why is abdominal pain not like normal pain?
there’s 3 reasons why abdominal pain is so unique;
you can feel pain from one organ in a completely different place due to where it grew in the embryo
you cannot feel a cut inside the gut, the only kinds of pain you can feel come from distension or inflammation
the severity of pain does not always line up with the severity / urgency of the case (such as gas, cramps or infection)
let’s look a bit deeper,
and PLEASE do not take this as medical advice and self-diagnose, it’s for entertainment only
the embryonic origin of your organs
Sometimes we feel pain in the abdomen and it’s not coming from that place, it’s coming from the organ that patch of skin grew next to in the womb - it’s referred
When you developed in the embryo, your gut was curled up and close to the development of the abdominal skin,
that means, their sensory nerves became entwined
and then, outside of the womb -full developed- the nerves from these organs and the skin still cross-over, so we feel pain in a spot on the outside of our body even though the problem is inside.
Foregut structures, such as the stomach and liver, refer pain to the epigastrium, which is the upper central region of the abdomen.
Midgut structures, like the small intestine and appendix, cause pain in the periumbilical area, which surrounds the navel.
Hindgut structures, including the colon and rectum, refer pain to the hypogastrium, or lower abdomen.
This occurs because pain fibers converge with somatic sensory fibers in the spinal cord, leading to the perception of pain in corresponding dermatomes in the skin.
A good example would be that gallbladder pain can be felt in the mid-back or right shoulder blade or pancreatitis can be felt in the lower back.
2. what pain can you feel in your gut?
generalised (typical of moving substances like gas, virus or stomach acid), localised (a very certain, direct area of pain which is typical of an inflamed organ.
Inside of generalised you can get;
visceral pain which is dull, squeezing, cramping and everywhere -
colicky pain which is crampy, intermittent, intense and everywhere
inside of localised you can get parietal which is sharp, intense and local
generally, most types of pain and underlying pathology on are going to fit into one of these categories
you cannot feel cuts or lacerations in your guts, you cannot feel temperature, you cannot feel inflammation until it activates stretch receptors, and you cannot feel touch inside the guts.
this means you might not be able to DIRECTLY feel ischemic conditions where blood flow is reduced to the bowel, instead noticing constipation, nausea or bloating.
you might not feel chron’s or ulcerative colitis progressing until it causes inflammation / swelling / squeezing
as well as many others..
3. the severity of pain isn’t always equal to the severity of the case
gas can be incredibly painful, crippling even, but it’s just wind.
food intolerances that cause inflammation and a colicky type pain can be crippling too, but they’ll pass (not food allergies, that’s different)
a stomach flu or ‘gastroenteritis’ can be sickeningly painful but often passes on its own and is not urgent
BUT you won’t feel the site of bleeding in the gut, you won’t feel something like celiac or chron's disease (the pain you do feel is related to downstream effects of malabsorption), you wouldn’t feel the start inflammation of an organ like hepatitis etc… all of which are quite in need of attention
