Health Tip - Abdominal Pain

By Charan Paphangkorakit, MD - Bangkok Hospital Samui

On your holiday at Koh Samui, you will be tempted to try out new food. If you are very adventurous you might even try the street vendors or local markets for authentic tastes not gauged to foreigners taste buds. This is encouraged if you like spicy food and would like to give it a try, but be warned that even some Thais can't handle hot and spicy food and meet with consequences the next day.

The night of your food adventure or the next morning you might find yourself in turmoil on your hotel bed from acute abdominal pain. It could be a burning pain or dull or spasmodic. Some people have to stay very still or their pain increases, whereas other people can't stay still and end up thrashing all over their bed in agonizing pain.

When someone gets into that much pain, questions pop into the mind of what is going on inside that abdomen. Is it a peptic ulcer perforation, an intestinal perforation, cholecystitis (gallbladder inflammation), a liver abscess, pancreatitis, intussusceptions, colonic diverticulosis, gut obstruction, gangrenous intestines, appendicitis, a ureter stone, or a ruptured abdominal aorta aneurysm? In women you also have to wonder about ovarian cyst torsion, ruptured ectopic pregnancy, and pelvic inflammatory diseases. Or is it just plain old food poisoning from your earlier food adventure?

If in doubt you should get to the nearest hospital or have your hotel help arrange for a doctor to come see you directly. However please note that more than half of the ailments noted above require surgery to solve the problem. Several of these ailments can be fatal if not operated on in time. So do not hesitate to rush yourself to a Surgeon ASAP should you be unfortunate during your holiday and wind up with severe abdominal pain.

Happy Holidays!