Whether it is a mild stomach ache, sharp pain or stomach cramps, abdominal pain has numerous causes. These include:
- Indigestion
- Constipation
- Stomach "flu"
- Menstrual cramps
- Food poisoning
- Food allergies
- Gas
- Lactose intolerance
- Ulcers
- Pelvic inflammatory disease
- Hernia
- Gallstones
- Kidney stones
- Endometriosis
- Crohn's disease
- Urinary tract infection
- Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
Abdominal pain is caused by inflammation (for example, appendicitis, diverticulitis,colitis ), by stretching or distention of an organ (for example, obstruction of the intestine, blockage of a bile duct by gallstones, swelling of the liver with hepatitis), or by loss of the supply of blood to an organ (for example, ischemic colitis).
To complicate matters, however, abdominal pain also can occur without inflammation, distention or loss of blood supply. An important example of this latter type of pain is theirritable bowel syndrome (IBS). It is not clear what causes the abdominal pain in IBS, but it is believed to be due either to abnormal contractions of the intestinal muscles (for example, spasm) or abnormally sensitive nerves within the intestines that give rise to painful sensations inappropriately (visceral hyper-sensitivity). These latter types of pain are often referred to as functional pain because no recognizable (visible) causes for the pain have been found - at least not yet.
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