EXCRUCIATING Abdominal Pain

If any has question please respond, i am a nursing student but im at a lost for my boyfriends pain, and its really starting to concern me.  He has for about the last 4-6 months experienced on again off again excruciating pain, in what i would call his abdominal region, DIRECTLY below his diaphram- ONLY in that one spot. But here's the thing, when he has the sharp shooting pain in his abdomin (abdomen), after it is done acting up 3-4 min later, his stomach will make a loud growling noise. After a few minutes of what feels like normalcy, his abdomin (abdomen) will hurt again. Now, he is a tough guy and it a lot of times it makes him lose his balance if he is standing, or sometimes he will just go lay down and go to bed. He just recently has started expercincing shortness of breath. And to top it all off, it would be safe to say, anywhere between 1-2 days out of a week he will wake up puking his brains out. I feel so sorry for him, i just dont know what to do. PLEASE HELP