Occasional mild abdominal pain usually isn’t serious. Common causes include minor stomach bugs, food poisoning, or viral infections such as norovirus. Symptoms can include cramping, bloating, diarrhoea, or constipation, sometimes leaving you tired and off your appetite. Menstrual cramps are also common in women and usually improve with over-the-counter pain relief. Most of these episodes pass within a few days without the need for urgent medical attention.

Pain that comes on suddenly, is intense, or is accompanied by high fever, persistent vomiting, or blood in stools requires urgent attention. Causes can include:

• Appendicitis – Pain starts around the middle and shifts to the lower right.
• Perforated ulcer – Sudden upper abdominal pain that worsens steadily.
• Gallstones – Severe colicky pain in the upper right abdomen, often after eating.
• Pancreatitis – Upper abdominal pain that may radiate to the back.
• Kidney stones – Pain starts in the back and moves toward the groin.
• Diverticulitis – Intermittent lower abdominal pain with possible fever or blood in stool.

Chronic or recurrent abdominal pain may result from conditions that require ongoing monitoring and treatment:

• Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) – Cramps linked to bowel spasms, often improving after passing stool.
• Heartburn and acid reflux – Burning or dull ache in the upper abdomen or behind the breastbone.
• Peptic ulcer – Persistent upper abdominal burning or gnawing pain.
• Crohn’s disease – Abdominal cramping with diarrhoea, sometimes with blood.
• Ulcerative colitis – General abdominal ache with frequent, often bloody diarrhoea.
• Diverticular disease – Lower abdominal discomfort that comes and goes.