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The 4 Quadrants of Abdominal Pain

The abdomen is a very busy part of the body. Since there are a lot of organs in the abdomen, one of the first thing that a medical professional is likely to ask you if you’re having abdominal trouble is where the pain is located.

To better understand your abdominal pain, learning more about where your organs live can help clarify what may be causing your pain.

Here are the four quadrants of your abdomen and some of the parts in each of them:

Right Upper Quadrant

Here are some of the organs in the right upper quadrant of your body:

  • Gallbladder
  • Liver
  • Duodenum
  • Upper portion of your right kidney
  • Part of your colon
  • Part of your pancreas

Right Lower Quadrant

In the right lower quadrant of your body, you will find:

  • Appendix
  • Right ureter
  • Part of your colon
  • Lower portion of your right kidney
  • Right ovary (for females)
  • Right fallopian tube (for females)
  • Right spermatic cord (for males)

Left Upper Quadrant

These organs are found in the left upper quadrant of your body:

  • Stomach
  • Pancreas
  • Spleen
  • Part of your liver
  • Upper portion of your left kidney
  • Part of your colon

Left Lower Quadrant

The left lower quadrant of your body is home to organs like:

  • Left ureter
  • Part of your colon
  • Lower portion of your left kidney
  • Part of your colon
  • Left ovary (for females)
  • Left fallopian tube (for females)
  • Left spermatic cord (for males)

Things to Remember About the 4 Quadrants

Looking at the lists above, you may notice that some body parts are in more than one quadrant. The colon, for example, has portions across all four quadrants of your body.

This is why it is important for you to explain to your medical professional not just where your pain is located, but the nature of the pain and any other symptoms that you are experiencing.

Another thing to keep in mind is that sometimes your pain could come from an organ that is not typically located in that quadrant. For example, if your uterus becomes enlarged, it could potentially cause pain in your lower left or right quadrants.

Having an understanding of your body can help you stay informed, but when you need treatment for your abdominal pain, it is time to go to a medical professional.

Next Steps to Treat Abdominal Pain

Even though it is smart to understand the four quadrants of your abdomen, do not take it upon yourself to make a diagnosis. It may be tempting to do some research and figure out the source of the pain yourself, but it rarely helps bring anything but confusion.

When you have abdominal pain, go to a medical professional for diagnosis and treatment options. Use your knowledge of the four quadrants to describe the location and nature of your pain, then let your doctor figure out what it is and how to help.

Make sure to follow the instructions of your medical professional and you’ll be on the path to recovery.

 

Abdominal Pain “Quick Answers”

Q: What are some symptoms of abdominal pain in adults?

A: Abdominal pain its self is a symptom. Other symptoms along with the abdominal pain may include

  • Nausea,
  • Diarrhea
  • Severe pain after eating

Q: What are some of the causes of abdominal pain in adults?

A: Some diseases that can be a cause of your abdominal pain include:

  • Gastritis,
  • Appendicitis
  • Kidney stones
  • Gallbladder Pain disease
  • Duodenal and gastric ulcers
  • Infections
  • Pregnancy-associated problems
  • Ruptured blood vessels
  • Heart attacks
  • Liver and pancreas inflammation
  • Kidney stones
  • Problems with the blood circulation to the intestine
  • Diverticulitis
  • Cancers

 

Some sensations of abdominal pain might not be caused from the abdomen its self:

  • Some heart attacks and pneumonia can cause abdominal pain and even nausea.
  • Diseases of the pelvis or groin can also cause abdominal pain in adults.
  • Testicular problems often can cause lower abdominal pain.
  • Certain skin rashes, such as shingles, can feel like abdominal pain, even though the person has nothing wrong inside their body.
  • Even some poisonings and bites, such as a black widow spider bite, can cause severe abdominal pain.

Q: When should an adult seek medical care for abdominal pain?

