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Abdominal Pain Symptoms - Left and Right Sided Abdominal Pain

Abdominal pain symptoms discussed. Learn causes of left and right sided abdominal pain and its management.

Symptoms of abdominal pain are very common. Here I would like to discuss areas of the abdomen in relation to the sort of abdominal pain problems that can occur. When looking at abdominal pain causes, it is best to split them in to left and right sided causes. Below I will give you examples of left sided abdominal pain and right sided abdominal pain, but first I would like to define what abdominal pain symptoms are

What Are Abdominal Pain Symptoms?

Abdominal pain is often described as stomach ache, spasm,‘discomfort’ or severe pain. It is a common cause of hospital admission and can be associated with a variety of other symptoms such as fever, nausea, vomiting and change in bowel habit. There are many different causes, some of which you maybe surprised to know as the pain might not even originate from your abdomen!

So, next I am going to give you a list of causes of abdominal pain symptoms. I will split them in to left and right sided abdominal pain causes (I will further split right sided in to lower right abdominal pain causes too for a more focused view). This list is to give you some idea of causes, but the bottom line when you have abdominal pain is to have it investigated and I will discuss this latter on for you.

Right Sided Abdominal Pain Causes

Cholecystitis - an inflammation of your gallbladder. This is usually due to gallstones, although it can occur without when it is known as acalculus cholecystitis. The pain is in the right upper abdomen radiating through to the back and sometimes the shoulder. It is often associated with nausea, vomiting, sometimes change in bowel habit and fever.

Liver pain - lots of causes, but broadly divided in to hepatitis (or inflammation of the liver due to various causes including infection, alcohol, drugs and others) or liver capsule pain from infection or tumours usually.

Bowel pain - again lots of causes including infections, inflammatory causes (IBD), Irritable Bowel Syndrome, tumours and other rarer causes.

Kidney tract - renal stones and infections being the most common although tumours can also cause this.

Musculoskeletal pain - referred pain from your back and muscle pain can give rise to right sided abdominal pain symptoms.

Vascular causes - vascular means blood vessel causes. This is usually split in to vascular leaking as in ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm or due to poor blood flow or "ischaemic" abdominal pain.

Referred pain - referred pain can occur from various sites including the heart (heart attacks, pericarditis) or the lung for example pneumonia or a collapsed lung (pneumothorax).

Now, more specifically I would like to give you a list of causes of lower right sided abdominal pain symptoms. Some of these are also in the right sided abdominal pain causes section, but there are other more specific causes too:

Lower right sided abdominal pain may include:

Viral or Bacterial Gastroenteritis ( stomach flu symptoms )

Acute inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s disease, Ulcerative Colitis)

Appendicitis - Appendix abdominal pain can start in the left side of the abdomen or midline, localising to the right lower abdomen as symptoms progress. The abdominal pain maybe associated symptoms of nausea, vomiting and fever, but it can be very difficult determine for certain that it is appendix pain. It's important to seek early help from a medical practitioner if you display any of these symptoms of appendix abdominal pain.

IBS or Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Ischaemic Colitis (Usually in the elderly)- often associated with diarrhea which can be bloody, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and fever. A potentially life threatening condition requiring early medical intervention.

Tumours – Bowel cancer, rare tumours such as carcinoid.

Urinary tract infection/UTI

Kidney or renal stones

Hydronephrosis (Dilated ureter or urine tube due to various causes)

Renal Tumours

Period symptoms

Mittelschmertz syndrome - Mid-cycle bleeding into the fallopian tube.

Fibroids

Ovarian Cyst

Ectopic pregnancy

Endometritis (Inflamed womb lining)

Endometriosis - Abnormal womb tissue outside of the uterus.

Leaking abdominal aortic aneurysm - usually in the elderly

Acute bowel ischaemia (lack of blood flow to the bowel usually due to blood clot)

Portal/Hepatic vein thrombosis - blood clot in the main vein to/from the liver.

Retroperitoneal bleeding of various cause

Radiation of Lumbar back pain

Neuropathic pain - nerve pain

Left Sided Abdominal Pain

Lower left abdominal pain may be due to any of the above, but may also be caused by:

Diverticulitis Symptoms

Lower left abdominal pain symptoms may be due to any of the above, but may also be caused by:

Splenic pain from enlargement or infarction

Pancreatitis - Inflamed pancreas due to many causes, the most common being alcohol and gallstones.

Investigation Of Abdominal Pain Symptoms

There are many investigations for abdominal pain symptoms. The type of investigation really depends on your doctors clinical suspicion. Most people with abdominal pain will receive some basic investigations after your doctor has taken a thorough history and examined you. These include blood tests and a check of your urine. Other tests may include an ultrasound or more complex tests. I have outlined a few of these below for you:

Colonoscopy

A colonoscopy is a flexible camera test of the large bowel or colon. It is used to investigate a change in your bowel habit associated with abdominal pain symptoms sometimes. You can learn more about this and watch a video of the procedure by going to the colonoscopy procedure

page.

CT Colonography

CT or computer tomography is a special x-ray test to look at your bowel and abdomen. It is a good way of picking up polyps or tumours as well as other bowel conditions. Just go to CT colonography page to find out more now!

Barium Enema

A barium enema is a specialist x-ray test to look in to your large bowel. It involves passing a milky x-ray dye or barium in to the large bowel and then taking x-rays to look for strictures or narrowings caused by tumours, polyps and other conditions. Learn more by going to the barium enema page now!

Treatment of Abdominal Pain Symptoms

Treatment of abdominal pain symptoms depends on the underlying cause. The most important treatment is pain relief and this can be anything from simple analgesics such as Paracetamol or Tylenol through to very powerful analgesics such as Morphine.

Of course, the most important most important thing is to have a diagnosis so that treatment whether with drugs or surgery can be started.

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Learn about diverticulitis symptoms, a common cause of abdominal pain symptoms. Just go to Diverticulitis symptoms now!

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