6 Possible Causes of Pain in Lower Stomach While Bending Down

Hiatal Hernia

A hiatal hernia is the outcome of a part of your stomach pushing through an opening in your diaphragm (hiatus). If you have it, you will be aggravating it by bending.

Treatments

You will require a treatment if you're experiencing severe pain and other symptoms. You can take OTC antacids or H2-receptor blockers to neutralize stomach acid. Surgery is an option when medications don't seem to work. You may undergo a surgical procedure to rebuild your esophageal muscles or to make your hiatus relatively smaller to prevent your stomach from protruding. Laparoscopic surgery is usually a better choice due to its short recovery time.

Ovarian Cyst Pain

Many women say, "My right side hurts when I bend over". If you say the same, you may be dealing with an ovarian cyst. You will experience severe or mild pain depending on the cause of ovarian cyst. For instance:

• Ruptured Corpus Luteum Cyst: After ovulation when your body releases eggs on your ovary, the blood may sometimes tract into the empty follicle, which may distend the cyst. This usually causes sharp pain and persists a few days after your menses.

• Twisted Ovarian Cyst: You experience severe pain when a cyst attaches itself to the ovary. Sometimes, the cyst twists, restricting the blood flow and causing serious pain. You will experience pain in your lower abdomen, and it may also go to your lower back, hip, and upper leg. The ovary may try to unwind itself after twisting, which will again cause severe pain.

• Ruptured Ovarian Cyst: It is quite like a ruptured corpus luteum, but it usually happens in relatively bigger ovarian cyst. The pain will be intense and usually moves to your back as well as upper thigh.

Treatments

Sometimes, you don't need any treatment and your cyst goes away with time. If the pain persists or you notice the cyst growing larger, you may have to look for a treatment option to remove it. The first option is to take oral contraceptives that will help prevent recurrent ovarian cysts. Your doctor may consider performing a laparoscopy if your cyst is small – the process usually requires making a tiny incision close to your navel. A larger cyst, however, requires laparotomy that involves making a larger incision.

Diverticulitis

You may experience lower abdominal pain when bending over when you have small bulging pouches, called diverticula, in the lining of your digestive system, especially in the lower part of your colon. You're more at risk of developing this condition if you're over 40 years of age.

Treatments

How severe your symptoms are will help determine the best treatment option. For mild symptoms, you may take antibiotics, go on a liquid diet for some time to heal your bowel, and take OTC pain relievers to alleviate pain. In complicated diverticulitis, you may require intravenous antibiotics and, if necessary, your doctor may insert a tube to drain an abscess. You will require surgery – primary bowl resection or bowel resection with colostomy – to correct complications such as abscess, perforation, bowel obstruction, and weakened immune system.

Appendicitis

Since appendicitis can mimic conditions, it is often difficult for your doctor to determine the real cause of concern. Sometimes, they remove it when the appendix is normal, and other occasions, they miss it completely. Some of the most common symptoms include loss of appetite, fever, vomiting, right lower quadrant pain, and pain that originates from your belly button and goes to your lower right side.

Treatments

Sometimes, you don't need any treatment because the appendicitis improves on its own. On other occasions, you will have to take antibiotics and go on a liquid diet for some time. In case you're dealing with an abscess that is still intact, you may have to take some antibiotics first and then go for a surgery. You need immediate surgery for a ruptured appendix – the process is called appendectomy. You can choose between laparoscopy and open surgery.

Kidney Stones

Sometimes, small yet hard deposits made of acid and mineral salts form inside your kidneys. These stones can hurt any part of your urinary tract. You most often notice your urine becoming concentrated if you have stones anywhere in your urinary tract. You will experience severe pain that often radiates from the flank and often moves to your inner thigh or genital area.

Treatments

What type of stone you have in your kidneys will determine the right treatment option. A urine test will help identify the type of stones. Drinking plenty of water may help improve your pain, but you may have to take intravenous fluids if you're throwing up. Here are specific treatment options for kidney stones:

• Medication: You may require narcotic medications to relieve pain. Your doctor may suggest diuretics, phosphorus solutions, or allopurinol to treat uric acid stones.

• Lithotripsy: The procedure involves using sound waves to destroy large stones and turn them into smaller pieces so they could go out of your body through urine. The process can be a bit painful and may leave bruising on your back and abdomen.

• Tunnel Surgery: A surgeon will make a small incision in your back to get rid of stones that may be causing infections or damaging your kidneys. A tunnel surgery is the option when your pain is uncontrollable.

• Ureteroscopy: Your doctor may use an ureteroscope to get rid of a stone stuck in your bladder. The procedure involves inserting a small wire with a camera into the urethra to remove the stone – the doctors use a small cage to remove the stone.

Peritonitis

The tissue in the inner wall of your abdomen that supports and covers your abdominal organs is called peritonitis. If the tissue becomes inflamed due to a bacterial or fungal infection, you will experience lower abdominal pain when bending over. If left untreated, the infection may spread to other organs of your body and lead to serious complications. Poor appetite is usually the first symptom, but you will also experience an abdominal ache with nausea.

Treatments

Taking antibiotics to clear the infection is usually the first line of defense. You may require a surgery though, if you have an inflamed appendix, an abscess, or infected bowels.