A: Medical attention should be given when (but not limited to):

  • Abdominal pain that lasts more than six hours or continues to worsen
  • Pain accompanied by vomiting more than three or four times
  • Severe abdominal pain
  • Pain that stops a person from eating
  • Abdominal pain during pregnancy
  • Abdominal pain after eating
  • Pain along with an inability to urinate, move the bowels, or pass gas
  • Pain accompanied by a fever over 101 F (38.3 C)
  • Any other pain that feels different from a simple stomach ache
  • Pain so bad the affected person passes out or almost passes out
  • Pain so bad the affected person cannot move

Q: How will a doctor diagnose me?

A: Most doctors determine the cause of abdominal pain by relying on:

  • Characteristics of the pain
  • Physical examination
  • Exams and tests
  • Surgery and endoscopy

Q: Can abdominal pain in adults be prevented?

A: If the cause of the pain is known, a person should follow the instructions specific for the diagnosis.

For Example:

  • For an ulcer, the person must avoid nicotine, caffeine, and alcohol.
  • For a gallbladder disease, the person should avoid greasy, fatty, and fried foods.

While it is important to pay attention to changes in your health, it is not safe to self-diagnose when pain is severe or chronic.

Q: What organs are in each of the 4 quadrants?

Right Upper Quadrant:

  • Liver
  • Galbladder
  • Duodenum
  • Head of Pancreas
  • Right Adrenal Gland
  • Upper Lobe of Kidney
  • Hepatic Flexure of Colon
  • Section of Ascending Colon
  • Section of Transverse Colon

Right Lower Quadrant

  • Lower Lobe of Right Kidney
  • Section of Ascending COlon
  • Right Fallopian Tube (female)
  • Right Ovary (female)
  • Par of Uterus (if enlarged)
  • Right Spermatic Cord (male)
  • Cecum
  • Appendix
  • Right Ureter

Left Upper Quadrant

  • Left Lower Part of Liver
  • Upper Lobe of Left Kidney
  • Splenic Flexure of Colon
  • Section fo Transverse Colon
  • Section of Descending COlon
  • Stomach
  • Spleen
  • Pancreas
  • Left Adrenal Gland

Left Lower Quandrant

  • Lower Lobe of Left Kidney
  • Secion of Descending Colon
  • Left Spermatic Cord (male)
  • Part of Uterus (if enlarged)
  • Sigmoid Colon
  • Left Ureter
  • Left Ovary (female)
  • Left Fallopian Tube (female)

Q: What quadrant is the appendix in?

A. The appendix is located in the lower right quadrant of the abdomen (right iliac region). This are is approximately 100mm (4 inches) long and about the diameter of a dime.

Q: What quandrant is the uterus in?

A: The uterus is located in both parts of the lower right and lower left quadrant of the female human anatomy.

About Physician Partners of America

Headquartered in Tampa, Fla., Physician Partners of America (PPOA) is a fast-growing national healthcare company committed to combatting the opioid crisis through interventional pain management. Founded in 2013 with three employees, it has rapidly grown to more than 500, and manages a wide range of medical practices.

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Dr. Mauricio Orbegozo Joins Florida Pain Relief Group

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Florida Pain Relief Group is proud to announce the addition of Dr. Mauricio Orbegozo to our growing practice.

Dr. Orbegozo has more than 20 years of experience as an anesthesiologist and pain management specialist. He joins Florida Pain Relief Group from private practice in the greater Chicago area.

“I like the approach of pain management because it allows me to treat the pain suffering patient in all stages of the process and their condition,” Dr. Orbegozo said. “As a surgeon I was only going to be involved in surgery. As I was finishing my residency in anesthesia I was given the privilege and opportunity to go to one if the best training programs available. I have since been practicing pain management and interventional therapies for pain. During my career I have had the privilege of treating patients with all conditions in pain management.”

Following medical school, Dr. Orbegozo pursued a residency program in general surgery at Good Samaritan Hospital in Ohio; a residency program in anesthsiology at Loyola University Medical Center in Illinois; and a fellowship in pain management at Texas Tech University Medical Center in Texas.

