Definition – What is stomach pain with diarrhea?
Stomach pain is a term used to describe stomach pain, which is mainly located in the upper abdomen. The stomach is usually located in the upper part of the abdomen, just below the ribcage, right in the middle. Depending on how full the stomach is, it can also expand a little to the left or right.
Pain in the upper abdomen is therefore referred to as stomach pain, which is mainly in the middle, but occasionally also slightly to the left or right (epigastral = next to the stomach). Diarrhea, on the other hand, refers to a change in bowel movement. This results in an increased number of bowel movements per day (at least 3/day) as well as an increased weight of the bowel movement, which is usually caused by the high water content. This makes the bowel movement particularly fluid during diarrhoea. If the two complaints occur in combination, one speaks of stomach pain with diarrhoea.
Causes
The causes of stomach pain and diarrhea are many and varied. However, they are mostly diseases that affect the entire digestive tract, as this is the only way to cause discomfort in both the stomach and the bowel movements. Classically, stomach pain occurs when, for example, one has eaten spoiled food.
Bacteria (e.g. Salmonella or Campylobacter) that cause the stomach pain have usually already grown in the food. The first defence reaction of the body is often vomiting in order to get the bacteria out of the digestive tract. If this is not sufficient, changes in the bowel movement also occur.
The food in the intestine is hardly ever dehydrated, but the bacterial inflammation causes more water to enter the food pulp. As a result, the bowel movement becomes very fluid and diarrhoea occurs. The advantage of diarrhoea is that the food pulp passes through the digestive tract very quickly, so the bacteria have less time to cause damage in the body.
Thus, both the stomach pain and the diarrhea serve as a defense mechanism of the body. Other causes can be, for example, small damage to the stomach lining (a so-called ulcer = stomach ulcer). This can lead to bleeding in the damaged stomach lining.
The blood in the stool can also cause diarrhoea. Typically, the stool is particularly sticky and dark to black in color. Stress is a trigger for many diseases that should not be neglected.
There are basically two mechanisms that can cause diarrhea and stomach pain. Stress can cause an accumulation of stomach ulcers (ulcer). This damage to the stomach mucosa leads to stomach pain and at the same time to changes in the bowel movements with sticky dark to black diarrhoea.
Antibiotics are a common cause of diarrhoea. The antibiotics are supposed to be directed against bacteria that are harmful to the body and cause illness. However, the bacteria naturally occurring in the intestine are also damaged by the antibiotics.
This leads to an imbalance in this so-called intestinal flora, which can cause temporary changes in the bowel movements such as diarrhoea. Less typical, on the other hand, are stomach aches when antibiotics are administered. Nevertheless, some people also react to antibiotics with unspecific abdominal pain or stomach ache. In order to avoid long-term damage to the intestinal flora, antibiotics should be given as sparingly as possible and only for a short period of time. Especially people who suffer from diarrhea and stomach pain due to antibiotics should not receive antibiotic therapy for longer than necessary.
