Generally, intermittent left side pain is a sign of gas or indigestion and should pass on its own. But if you notice severe abdominal pain on the left side of your body in conjunction with any of the following symptoms, it's time to seek medical help: Fever. Nausea or vomiting.
Some common causes of pain on the left side of the body include infection and injury to internal organs, muscles, or nerves. In some cases, this pain resolves on its own. However, other cases may require immediate medical intervention.
Several conditions can cause lower left abdominal pain. Since part of the colon, left kidney, and reproductive organs are located in the lower left abdominal space, dysfunction in these structures can result in pain. Infection, hernias, and certain immune disorders can also cause pain in that area.
Emergency care for abdominal pain
If you experience the following severe symptoms, Dr. Shah recommends going to an emergency room instead of urgent care: Severe stomach pain that makes it difficult to function, move, eat, or drink. Sudden onset of stomach pain. High fever.
"Basically, if it feels like an emergency, then it's worth getting checked out," says Dr. Long Gillespie. "If your pain seems to fluctuate, there are no other symptoms, and you can generally do your activities, it's better to be seen by your primary care provider."
Diverticulitis. The most common symptom of diverticulitis is belly or abdominal pain. The most common sign that you have it is feeling sore or sensitive on the left side of your lower belly. If infection is the cause, then you may have fever, nausea, vomiting, chills, cramping, and constipation.
The main symptom of acute pancreatitis is a severe, dull pain around the top of your stomach that develops suddenly. This aching pain often gets steadily worse and can travel along your back or below your left shoulder blade. Eating or drinking may also make you feel worse very quickly, especially fatty foods.
Where do I feel kidney pain? You feel kidney pain in the area where your kidneys are located: Near the middle of your back, just under your ribcage, on each side of your spine. Your kidneys are part of the urinary tract, the organs that make urine (i.e., pee) and remove it from your body.
Type of pain: Kidney pain comes from a deeper place than the muscles. This means it usually doesn't get worse with lifting, twisting, or bending like muscle pain does. Sometimes kidney pain feels dull and constant. Other times it comes in waves.
Pain under the left rib cage may be caused by damage to the spleen because the spleen is on the left side of the body, but pain in that area is more frequently caused by the same conditions that cause pain in the lower chest and upper abdomen on both sides: heart attack, pancreatitis, peptic ulcer disease, ...
Left sided colitis is a type of ulcerative colitis, a condition that causes inflammation in the colon. Left sided colitis affects the left side of the colon and may lead to diarrhea, abdominal pain, and other symptoms. Left sided colitis produces symptoms similar to those of other types of ulcerative colitis (UC).
The spleen is a fist-sized organ found in the upper left side of your abdomen, next to your stomach and behind your left ribs. It's an important part of your immune system but you can survive without it.
Belly pain from ulcerative colitis can feel crampy, like a charley horse in your gut. It can happen before a bowel movement or while you're going.
Narrow or pellet-like stools: if you have advanced or severe diverticulitis, your large intestine may narrow, causing stool to become thin, narrow, or pellet-shaped.
There are many reasons someone may experience ovary pain, including ovarian cysts, ovulation pain, endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory disease or ovarian cancer.
But a large ovarian cyst can cause: Pelvic pain that may come and go. You may feel a dull ache or a sharp pain in the area below your bellybutton toward one side. Fullness, pressure or heaviness in your belly (abdomen).
Organs close to the ovaries and fallopian tubes
These include: the womb. lymph nodes in the pelvis. the bladder.
Somatic pain is in the muscles, bones, or soft tissues. Visceral pain comes from your internal organs and blood vessels. Somatic pain is intense and may be easier to pinpoint than visceral pain. That's because your muscles, bones, and skin are supplied with a lot of nerves to detect pain.
Don't ignore abdominal pain — see your doctor if your symptoms are severe, get worse over time, keep coming back, or are ongoing.