You may experience stomach pain after eating if you eat too fast or too much, but that also could be a sign that you have a more serious health problem. When you overeat, you may not be allowing sufficient time to chew the food properly. A majority of things that cause stomach pain aren’t serious and may not require medical attention. You may experience mild stomach upset that you can treat at home using over-the-counter medications. A pain that is moderate to severe may call for doctor’s attention.
Accompanying Symptoms
You may experience stomach pain when you have eaten and it may be accompanied by other symptoms like:
- Acid reflux
- Nausea
- Diarrhea
- Gas
- Tightness in your abdomen or bloating
- Uncomfortable fullness after having a meal
- Early fullness in time of having a meal
- A burning sensation within the lower abdomen
- Vomiting
- Mild or severe pain within the upper abdomen
- Partial regurgitation of your stomach contents
Causes of Stomach Pain After Eating
Many things could cause stomach pain after you have eaten and they include:
Food intolerance: When the digestive system does not agree with some foods, it may be referred to as food intolerance or sensitivity. In food intolerance, it doesn’t involve your immune response, simply the digestive system is getting irritated by the food or it cannot digest it properly. You may have lactose intolerance if you experience stomach upset whenever you take mild or other dairy products.
Food allergies: When the body mistakes some food for foreign substance and induces a reaction of the immune system by releasing antibodies to fight it, then you may be said to have food allergies. In food allergies, the immune system will respond and cause various symptoms which include stomach pain. Foods that are associated with allergies are such as eggs, wheat, soy, milk, peanuts, fish, tree nuts, and shellfish.
Irritable bowel syndrome: The pain you are experiencing after eating may be due to a condition known as irritable bowel syndrome. This is a common chronic condition that affects the large intestine. IBS manifests with the following symptoms:
- Diarrhea
- Constipation
- Cramping
- Bloating
- Gas
- Abdominal pain.
Celiac disease: This is caused when the immune system responds to gluten. Talking of gluten, it’s a protein found in rye, barley and wheat. Having repeated exposure to gluten may cause damage to your small intestine lining. A person with celiac disease will have symptoms such as stomach upset.
GERD: This is the initial for gastroesophageal reflux disease, which is a chronic digestive condition. With this condition, it causes the stomach acids to come back into the esophagus. The acids may irritate the lining of esophagus causing damage.
Peptic ulcers: These are sores that tend to develop within the inner lining of the stomach as well as the duodenum or the upper part of the small intestine. An individual with peptic ulcers will have a burning sensation in their stomach and the pain may worsen after taking spicy foods.
Crohn’s disease: This is a serious, chronic form of inflammatory bowel disease or IBD. The condition causes inflammation to occur in different parts of a person’s digestive tract leading to severe pain accompanied by bloody stools and diarrhea. Crohn’s disease is a serious condition that can have life-threatening complications.
Constipation: You may have constipation when the stool moves too slowly along the digestive tract. Usually, when you are constipated, you cannot eliminate your stool normally. You may experience stomach pain along with bloating if you have chronic constipation or constipation that lasts for several weeks with fewer bowel movements. Sometimes, when you eat and the body tries to digest new food, you may have the symptoms getting worse.
Sugar alcohols: When we talk of sugar alcohol, these unusually contain no sugar or alcohol. They are actually artificial sweeteners that are used in candies and sugar-free gums. Sugar alcohols are food additives just like sorbitol, and their use is regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In some people, sugar alcohols cause digestive stress. A warning from FDA states that excessively consuming sorbitol may have a laxative effect.
Pancreatitis: If you have stomach pain lasting for over six hours, it could be caused by pancreatitis. This is the inflammation of the pancreas and people with this condition tend to experience pain that starts around the area within the upper abdomen. You may find that the pain spreads to reach the back. A person with pancreatitis may have other symptoms like vomiting, nausea, and fever.
Diverticulitis: This is a condition that manifests in form of colon pouches becoming inflamed due to bacterial attack. The pouches are referred to as diverticula or cysts. Symptoms of diverticulitis include constipation, fever, bloating, nausea, diarrhea, cramping pain around the lower left part of an individual’s abdomen. A person may also experience stomach pain after they eat.
Diagnosis
A doctor may diagnose the cause of the stomach pain by asking you questions about your past experience and symptoms. You will describe the symptoms you have been having to the doctor which may help diagnose the cause. Sometimes, tests may be conducted including X-rays, CT scans, pH monitoring, endoscopy, colonoscopy, MRI, fecal sampling for blood, and blood tests.
In people who suspect that they have food intolerance, diagnosis may be through trial and error or by using the elimination diet method. A patient may want to keep diary of the foods they take and then track the symptoms they are having.
Treatment of Stomach Pain after Eating
If the stomach is hurting after you eat, you need to seek medical help, especially if at-home treatments like the elimination diet method aren’t working. The treatment depends on the cause of the condition. If a food allergy is causing the problem, you should find out which food is triggering the reaction. For the case of food intolerance, the best thing to do is avoiding the causal food. A lactose-free diet may help solve the problem. In case you suffer from celiac disease, then you may want to consider having gluten free diet, but this should only be done after a gastroenterologist has confirmed that you have celiac disease.
There are OTC medications that may help with stomach pain after a meal and they include:
- Antacids to help neutralize the stomach acids to ease burning feelings
- Simethicone to help in relieving uncomfortable bloating
- Lansoprazole and omeprazole to help block production of acid and healing of the esophagus
- Pepto-Bismol helps to coat the esophagus lining thereby reducing burning and treating diarrhea and nausea
- Stool softeners and laxatives help with occasional constipation that may be associated with bloating
- Probiotics help ensure digestive health by bringing in more of good bacterial into the gut system
- Acetaminophen helps to relieve pain without causing irritation to the stomach
- Fiber supplements help to produce normal bowel movements while preventing constipation, but they can induce bloating and gas.
Complications
If you are having stomach pain after you have eaten, and the condition is not treated, it may result in other problems such as damage to the esophagus if you have GERD. Chronic constipation that is not treated may lead to anal fissures or hemorrhoids. Peptic ulcers may result in internal bleeding and infections. People with food allergies that are not treated may eventually have a more serious allergy reaction referred to anaphylaxis – this is a medical emergency because it can make you to stop breathing.
