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Question: Over the past two or three weeks I have been experiencing pretty severe upper abdominal pain immediately while eating. t is located centrally and goes away over time. It occurs when I have only eaten a small amount of food like a 1/2 sandwich or a few bites of food. FYI I had gastric bypass 9 years ago and have never had any complications with that at all
Brief Answer:
A few possible causes explained and advises given
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thank you for asking at healthcaremagic.
I carefully read your question and understand your concern.
Upper abdominal pain worse on eating is caused by a few conditions. A very common one in women over 40 years of age is gallbladder stones. When we eat the chemicals produced in the stomach stimulate production of another chemical (hormone) that causes the gallbladder to contract and bring out the fluids. If a stone is at the neck of the gallbladder can cause blockage and a lot of pain. When you stop eating the hormone reduces and the contraction stops and you feel better.
Another cause would be if you have stomach ulcer. Due to the food irritating the stomach mucosa directly as it touches it, we get pain soon after eating. Stomach ulcer causes pain soon after eating and is better a couple of hours after eating.
Another more rare cause but important one is bowel ischemia. This happens when the bowel arteries are narrow and can not provide the needed amount of blood when we eat (normlly when we eat the bowel needs more blood- it is similar to the heart having ischemia when we run) and causes bowel ischemia. When we stop eating bowel demands for blood go back to the basic level and we feel better.
What can you do?
1. you need to see your doctor
2. your doctor might order some tests like:
- abdominal ultrasound (easily diagnosis gallbladder stones),
- ECG and heart ultrasound to identify for heart problems that might cause thrombi that might move and cause blockage including the bowel arteries,
- general health tests if you have not had them in the last year: lipids, sugar tests, creatinine and electrolites
- if all these are normal your doctor might order a tests to examine your stomach with a camera through the throat and esophagus called fibrogastroscopy.
I hope this is helpful and answers to your question but please reply to this message in case more clarification is needed on this.
Kind regards,
Antoneta Zotaj, MD
A few possible causes explained and advises given
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thank you for asking at healthcaremagic.
I carefully read your question and understand your concern.
Upper abdominal pain worse on eating is caused by a few conditions. A very common one in women over 40 years of age is gallbladder stones. When we eat the chemicals produced in the stomach stimulate production of another chemical (hormone) that causes the gallbladder to contract and bring out the fluids. If a stone is at the neck of the gallbladder can cause blockage and a lot of pain. When you stop eating the hormone reduces and the contraction stops and you feel better.
Another cause would be if you have stomach ulcer. Due to the food irritating the stomach mucosa directly as it touches it, we get pain soon after eating. Stomach ulcer causes pain soon after eating and is better a couple of hours after eating.
Another more rare cause but important one is bowel ischemia. This happens when the bowel arteries are narrow and can not provide the needed amount of blood when we eat (normlly when we eat the bowel needs more blood- it is similar to the heart having ischemia when we run) and causes bowel ischemia. When we stop eating bowel demands for blood go back to the basic level and we feel better.
What can you do?
1. you need to see your doctor
2. your doctor might order some tests like:
- abdominal ultrasound (easily diagnosis gallbladder stones),
- ECG and heart ultrasound to identify for heart problems that might cause thrombi that might move and cause blockage including the bowel arteries,
- general health tests if you have not had them in the last year: lipids, sugar tests, creatinine and electrolites
- if all these are normal your doctor might order a tests to examine your stomach with a camera through the throat and esophagus called fibrogastroscopy.
I hope this is helpful and answers to your question but please reply to this message in case more clarification is needed on this.
Kind regards,
Antoneta Zotaj, MD
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Raju A.T
Answered by
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