5 Signs Your Abdominal Pain Requires a Trip to Urgent Care

Your abdomen is a large cavity that plays host to a number of different body parts, including much of your digestive system, your urinary tract, and your reproductive organs. So, it’s little wonder that abdominal pain is a common complaint and accounts for about 5% of emergency room visits in the United States.

The urgent care clinic here at Michigan Avenue Primary Care is a great choice for abdominal pain because our team has extensive experience in this area. In this month’s blog post, we’re going to dive into situations in which coming to see us for abdominal pain makes good sense.

1. Sudden and severe abdominal pain

If your abdominal pain develops quickly and the discomfort is intense, we want you to come to our urgent care center right away (or get to an ER if we’re closed).

Sudden and severe abdominal pain can point to several serious issues, including:

• Appendicitis, which has a lifetime prevalence of 8.6% in males and 6.7% in females
• Food allergies
• Gall or kidney stones 
• Twisted or blocked intestine
• Twisted ovary

These are medical emergencies, so if your abdominal pain comes on fast and hard, respond with equal urgency.

2. Abdominal pain with nausea and vomiting

If you have moderate to severe abdominal pain and you’re also experiencing nausea and vomiting, it’s a good idea to check in with us, especially if these symptoms have been plaguing you for several days.

These symptoms could indicate a wide range of issues, such as food poisoning, which affects 48 million Americans each year. Or, the nausea and vomiting could be tied to an infection or inflammation in your abdomen that we need to address.

3. Blood in your stool or urine

If you’re experiencing abdominal pain alongside blood in your urine or stool, this is a sign to get to urgent care. This also applies to vaginal bleeding outside your regular menstrual cycles.

The presence of blood where it doesn't belong is often a sign of a larger problem that we should investigate.

4. Abdominal pain with fever

If you’ve got a bellyache and a fever (a temperature over 100.4F) and these symptoms last for more than 2-3 days, your body may need some outside help in fighting off infection. 

5. Severe diarrhea or constipation

Abdominal pain is often joined by diarrhea or constipation, so the presence of these gastrointestinal symptoms isn’t necessarily cause for alarm. If, however, the diarrhea or constipation persist for more than a day or two, a quick trip to our urgent care may be in order.

If you’re at all concerned about your abdominal pain and you’d like to get some relief from the discomfort, we’re here to help. You can contact our urgent care center in Chicago, Illinois, to schedule an appointment or you can walk in during business hours — M-F, 8 am to 4 pm.