Severe back and abdominal pain

Different types of severe back pain can indicate different pathologies, and their source is not always the spine itself. Combined pain, or as they are also called girdle pain, can slightly lift the curtain, but even in this case, additional research will be required to establish an accurate diagnosis.

For example, a complaint about severe back and stomach pain may have several different versions of why they occur. In addition, the exact location of the pain plays a major role, because the stomach is an elastic concept, and in the peritoneum there are many internal organs, the lower thoracic vertebrae and the structures of the lumbosacral spine.

Pain may radiate to the front of the body due to various diseases of the spine, but it is unlikely to be strong in the abdominal area. The back will most likely suffer here. But with pathologies of internal organs, pain syndrome can be felt with the same intensity in both the back and the abdomen.

If the patient suffers from severe pain in the stomach and back, then there is nothing surprising here. In this case, you should definitely not blame the spine, but pay attention to the digestive organs. Severe pain in the stomach, which radiates to the back, is very typical for a stomach ulcer during its exacerbation. In this case, a person notes the appearance of a burning paroxysmal pain, which can be provoked by eating and drinking alcohol, prolonged hunger, as well as heavy physical work and stress. Pain syndrome with a stomach ulcer can be long-term, and it passes as suddenly as it appears. It can be reduced by taking the fetal position.

Other symptoms of ulcers include heartburn, dyspepsia, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, and constipation.

If we are talking about a perforated ulcer, the pain becomes unbearable (the so-called dagger pains), and spreads throughout the entire abdomen, radiating to the back. In this case, no changes in body position bring relief, however, as does eating while hungry. In addition to excruciating pain in the abdomen, a person experiences other unpleasant symptoms: it becomes difficult to breathe, the pain begins to radiate to the back under the shoulder blade, vomiting with an admixture of blood may appear, blood is also found in the feces.

Perforation of the ulcer is accompanied by the entry of food into the free cavity between the organs and inflammation of the peritoneal tissues (peritonitis). In this case, the person's temperature rises, fever appears, vomiting increases, and when pressing on the tense abdomen, the pain syndrome increases.

Severe pain radiating to the back under the shoulder blade is also characteristic of an exacerbation of gastritis. But in this case, we are not talking about a sharp, piercing pain, but about strong aching or dull pain. The intensity of the pain can be such that it begins to occupy all the patient's thoughts.

Other symptoms of the pathology include: heartburn (especially with increased acidity), nausea (sometimes with vomiting), general weakness and fatigue, a feeling of heaviness in the stomach after eating, bowel movements (diarrhea or constipation), belching, and bad breath.

Severe pain in the lower part of the stomach is a characteristic symptom of acute pancreatitis. The pain may appear in the middle of the abdomen or on its left side. In this case, it is very often accompanied by unpleasant sensations in the back (girdle pain), which is not relieved by medication.

Other symptoms of acute pancreatitis or exacerbation of chronic pancreatitis are nausea and repeated vomiting that does not bring noticeable relief, severe weakness, tachycardia, decreased blood pressure, semi-liquid stool with particles of undigested food. With chronic pancreatitis, attacks of diarrhea are common, accompanied by painful spasms in the abdomen and aches in the lower back, some time after eating.

But here is where the difficulties of diagnosing the above-described pathologies lie, namely, the similarity of the pain symptom during their exacerbation with the manifestations of myocardial infarction, which is also characterized by pain in the stomach, radiating under the shoulder blade. Only in this case, the pain syndrome can also spread to the area of the left shoulder and arm, a drop in blood pressure, fainting, and increased anxiety due to fear of death are noted.

Severe paroxysmal pain in the upper abdomen under the ribs, radiating to the back on the right side (the spine and under the collarbone), is typical of acute cholecystitis. Such pain does not appear out of nowhere, but after heavy physical exertion or eating fatty, heavy food. The symptom is often accompanied by the appearance of a bitter taste in the mouth and vomiting of bile. When inhaling deeply, palpating the gallbladder is very painful, as is tapping the edge of the palm on the ribs above the diseased organ.

A violation of the outflow of bile caused by an inflammatory process or the presence of stones in the gallbladder can provoke a very painful phenomenon called hepatic colic. As with renal colic, the pain in this case is very strong, paroxysmal (less often constant), but it is localized not on the right or left side from the back, but in the right hypochondrium, from where it can radiate to other parts of the abdomen, under the shoulder blade, in the collarbone and shoulder area. True, in some cases, pain appears on the left side in the heart area, resembling an attack of angina pectoris.

The patient's skin becomes pale and often takes on a yellowish tint, the abdomen becomes swollen, the urine becomes darker, while the stool becomes light yellow or grayish. The body temperature may rise.

Pain in the lower abdomen has other causes and most often these are diseases of the intestines and reproductive system, i.e. the pelvic organs. Patients with appendicitis may complain of severe pain in the abdomen and back in the lumbar region. Inflammation of the appendix is not always accompanied by spinal pain.

The main symptom of the disease is considered to be an increasing constant acute pain in the abdomen, usually occurring at night and in the morning. At first it is diffuse, which does not allow for immediate diagnosis of the pathology. But after a few hours, the pain acquires a clear localization in the navel area, slightly below it on the right (or on the left, if the organ is located on the left side). Such a shift in pain is characteristic of this pathology, as well as their intensification or change in character to pulsating.

The abdominal pain increases with any tension of the abdominal muscles and subsides in the fetal position or if you lie on your right side. A feature of pain in appendicitis is that when you press on the inflamed organ, the pain subsides, but if you take your hand away, it noticeably intensifies.

Abdominal pain with appendicitis is accompanied by nausea, vomiting, fever, and in children, diarrhea. With retrocercal appendicitis, which has a clinical picture similar to food poisoning, the symptoms increase slowly (with a typical form, the disease lasts no more than 4 days), diarrhea may appear, but the principles of inflammation are weak. But with this form, lumbar pain most often appears, and in some cases, the pain can radiate to the groin and thigh.

In gynecological diseases, cystitis, inflammation of the intestinal walls ( colitis, sigmoiditis, enteritis, etc.) reflected lumbar pains also often occur, which appear together with pain in the lower abdomen. The nature of the pain in the above-mentioned diseases is nagging (complaints of aching lower back are not uncommon), and the intensity is rarely high, except in the case of acute inflammation of the appendages or ovaries, forcing the woman to bend in half and move "along the wall". In this case, patients complain of severe squeezing pains in the abdomen, aching in the back and unusual fatigue of the legs, not associated with the load on them.

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