“My approach to patient care is that of maximizing all therapies we have available for the patient in order to provide the best result,” Dr. Orbegozo said. “I believe the pain management specialist is the gatekeeper for patients in the sense that if they need referrals to other specialties, we can send the patient to the most appropriate physician to complement the care that we as pain Physicians have given. I believe in complete health as far as mental and physical health.”

Dr. Orbegozo prides himself on being able to connect on a personal level with each of his patients.

“I have always been proud of the fact that if a patient’s name comes up in a question I am able to recall who that patient is, the therapy the patient is undergoing and also who they are personally,” he said. “I believe that to treat pain you have to know as much of the patient as possible not only physically but mentally, socially and their life and family support they have around them.”

Joining Florida Pain Relief Group presented Dr. Orbegozo with the opportunity to relocate to be closer to family and to join a rapidly growing pain practice.

“I have decided to join Florida Pain Relief Group because ever since I met Dr Gari, saw his approach to pain management and saw his achievements in creating a model of pain management that has proven to be successful for a very long time,” Dr. Orbegozo said. “I knew this was the type of practice I wanted to join. We have family and friend ties to Florida and this was always in our plans as an area to continue our family life.”

Dr. Orbegozo will be seeing new patients starting May 16th at our Tampa pain relief center locations in East Tampa and Carrollwood.

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Are Compressed Nerves Being a Pain

A compressed or pinched nerve is one of the main reasons you experience back, neck, wrist or leg pain. The delicate nerve fibers get trapped, pinched, squeezed, or injured by a variety of external or internal situations and the neurotransmitters that signal “pain” to the brain go off.

Causes of a compressed nerve can vary from an injury to poor posture to degenerative disorders to obesity. Additionally, the compressed nerve can be a result of a combination of factors.

The pressure on the nerve by surrounding bones, cartilage, muscles, or tendons needs to be relieved sooner than later, or that pain will continue to slow you down – not to mention the nerve can endure permanent damage if not tended to.

We’ve gone into detail about pinched nerves in our conditions section, but let’s recap some of the symptoms you may experience.

Compressed Nerve Symptoms

The following is a small selection of common symptoms of a compressed nerve:

  • Numbness
  • Radiating pain that stems from one specific location
  • Muscle weakness
  • Feeling as if the area has “fallen asleep”

Medical Treatment for a Compressed Nerve

Our specialists offer many solutions for your compressed nerve pain including minimally invasive procedures and physical therapy. Below are a few highlighted pain management options you can receive:

  • Nerve blocks. A nerve block is an anesthetic or anti-inflammatory injection into a particular nerve or group of nerves for pain relief. The aim is to block pain signal(s) coming from a specific location in the body and/or decrease inflammation in that area.
  • Trigger point injections. A Trigger Point Injection (TPI) is an intra-muscular injection of a local anesthetic into muscle trigger points, often accompanied by an anti-inflammatory steroid, to combat specific pain points and chronic pain usually resulting from an injury to the muscle(s) in question.
  • Pulsed radiofrequency. Pulsed radiofrequency treatment is very effective at treating the more difficult types of chronic pain that usually originate from either irritated or damaged nerves.
  • Physical therapy. This enables you to build strength in muscles where you are experiencing pain and weakness.

The prognosis for a full recovery from a pinched nerve is good if you don’t ignore the warning signs and get your pain checked out by a doctor sooner than later. For more information about compressed or pinched nerves, contact us today.

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Treating arthritis pain

Get relief from arthritis pain in Tampa

Tampa pain specialist Dr. Rodolfo Gari of Florida Pain Relief Group is an expert in the treatment of chronic pain due to arthritis.

In a recent appearance on the News Channel 8 program “DayTime”, Dr. Gari spoke about the various symptoms of pain from arthritis and the treatment options that exist.

You don’t have to suffer in pain from arthritis. Each of our Tampa pain doctors have years of experience treating arthritis pain using a variety of techniques and procedures.

Schedule an appointment at one of our Tampa pain relief center locations in East Tampa, North Tampa and Carrollwood.

