What Happens When the Left Side of Your Stomach Hurts
Pain in the left side of your stomach encompasses your lower chest and the top of your pelvic area.
Organs in this area are part of your pancreas, stomach, and colon, then the left kidney, liver, spleen, and intestines. Women’s reproductive system: part of the womb, left fallopian tube, and the left ovary.
If you are experiencing pain in this part of your body, it may be from any of the above organs. The pain may be sharp and sudden or dull and achy.
Sometimes, the pain may be from bloating, trapped gas, and indigestion, or it may point to something more serious.
Either way, the following alongside the pain requires medical attention.
- Nausea and vomiting
- Pain in your chest that radiates to your left arm
- Severe pain in the left abdominal area
- Bloody stools
- Flatulence or belching
- Constipation and diarrhoea
- Bloating
- Discolored urine
- Loss of appetite
- Rectal bleeding
Additional Symptoms in Women of Reproductive Age
- Pain during sexual intercourse
- Painful bowel movements
- Heavier menstrual periods or spotting between periods
- Vaginal bleeding
- Irregular menstrual cycle
What Happens When the Left Side of Your Stomach Hurts
Pain on the left side of the stomach could point to minor or severe conditions. Here are some of the possibilities of a hurting lower quadrant.
Abdominal Causes
1. Gastrointestinal Causes:
Gas or Indigestion: A common effect that is typically harmless. With gas, there is cramping and discomfort until trapped gas is let out. For indigestion, digestive juices irritate the digestive tract, causing pain.
Diverticulitis: Inflammation of the intestines. This causes pouches called diverticula to form and be infected, causing sharp pain, discomfort, fever, and digestive issues. Left untreated, it can lead to a medical emergency from a ruptured pouch and blocked intestines.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS): This occurs when the bowels are cranky, and instead of contracting during excretion, it does so at will and causes bouts of constipation and diarrhea.
Constipation: involves infrequent or hardened bowel movements. This is caused by a build-up of stool in the intestines, which makes it painful to pass stool. It is usually caused by a lack of fiber in the diet, not drinking enough water, and often suppressing the urge to have a bowel movement.
Gastritis or Stomach Ulcers: This is the painful Inflammation of the stomach lining. A stomach ulcer is a sore on the lining of your stomach or duodenum.
2. Musculoskeletal Causes:
– Muscle
Strain: Overuse or injury to the abdominal muscles can cause localized pain.
– Hernia: An internal organ pushing through the muscles around it. This causes a bulge in the area it goes against.
3. Reproductive System Causes (for females):
The reproductive organs in women are also within the lower left abdomen. Problems with these organs often cause pain in the lower left quadrant.
Menstrual cramps (dysmenorrhea)
Contraction in the uterus when expelling the uterine lining during the monthly period.
Pain varies from woman to woman, and an extremely painful one may point to other ailments.
- Ovulation
Just like painful periods, ovulation can also be painful and cause pain in the left side of the abdomen.
- Ovarian cysts
An ovarian cyst is a sac-filled sac on the surface of an ovary. A large one may lead to pain due to the discomfort, and rupturing may be even more painful. A cyst that ruptures (breaks open) might cause some serious problems, such as severe pain or internal bleeding.
- Endometriosis: The growth of endometrial tissue or uterine lining starts growing outside the uterus, leading to abdominal pain.
- Ectopic Pregnancy: This is a medical emergency that occurs when fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, causing severe abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding.
- Ovarian torsion: The ovaries are on the left side of the abdomen. Ovarian cysts lead to ovarian torsion because big cysts move the ovaries around and cause ovarian torsion.
Reproductive Causes in Men
The reproductive organs in men are also within or very close to the lower left abdomen. Problems with these organs often cause pain in the lower left quadrant. In men, this may include a condition called testicular torsion. The testes rotate around themselves, obstructing blood flow.
The lack of blood flow results in sudden, severe scrotal pain and swelling that often includes the left lower quadrant and other quadrants of the abdomen.
Testicular torsion is very serious.
4. Urinary System Causes:
- Kidney Stones cause severe pain in the lower abdomen and groin.
Kidney stones are mineral deposits that move into the urinary tract from the kidney.
- Urinary Tract Infection (UTI): Infection in the urinary system can cause pain, frequent urination, and a burning sensation. UTIs occur when bacteria get into the urinary system and cause infection, irritation, and inflammation.
- Spleen Issues: Conditions like an enlarged spleen or spleen rupture can cause pain in the upper left abdomen. The spleen inflames or ruptures due to an underlying condition.
- Pancreatitis: Inflammation of the pancreas, often causing intense abdominal pain in the abdomen.
