Two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl

Abdominal angina is a condition that follows the first definition in that the sufferer typically has attacks of abdominal pain. This is not the stomach ache that all of us have suffered from occasionally. It is a dull, gnawing or cramping pain typically felt in the upper or middle portions of the abdomen. The pain usually begins 10 to 30 min after eating, and gradually increases until it reaches a plateau and then slowly decreases over one to three hours. As the condition worsens, the pain increases in frequency and severity so that the patient progressively reduces meal size and/or avoids eating. As a consequence, the person loses weight.

Abdominal angina and angina pectoris involve different organs but have the same underlying cause. In abdominal angina it is the stomach and intestines (rather than the heart) which are temporarily deprived of adequate amounts of blood to perform their jobs optimally. This poor circulation is almost always caused by hardening of the arteries, a condition doctors call arteriosclerosis, although rarely there are other causative factors.

The sufferer and the illness have finally found each other, after so many years.