Are you suffering severe abdominal pain? Abdominal pain is a symptom for many digestive related health conditions. But when it’s severe, perforation is a possibility.
A perforated bowel, intestine or stomach means you have a hole in these organ’s wall. This hole allows for their contents to ooze into your abdominal cavity. Bowel and intestinal contents may contain bacteria, which can cause peritonitis or sepsis. Both of which are life threatening and require immediate health care.
Beyond severe abdominal pain, infection symptoms will likely include:
- fever
- chills
- nausea, vomiting
- abdominal pain that intensifies with movement
Causes of a perforated bowel or intestinal perforation often stem from another digestive problem, including:
- ascariasis
- diverticulitis
- appendicitis
- typhoid fever
- Clostridium difficile
- intestinal obstruction
- colon, intestinal cancer
- gastric ulcer ~ stomach hole
- gallstones, gallbladder infection
- IBD ~ Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis
Excessive use of aspirin, NSAIDs or steroids can be a cause of perforated intestine as well.
Treatment usually requires surgical repair of the perforation and antibiotics to kill your bacterial infection.