Eyecatcher For adolescents

Abdominal pain

Girl with abdominal pain

Abdominal pain can have various causes. An intestinal infection with vomiting or diarrhea can cause bad abdominal pain; appendicitis can also. As with all pain, abdominal pain requires first of all a visit to the family physician or pediatrician, later possibly to a gastroenterologist (a doctor specializing in stomach and intestinal illnesses).

If all investigations are inconclusive but the abdominal pain continues, it is then called “functional abdominal pain”. This means that the pain is triggered by altered activity in the intestinal tract. In this way, stress or difficult situations can lead to cramping abdominal pain. This is nothing unusual, by the way. Maybe you’ve been in love before and have had “butterflies in your stomach”. Then you already know that feelings can trigger sensations in the stomach.