic ulcer can manifest itself as a burning sensation. The same is true for gastritis. The initial, chronic form of these pathologies often manifests itself as aching pain, dull, exhausting.
What to look out for?
If the stomach hurts, the pain in the stomach becomes stronger after eating or in a hungry state, it is highly likely that the cause is gastritis. Cramps, discomfort, reminiscent of contractions, may indicate an ulcer or inflammation in the intestines. The syndrome is activated more often during a night's rest or shortly after a meal (after an hour or several). It also happens that the pain is sharp, but quickly passes, as if it were shooting, and the duration of the attack is a few seconds. More often this is characteristic of inhalation or when changing the position of the body. The reason is in the spasmodic reactions of the diaphragm, provoked by insufficient blood flow, inflammatory processes.
If a woman's, a man's stomach hurts, the sensations are weak, aching, do not stop for a long time, there is a high probability of a malignant neoplasm. Similar symptoms manifest themselves as gastric polyps. If ametastases penetrate the pancreas, the nature of the pain changes to girdle. But infection can be suspected by the pain of a high degree of saturation, reminiscent of contractions. Colitis and other bowel diseases often manifest themselves first as a severe pain syndrome in the upper abdomen. After a couple of days, the pain becomes weaker, but does not completely disappear. Observing such symptoms, it is necessary to make an appointment with the doctor as soon as possible to formulate an accurate diagnosis.
Problems and Manifestations
It's not always easy to understand why your stomach hurts. Pain in the abdomen of increased intensity, localized near the navel, lasting several hours, shifting to the abdomen on the right, slightly above the original area, suggest appendicitis.
In irritable bowel syndrome, the patient also suffers from stomach pain. Often the child has a stomach ache with intestinal obstruction. The syndrome is provoked by injuries, aortic dissection, vascular intestinal thrombosis and ischemia, and nervous pathologies. Perhaps the reason is an allergy.
Should I panic?
If there are pains in the sides of the abdomen, at the bottom or at the top, with any nature of sensations, you should make an appointment with the doctor as soon as possible. Pathologies that manifest themselves with such sensations are, for the most part, quite serious, and medical care is needed very urgently. For example, survival in appendicitis, ulcerative perforation, intoxication, ischemia directly depends on how quickly the patient was helped. Sometimes it's not a questionhours rather than minutes, delay can lead to the most negative results. If the pain is very severe, there is no way to go to the hospital, you need to call an ambulance.
What to do?
Feeling the pain in the lower abdomen (and with any other localization), it is necessary to get an appointment with the doctor as soon as possible. Self-medication with such sensations is strictly prohibited, there is a high probability of worsening the situation up to death. Even an experienced qualified doctor cannot always clearly articulate, only during the initial examination, what is the cause of the pain syndrome.
Primary care that can be provided for pain in the lower abdomen (and other localization) is limited to a rather small set of measures. You should call an ambulance or go to the clinic if the condition allows, and for relief, you can take a spasm reliever or painkiller. If heartburn occurs, special drugs from the antacid group will come to the rescue - they lower the level of acidity. Help can be provided by drugs that stop the secretory function - thanks to them, acid will be produced in a smaller volume. It must be understood that sometimes such measures are not effective, since heartburn is provoked by various factors. There is a risk of worsening the condition when using these groups of drugs.
What will help me?
If there are abdominal pains (in women, men), it is necessary to use medications very carefully - their use is associated with a considerable risk. The impact of such a toolcan significantly change the symptoms of the disease, which will complicate the diagnosis for the doctor. The most modern means are really effective, their use allows you to stop the pain syndrome, and the duration of action is often quite long, so the patient believes that he has recovered. This opinion is erroneous, the absence of symptoms does not indicate the disappearance of the root cause. Resorting to an anesthetic, without going to the doctor, the patient is wasting his time. Elimination of the effect does not stop the cause, and the condition gradually worsens.
It is generally accepted that abdominal pain can be eliminated with a heating pad. With the exception of some specific cases, this method of solving the problem is strictly prohibited. For example, if the cause of the syndrome is inflammation associated with the separation of pus, additional heating will significantly worsen the patient's condition. A heating pad will also have a strong negative effect on internal bleeding. The disease will progress faster, the condition will worsen rapidly.
What to tell the doctor?
When you get to see a doctor, wait for the ambulance to arrive, you should describe your condition in as much detail as possible. To begin with, they localize sensations, say, for example, that the lower abdomen hurts (or upper, right, left). The better the doctor will imagine what the patient feels, the more effectively he will help. It would not be superfluous to remember what circumstances preceded the appearance of sensations - what was eaten, done, at what time of day the pain arose, how much time had passed since the last meal. The doctor must imagine what kind of sensation, howthey are strong, whether the focus shifts, how the syndrome is corrected over time.
In order for the doctor to be able to establish as accurately as possible why abdominal pain bothers, the patient should remember everything eaten in the last couple of days. This applies to both food and all drinks, as well as medicines, including vitamins, biological supplements. If there are additional symptoms, it should also be voiced as accurately as possible. Doctors are informed if the pain was accompanied by nausea, stool disorders, vomiting, bleeding, gas formation, belching. Sometimes there is an additional rash, fever, dizziness, heart rhythm is lost. This should also be reported to the doctor in order to formulate an accurate diagnosis.
