Abdominal pain explained
Abdominal pain may be caused by various issues, ranging from gas to more severe conditions like Crohn’s disease or appendicitis. Noting the affected area of the abdomen and the severity of the pain can help with a diagnosis.
On the other hand, abdominal bloating occurs when your gastrointestinal tract (GIT) is filled with gas or air. Bloating is generally described as feeling full, swollen, or tight in the abdomen. In addition, your abdomen may swell or become stiff and painful.
Bloating is often accompanied by:
· Gurgles or rumbling in the abdomen
· Frequent belching or burping
· Flatulence (excessive gas)
· Pain
Abdominal bloating can interfere with your social life, recreational activities, and ability to work. Bloating is common among both children and adults.
Photo By Siam
Now, back to abdominal pain.
It usually occurs between the chest and the pelvic regions. Abdominal pain can be achy, crampy, sharp, dull, or intermittent. It is also known as a stomachache.
Abdominal pain may be localized, i.e., limited to one area of the abdomen. Problems in a specific organ most often cause localized abdominal pain. The most typical cause of localized pain is stomach ulcers.
Cramp-like pain may be caused by constipation, diarrhea, flatulence, or bloating. Cramp-like pain in females may be associated with miscarriage, menstruation, or reproductive complications. This pain is not static. It usually comes and goes and may even resolve without treatment.
Parasitic, bacterial, or viral infections that affect the intestines and stomach may also cause significant abdominal pain.
What causes abdominal pain?
Here’s the thing, when people go to the doctors with their complaints, the doctors usually do not look at the connection or relationship between various things, and they omit the topic of food.
They don’t take a critical look at your diet, but the truth is that food is the primary reason we have digestive organs.
Your digestive organs help to break down the food you eat. For example, acids in the stomach help break down protein, and there’s bile in the gallbladder to emulsify the fats in the food we eat.
There are also enzymes from the pancreas that break down carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. There are also enzymes from our small intestines that break down nutrients.
It is important to note that over 90% of all digestion occurs in the small intestine. So anything that doesn’t get digested (like the fibers) in the small intestine will be digested by your microbiome (friendly bacteria) in your large intestine.
Now, let’s assume that you’re deficient in hydrochloric acid. You’ll have heartburn. You will be given an antacid. What happens is that you have to treat the low hydrochloric problem with something to take the last little bit that you have left and remove that. Everything gets worse at this point. So, as you take these more potent drugs, you create a deficiency in bile salts. This results in poor or non-absorption of all the essential nutrients and supplements you take, like omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins A, E, D, and K, resulting in all sorts of health problems.
Another essential thing about bile is the elimination of cholesterol. So, now, cholesterol stays up in the liver and backs up into the arteries, thus creating all sorts of issues.
And now, to the stomach acid, antacids will deplete your hydrochloric acid. Aging alone will deplete your hydrochloric acid, and a low salt diet will also deplete hydrochloric acid.
How about the bile? What would create a bile deficiency?
Here they are:
· Antacids
· Not consuming enough fat — bile production is stimulated by eating dietary fat. So, if you are on a low-fat diet, it will dry up the bile salts.
· Excess insulin or insulin resistance will cause the lowering of the bile pool or the bile reserve that you have.
· Estrogen — let’s assume you are on birth control pills or pregnant; that will lower your bile salts. That is why pregnant women sometimes get gallstones because the gallstone is created from a lack of bile.
· Steroids like prednisone or cortisone cream
· A fatty liver
By fixing the bile problem by taking bile salts or TUDCA, you’ll help the pancreas. On the other hand, people who take too many carbohydrates have burnt out their pancreas.
The same applies to those who overeat cooked food.
Raw food contains enzymes, so when you cook everything, especially vegetables, you destroy the enzymes and force the pancreas to work harder.
Photo By Adriana
Antibiotics are another big problem. If you’ve had antibiotics before, know that excess of them destroys the good bacteria and what happens is that you’re not going to have as much help from the microbiome actually to break down the fiber, and this can lead to all sorts of issues like inflammation and deficiency of bile because your microbiome also makes bile salts.
