What Illness Hides Behind Children’s Abdominal Pain?
Abdominal pain in children is a common symptom of many diseases. Traditional Chinese medicine can analyze different organ or meridian pathologies based on the location of pain.
Epigastric pain: refers to pain in the upper abdomen below the sternum and above the umbilicus.
Periumbilical pain: pain around the navel.
Hypogastric pain: central pain in the lower abdomen below the umbilicus.
Hypochondriac pain: pain on either side or one side of the lower abdomen.
Sometimes, different symptoms exhibited by children can help identify the cause of abdominal pain.
Abdominal Cold: characterized by intermittent abdominal pain, relieved by warmth, worsened by cold. Pale complexion, cold sweat on forehead during severe pain.
Food Accumulation: manifested as abdominal distension and pain, aggravated by pressure, sour breath, lack of appetite, occasional flatulence, foul-smelling stools, desire to defecate with relief after bowel movement, occasional vomiting of sour and stale matter.
Qi Stagnation and Blood Stasis: presents as fullness and distension in the epigastrium, pain that resists pressure, stabbing pain with fixed location, immobile masses, severe pain upon palpation.
Internal Cold in Zang-Fu Organs: characterized by continuous dull pain, intermittent episodes, pain relieved by pressure, improved by warmth, alleviated by eating. Pale complexion, fatigue, cold extremities, reduced appetite, bloating after meals, loose stools.