What is abdominal pain?

Abdominal pain is discomfort that is located in the area of your body between your ribs and your pelvis.

The abdomen houses your vital organs including your stomach, small intestine, colon (large intestine), liver, gallbladder, pancreas, spleen, bladder and reproductive organs. Each of these organs plays a specific role in your body and is important to your health and well being. When one, or several organs, are not working well or inflamed, you can experience abdominal pain. Pain can be caused by many different reasons and each organ can have hundreds of different reasons to hurt!

When to see a doctor for abdominal pain?

I recommend seeking medical attention if your abdominal pain is new, will not go away, or is interfering in your ability to enjoy your life. For instance, if you have pain every time you eat, it’s time to see a doctor. Or if you are unable to participate in activities or hobbies due to pain, then it is time to see a doctor. While some abdominal pain issues can be addressed in an outpatient setting such as our clinic, I recommend going to an emergency room (ER) if your pain is severe, unrelenting or associated with fevers.

Causes of abdominal pain

Think of your abdomen as a map. Each organ that is housed within the abdomen is housed in a specific location and can cause pain in that location. For instance, the gallbladder is on the right side of your abdomen, just below your rib cage. If the gallbladder is inflamed, it can cause pain just below your rib cage on the right side of your body. Here is a small sampling of other causes of abdominal pain

Abdominal pain – right upper quadrant

  • Cholecystitis (inflamed gallbladder)
  • Enlarged liver
  • Ulcer in the small intestine
  • Appendicitis (inflamed appendix)

Abdominal pain – (middle of your abdomen, where the right and left sides of your ribs meet)

  • Stomach ulcer
  • Gastroparesis (slow stomach)
  • Gastritis (inflamed stomach)
  • Cholecystitis (inflamed gallbladder)
  • Ulcer in the small intestine
  • Pancreas (pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer)
  • Crohn’s disease

Abdominal pain – left upper quadrant

  • Enlarged spleen
  • Inflamed colon
  • Diverticulitis
  • Stomach ulcer
  • Ulcer in the small intestine

Abdominal pain – left lower quadrant

  • Spastic colon
  • Ischemic colitis (poor blood flow to the colon)
  • Diverticulitis
  • Ovarian torsion
  • Irritable bowel syndrome
  • Ulcerative colitis
  • Crohn’s disease
  • Endometriosis

Abdominal pain – right lower quadrant

  • Diverticulitis
  • Appendicitis
  • Ischemic colitis (poor blood flow to the colon)
  • Irritable bowel syndrome
  • Colon cancer
  • Crohn’s disease

As you can see, some organs can cause pain in multiple different locations!  That map has some fuzzy borders

How does a gastroenterologist diagnose abdominal pain?

The above list just scratches the surface of the causes of abdominal pain! It is my job as your gastroenterologist to identify the cause of your abdominal pain. In our clinic, I like to start with a thorough history where we discuss different aspects of your pain such as when it started, where it is affecting you, long it has been there, what makes it better, what makes it worse and other characteristics of the pain. After a thorough history and physical exam, we decide on which diagnostic tests, such as CT scan, MRI, blood work or procedure, is the best next step in figuring out why you are hurting.

Abdominal pain treatments

Just as there are hundreds of different causes of abdominal pain, there are hundreds of different treatments for abdominal pain. Figuring out the “why” to your abdominal pain is important in knowing the “how” to make you feel better. Some causes of pain require medications, some respond to diets and some causes of pain may even require surgery.