Symptoms and Signs

As the stomach is located in the upper central part of the abdomen (epigastrium), the most common symptom for gastric cancer is upper abdominal pain or discomfort (commonly-called dyspepsia). The pain experienced can be mild or severe, and may relate to food intake. It is also nonspecific, ie it is very difficult to differentiate discomfort caused by gastric cancer from that which is caused by common diseases such as gastritis or peptic ulcer. The other symptoms of gastric cancer include a loss of appetite, passing black stools, vomiting and weight loss. Passing black stools is a sign of bleeding from the cancer. In its advanced stage, the cancer can spread to other organs such as the liver and the rest of the abdomen.

In the early stage of gastric cancer, there is no specific physical sign. Occasionally, there may be a lump that can be felt over the upper abdomen. The face may look pale due to anaemia after blood loss from the tumour.

In its advanced stage, the patient may appear jaundiced. The abdomen may also be distended.

When is gastric pain not normal?

When an otherwise healthy person experiences pain, it's like an alarm from the body that something is wrong. Abdominal pain that occurs as a result of self limiting conditions like stomach flu (gastroenteritis) is not persistent. Gastric pain which is persistent of increasing severity or unbearable is not normal.

Patients who have to visit their physicians for recurrent episodes of gastric pain or gastric pain with alarming symptoms like vomiting, loss of weight loss of appetite, passing black stools should consider visiting a specialist for further evaluation.

What is the difference between gastric pain and stomach pain?

Abdominal pain is a symptom that could be representative of many diseases. There are different types of pain eg cramps of gastroenteritis are gripping in nature with a waxing and waning character. Gastric pain is usually centred in the upper abdomen varying in intensity from a dull ache to a severe sharp cutting pain that is persistent.

It is difficult to tell just from the pain, so associated symptoms like vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice etc must be taken into account prior to concluding it to be of gastric origin.

What can we do if we have stomach pain at night that is not severe enough to require A&E treatment?

If the pain is not so severe, and you don't have the abovementioned symptoms, most of the time it may just be indigestion after a big meal. Walk around, place a hot water bottle on the abdomen or take an antacid or paracetamol for pain relief. If however, the pain does not get better, seems to spread over the entire abdomen or the belly hurts badly when it is pressed, it is advisable to seek medical attention quickly.