The lower abdomen hurts and diarrhea is a common condition in children and adults. Most people far from medicine are convinced that a similar clinical picture is characteristic of poisoning. This is not so: if the lower abdomen hurts, nausea, diarrhea and fever follow the patient, then this may indicate a number of chronic diseases of the organs of the gastrointestinal tract. Of course, similar symptoms and poisoning. The article describes how to distinguish one malaise from another, methods for alleviating the condition of the patient, advice from gastroenterologists and hepatologists.
A list of common causes: why does lower abdomen and diarrhea hurt?
Depending on the nature and intensity of pain, as well as on the exact dislocation of discomfort, we can conclude about the reasons that provoked the condition. Diarrhea can also be different in consistency and color. For example, green - with dysentery, light color - with liver diseases. In case of poisoning, a person has lower abdomen and diarrhea, and the temperature rises. In diseases of the internal organs, the temperature usually remains at reference values (unless the disease is infectious). Nausea and vomiting are another important marker that will allow the doctor to make the correct diagnosis.
In medicine, there is the concept of "acute abdomen" - a condition characterizes these are serious diseases that require urgent medical intervention. If the stomach hurts and diarrhea, constipation or other digestive disorders become permanent - this may indicate the need for hospitalization.
Here is a list of the most common reasons why lower abdomen hurts and diarrhea in men and women:
- pancreatitis or pancreatic necrosis;
- liver diseases - toxic hepatitis, fibrosis, fatty degeneration;
- chronic or acute cholecystitis;
- cholelithiasis;
- gastritis, colitis, peptic ulcer, erosion, polyps, neoplasms in the tissue or mucous membrane of the stomach, or intestines;
- premenstrual period in women;
- hangover or withdrawal syndrome.
In children more often than in adults they are diagnosed with food poisoning, parasitic infestations, and infection with rotavirus.
In which case should urgently call an ambulance
If the lower abdomen, lower back, and diarrhea hurt, as well as the condition is accompanied by a temperature above 38.5 degrees, you should call an ambulance. It’s not necessary to go to the hospital, sometimes a single examination is enough to identify a reliable cause of poor health. You may have to take a lytic injection to lower the temperature and take a course of prescribed medications.
Hospitalization when calling an ambulance will be needed with the following concomitant symptoms:
- vomit mixed with blood, mucus, bile;
- feces of a light color or with an admixture of blood;
- diarrhea does not go away for several days;
- the patient loses consciousness;
- severe swelling, chills, fever;
- severe paroxysmal pains do not abate for more than a few hours (may be a symptom of inflammation of the appendix);
- disorder of consciousness, inappropriate behavior.
A similar action should be carried out by the child's parents if they found at least one of the above symptoms in him. In children, dehydration with diarrhea develops very quickly, this is fraught with damage to the cardiovascular system.
Liver diseases: symptoms and treatment methods
The combination of the following symptoms may indicate a pathology of the functioning of the liver:
- yellow shade of the skin and sclera;
- diarrhea has a light shade;
- the temperature most often rises slightly;
- severe weakness, asthenia, lack of performance;
- nausea, especially after eating fatty foods or drinking alcohol.
In most cases, the liver lets you know about your dysfunction in the case when the cells are almost completely reborn. Very often, patients learn about the diagnoses of "fibrosis" or "toxic hepatitis" in the last stages, when the condition is already assessed by hepatologists as precirrhosis.
This condition develops because patients for many years do not listen to themselves and ignore body signals - such as lower abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever, nausea and vomiting, heaviness in the right hypochondrium. Instead of seeking advice from a gastroenterologist or hepatologist, patients continue to abuse alcohol and eat poorly. Such an attitude to one’s own health will inevitably lead to liver problems.
In the treatment of liver diseases, there are two areas:
- medication - taking hepatoprotectors and enzymes, as well as choleretic drugs;
- diet - strict dietary control by type of medical nutrition No. 5 (implies a decrease in the proportion of fat and a complete rejection of any alcoholic beverages).
Acute and chronic pancreatitis
Pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas. In most cases, the pathology is provoked by malnutrition: abuse of fatty, heavy foods, alcohol. Pancreatitis is now diagnosed even in schoolchildren due to a lack of nutritional culture.
Pancreatitis is dangerous because it can progress to an acute form, and then to pancreatic necrosis, which most often leads to death. With timely access to emergency medical care, you can help the patient and save several years, and sometimes decades, life.
With pancreatitis, periodically vomits after eating and the lower abdomen hurts. Diarrhea is sporadic. A distinctive feature of the disease is pain always radiates to the left hypochondrium. Nausea usually appears only after heavy intake of junk food. In other cases, the patient feels weak, but does not experience obvious malaise. If the symptoms are different, it means that the cause of the ailment is not in the pancreas.
Diseases of the stomach and intestines
The most common pathologies of these organs:
- If the lower abdomen hurts after diarrhea, this may indicate the presence of colitis or enterocolitis in one of the intestines. A number of studies should be done to clarify the diagnosis; in some cases, a colonoscopy may be required. Intestinal diseases are dangerous because their symptoms are easily confused with oncology. Therefore, patients should not be lazy, but take care of their health and exclude the presence of serious diagnoses that are life-threatening.
- The pain can become intolerable - which means, perhaps, this is a peptic ulcer of the intestine. A very dangerous pathology that can lead to internal bleeding.