What's important?
If you are concerned about abdominal pain, information about the accompanying pain syndrome, for example, in muscle tissue or joints, will help the doctor make a correct diagnosis. If the patient has recently experienced natural, pathological changes in he alth, this should also be warned. Important nuances include menopause, childbirth, feeding a child, bearing a fetus. Diseases, nervous experiences, overwork, a sudden change in weight - all this will help the doctor determine what is the cause of the pain syndrome. Anxiety, depression, lifestyle adjustments can play a role.
In order for the doctor to quickly determine the cause of abdominal pain, all important information must be presented in a systematic way. When going to the clinic or waiting for the arrival of an ambulance, it is necessarythink through all the important aspects, you can even write them down on paper so that nothing escapes your attention.
Correct diagnosis
Just knowing that the lower abdomen hurts, no pathology can be established. Correct diagnosis is a complex undertaking. First, the doctor collects an anamnesis, interviewing the patient, examining him externally, palpation, listening to the heart and lungs. Based on the information received, a preliminary diagnosis is formulated and which instrumental, laboratory tests are needed to clarify the condition. Usually prescribe a test of urine, feces, blood, gastric juice. To make the results as accurate as possible, ultrasound, CT, MRI, contrast X-ray are prescribed.
These measures in most cases make it possible to understand why pain in the lower abdomen developed in women, men (as well as in other localization options). In rare cases, there is a need for additional measures, for example, laparoscopy. This is a technology for examining the insides of a person through a small probe inserted through an incision into the internal organs. The probe is equipped with a camera that transmits the image to the monitor, where the material is recorded.
How to treat?
If the stomach hurts (during pregnancy, during menstruation, at any other time), treatment should be selected, focusing on the causes that provoked the sensations, which means that only a doctor can choose adequate measures of influence. However, some well-known and widely applicable techniques are worth considering.
Heartburn
Pain in this condition is more often felt in the upper abdomen, near the sternum, a little behind. The syndrome is provoked by the ingestion of substances in the stomach into the esophagus. This is most often observed shortly before a meal. Heartburn is not an independent disease, but only signals other pathologies. Perhaps the cause is gastritis, peptic ulcer, cholecystitis. To determine a specific source, it is necessary to undergo a specialized study.
As can be seen from medical statistics, people often take manifestations of cardiac pathology for heartburn. Such pain in the abdomen can be given angina pectoris, high blood pressure. Symptoms, despite all the similarities, have nothing to do with the digestive system. To get rid of heartburn, you should treat the underlying disease, as well as switch to the right diet, eating food up to five times daily in small quantities. Spicy, fatty, alcohol, spices, smoked, s alted, carbonated, legumes are completely prohibited. Do not eat fiber-rich foods.
Appendicitis
Sometimes severe pain in the lower abdomen in women, men is provoked by inflammation of the appendix. This pathology develops very quickly, and the best results are brought by timely treatment. At present, appendicitis is one of the most common problems that people come to the emergency department to see surgeons. At the very beginning, this disease can easily be cured with medications,surgery is not required, but many simply do not pay attention to the symptoms, so you have to go through the operation. However, the forecasts are mostly favorable. Often, patients seek medical help a day after the onset of the acute phase and even later. Slightly less than one percent of these situations are fatal.
If your stomach hurts during pregnancy due to appendicitis, you should seek qualified help without delay. It must be remembered that the disease progresses very quickly, only three days are needed from the initial manifestation to gangrenous foci. Symptoms are often blurred, a fifth of all patients, even with tissue necrosis, feel only mild pain, which they do not pay attention to until the situation becomes critical.
Responsibility is the key to he alth
If your stomach hurts during menstruation, while carrying a fetus, suddenly, without any obvious reasons, you should seek specialized help as soon as possible. Delay in such a situation can end in failure, especially if the cause is toxicosis, peptic ulcer, infection. There are known cases of death provoked by such causes.
Sometimes, discomfort indicates only minor malfunctions in the body, but it is possible that very serious pathologies manifest themselves. For a non-specialist, it is not possible to determine what is the matter only by the symptoms, there is too much in common for different causes. Pain cannot be ignored. Reasonable and responsible approach - timelysee a qualified doctor.
Gastritis
This term is used to denote inflammatory processes that affect the mucous membranes of the gastric system. The cause of gastritis can be frequent and severe stress, adversely affecting colonies of microorganisms, metabolic problems, infectious diseases. Often, the abuse of alcohol, prolonged use of drugs leads to gastritis. Among the most common causes are autoimmune pathologies. Gastritis itself can provoke a stomach ulcer. When eliminating the symptoms of such a pathology, it is forbidden to use aspirin, ibuprofen. Despite the high effectiveness of these drugs as painkillers for this situation, they are not applicable, since they negatively affect the gastrointestinal mucosa. But adsorbents enveloping can bring benefits. If the disease is due to a bacterial infection, the doctor will prescribe a course of antimicrobial medications.
An important aspect of dealing with pain caused by gastritis is strict adherence to a therapeutic diet. Normally, the patient is forbidden to eat s alty, fried, spicy, fiber, any foods that stimulate fermentation. You can not drink milk, eat products based on it, bread and similar dishes. The ban also applies to a number of fruits, in particular grapes.
