Belly button pain can be quite a common occurrence, the majority of the time it will be nothing to worry about. However if the pain has lasted more than a day, and starts to affect you in everyday movements like bending or stretching, then this is the time to start to consider the cause of the pain.

In today’s article we go over some of the common problems associated with belly button pain and some of the treatments depending on the cause, hopefully this article may be of some use to you and can put your mind at rest too.

 

Belly button pain common causes

I’ll start with something that is very common and believe it or not is a very common cause for belly button pain. Ridiculous those this may seem, some people literally have their jeans or trousers too tight. Wearing jeans or trousers that are obviously too tight for you, sometimes literally cutting you in half just for the sake of getting into them…….. Well this is no surprise then that you are suffering from pain around the navel area.

You don’t even need to ask yourself if this is you. Simply look in the mirror with your top pulled up without your tight clothing on, and if you see a dark red/pink line across your belly button where your jeans or trousers sit, then there is your culprit. I only mention this as hand on heart how many of us have tried to get into jeans that obviously don’t fit anymore, but can’t face the prospect we have put on a bit more weight? I know I’ve done it, but after experiencing pain around the navel area, I don’t anymore. And soon as I stopped wearing ultra-tight clothing, that particular pain soon stopped.

Pulling a belt too tight too is also a very common cause of belly button pain. I know I’ve sometimes pulled a belt too tight, causing the belly button area too be dragged along by the belt, you may not feel that pain immediately, but possibly during the night, or even the next day.  A lot of times the pain can easily be traced back if you just try and think what you done that day. This goes for a whole host of other slight injuries and pain too.

Obviously if you have read this and thought nope didn’t do either of them things, then this will not apply and in the next section we’ll go over other possible causes, that are a bit more serious, I’ll give a brief rundown of those particular causes, but this is something you should really consult your doctor on, especially if the written symptoms apply to you.

 

 

Food Poisoning

Food poisoning could certainly be responsible for belly button pain. Food poising is a very common occurrence, normally due to infected meat and poultry, but dirt water and dirty hands before preparing food along with a host of other reasons could be responsible too. Unless you feel the pain directly after consumption, food poisoning and how you contracted it can be hard to nail down.
Common symptoms from food poisoning are stomach cramps, belly pain, and diarrhea after eating the infected food. In more severe cases nausea and vomiting may also show as symptoms.

Fortunately in most cases stomach pain due to food poisoning will normally settle down in a couple of days, the best you can do is rest, and I mean real rest! make sure you keep up your intake of water too, especially if you have been suffering from diarrhea and nausea as part of your symptoms, this is to make sure you stay hydrated. Severe dehydration can cause a whole host of other problems that you really don’t want.

 

Hernias and belly button pain

The pain you are experiencing in the belly button area may be down to a hernia, specifically an umbilical hernia. The common symptoms of a umbilical hernia are protrusion and bulging in the belly button area. The area where the hernia is, is usually visible and can often be felt too. Other symptoms are of course pain in that area, this can often be felt more if you cough or are stretched.

You may never know the cause of the hernia, as they can be caused by a multitude of things; however sports related injuries and getting older can and are often the cause.

Having a hernia is serious business, especially when left untreated.  Complications if left untreated could lead to a strangulated hernia, whereby the supply of blood to the herniated area is cut off. You may also suffer an incarcerated hernia; this means the hernia can no longer be pushed back into the abdomen area. If you feel you may be suffering from some of the above symptoms, then contact your doctor as soon as possible, as more often than not strangulated and incarcerated hernia require surgery.

 

Appendicitis and belly button pain

This something I can attest too, as I actually suffered from a grumbling appendicitis. This required surgery. The pain I initially suffered from was pain in around the belly button, this then transferred to the opposite side of my appendix, the appendix is of course on your right hand side, whereas my pain was searing in the left by the end up.

I felt sick as a dog, and any time I touched even lightly alcoholic beverages I was literally physically sick. I ended up hardly being able to eat as well, this was due to the feeling of being sick and sometimes I literally was sick. The pain became unbearable in the end, and after it being misdiagnosed as period pains I eventually asked to see a new doctor, he much to my surprise, diagnosed an inflamed appendix and I was in the hospital within days.

The first night in the hospital, I had a really bad night and rather than wait on a laparotomy the doctors decided to operate. I awoke to what only be described as agonizing pain, I was given a morphine shot and was then in recovery for a week.  The recovery process for the appendix was the ability to walk the length of the corridor there and back about five times.

When you stand after a appendectomy, it literally feels like the area around your navel feels as though it’s about to tear. Luckily I fully recovered and am here to tell the tale today, had it been left any longer it may have burst, then my situation would have been quite different.

I hope some of the information supplied in this article may have been of some benefit to you. Take my advice if you’re suffering from reoccurring belly button pain like I was, see your doctor, you don’t want to end up in the hospital like I did.