What to Do When You are Experiencing Chronic Abdominal Pain?
Abdominal pain can come in a multitude of forms depending on a person’s age, gender, or physical activity level. Because of this wide variation, the pain is not something that should typically be ignored since it could be the signal of something as fleeting as gas, or something potentially life threatening such as acute appendicitis or kidney stones.
If you’re wondering whether or not the pain that you’re experiencing is something that requires urgent care from an ER in New Braunfels or an emergency room 78130, we’re happy to provide the following information to help answer some of your lingering questions.
Keep in mind though, if what you are experiencing right now can be classified as “intense” in nature, you should probably seek care from an emergency room in New Braunfels, TX such as Riverside ER right now rather than continuing to read this article.
Symptoms Will Be Different in Every Patient
We’ll list a few of the most common symptoms of abdominal pain in just a moment, but it’s important to always remember that every patient will be different in what they experience. That being said, an overview of what medical professional hear as the most alarming symptoms from their patients would include bloating, belching, gas, indigestion, constipation, diarrhea, pelvic discomfort, and even chest discomfort.
Some of the most common causes of abdominal pain include injury to the area, a signal of a heart attack or other cardiovascular distress, pancreatitis, shingles, an intestinal obstruction, acid reflux (also known as GERD), gallstones, gallbladder inflammation, food poisoning, and certain forms of cancer, to name a few.
As you can tell, the list is varied – and it doesn’t even include every possible cause of abdominal pain such as an ectopic pregnancy, sickle cell anemia, or an aortic aneurysm. That’s why it’s important for a medical professional to see you sooner rather than later when you experience abdominal pain.
The Location of Your Pain Plays a Key Role
One of the first things that an emergency room in New Braunfels, TX will ask you is, “where in your abdomen is the pain located?” This question is important since the location of your pain is very revealing to doctors and other medical staff as an indicator to move closer to a diagnosis.
As an example, if a human abdomen is visually partitioned to four quadrants – upper right, lower right, upper left, and lower right, most internal organs will fall somewhere within those parameters. Although some conditions will result in pain radiating into different areas of your anatomy, this basic guide will help doctors localize an area for testing and treatment.
Why State-of-the-Art Testing is So Important
As mentioned, certain abdominal pain can be attributed to food poisoning, cancer, or heart conditions. And in any one of those scenarios, as well as many others, we’re sure you’ll agree that immediate testing for a diagnosis and treatment plan are critically important.
When choosing an emergency facility to help treat your abdominal pain in New Braunfels, make sure you choose one that has a minimum of an onsite lab with 24-hour testing ability, as well as ultrasound, CT scan, and x-ray equipment on site.
No one wants to drive around town to visit a lab for bloodwork when they’re experiencing abdominal distress, nor do they want to drive across town to have a prescription filled. At Riverside ER, we have all of these on-site services available to diagnose and treat any medical emergency you or a family member may be experiencing.
The Complexity of Your Abdominal Region
As a final note about the complexity of your abdominal region, we invite you to take just a moment to think about all of the organs the region encompasses. Starting at the top of the area and working down, it contains your liver, spleen, gallbladder, stomach, pancreas, small intestine, kidneys, colon, appendix, and rectum. And for women, they may experience a separate pain from their ovaries due to menstruation or endometriosis.
Rather than continuing to suffer through the pain and wonder why you’re experiencing it, wouldn’t it be a relief to have a diagnosis and treatment plan? If you agree, 24/7 onsite services are available right now at Riverside ER!