Abdominal Pain

Abdominal pain goes away quickly for most people. In some cases, however, the pain can become intense and persistent enough to interrupt your daily life. At Olympus Spine and Pain, triple board-certified pain management specialist Keith Warner, MD, offers evidence-based, multifaceted abdominal pain treatment to patients in and around Murray, Utah. For help with abdominal pain, call the office or book your appointment online today.

What is abdominal pain?

Abdominal pain refers to dull or sharp pain anywhere between your lower chest and groin. Most abdominal pain occurs around or below the navel. Pelvic pain is sometimes confused with abdominal pain, but it occurs lower, nearer to the genitals than the navel.

What causes chronic abdominal pain?

Gas, the flu, and anxiety are three fairly common causes of temporary abdominal pain. Chronic abdominal pain usually has an underlying cause, such as:

• Appendicitis
• Abdominal aortic aneurysm
• Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
• Crohn’s disease
• Ulcerative colitis
• Hepatitis
• Cholecystitis (gallbladder inflammation)
• Food allergies
• Intestinal obstruction
• Cancer (colon or stomach cancer)
• Diverticulitis
• Peptic ulcers
• Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in women
• Pelvic inflammatory disease in women
• Endometriosis in women
• Kidney stones
• Urinary tract infections

There are a number of other possible causes of abdominal pain too, including bodywide pain syndromes like fibromyalgia.

When do I need pain management for abdominal pain?

If your abdominal pain lingers long past when you expected it to go away, it’s time to seek help. Abdominal pain that causes sleepless nights, schedule disruptions, or emotional distress requires a fast response. You could have a serious condition that may worsen without help.

How do you treat chronic abdominal pain?

Approaches to chronic abdominal pain treatment vary with the underlying condition, how the pain affects your life, and your personal preferences. 

At Olympus Spine and Pain, Dr. Warner performs a comprehensive diagnostic review to determine the best treatment approaches, and he explains all of your options. 

He may recommend:

• Medication tailored to the condition
• Epidural injections: Steroid injections
• Celiac plexus block: Nerve block injection
• Intrathecal pain pump: Implanted drug pump
• Ketamine infusions*: In-office infusions of a unique anesthetic
• Peripheral nerve stimulation: Implanted device that stops pain signals
• Spinal cord stimulation: Implanted device to mask pain signals 

In addition to your interventional pain management treatments, Dr. Warner may recommend physical therapy to improve strength and resilience of the muscles and other tissues supporting your abdomen. You could need counseling, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), as well.

If abdominal pain drags you down, Olympus Spine and Pain is ready to guide you back to living pain-free. Call the office or book your appointment online now.

*Ketamine infusions are FDA-approved as a sole anesthetic agent for diagnostic and surgical purposes, but are not yet approved for chronic pain treatment. Spravato®, an esketamine nasal spray, has FDA approval for addressing treatment-resistant depression.