When to see a doctor

By Mayo Clinic Staff

Call 911 or emergency medical assistance

Seek help if your abdominal pain is severe and is associated with:

  • Trauma, such as an accident or injury
  • Pressure or pain in your chest

Seek immediate medical attention

Have someone drive you to urgent care or the emergency room if you have:

  • Severe pain
  • Fever
  • Bloody stools
  • Persistent nausea and vomiting
  • Weight loss
  • Skin that appears yellow
  • Severe tenderness when you touch your abdomen
  • Swelling of the abdomen

Schedule a doctor's visit

Make an appointment with your doctor if your abdominal pain worries you or lasts more than a few days.

In the meantime, find ways to ease your pain. For instance, eat smaller meals if your pain is accompanied by indigestion. Avoid taking over-the-counter pain relievers such as aspirin or ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others) because these can cause stomach irritation that may worsen abdominal pain.

From Mayo Clinic to your inbox

Sign up for free, and stay up to date on research advancements, health tips and current health topics, like COVID-19, plus expertise on managing health.

To provide you with the most relevant and helpful information, and understand which information is beneficial, we may combine your email and website usage information with other information we have about you. If you are a Mayo Clinic patient, this could include protected health information. If we combine this information with your protected health information, we will treat all of that information as protected health information and will only use or disclose that information as set forth in our notice of privacy practices. You may opt-out of email communications at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the e-mail.

