How to Determine If My Stomach Pain Is Serious?

Determining whether your abdomen’s pain is severe is challenging without an evaluation. However, some signs indicate that urgent medical attention is necessary. For instance, if your stomach is sensitive to touch or the concern is accompanied by high fever, persistent vomiting, or chest pain, you need assistance from a hospital.

Pregnant women and people that have recently undergone abdominal surgery should also consider abdominal pain severe. This article discusses information about whether your stomach pain is serious or how quickly you must seek medical care. We also provide tips to ease stomach pain when the causes are not serious.

When Does Stomach Pain Represent an Emergency?

Abdominal pain can represent a medical emergency if accompanied by the following symptoms. Abdominal tenderness to touch, extremely hard abdomen, coughing or vomiting blood, chest pain or pressure, and diarrhea.

You may also confront challenges when breathing besides dizziness, fainting, and the inability to perform bowel movements with the vomiting. You may also have neck and shoulder pain, vision changes, and pain starting near the belly button and moving toward the right, indicating signs of appendicitis and fever.

Occasionally the stomach pain is mild but worsens after a few hours, and the symptoms described may not develop until that time. If you have the above symptoms, you must call for an ambulance or have someone drive you to the emergency room near me without adopting the wait-and-see approach or taking medications for the discomfort. Instead, you must seek help from medical professionals immediately.

When abdominal pain is associated with these symptoms, it can become a life-threatening situation. Examples of such conditions include appendicitis, bowel obstruction, and a bowel perforation. Such emergencies cause immense pain making it essential to discuss the problem with a healthcare provider.

In addition, other circumstances that cause stomach pain and need help from a medical professional include pregnancy, pain starting within a week of abdominal surgery, pain emanating after a procedure on your stomach like endoscopy, having surgery on your digestive tract for gastric bypass, colostomy, or bubble resection, pain starting after abdominal trauma, rapid expansion of the abdomen, rectal or excessive vaginal bleeding, et cetera.

When Must You Contact a Healthcare Provider?

Some versions of stomach pain need immediate attention, while others can wait until you visit your healthcare provider to receive immediate care. It is challenging to determine what actions you must take. However, listening to your body and trusting your instincts is beneficial if you are unsure.

If you experience burning sensations when urinating, notice blood in the urine or feel the urgent need to urinate, pain and nausea after eating, diarrhea lasting for over five days, fever for three days or more exceeding 100°, loss of appetite, and pain worsening or not getting better within a couple of days need help from your healthcare provider. You must also contact a medical professional if you develop stomach pain while receiving cancer treatment.

Children’s Stomach Pains

Abdominal pain in children is common, and some reasons for the discomfort include constipation, stress, food allergies, indigestion, and severe cases like appendicitis in some cases. Abdominal pain lasting three hours or less is not severe. However, calling your healthcare provider immediately to receive urgent treatment is necessary if children experience other symptoms, such as diarrhea that can lead to dehydration or a fever exceeding 100.4° Fahrenheit.

Managing Stomach Pain

If the severity of your abdominal pain is not long-lasting or you don’t have the symptoms mentioned above, the pain may subside because it is often caused by minor problems. In these cases, the pain might result from foods you eat, providing relief if you wait a few hours for bowel movement or passing gas.

In addition, you can use the steps mentioned below to manage the discomfort. They are:

• Consider having clear liquids for a few hours.
• Try to remain hydrated if you have vomiting or diarrhea by taking small sips of fluids or electrolyte replacement beverages.
• Avoid challenging to digest foods besides alcohol and caffeine.
• Over-the-counter antacids can also help to relieve gas.
• A hot water bottle or heating pad on your stomach for 30 minutes also helps with abdominal pain.

The above steps may help relieve or improve stomach pain in a day or two. However, if they don’t contact your healthcare provider to receive treatment for the condition.

Stomach pain always indicates you have an urgent medical issue like appendicitis, blockages of leaks in your intestines, et cetera. Likewise, other symptoms accompanying stomach pain show signs of a medical emergency, confirming that you must visit an emergency room immediately. However, if you have a fever and diarrhea, contact your doctor to receive treatment for the health condition.

If you have stomach pain with the symptoms described, Express Emergency Room Temple provides the treatment you need after evaluating your situation. Consult them without wasting time or considering alternative methods to overcome the pain because you might have a life-threatening condition that needs treatment from medical professionals.