- Polyps in some cases can also disrupt the digestion process and lead to discomfort in the lower abdomen. Often there may be diarrhea, strange formations of unknown origin in the feces. Polyps can be hazardous to health, but most often they should be observed before the need for surgery.
- Diseases of the stomach usually lead to discomfort not in the lower abdomen, but in the epigastric region.
- You should be wary if there is severe nausea after eating and burping with a taste of blood. If vomiting with an admixture of blood has opened, you should immediately call an ambulance, most likely the person has internal bleeding.
Chronic cholecystitis: symptoms and treatment
Cholecystitis is an inflammation of the gallbladder. The main difference between its symptoms and all other chronic diseases is a strong bitterness in the mouth in the morning and after eating. At the same time, the lower abdomen and diarrhea hurt. In women and men, the symptoms of the disease are the same.
In order to diagnose cholecystitis, it is enough to do the usual ultrasound. As the disease worsens, pain may become more frequent, stone formation will begin. Often, by the age of 40-50 years, the gallbladder becomes so stoned that you have to remove it. With cholecystitis, both the liver and stomach suffer due to constant unregulated emissions of bile. A constant bitter taste in the mouth indicates an exacerbation of the disease. In such periods, it is necessary to take choleretic drugs, such as Ursosan, Hofitol. In some cases, it is useful to simultaneously drink a course of hepatoprotectors.
Alcohol poisoning: symptoms and treatment
If the lower abdomen and diarrhea really hurt, and the day before a person drank alcohol, we can say with confidence that the cause of the malaise is a hangover syndrome. In this condition, it is strictly forbidden to drink drinks containing ethyl alcohol again, as this will lead the patient to a state of binge. Here is a typical symptomatology characteristic of a patient in this condition:
- chills, fever;
- diarrhea;
- abdominal pain;
- temperature rise;
- nausea and vomiting.
The body suffers from severe intoxication, it should be supported by taking the following drugs:
- Essentiale, Karsil, Heptral - for liver tissues (these are hepatoprotectors - they prevent fatty degeneration of organ cells).
- "Regidron" to restore the water-salt balance, which inevitably affects everyone in connection with dehydration and poisoning.
- "Activated charcoal" or "Enterosgel" to relieve symptoms of general intoxication.
- "Bifidumbacterin" in order to restore digestion.
- "Citramon" or analgesics to relieve headaches and cramps in the lower abdomen.
The lower abdomen hurts and diarrhea in men is a standard consequence of the abuse of alcohol and junk food the day before. In order for such a deterioration in well-being not to happen, you should adhere to proper nutrition and abandon alcohol.
Signs of food poisoning in children and adults
Children are more likely than adults to suffer from poor-quality foods. Their digestion is not yet fully formed, as a result, it is enough to eat even just not enough well-washed fruit, and as a result, the following symptoms develop:
- temperature rise;
- the lower abdomen hurts and is sick;
- diarrhea;
- skin rashes resembling eczema or urticaria;
- drowsiness, weakness.
In adults, the clinical picture of food poisoning is usually milder. Most adults suffer poisoning on their legs, do not even take sick leave. From diarrhea, it is enough to take “Levomycetin” or “Loperamide”, from nausea - “Tserukal”. This is the necessary minimum of drugs that is familiar to every adult.
In children, everything is much more complicated. Urgent measures at the first sign of toxic infection (food poisoning):
- To provide the child with complete peace. You should not force him to learn lessons or engage in any activity, this can provoke loss of consciousness or new attacks of vomiting.
- It is dangerous to lie on the child’s back, because if he falls asleep or faints, and vomiting begins, the risk of death from mechanical asphyxia is high. To prevent this, you need to turn it on its side or on the stomach.
- Do not feed your baby until the gagging subsides. You can only drink water. After the well-being improves, you can give natural yogurt, vegetable purees, boiled lean meat - the most gentle and fresh food.
- Offer the child to drink as much clean, slightly warm water as possible with a pinch of salt, then provoke vomiting in order to get rid of the remnants of poor-quality food in the stomach to the maximum. In this way, the stomach should not be washed by children under 5 years old. It is optimal to wait for ambulance and hospitalization, then, in a hospital, experienced doctors will independently carry out the procedure of washing the stomach and rid the body of toxins.
Critical days in women
Another common cause of malaise, which applies only to the fair sex during menstruation. The lower abdomen hurts, diarrhea, swelling, weakness - all these are completely “normal” manifestations of both menstruation and premenstrual syndrome.
In order not to become a victim of such a malaise, you should stock up on medications in advance. "Chloramphenicol" will help with diarrhea, and "Kanefron" from swelling. If PMS is accompanied by irritability and inappropriate behavior - you can visit a neurologist, he will write a prescription for a mild tranquilizer, the reception of which will help maintain efficiency and adequacy. A non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug or a regular drug from the class of analgesics will help with stomach pain.
Measures for the prevention of diseases of the digestive tract
If you follow simple preventive measures, you can successfully prevent the unpleasant clinical picture:
- wash vegetables and fruits thoroughly before each meal;
- prepare food and eat only from clean dishes with clean cutlery;
- do not abuse alcoholic and carbonated drinks;
- refuse excessively fatty foods;
- exclude chronic stresses from your life;
- avoid physical and moral fatigue, which always negatively affects the general state of health and often provokes exacerbation of gastritis, colitis, peptic ulcer.