Understanding New and Severe Abdominal Pain

This area of the abdomen is called the "epigastric" area because it is where your stomach is located. In this area, you can feel pain that arises from one of the following organs:

• heart

• esophagus

• stomach

• duodenum (part of your small intestine)

• pancreas

• aorta.

In order to narrow down our list, it will be helpful to know the character of your pain. If your pain feels like a burn or feels like it is gnawing, then it is probably from one of the organs on this list that is exposed to digestive acid.

What does your pain feel like?

My pain is burning or gnawing.

My pain is aching, sharp, crampy, heavy, squeezing, or dull.