These might include angina or cardiac failure or even a heart attack (myocardial infarction). Other serious causes of abdominal pain might include kidney pain and kidney stones or infection, gall bladder pain from gallstones or life-threatening problems with the large blood vessels like an abdominal aortic aneurysm (dangerous swelling of the aorta).Ĭardiac disease can also cause stomach pain. More serious causes of stomach pains might be appendicitis, causes of bowel obstruction or rupture like hernias or trauma. Another common cause of stomach pain is acid reflux, which causes heartburn. More common and milder causes of stomach pain might include constipation, vomiting, diarrhoea, gastroenteritis, vomiting and stress. This means the pain can continue for much longer than expected and in some of those cases chronic stomach pain can be difficult to treat. Chronic stomach pain can persist in people that get acute stomach pain. This is called subacute stomach pain if it lasts between 4 and 12 weeks.Ĭhronic stomach pain, on the other hand, lasts for 3 months or longer, even after the initial injury or underlying cause of pain has been treated. Stomach pain is often short term or acute, and lasts a few hours or days. If it becomes chronic it can sometimes be hard to treat and should be treated by pain specialists.

It can be felt it in a small area of the abdomen or over a wide area. Stomach pain can cause disability and sick days from work. Serious causes of stomach pain do exist and might include appendicitis and bowel obstruction, but most stomach pain is mild and goes away without the need for surgery. Large blood vessels are also found in the abdomen, which include the largest artery (aorta) and vein (inferior vena cava). Major organs located in the abdomen include the stomach and intestines (small bowel and large bowel), appendix, liver, gall bladder, spleen, kidneys and pancreas. This can be lower, upper, left or right abdominal pain. Stomach or abdominal pain is felt anywhere below the ribs and above the pelvis but can frequently coexist with pelvic pain. Throughout this article, the terms stomach pain, abdomen pain and abdominal pain are interchangeable.

Upper middle abdominal pain