Pain in the stomach and in the solar plexus is a common symptom that indicates serious he alth problems. In some cases, the cause of this condition is physical trauma. The surgeon, traumatologist, gastroenterologist, therapist are engaged in the diagnosis of such pain syndromes. Pain in the stomach and in the area of the solar plexus can be triggered by injuries, neuritis, diseases of the peritoneal organs (stomach, intestines, pancreas, spleen, liver, etc.).
What is epigastric pain?
The solar plexus is the largest bundle of nerve endings in the human body. That is why in almost all martial arts this area is considered the most traumatic: one hit, and the enemy is already on the ground.
But in some cases, pain in the stomach and in the solar plexus area is not associated with injuries. She pursues a person on an empty stomach and after eating, in the morning and before bedtime. This state, one way or another, at least once in a lifetime overtookeach person. Pain in the solar plexus - what is it? An unpleasant sensation in the middle of the abdomen, between the ribs, Where the stomach is located inside - in the center of the body. Slightly to the left is the spleen, and to the right is the liver.
By the nature of the manifestation of pain in the solar plexus (in the epigastric region) can be sharp, painful, sharp, strong, or, on the contrary, dull, rare, aching. In some cases, the pain is paroxysmal in nature. Sometimes it happens from time to time. But in any case, this condition causes discomfort to the patient.
Why does the solar plexus hurt? There are a lot of reasons: it can be neuralgia, problems with the organs of the abdominal cavity or urinary system, overwork, chronic stress, physical overstrain, solaritis, chronic pancreatitis.
Excessive exercise
Physical education and sports benefit he alth. But with excessive zeal during weightlifting, pain can develop. Powerlifting and working with serious weights is a rather traumatic activity. Beginners often perform barbell exercises without proper technique and without the supervision of an experienced trainer, which leads to many he alth problems.
Pain in the solar plexus after exercise is also not uncommon. For example, if you carry heavy building materials from place to place for several hours or unload bulky goods, you should not be surprised at the appearance of pain in the solar plexus. What is it and how to deal with it in thiscase?
The first rule of treating pain in the epigastric region after physical work and weight lifting is complete rest. Bed rest for two to three days is necessary for the body to recover from overwork. If you do not follow this rule and continue to process, complications are possible (development of a hernia, in women - prolapse of the uterus, inflammation of the nerves of the solar plexus).
Injury to the plexus itself
Physical lesions of the solar plexus area are accompanied by a characteristic pain symptom. The pain is sharp, sharp, excruciating. Often, after an injury, the patient cannot straighten up and stand up straight - the pain is so strong.
The most common causes of injury are:
- Punch or blunt object in the abdomen. Often occurs in boxers, karatekas, in street fights and brawls. It is necessary to contact a traumatologist for examination - internal organs may be damaged.
- When playing playing sports - a ball flying at high speed hits the epigastric region.
- Women pulling the seat belt too tight or wearing corsets.
The nature of pain in physical trauma to the solar plexus is burning, sharp, sharp. You should not suppress the pain with analgesics and anesthetics - it is better to see a traumatologist and make sure that there is no damage to the internal organs. First aid for such conditions: try to lay the injuredman on his side, wait for the arrival and advice on treatment from the ambulance doctors. Do not eat or drink water until the patient has been examined by a traumatologist.
Neuritis and neuralgia
With neuritis, patients often experience pain in the solar plexus. What is this disease and can it be treated? This is an inflammatory process in the nerve endings of the solar plexus. Neuritis occurs both in people who lead a predominantly passive lifestyle, and in patients who constantly expose their body to excessive physical exertion. Also, neuritis can be provoked by chronic diseases of the abdominal organs, abdominal surgical interventions, and taking certain medications.
If the cause of the ailment is neuritis, then the following symptoms are typical:
- paroxysmal sharp pain in the stomach and solar plexus;
- pain is concentrated between the navel and sternum, may radiate to the lower back or lower abdomen;
- often hot flashes and feelings of heat, fever, tremors develop in parallel;
- pain is often aggravated by exercise and stress.
Diagnosis and treatment of pain in the epigastric region, provoked by neuritis, is done by a neurologist.
Neuralgia causes pain in the solar plexus, provoked by irritation of the nerve endings. The most common causes of solar plexus neuralgia are trauma, infectious and parasitic diseases.
By the nature of pain, sheresembles neuritis. Only an experienced neuropathologist can distinguish between these two conditions by a combination of factors associated with neuralgic diseases.
Solarite is a common cause of pain in the epigastric region
Solarite is a disease in which an acute inflammatory process develops in the solar plexus. Pain that radiates to the lower back, lower abdomen and back is a characteristic symptom of solaritis. The nature of discomfort is always painful. The pain is sharp, boring, burning. Most patients are forced to resort to strong anesthetic drugs - but this approach to therapy does not affect the cause of the disease, and the pain returns.
Solarite can provoke the following conditions:
- hypothermia;
- low immunity (including human immunodeficiency syndrome);
- chronic stress;
- excessive exercise;
- recently had a serious infectious disease;
- surgery, general anesthesia, implantation.
In the absence of solarite treatment, the pain will intensify and, as a result, severe pathologies of the nervous system may develop. Treatment requires a course of physiotherapy, nootropics, exercise therapy, giving up bad habits and changing lifestyle.
Diseases of the stomach and intestines
Pain in the stomach and solar plexus area is often triggered by the following problems with the gastrointestinal tract:
- From the side of the stomach - gastritis, erosion, peptic ulcer, tumors. The nature of the pain varies greatly depending on the disease that provoked it. In case of problems with the mucous membrane of the fundus of the stomach, pain appears after eating. If the dislocation of the problem is located closer to the duodenal sphincter, it occurs on an empty stomach. With gastritis of various etiologies, pain, as a rule, has a pulling, implicit character.
