Possible accompanying symptoms
The abdominal pain can be accompanied by very different symptoms. This depends on the type and severity of the underlying disease. Harmless intestinal disorders can be accompanied by diarrhoea, constipation, vomiting, nausea, loud intestinal noises, abdominal cramps and fever.
In the longer term, weakness, feelings of fainting, weight loss and other symptoms that indicate impaired digestion may follow. Warning symptoms for potentially life-threatening and dangerous diseases are extremely severe pain, restricted bowel movement for several days, bulging abdomen, fluid in the abdomen, strong abdominal wall defences, blood in the stool or high fever. Behind this can be diseases that are associated with damage to the intestinal walls, such as a tumour disease or chronic inflammatory intestinal diseases.
Severe pain and restricted bowel movement, on the other hand, suggest the suspicion of a life-threatening intestinal obstruction. Gas accumulations are a normal and healthy by-product of digestion. They escape from the intestine in the form of slight flatulence, which can be very unpleasant for those affected, as they can either be foul-smelling or, if they are forced to be held, can lead to abdominal pain and a painful bloated stomach.
Behind increased flatulence there is usually consumed food that the intestines cannot digest well, which leads to increased formation of gases by the intestinal enzymes. Known triggers of flatulence are legumes or fibre-rich foods. Carbonated drinks, creatine or the increased swallowing of air can also trigger increased flatulence.
More rarely, food intolerances are behind the flatulence. For example, lactose intolerance or fructose intolerance can manifest itself as flatulence. The flatulence can sometimes cause pain by stretching the intestines.
It is not recommended to keep the flatulence in these cases. Diarrhoea is a symptom of many different diseases. If diarrhoea is accompanied by abdominal pain, it is usually a symptom of increased intestinal movement, also known as intestinal cramps.
Due to the disease causing the diarrhoea, the body tries to move the stool out of the body as quickly as possible, which is why the movements of the intestine usually increase in diarrhoea cases. The position of the body does not usually play a role in the abdominal pain that occurs. Sometimes an improvement can be achieved by changing position to lying down or from lying down to standing, if flatulence occurs in addition to diarrhoea.
The respective cause responsible for the occurrence of the complaints can be very different. Frequently, gastro-intestinal infections with diarrhoea and abdominal pain occur. These can be caused by viruses as well as bacteria and often do not require any therapy.
Food intolerances, such as lactose intolerance, are also increasingly responsible for the occurrence of diarrhoea and abdominal pain. If symptoms recur frequently, irritable bowel syndrome should also be considered and a targeted diagnosis carried out. Abdominal pain and back pain can interact with each other.
Typically, complaints of the abdominal organs can radiate into the back and mistakenly present themselves as back pain. More rarely, diseases of the spinal column can also be perceived as abdominal pain. The close proximity of the spinal column to abdominal organs such as the gastrointestinal tract means that strong movements, flatulence, swelling, enlargement or tumours of the intestine can put pressure on the spinal column and cause localised pain. Therefore, if back pain persists without any recognisable disease of the spinal column, a disease of the intestine or other abdominal organs should always be considered.
