General Abdominal Pain That Is Made Worse By Meals

What Causes General Abdominal Pain Worse After Meals?

General abdominal pain worse after meals can have various causes, ranging in severity from 'worrying' to 'generally fatal'.  Finding the true cause means ruling out or confirming each possibility – in other words, diagnosis.

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Diagnosis is usually a complex process due to the sheer number of possible causes and related symptoms.  In order to diagnose general abdominal pain worse after meals, we could:

  • Research the topic
  • Find a doctor with the time
  • Use a diagnostic computer system.
The process is the same, whichever method is used.

Step 1: List all Possible Causes

We begin by identifying the disease conditions which have "general abdominal pain worse after meals" as a symptom.  Here are four possibilities:
  • Gastritis
  • Mesenteric Ischemia
  • Stomach Cancer
  • Atrophic Gastritis

Step 2: Build a Symptom Checklist

We then identify all possible symptoms and risk factors of each possible cause, and check the ones that apply:
frequent unexplained nausea
chronic nausea
significant right iliac pain
moderate meal-induced pain
regular unexplained nausea
stomach cancer
history of stomach cancer
excessive flatulence
significant amounts of occult blood
significant hypogastric pain
weak appetite
frequent episodes of diarrhea
... and more than 30 others

Step 3: Rule Out or Confirm each Possible Cause

A differential diagnosis of your symptoms and risk factors finds the likely cause of general abdominal pain worse after meals:
Cause Probability Status
Stomach Cancer 93% Confirm
Gastritis 25% Unlikely
Mesenteric Ischemia 4% Ruled out
Atrophic Gastritis 2% Ruled out
* This is a simple example to illustrate the process

Arriving at a Correct Diagnosis

The Analyst™ is our online diagnosis tool that learns all about you through a straightforward process of multi-level questioning, providing diagnosis at the end.

If you indicate abdominal pain increased by eating, The Analyst™ will ask further questions including this one:
Do you regularly experience general abdominal pain that is present before eating and becomes worse roughly 20 minutes to 3 hours after eating a meal?
Possible responses:
→ No / eating doesn't make it worse / don't know
→ Rarely / a few times a year
→ Yes, it started less than 1 week ago
→ Yes, it started about 1 to 4 weeks ago
→ Yes, I've had it for 1 month or more
Based on your response to this question, which may indicate infrequent meal-related pain, meal-related pain for under a week, meal-related pain for 1-4 weeks or meal-related pain for over a month, The Analyst™ will consider possibilities such as:
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