Diabetes and Stomach Pain

[wandaf]

I was recently diagnosed with diabetes in Nov 2005.  While I have gotten my sugar under control, Lately I have had pains under my belly button.  Is this something that I should be concerned about or is it my body adjusted to my meds?

[JDRF-Team-sgg]

Those of us who monitor this site and answer your questions are not doctors — we answer from our own experience and from reading the latest articles on diabetes and its treatments. I am not aware of any connection to stomach pain and diabetes other than 2 possibilities, which both affect the digestive tract. Your question does not make it clear whether the pain is deep as in digestive tract pain or whether it is just under the skin surface. But let me mention the two possible diabetes-related digestive tract problems so you can perhaps discuss them with your own doctor:

1. Gastroparesis — this is a failure of the nerves that stimulate the digestive tract to digest the food you eat. High blood sugar levels can damage nerves, and if nerves in the digestive tract are damaged, the food entering the stomach does not get digested, for the message that food is there needing digestion does not make it to the brain. This can cause nausea and cramping. Your doctor can run tests to see how quickly your stomach is digesting the foods you eat and can tell if this is a problem for you.

2. Celiac Disease — this is an inability of the stomach to digest foods containing gluten (wheat). it is much more common among diabetics than was thought a few years ago, and some doctors now believe that all diabetics should be tested for Celiac Disease. People with Celiac can avoid the stomach problems by not eating foods containing wheat products. Again, this is something that can be tested for by your doctor. Oddly enough, some people who are confirmed to have Celiac Disease do not exhibit any symptoms, so you do not have to display the classic symptoms to perhaps have this problem.

Other than those two problems, there are no typical diabetes-related issues that usually cause stomach pain.  My response is based on type 1 diabetes, treated by insulin, so I do not know if any of the oral type 2 medications can have this side effect. You may want to ask your doctor about it if you are a type 2 diabetic.