Watch the video here:

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Headache Do’s and Don’ts

When confronted with a headache the first thought is to grab the nearest over-the-counter pain medication and wait for the pain to subside.

When that doesn’t work, you are faced with the question of what to do next.

Jonette Gozzola NP, a Dallas headache specialist, offers these Do’s and Don’ts for how to respond when a headache comes, and what next steps should be taken.

Do:

  • Seek competent medical evaluation. Migraines cause missed work, family activities and even cause problems in relationships
  • Recognize “triggers” that cause your migraines. Again, a trained clinician can help. Common triggers-stress, certain foods, sleep disturbance, weather changes
  • Keep a headache diary. Record level of intensity and frequency of all headaches.
  • Seek immediate emergency help for “’the worst headache I have ever had”

Don’t

  • Overuse rescue medications. You need to be in control of headaches not be being controlled by headaches
  • Delay seeking a headache professional for guidance and appropriate medication
  • Seek more and stronger “pain” medication. It may be poison for the person with a migraine
  • Ignore signs of a growing problem-mood disruption, decreased cognitive function, muscle tension, excessive yawning, increasing frequency, and intensity

A migraine is a condition of the nervous system that can be serious and debilitating. It is not “just a headache”. Help is available for you to control this condition and take back your life. You are a valuable person who people love and appreciate! Let us help you get back to being you!

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When Pain Medication Doesn’t Work

Chronic pain sufferers will try almost anything to achieve relief from their pain symptoms. Typically the first line of defense are various pain medications, both over-the-counter and prescribed by a physician.

However, pain medication cannot be guaranteed to always work as prescribed or as intended. Over the years medical research has revealed that not every person absorbs medication the same ways, and that over time our body will change how it reacts to medications.

Pain physicians have a number of ways to combat this issue in patients.

“This is a situation known as tachyphylaxis where more medication is needed to achieve the same effect,” said Dr. Rodolfo Gari, Tampa pain specialist with Florida Pain Relief Group. “Many believe that tachyphylaxis occurs because our bodies increase the number of receptors necessary to achieve pain control and therefore more medication is needed to achieve the same effect.”

Typically a patient does not want to increase their existing medication dosages, but instead find a combination or approach that works best.

“A way to counter this without increasing dosage is to switch the medication to a different class of opioid that works in different receptors,” Dr. Gari said. “For example, switching from hydrocodone to oxycodone or switching from morphine to methadone for a short period of time can restore the original effect. We can then switch back to the original medication with better results at a lower dosage.”

For patients who don’t experience relief from a change in medications may be good candidates for a test called Pharmacogenomics. This test will help a doctor to prescribe medication based on more than symptoms.

“Pharmacogenomics is a field of medicine that matches our unique genetic make up with the medications that work best for us,” Dr. Gari said. “We have all experienced ‘trials’ of different medications until we find one that works. Pharmacogenomics allows us to use the right medication the first time.”

All of our pain doctors in Tampa offer pharmacogenomics testing to their patients. Schedule an appointment at any of our Tampa pain relief centers in East Tampa, North Tampa and Carrollwood.

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Pain After Back Surgery

Get Relief from Pain After Back Surgery

When making the decision to go forward with back surgery, the hope is that by having the procedure done it will reduce or eliminate pain.

The reality is that back surgery can be unsuccessful and ultimately leave you with the same level of pain, or even greater pain, than when you first had the procedure.

The issue has become so common that it has a name: Failed Back Syndrome. Tampa pain specialist Dr. Jorge Leal with Physician Partners of America has this first-hand in his patients over the years.

“Sometimes the pain can occur immediately after the surgery.The pain you feel does not get better,” Dr. Leal said. “Sometimes it’s a period of days or weeks after the initial surgery.  The pain goes away but then it comes back.”

Symptoms of Failed Back Syndrome are varied. However, typically a patient will feel pain in their back and usually down one or both of the lower extremities.

