Pain in the epigastric region is a very common symptom that can bother a person, but it is not always clear what causes it caused.
People unrelated to medicine often do not know how the organs are located relative to each other in the abdominal cavity. That is why it is very difficult for them to understand which organ causes pain in the abdomen.
Epigastric pain can be caused by a disease of the stomach or 12th colon. For example, gastritis is an inflammatory process of the gastric mucosa that causes pain immediately after eating. Pain with gastritis can be severe and mild - it depends on the degree of damage. Treatment of gastritis is carried out mainly by a diet, which excludes the intake of spicy, fatty, smoked and fried foods. This disease is well compensated and with proper nutrition may not bother the patient for a long time.
Ulcers of the stomach and 12th intestine can also provoke pain in the epigastric region, however, its nature will be slightly different from pain in gastritis. During an exacerbation of peptic ulcer, the pain is very intense, cutting, can radiate to the left arm or under the shoulder blade. Very often, such pain is confused with heart pain. Such attacks of pain occur some time after a meal, when food is evacuated from the stomach and 12th intestine and the bottom of the ulcer is exposed (when gastric juice gets on it, pain occurs). In addition to pain, patients complain of stool disorders, dyspeptic symptoms and fever. The treatment of peptic ulcer is complex and is carried out depending on the size of the defect, the presence of concomitant pathology and the severity of the process.
The pancreas (more precisely, its head) is also located in the epigastric region, but more often provokes pain in the right side of the abdomen. If the pathological process affects most of the gland, then the pain will be shingles. The intensity of the pain syndrome depends on the form of the disease. In the acute form of pain, it will be sharp and intense, paroxysmal. A chronic form of inflammation of the pancreas is characterized by constant aching dull pain. At the same time, against the background of the pain syndrome, digestion is disturbed, the temperature rises, patients feel weakness and malaise. Treatment of such patients is carried out in the gastroenterological department.
Liver diseases can also cause pain in the epigastric region, however, such pains will still be given to the right side, on this basis it can be suspected that the liver is "naughty". After a series of diagnostic methods, it is not difficult to identify the cause of the pain syndrome. However, very often the pain is caused not by one cause, but by several.
Few people know that pain in the epigastric region can be caused by myocardial infarction or aortic aneurysm. Very rarely, cardiovascular pathology passes under the guise of gastroenterological diseases, but this still happens. And in this situation, the main thing is to identify a heart attack during time. During the development of myocardial infarction, a person becomes covered with sticky sweat, turns pale, the pain rises and does not stop with nitroglycerin. Such patients need emergency hospitalization in the intensive care unit.
Pain in the epigastric region can be caused by diaphragmatic hernia or an accumulation of effusion in the pleural cavity. If these diseases really have a place to be, then the doctor will determine the localization of the process by palpation and using percussion.
If the pain worries for several days, intensifies or additional symptoms are added to it, then you need to consult a doctor and undergo some diagnostic tests. Do not self-medicate and try folk remedies, from some of them it only gets worse.