Dr Sambrook told medical website Patient: “Doctors have different words to describe the different types of pain you can feel in the gut.
“Very broadly, pains may be sharp or stabbing, crampy, colicky or a general dull ache. Colicky means gradually becoming worse, then easing off again. This may happen repeatedly.
“Doctors may also be interested in where the pain is and whether the pain seems to be travelling (radiating) in a certain direction.
“Having this information and putting it together with other information, such as whether you have been being sick (vomiting) or have had diarrhoea, will help the doctor work out what is wrong.
“If you have a pain that is not going away quickly [within a few hours] or that you cannot cope with, you should see a GP.”