Recurring Abdominal Pain

Because of your risk for heart disease, you must consider the small chance that your abdominal pain could be a cardiac symptom.

Your pain may be angina, a symptom that is caused when your heart is not getting adequate blood flow.

You urgently need to discuss your symptoms with your doctor.

In your case, the fact that you have pain provoked by exercise makes a cardiac evaluation a high priority. Angina is sometimes felt in the abdomen.

If you have sweating or shortness of breath accompanying your pain, this too could suggest that you are experiencing angina.

Your doctor may wish to begin your evaluation with a "stress test" for coronary artery disease. Several different stress tests are available.

Less dangerous causes of your symptoms are, of course, possible. After your doctor considers heart disease as a possible source of your pain, diagnoses that fit well with your symptoms include

• gallstones

• gastritis

• gastroesophageal reflux disease

• indigestion (dyspepsia)

• peptic ulcer disease.

To examine for these conditions, tests that might be considered early in your evaluation include a treatment trial with antiacid medicines, endoscopy (a video evaluation of the esophagus and stomach), a barium swallow x-ray test, or an ultrasound of the abdomen.