What are the common causes of gastric pain?

Doctor's Answers 1

Gastric pain is a commonly experienced symptom by people of all ages. For someone of your age-group, benign (non-cancerous) causes are more likely.

Examples of such conditions include peptic ulcers, gastritis, gastro-esophgeal reflux disease (GERD) and functional bowel diseases like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

If your symptoms are getting more frequent and severe, I would recommend that you consult with your family doctor or a gastroenterologist who will take a more detailed history to ask about the presence of alarm features (such as unintentional weight loss, painful swallowing) and your family history.

Your doctor can then recommend the next course of action such as a trial of gastric medications or further investigations such as gastroscopy (stomach scope).

I hope you feel better soon!

Dr Kieron Lim

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