Critical Warning Signs for Nausea and Abdominal Pain

Nausea and abdominal pain can be caused by a wide range of factors including medications, excessive alcohol consumption, stomach flu, emotional stress, motion sickness, food contamination, and an unbalanced menstrual cycle.  Presto Acupressure may offer relief in many of these common situations.   If your abdominal symptoms keep returning after several days of Presto treatments we recommend that you contact an acupuncturist or other licensed health practitioner to diagnose and treat your condition.

In some cases nausea and abdominal pain may be a sign of pregnancy or a serious medical emergency like appendicitis, gallbladder or kidney stones, hernia, cardiovascular disease, ruptured ovarian cyst, peptic ulcer, a serious adverse reaction to medication, or withdrawal from medication.

Contact a licensed health professional immediately if you experience unusual nausea and/or abdominal pain. This may be especially important if you also have with any of the following symptoms: severe pain which is worse with movement, fever (even low grade fever) or chills, racing heart, chest pain, vomiting blood, black or bloody stools, light colored stools, blood in the urine, difficulty urinating, a menstrual period which is more than 2 weeks late, weight loss, or recurrent pain 1-4 hours after meals.

Risks of Using Over the Counter Drugs or Prescription Medications to Treat Pain

Regular use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs, which include: aspirin, ibuprofen (as found in Advil®), naproxen (Aleve®), and a long list of prescription NSAIDS (see below) often lead to life threatening gastrointestinal ulcers and/or bleeding. NSAIDs can increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, and cancer.  Studies have also shown that they interfere with bone healing and may increase the rate of arthritic joint deterioration. NSAIDs may also damage the kidneys of elderly patients and are linked to an increased risk of renal (kidney) cell cancer.  A recent study found that males who are regular NSAID users are 38% more likely to have erectile dysfunction. The news is even worse for pregnant women because using NSAIDs during pregnancy can more than double (2.4 times) the risk of having a miscarriage. 
 
Commonly prescribed NSAIDS include: celecoxib (Celebrex®), diclofenac (Voltaren®), etodolac (Lodine®), fenoprefen (Nalfon®), indomethacin (Indocin®), ketoprofen (Orudis®, Oruvail®), ketoralac (Toradol®), oxaprozin (Daypro®), nabumetone (Relafen®), sulindac (Clinoril®), tolmetin (Tolectin®), and rofecoxib (Vioxx®).
 
Quotes, references, and links to articles which give further details about the risks of NSAIDs are listed below.
 
“Conservative calculations estimate that approximately 107,000 patients are hospitalized annually for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)-related gastrointestinal (GI) complications and at least 16,500 NSAID-related deaths occur each year among arthritis patients alone.”  July 1998 issue of The American Journal of Medicine http://americannutritionassociation.org/newsletter/deadly-nsaids
 
Several clinical studies have shown that the use of NSAID’s accelerates the rate of osteoarthritis and increases joint destruction.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/29449930/Fooling-Mother-Nature-Is-Usually-a-Bad-Idea-by-Joe-Pizzorno-ND
 
Congestive Heart Failure:
Page J. MBBS(Hons) and Henry D. MBchB, “Consumption of NSAIDs and the Development of Congestive Heart Failure in Elderly Patients”, Archives of Internal Medicine, March 27, 2000, Vol. 160, pp. 777-784
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/160/6/777
 
NSAIDs may damage kidneys.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/01/02/nsaids-may-harm-elderly-kidneys.aspx
 
“Long-term daily use of ibuprofen was also associated with an increased risk of breast cancer [51% increased risk with a range between 17% to 95% increased risk], particularly of nonlocalized tumors (92% increased risk with a range between 24% to 297% increased risk).” 
Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug Use and Breast Cancer Risk by Stage and Hormone Receptor Status
Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol. 97, No. 11, 805-812, June 1, 2005  (PDF file)
http://www.kedu.us/Ask%20the%20Doctor/cancer%20and%20nsaids2.pdf      
 
“Use of NSAIDs and use of acetaminophen were significantly associated with increased risk of hypertension, but aspirin use was not. A substantial proportion of hypertension in the United States, and the associated morbidity and mortality, may be due to the use of these medications.”
Archives of Internal Medicine. October 28, 2002;162:2204-2208
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/162/19/2204