“A patient could feel numbness in their legs, tingling sensations and also muscle atrophy,” Dr. Leal said. “If the nerves have been damaged, there could be a loss of reflexes, depending on the degree of residual damage.”

Physician Partners of America offers patients pain relief without surgery.

Treating failed back syndrome can be done using conventional measures such as physical therapy and anti-inflammatory medication. Another option is nerve blocks if they have not been tried in the past.

“If no further surgical treatment is required or desirable, then we look at implantable devices like spinal cord stimulation or a morphine pump,” Dr. Leal said.

The prognosis for someone with Failed Back Syndrome varies widely based on the kind of surgery that was performed and where the pain is coming from. Sometimes the pain will subside with treatment, but it is not a guarantee.

“What we can do is, through various diagnostic nerve blocks, we can identify the pain generator,” said Dr. Leal.  “From there we can concentrate on it and determine the best course of treatment for such a pain generator.”

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Pain from a car accident

Get relief from pain caused by a car accident

Tampa pain specialist Dr. Rodolfo Gari with Florida Pain Relief Group recently appeared on News Channel 8’s program “DayTime” to talk about pain from a car accident.

In the event of a car accident a person can experience a number of different injuries, from whiplash to broken bones and more.

At Florida Pain Relief Group our physicians have years of experience treating several types of pain that are the result of a car accident.

Our pain specialists can successfully diagnose, treat and relieve your pain at any of our Tampa pain relief center locations.

Watch the video to learn more.

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Pain Free Minute: Regenerative Medicine

In this week’s edition of the Pain Free Minute, Tampa pain specialist Dr. Rodolfo Gari talks about the benefits of regenerative medicine for treating chronic pain in Tampa.

In the video, Dr. Gari talks about regenerative medicine treatment in Tampa. It is one of the most exciting new ways that doctors can treat chronic pain.

At Florida Pain Relief Group our goal is to treat people using the most minimally invasive procedures available. These procedures include injection of your own body’s stem cells to regenerate tissue.

Watch the Pain-Free Minute to learn more about regenerative medicine treatments available at our Tampa pain relief centers.

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Tampa Sciatica Pain Clinic

Got sciatica pain and nowhere to go?

Well, now you do. Physician Partners of America has pain clinics in Tampa to make sure sciatica pain relief is always just moments away.

Let’s talk a little bit about sciatica real quick.

The sciatic nerve runs from your lower back (lumbar region), down through your hips and buttocks and down each leg branching out into the feet. Half of your body can feel pain when this nerve suffers compression at any point.

This compression, or pressure on the nerves, is usually due to either: bone spurs, abnormal growths (cysts or tumors), herniated/slipped discs, or a disorder called spinal stenosis where the spinal canal is narrowed.

Symptoms of sciatica may be shooting pains down one leg, tingling sensations or numbness.

Tampa Sciatica Pain Relief Treatments

Treating your sciatica pain at our Tampa clinics can be done through minimally invasive surgeries or procedures using medication, or through non-pharmacological therapies where a more natural approach is taken. Our clinics offer a well-rounded, complete pain management environment where a variety of pain relief treatments can be utilized to get you better faster.

Depending upon the underlying cause for your sciatica pain, our doctors will discuss the best treatment options for you.

Selection of Sciatica Treatments

Lumbar Epidural Steroid Injection – Epidural steroid injections deliver medication directly (or as close as possible to) the source of pain generation.

Lumbar Sympathetic Block – A lumbar sympathetic block is an injection in the lower back that targets the lumbar sympathetic nerves, a series of nerves that carry pain signals from the lower extremities.

Nerve Block – A nerve block is an anesthetic or anti-inflammatory injection into a particular nerve or group of nerves for pain relief. The aim is to block pain signal(s) coming from a specific location in the body and/or decrease inflammation in that area.

Non-Pharmacological – A more organic and natural approach to healing with non-drug treatments, we offer such therapies as acupuncture, acupressure, aromatherapy, physical therapy, massage, guided symbolism, pet therapy and more. Used in conjunction with our other methods, these procedures do very well to keep pain managed over time.

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