03 Mar Potential Causes of Chronic Abdominal Pain
Everyone will experience abdominal pain at least once in their lives. Whether it comes from having the stomach flu or eating something bad, we all know the feeling. Abdominal pain often comes with nausea, and some cramping, and typically makes us reach for pain relief medicines. However, some people suffer from chronic abdominal cramping. This can be a difficult ailment to diagnose accurately because there are so many things that can go wrong in the abdomen. As a result, it becomes a very difficult ailment to treat accurately.
Chronic abdominal pain can come out of nowhere. It is often associated with the pattern of bowel movements, and patients may notice issues with constipation or diarrhea. The pain people feel is intermittent, and can come in the form of a dull ache and general discomfort, or stabbing pain. This can make day to day life very difficult. Patients may say no to social activities because they never know when the pain is going to hit. And, while medication may be able to help with the onset of pain, it is often difficult for these patients to find preventative treatments for pain.
When chronic abdominal pain occurs, it oftentimes becomes the sole focus of a person’s life. This often happens because there is an increased sensitivity in the nerves leading from the stomach to the brain. This can lead people to miss work and skip social functions. It can greatly impact a person’s quality of life in a negative way. It is also shockingly more common than expected. Abdominal pain like this is often intertwined with a person’s emotional life.
Patients who are suffering from chronic abdominal pain should visit their gastroenterologist. Oftentimes, normal abdominal pain can be ruled out by finding the underlying cause and making the adjustments needed. However, after tests and trying different treatments, certain patients will still experience chronic abdominal pain. It is at this point that patients may resort to alternative treatments offered by pain specialists such as regenerative medicine. This typically takes the form of various nerve blocks. Treating patients with nerve blocks for stomach pain helps stop the transmission of pain signals from the stomach to the brain and back again. While these are not permanent, they can greatly help patients experience less pain for longer periods of time.
Abdominal pain can be minimal or can be very severe. In most cases, abdominal pain is not serious and can be treated with over the counter medication. However, after everything else has been tried, if abdominal pain still persists, it is time to visit a pain specialist in Chicago . Pain specialists are able to provide patients with alternative treatments not normally available in normal doctors’ offices. There are a variety of different nerve blocks that pain management specialists can give to patients who are experiencing chronic abdominal pain. While these nerve blocks are not permanent, they can give patients some relief and allow them to live a better quality of life with significantly less pain than prior to the treatment.