July 03, 2021

See also

  1. Abdominal aortic aneurysm
  2. Acute liver failure
  3. Addison's disease
  4. Adrenal fatigue: What causes it?
  5. Alcoholic hepatitis
  6. Alpha-gal syndrome
  7. Anaphylaxis
  8. Anaphylaxis: First aid
  9. Antibiotic-associated diarrhea
  10. Aortic aneurysm
  11. Appendicitis
  12. Ascariasis
  13. AskMayoMom Pediatric Urology
  14. Barrett's esophagus
  15. Barrett's Study Results
  16. Behcet's disease
  17. Belching, intestinal gas, gas pains and bloating
  18. Bile reflux
  19. Bladder stones
  20. Blastocystis hominis
  21. Blighted ovum: What causes it?
  22. Botulism
  23. Dr. Wallace Video
  24. Dr. Mark Truty (surgery, MN) better outcomes with chemo
  25. C. difficile infection
  26. Calcium supplements: A risk factor for heart attack?
  27. Carcinoid tumors
  28. Cardiogenic shock
  29. Celiac disease
  30. Chlamydia trachomatis
  31. Cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer)
  32. Cholecystitis
  33. Chronic lymphocytic leukemia
  34. Churg-Strauss syndrome
  35. Colon cancer
  36. Colon Cancer Family Registry
  37. Colon cancer screening: At what age can you stop?
  38. Colon cancer screening
  39. Colon polyps
  40. Colorectal Cancer
  41. Constipation in children
  42. Crohn's Crisis
  43. Crohn's disease
  44. What is Crohn's disease? A Mayo Clinic expert explains
  45. Crohn's disease symptom: Is fatigue common?
  46. Crohn's or Colitis
  47. Cyclic vomiting syndrome
  48. Dengue fever
  49. Diabetic ketoacidosis
  50. Diabetic neuropathy
  51. Diabetic neuropathy and dietary supplements
  52. Types of diabetic neuropathy
  53. Diarrhea
  54. Diverticulitis
  55. E. coli
  56. Ectopic pregnancy
  57. Egg allergy
  58. Encopresis
  59. Enlarged liver
  60. Enlarged spleen (splenomegaly)
  61. Eosinophilic esophagitis
  62. Epididymitis
  63. Esophagitis
  64. Feeling gassy and a little embarrassed?
  65. Fibromuscular dysplasia
  66. Flu Shot Prevents Heart Attack
  67. Food allergy
  68. Food allergy or intolerance?
  69. Food poisoning
  70. Gallbladder cancer
  71. Gallbladder cleanse: A 'natural' remedy for gallstones?
  72. Gallstones
  73. Gas and gas pains
  74. Gastroenteritis: First aid
  75. GI Stents
  76. Giardia infection (giardiasis)
  77. Gonorrhea
  78. Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection
  79. Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome
  80. Headaches in children
  81. Heart attack
  82. Heart attack prevention: Should I avoid secondhand smoke?
  83. Heart attack symptoms
  84. Heart Attack Timing
  85. Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS)
  86. Henoch-Schonlein purpura
  87. Hepatitis A
  88. Hepatitis B
  89. Hives and angioedema
  90. Hypercalcemia
  91. Hyperglycemia in diabetes
  92. Indigestion
  93. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
  94. Inflammatory bowel disease FAQs
  95. Intervention: Help a loved one overcome addiction
  96. Intestinal ischemia
  97. Intestinal obstruction
  98. Irritable bowel syndrome
  99. Ischemic colitis
  100. Kawasaki disease
  101. Kidney infection
  102. Lactose intolerance
  103. Lead poisoning
  104. Liver cancer
  105. Infographic: Liver Cancer
  106. What is liver cancer? An expert explains
  107. Liver cancer FAQs
  108. Liver cysts: A cause of stomach pain?
  109. Liver disease
  110. Liver hemangioma
  111. Infographic: Liver Transplant Bile Duct Cancer
  112. Mayo Clinic Minute: Avoiding summer E. coli infection
  113. Mayo Clinic Minute: What you need to know about polyps in your colon
  114. Median arcuate ligament syndrome (MALS)
  115. Mental health: Overcoming the stigma of mental illness
  116. Mental health providers: Tips on finding one
  117. Mental illness
  118. Mesenteric lymphadenitis
  119. Mesothelioma
  120. Milk allergy
  121. Miscarriage
  122. Mittelschmerz
  123. Neuroblastoma
  124. New Test for Preeclampsia
  125. What is ulcerative colitis? A Mayo Clinic expert explains
  126. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
  127. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
  128. Norovirus infection
  129. NSAIDs: Do they increase my risk of heart attack and stroke?
  130. Living with an ostomy
  131. Ovarian cysts
  132. Ovarian cysts and infertility: A connection?
  133. Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome
  134. Pancreatic cancer
  135. Pancreatic Cancer
  136. What is pancreatic cancer? A Mayo Clinic expert explains
  137. Infographic: Pancreatic Cancer: Minimally Invasive Surgery
  138. Pancreatic Cancer Survivor
  139. Infographic: Pancreatic Cancers-Whipple
  140. Pancreatic cysts
  141. Pancreatitis
  142. Pelvic congestion syndrome
  143. Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)
  144. Peritonitis
  145. Pheochromocytoma
  146. Pinworm infection
  147. Placental abruption
  148. Plague
  149. Porphyria
  150. Postpartum preeclampsia
  151. Preeclampsia
  152. Primary biliary cholangitis
  153. Primary sclerosing cholangitis
  154. Proctitis
  155. Proton Beam Therapy
  156. Pseudomembranous colitis
  157. Researchers Develop New Stents for Complex Aortic Aneurysms
  158. Rotavirus
  159. Ruptured spleen
  160. Salmonella infection
  161. Salt craving: A symptom of Addison's disease?
  162. Scrotal masses
  163. STD symptoms
  164. Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)
  165. Shellfish allergy
  166. Shigella infection
  167. Silent heart attack
  168. Small vessel disease
  169. Spastic colon: What does it mean?
  170. STD testing
  171. Symptom Checker
  172. Tapeworm infection
  173. Testicular torsion
  174. Toxic hepatitis
  175. Traveler's diarrhea
  176. Trichinosis
  177. Triple X syndrome
  178. Typhoid fever
  179. Ulcerative colitis
  180. Ulcerative colitis flare-ups: 5 tips to manage them
  181. Vasculitis
  182. Vesicoureteral reflux
  183. Cryotherapy
  184. How irritable bowel syndrome affects you
  185. Radiofrequency ablation
  186. What is meant by the term "heart age"?
  187. Whipple's disease
  188. Wilms' tumor
  189. Fecal transplant treatment of C. difficile at Mayo Clinic
  190. Mayo Clinic study reporting increased incidence of C. difficile infection
  191. Zollinger-Ellison syndrome