Other common causes of abdominal pain include:
· Food allergies
· Gluten intolerance
· Lactose intolerance
· Sensitivities to certain foods — this is not an allergy per se, but your body is just reacting to those foods
· Enzyme inhibitors — foods that contain enzyme inhibitors can irritate the gallbladder and create some pain underneath the right ribcage.
· Foods that contain antinutrients, like spinach, grains, or lectins in the nightshade family, such as oxalates in spinach or phytates in grains. Some people have a higher sensitivity to these than other people.
· Consuming inflammatory foods —which contain omega-6 fatty acids.
The three leading causes of abdominal pain
Frequent eating. Yes. This is the number one cause. Your abdominal pain is not necessarily caused by your eating but by how frequently you eat. When you overeat, you’re cramming so much food down your plumbing system that the plumbing doesn’t have a chance to process the food. As a result, the whole system gets overwhelmed and doesn’t have the chance to reset or breathe.
The kind of foods you’re eating. Eating the wrong foods will give you abdominal pain. Grains are the biggest culprit, followed by seed oils connected with the grains.
Antibiotics. Many people who take antibiotics experience gastrointestinal distress. A common worry is diarrhea. Gas and cramping in the abdomen are also. In addition, long-term antibiotic use can potentially result in C. diff, a severe infection that causes colitis or inflammation in your colon.
Photo By Christoph Burgstedt
The best natural remedies for abdominal pain
In the upper right quadrant
· Take TUDCA on an empty stomach
· Take bile salts with meals
In the upper middle quadrant
· Take betaine hydrochloride unless you have an ulcer
In the upper left quadrant
· Consume more raw foods
· Take an enzyme
· Decrease insulin
In the mid-quadrant
· Consume more garlic
· Consume more oregano
· Do intermittent fasting
In the mid-left quadrant (for kidney stones)
· Drink lemon water
· Drink at least 2.5 liters of fluid per day
In the lower quadrants
· Eliminate dairy from foods
· Consume fermented foods or a probiotic supplement
Takeaway
If you’re experiencing abdominal pain, you mustn’t jump to conclusions because it’s often not serious. Instead, speak with your healthcare provider if the pain is chronic or progressive.
If acute abdominal pain is severe, call your doctor so you can get to the bottom of what’s happening and begin the proper course of treatment.
Disclaimer: Dr. Berner does not diagnose, treat, or prevent any medical diseases or conditions; instead, he analyzes and corrects the structure of his patients with Foundational Correction to improve their overall quality of life. He works with their physicians, who regulate their medications. This blog post is not designed to provide medical advice, professional diagnosis, opinion, treatment, or services to you or any other individual. The information provided in this post or through linkages to other sites is not a substitute for medical or professional care. You should not use the information in place of a visit, consultation, or the advice of your physician or another healthcare provider. Foundation Chiropractic and Dr. Brett Berner are not liable or responsible for any advice, the course of treatment, diagnosis, or any other information, services, or product you obtain through this article or others.
References
Dieter Mesotten, Joost Wauters, Greet Van den Berghe, Pieter J. Wouters, Ilse Milants, Alexander Wilmer, The Effect of Strict Blood Glucose Control on Biliary Sludge and Cholestasis in Critically Ill Patients, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Volume 94, Issue 7, 1 July 2009, Pages 2345–2352, https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2008-2579
Ros E, Navarro S, Bru C, Garcia-Pugés A, Valderrama R. Occult microlithiasis in ‘idiopathic’ acute pancreatitis: prevention of relapses by cholecystectomy or ursodeoxycholic acid therapy. Gastroenterology. 1991;101(6):1701–1709. doi:10.1016/0016–5085(91)90410-m
Gielkens HA, Lam WF, Coenraad M, et al. Effect of insulin on basal and cholecystokinin-stimulated gallbladder motility in humans. J Hepatol. 1998;28(4):595–602. doi:10.1016/s0168–8278(98)80282–1
