Pain in the right hypochondrium - possible causes
Pain is a protective mechanism.Her appearance signals that the body is not all right.Pain in the right upper quadrant is a frequent occurrence.Pain in this part of the body can overtake a person once by surprise or reminding himself periodically.
Causes of pain in the right upper quadrant
Under the ribs on the right,A liver, a gallbladder with bile ducts, a part of the colon, and a diaphragm.Pain in the right hypochondrium can arise directly from the defeat of these organs .However, there is also the so-called reflected pain from unhealthy organs located in the other part of the abdominal and even thoracic cavity.For example, pain in the right upper quadrant can be noted in pancreatitis or pneumonia.
Diseases of the hepatobiliary system
According to the statistics, in most cases, pain in the right upper quadrant is caused by a pathology of the gallbladder, for example, cholecystitis. As a rule, cholecystitis develops on the background of the present cholelithiasis.The stone clogs the bile duct, the bile stagnates, and the intravesical pressure rises.So there is a feeling of pain.
In acute cholecystitis, pain occurs suddenly and is of an intense nature.Pain sensations are concentrated mainly in the right hypochondrium and epigastrium .Often the pain radiates to the right shoulder, back.From the pain a person literally can not find a place and some relief he experiences if he lies on his side with his legs tucked to the stomach.
Acute cholecystitis is also indicated by the following symptoms:
- Increased body temperature;
- The taste of bitterness in the mouth;
- Belching;
- Flatulence;
- Vomiting of bile;
- Stool disorders.
Among the chronic diseases of the biliary system, proceeding with pain in the right hypochondrium, it is necessary to distinguish dyskinesia of bile ducts. A person with this diagnosis is occasionally disturbed by moderate or severe pain in the right upper quadrant, lasting twenty minutes or more.Sometimes the pain can radiate to the right side, back.Also, there may be bitterness in the mouth, flatulence, loosening of the stool.
Important! When a person complains to his friends about the pain in the right upper quadrant, one often hears a suggestion that it hurts the liver.In fact, there are no pain receptors in the liver, and therefore it can not be sick.However, the liver is covered with a capsule, the stretching of which can cause pain.So, people with viral hepatitis can feel a kind of heaviness, a moderate bursting pain under the right rib.
Associated signs of hepatitis are loss of appetite, weight loss, weakness, jaundice.In fairness, it should be noted that hepatitis often goes "latently", when the general well-being of a person does not suffer and he learns about his diagnosis by accident when carrying out relevant studies.
Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract
It is widely known that ulcers cause pain in the epigastric region.But it is worth noting that with an atypical location of the ulcerative defect, the pain may be concentrated in other parts of the abdomen. So, with the localization of ulcers distal to the bulb of the duodenal pain appear in the right hypochondrium.
To understand if the pain is caused by the ulcer of the DPC, it is necessary to determine the relationship between its appearance and food intake.So, for ulcer DPC is characterized by late pain, when discomfort occurs 2-3 hours after eating, as well as fasting hunger that is successfully eliminated by eating. At the height of a painful attack, vomiting can arise with acidic gastric contents, which leads to some improvement in overall well-being.In addition, a person with peptic ulcer is disturbed by frequent eructations, nausea, constipation.
Pain in the right side may occur with pancreatitis.At the same time, a severe pain in the upper part of the abdomen is troubling the person. That is, it hurts under both the left ribs and under the right.Often the pain takes a surrounding nature and spreads to the back.In favor of acute pancreatitis, such symptoms as nausea, vomiting, and stool disorders also appear.
Pain in the right upper quadrant can be observed in case of colon damage due to infectious and non-infectious diseases of the intestine. But the pain may not be the only symptom of an existing bowel disease.Therefore, you should always take into account the complete clinical picture to determine the correct diagnosis.
Intercostal neuralgia
Not always pain in the hypochondrium is caused by the pathology of internal organs.Thus, pain in the rib area can occur with diseases of the skeleton. Such a common disease as osteochondrosis proceeds with degeneration of the spinal cartilage.Changed cartilage squeezes nerves, which leads to the appearance of pain.
In chest osteochondrosis with lesion of the lower thoracic vertebrae a person is concerned with pain in the area of the ribs, hypochondrium.This phenomenon was called intercostal neuralgia.Pain often acquires a girdling character.Patients describe this pain as burning, painful.It is characteristic that painful sensations are greatly enhanced after movement, coughing, deep inspiration.That's why a person tries not to stir again.Also, the affected nerve can be determined by a violation of the sensitivity of the skin in the form of numbness, a sense of "crawling creepy."
A similar clinic is seen with shingles.The fact is that the Herpes Zoster virus affects the nerve fibers.Often, the virus suffers from intercostal nerves .In the field of the ribs, the hypochondrium of a person begin to excruciate pain, there is a feeling of tingling, itching of the skin.And the pain, as a rule, is concentrated in one half of the chest.
However, the patient notes some weakness, weakness, a rise in body temperature.After a couple of days in the place of lesions on the skin appear rashes in the form of red spots and small blisters with serous fluid.Soon the bubbles are opened, the liquid flows out and dries into crusts.Within a couple of weeks, all skin phenomena disappear.But at the same time, postherpetic neuralgia, manifested by pain in intercostal spaces, may persist for some time.
Rare causes of pain in the right hypochondrium
There are such cases in medical practice, when pain in the right upper quadrant is not related to the lesions of the abdominal cavity. So, with pneumonia, when the inflammation is localized in the lower lobe of the right lung, a person feels pain in the right hypochondrium.In favor of pneumonia also testify to fever, distinct weakness, cough .
Few people know what a formidable disease like myocardial infarction can occur with abdominal pain.Indeed, in the classic course of a heart attack a person suffers from sudden acute pain behind the sternum, giving in the arm, the lower jaw of the .But with an atypical localization of the focus of the heart attack on the heart muscle( closer to the diaphragm), pain can occur in the abdomen, particularly in the right hypochondrium.In such situations, the cause of pain is started to be looked for anywhere, but not in the heart.And they detect myocardial infarction after receiving an electrocardiogram.
Given the danger of such diseases, sudden pain in the abdomen must be taken very seriously.And only careful collection of anamnesis, medical examination and research results will allow to determine the true cause of the appearance of pain.
Grigorova Valeria, medical reviewer
