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Suggest Treatment For Pain In The Navel Area
Question: I AM 66 YR FEMALE, Woke up in middle of night excrutiating pain around naval. So bad I let out a small sceam. 2nd or third day it happened. Usually always in middle of night. Kind of out of breath right now a little scared, am diabetic and have dome hypertion around heart had cardiac XXXXXXX both left and right don't know outcome of that yet. Also bad pain which in left right knee was replaced abouit 10-12 years ago. Pain in stomach has stoppef, Got my breath back
I don't have any follow up reports I can send at this hour of the night. Do you have any questions.
I don't have any follow up reports I can send at this hour of the night. Do you have any questions.
Brief Answer:
Ulcer disease and constipation to be considered first; some recommendations
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thank you for asking at HCM.
I carefully read your question and understand your concern.
Abdominal pain can be very severe and disturbing.
A) There are several causes of the pain in the navel area and the cause for a pain at night might be very likely the stomach. When we have stomach problems the pain is worse after several hours of eating, when the acid is build up.
Things to help with it are:
1. Make sure you take frequent small meals, 4-5 small meals a day.
2. Avoid acid food like marinated, citrus or other sour food
3. if you smoke or use alcohol it would be very advisable to quit them as they both might cause stomach problems.
4. Omeprazole 20 mg is a very good drug to reduce the acid and allow the stomach mucosa heal. Take 1-2 a day for a few weeks to allow the healing process
5. If you are in an area where H.Pylori is very common- this is a bacteria that might infect the stomach and cause ulcer disease. In this case urea breath test for H.Pylori would be advisable to rule it out.
6. It is also recommended to have an upper endoscopy of the stomach to check if it is just inflamation of the mucosa (gastritis) or ulcer disease (in this case taking material for biopsy might be advisable in patients 50 years old and above)
B) There are also some other causes of the pain in that area: if you have hard stools or difficult defecation this might be due to constipation so make sure you take fiber in diet to help with that (psillium), those can be found in supermarkets also and in pharmacies as over the counter not needing a prescription. If still the stools are hard or difficult than you might need to take lactulose syrup. Make sure you drink plenty also.
Colonoscopy is routinely recommended for people above 50 years old to be done regularly and if you have not had one in the last 5-10 years i would recommend you to have it done as a routine test to check for colon tumors.
If no improvement with the above treatment or any worsening you will need to see the doctor and other more rare cases condidered for the abdominal pain. Your doctor might order some extra tests like abdominal ultrasound, etc.
I hope this is helpful and answers to your question but please feel free to write me in case more clarification is needed on this issue.
I wish you quick healing.
Kind Regards
Antoneta Zotaj, MD
Ulcer disease and constipation to be considered first; some recommendations
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thank you for asking at HCM.
I carefully read your question and understand your concern.
Abdominal pain can be very severe and disturbing.
A) There are several causes of the pain in the navel area and the cause for a pain at night might be very likely the stomach. When we have stomach problems the pain is worse after several hours of eating, when the acid is build up.
Things to help with it are:
1. Make sure you take frequent small meals, 4-5 small meals a day.
2. Avoid acid food like marinated, citrus or other sour food
3. if you smoke or use alcohol it would be very advisable to quit them as they both might cause stomach problems.
4. Omeprazole 20 mg is a very good drug to reduce the acid and allow the stomach mucosa heal. Take 1-2 a day for a few weeks to allow the healing process
5. If you are in an area where H.Pylori is very common- this is a bacteria that might infect the stomach and cause ulcer disease. In this case urea breath test for H.Pylori would be advisable to rule it out.
6. It is also recommended to have an upper endoscopy of the stomach to check if it is just inflamation of the mucosa (gastritis) or ulcer disease (in this case taking material for biopsy might be advisable in patients 50 years old and above)
B) There are also some other causes of the pain in that area: if you have hard stools or difficult defecation this might be due to constipation so make sure you take fiber in diet to help with that (psillium), those can be found in supermarkets also and in pharmacies as over the counter not needing a prescription. If still the stools are hard or difficult than you might need to take lactulose syrup. Make sure you drink plenty also.
Colonoscopy is routinely recommended for people above 50 years old to be done regularly and if you have not had one in the last 5-10 years i would recommend you to have it done as a routine test to check for colon tumors.
If no improvement with the above treatment or any worsening you will need to see the doctor and other more rare cases condidered for the abdominal pain. Your doctor might order some extra tests like abdominal ultrasound, etc.
I hope this is helpful and answers to your question but please feel free to write me in case more clarification is needed on this issue.
I wish you quick healing.
Kind Regards
Antoneta Zotaj, MD
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Yogesh D
Answered by
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