https://paulnystrom.com/tags/abdominal-pain/Recent content in Abdominal Pain on Paul NystromHugoen-usWed, 03 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://paulnystrom.com/posts/persistent-and-severe-pain/Wed, 03 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://paulnystrom.com/posts/persistent-and-severe-pain/<p>Pain is a frequent complaint that brings patients to the ER. Abdominal and chest pain are some of the most common. I often get asked by patients, usually at the end of a negative abdominal or chest pain workup, when they should come back.</p> <p>This is difficult to answer. The older the patient and the more chronic medical problems they have, the higher the chance that something significant is causing their symptoms. The younger and healthier they are, the lower the chance, but diseases and disasters don’t exclude anyone 100%. Everyone knows a story of someone, often young, dropping dead with no warning. Is it likely when you are young and healthy that you can ignore most symptoms? Yes, but there are no guarantees.</p>https://paulnystrom.com/posts/doing-less/Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://paulnystrom.com/posts/doing-less/<p>My only incentive to do less for a patient is because it’s the right thing to do.</p> <p>A common example is upper abdominal pain most likely from severe gastritis or acid reflux. Patients just can’t believe that their stomach hurts that badly from something like that. They often have a history of acid reflux, but this episode feels different to them. It is lasting longer than usual or is more severe.</p>https://paulnystrom.com/posts/eliminate-er-wait-times/Sun, 07 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000https://paulnystrom.com/posts/eliminate-er-wait-times/<p>Eliminate ER Wait Times Wouldn’t it be great if every time you went to the ER, you got checked in right away and were given a room immediately? No more spending your entire visit on a hallway bed or behind a curtain—or worse yet, waiting in triage! Wouldn’t it be amazing if you saw a doctor very soon after arrival? I mean, after all, you went to the ER because you thought you had an emergency, and emergencies are time-sensitive.</p>https://paulnystrom.com/posts/hows-that-working-for-you/Sun, 07 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000https://paulnystrom.com/posts/hows-that-working-for-you/<p>People are very unwilling to let go of their opinions. I see this most commonly when it comes to abdominal pain. I have many discussions with patients about abdominal pain. I do large workups for abdominal pain regularly. Many of the patients I see have already had extensive workups by gastroenterology— they’ve had blood tests, cameras shoved down their throats and up their butts—but no one has any answers. I have patients with ulcerative colitis whose GI specialists tell them that diet has nothing to do with their disease. It is baffling to me that this became the standard teaching for most of the GI doctors I’ve interacted with. How is it possible that things going wrong in your gut are not related to what you put in your gut? It seems like the most intuitive thing imaginable, yet we ignore it.</p>https://paulnystrom.com/posts/mindset/Wed, 05 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000https://paulnystrom.com/posts/mindset/<p>I spend more and more time with patients talking about their medical problems that are not emergencies. The vast majority of the time, any actual emergency condition is ruled out very quickly. Occasionally, a critical diagnosis is found after quite a long time in the ER, but that&rsquo;s the exception rather than the rule. So once the actual emergencies are no longer part of the discussion, we can focus on other things.</p>