What Is Abdominal Pain?

Abdominal pain refers to discomfort/uncomfortable sensations that you feel in your belly area. Just about everybody, at one time or another, will get a bellyache.

Most causes of abdominal pain aren’t reasons to worry, and your doctor can easily diagnose and treat the problem. But sometimes, it can figure out a serious illness that needs medical attention.

Abdominal Pain on Left Side

 

The location of your abdominal pain can be a clue to its cause. If your pain happens on your lower left side, the most common culprit is diverticulitis of the colon. This is a complication of diverticulosis, a condition in which small pouches develop on the lining of your intestines. As these pouches become inflamed (a condition called diverticulitis), you’ll likely have severe abdominal pain. Irritable bowel syndrome also may cause pause pain in your lower left abdomen.

Pain in your upper left abdomen has many possible causes, including:

Inflammation of your pancreas, called pancreatitis
Pancreatic cancer
Enlarged spleen, called splenomegaly
Inflammation of your stomach lining, called gastritis

Pain in this part of your abdomen can also start in your chest because of:

Heartburn
Angina, or chest pain caused by coronary artery disease
Chest pain not related to your heart
Heart attack
Inflammation of the tissue that surrounds your heart, called pericarditis
Pneumonia
Inflammation of the lining of your lungs, called pleurisy
Pulmonary embolism

Abdominal Pain on Right Side