Abdominal Pain and Its Treatment

Abdominal pain, one of the most frequently occurring symptoms, may originate from any organ in the abdomen, like the stomach, intestines, appendix, gall bladder, pancreas and kidneys. There are number of causes for this and therefore, any patient of abdominal pain of recent onset requires early and thorough evaluation for accurate diagnosis. However, the commonest source of abdominal pain in the region of stomach and intestines is the gastrointestinal tract which consists of the stomach and intestines because it deals with outside material, i.e. the food and drink we take. A little overeating may cause distension and indigestion. A spicy meal may lead to an increase in acid secretion and sour eructations. In these conditions some digestives or antacids are taken for relief. Very often flatulence, diarrhoea, dysentery, or an infection may produce spasms of the walls of the intestines causing a gripping type of pain called colic. This is a distressing situation and suitable measures for immediate relief are necessary.

Various house hold remedies like massage, hot water fomentation, churan, ajwain, jaljeera, and sometimes even purgatives are tried, but their success is usually limited. Therefore, the patient takes one of the preparations mentioned as pain killer which provides immediate relief. What is so special about these preparations that they provide such dramatic relief? If you look at the salts of any tablet, you will find that all the preparations contain an antispasmodic (which prevents spasm of the smooth muscle of the intestine). Inaddition, all these agents contain either a pain reliever or a sedative and some even contain a purgative. Such remedial measures may be effective in mitigating the colicky or intermittent type of pain. However, if it is frequent or of a dull constant nature, the physician must be consulted. Under such circumstances the continued and prolonged use of these drugs instead of improving the condition, may produce serious adverse effects. Since an antispasmodic is the most common ingredient of all these preparations, we will elaborate a little on it.


Antispasmodics


These are atropine or its synthetic substitute (anticholinergic drugs) and are used for relieving the spasm of the muscles of the intestine. The actions of almost all these drugs are more or less the same. There are only slight differences in their potency or duration of action. There may be some adverse effects caused and precautions to be observed with these drugs.


Combinations


After antispasmodics, the next common ingredient in all these preparations is a pain reliever. Some contain a sedative or a tranquillizer as well. Pain relievers may not be of much help unless the spasm is reduced. Undiagnosed pain precludes the use of phenolphthalein, a purgative, even if it is associated with constipation. Phenolphthalein itself aggravates gripping pain being irritant in nature. All these combinations have no greater value than the use of antispasmodics alone apart from increasing the cost and side effects. Some important drugs are Meftolspas, Proxyvon, Colimex, Cyclopam, Buscopan etc. Use only after taking advice from your paediatrician.