How Patients Should Report Abdominal Pain?

A very common question by patients, is abdominal pain, discomfort, burning .. especially after meals.

I will advise everyone with such a problem to get reviewed by a doctor, But do not get anxious as the problem is common and also treatable. Upper abdominal pain and abdominal pain, in general, has a lot of reasons. Most common is gastritis/acidity. Another common reason for acidity is H.pyolri infection. 

I have enumerated below some common questions that we as a doctor will like to know about to come to a better conclusion about a problem. Try to mention these when you report abdominal pain.

1. The patient will need to tell, what part of the abdomen hurts: whether it is the whole abdomen or only the lower or upper part of the abdomen?

2. Relation of food intake with the pain: does the pain or burning occurs after meal intake or does taking a meal resolves the pain? Sometimes the food intake will have no relation to the pain, so you should mention it so.

3. Fever, nausea, vomiting: Any feeling of vomiting (Nausea), actual vomiting or fever should be mentioned.

4. Any Jaundice, change in bowel habits (diarrhea, constipation, change in color or consistency of stool) should be reported.

5. Medication history: if you are taking any medications for the apin or for any other illness... then will these should be mentioned.

6. Any previous surgeries or medical conditions have to be informed about

7. Any known drug allergies are very important to know.

8. Lastly, if any investigations have been done: Any blood test, ultrasound, CT scan report should be mentioned too.

IMPORTANT: DO NOT EXAGGERATE YOUR SYMPTOMS TO GET UNDUE ATTENTION.         We as doctors take all information seriously. If your symptoms are mild that does not mean that we will not take you seriously.  Sometimes serious illness may have mild symptoms and not so serious diseases may have a lot of symptoms. Hence severity of symptoms can alter the clinical diagnosis. So inform about all problems, but just the way they are, for better assessment.