- In chronic duodenitis (inflammation of the duodenum), pain in the solar plexus is also characteristic. What is this disease - duodenitis? This is a pathology of the upper intestine, most often provoked by malnutrition and a low tone of the immune system. With duodenitis, there are pulling, excruciating pains in the solar plexus area on an empty stomach. It is possible to increase the temperature to 37-38 degrees, weakness, chills, dizziness, reduced performance.
- On the part of the small intestine, pain in the epigastric region is most often caused by intestinal infections, adhesions in the abdominal region, neoplasms of a different nature, massive helminthic and other parasitic infestations. Accurate diagnosis can be carried out by a gastroenterologist after endoscopy, ultrasound and a biochemical blood test. In some cases, it is necessary to resort to magnetic resonance therapy to clarify the diagnosis.
Pain in the solar plexus caused by an inflammatory process in the pancreas
It is worth noting separately the pancreas as the cause of pain in the epigastric region. Most often this happens whenchronic pancreatitis. This is an inflammation of the gland, which leads to discomfort, pain and problems with digestion of food. With this disease, acute pain is characteristic under the solar plexus and on the right side of the hypochondrium. Many patients confuse this with unpleasant sensations in liver diseases. An experienced gastroenterologist can distinguish one condition from another. Usually, pain in liver problems is located clearly on the right side of the body, while pancreatitis is characterized by discomfort in the solar plexus zone.
Pain attacks most often overtake the patient after heavy meals of fatty foods and alcohol abuse. With proper nutrition and abstinence from alcohol, the pain completely disappears. Gastroenterologists will confirm that diet and a he althy lifestyle are the best therapy for chronic pancreatitis.
Where pain can be located and what it says
Patients complain that the pain occurs just above, below, to the right or to the left of the solar plexus. It rarely happens that an unpleasant sensation is stationed right in the center.
- Pain in the solar plexus, radiating to the back, occurs with pyelonephritis, discharge of sand and stones from the kidneys, in rare cases - with duodenitis.
- Pain in the upper part of the epigastric region extends to the lower chest, under the ribs. Most often, the cause of this condition is the pathology of the esophagus and diaphragm, heart disease.
- If pain is deployed belowsolar plexus, closer to the navel - then, most likely, the matter is in inflammatory processes in the organs of the urinary system. Also, sharp pain can be caused by proctitis, colitis, appendicitis (in this case, the pain can be located just below and to the left of the solar plexus).
Which doctor can help and prescribe treatment?
It will not be possible to independently conduct a competent diagnosis of the cause of pain in the abdomen and in the solar plexus. Too many diseases can cause this problem.
The first step is to contact a therapist and describe your condition (where the solar plexus hurts and the nature of the discomfort). The doctor prescribes biochemical and general blood tests. Also, most often he writes out a referral for EHD, ultrasound. It will be useful to conduct bacteriological studies of feces and urine, esophagogastroduodenoscopy, if necessary, x-ray of the stomach, esophagus, spleen, pancreas.
After receiving the results of these studies, we can more accurately talk about the causes of pain in the epigastric region. After that, the patient receives a referral for a consultation with a gastroenterologist (if problems with the stomach, intestines, liver, spleen have been identified) or a neuropathologist (if the pain has psychosomatic or neurological causes).
Treatment is not only medication: you should give up bad habits, reduce the intensity of physical activity, get better sleep. When diagnosing duodenitis, ulcers, neoplasms, gastritis, pancreatitis, a long and serious treatment is required, which includesa complete change in the patient's lifestyle and habits.
Folk methods of dealing with pain in the epigastric region
Some patients avoid visiting a doctor due to distrust or lack of time. You can try to stop the pain in the solar plexus with the following simple tips from traditional medicine:
- yarrow infusion (a teaspoon of chopped dry herb in a glass of boiling water) effectively relieves inflammation in the body and has a slight analgesic effect;
- hot bath for ten to twenty minutes has a myorealxing and sedative effect, it will help relieve pain in the epigastric region;
- you should stop eating fatty high-calorie foods and give preference to vegetables, fruits, rice and buckwheat dishes, vegetable broths.
- honey and bee products - a teaspoon on an empty stomach daily (honey is famous for its anti-inflammatory and mild anesthetic properties).
Doctors' advice: how to prevent pain in the solar plexus?
Neurologists recommend adjusting sleep patterns, overworking less and resting more. Chronic overwork and serious physical exertion become a catalyst for the development of neuritis and solaritis (and these are one of the common causes of neurological pain in the epigastric region).
Gastroenterologists recommend to stop drinking alcoholic beverages that provokedevelopment of chronic pancreatitis, problems with the mucous membrane of the stomach and esophagus. Ethanol has a detrimental effect on all organs of the gastrointestinal tract: do not underestimate its effect. Doctors also recommend improving nutrition: refuse to eat fatty high-calorie foods, fast food, fried and flour dishes and give preference to vegetables, fruits, rice and buckwheat dishes, vegetable broths.
Immunologists prescribe the following drugs for almost all of their drugs in the treatment of pain in the epigastric region:
- echinacea tincture;
- preparations, the main active ingredient of which is an extract from the ginseng root;
- immunomodulatory drugs, the action of which increases the body's resistance to infections and inflammatory processes.
For some diseases that provoke pain in the solar plexus, the therapist can prescribe antibacterial drugs, vitamin-mineral complexes, herbal infusions, immunomodulators.
