Even if you haven’t just consumed anything chilly, do you ever have a tingling or cold sensation in your stomach?
If so, you are not by yourself. You may get a cold sensation in your stomach for a variety of causes.
Some of these merely demonstrate that you are more sensitive to or aware of what is happening inside your body.
Others may point to an issue or medical condition. To find out more about the distinction, keep reading.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
✅ It’s likely that you have increased cold sensitivity and are sensing the shift in blood flow brought on by your exercise if you feel cold in your stomach or belly when exercising.
✅ You should visit a doctor if this sensation persists even when you’re not exercising or if it’s accompanied by symptoms of an infection, pain, or gastrointestinal issues.
✅ Abdominal chills are a symptom of a multitude of illnesses that call for immediate medical attention.
A cold stomach, What causes it?
Your stomach can get cold even if you might not think it can. Your body contains thermoreceptors all around. These nerve cells are capable of detecting temperature changes. Your body’s nervous system receives temperature signals to help it maintain a safe core temperature.
Your skin’s surface thermoreceptors, which are sensitive and capable of controlling shivering or perspiration as a way for your body to heat or cool itself, are called thermoreceptors.
The autonomic nervous system receives signals from deeper-seated thermoreceptors, which often react in a more delicate manner. The brain, spinal cord, and a deep region of the belly all contain these thermoreceptors.
The stomach, other abdominal organs, or the abdominal wall may also feel hard or provide a chilling feeling due to a number of medical disorders. Some of the following conditions have been linked to abdominal pain and chills.
Gastroenteritis
Inflammation of the stomach or small intestinal lining is known as gastroenteritis. Bacteria and viruses are the most frequent causes of this inflammation, although there are other possibilities. The stomach flu is a frequent name for viral gastroenteritis.
Although bacterial forms of gastroenteritis can be treated with medication, viral gastroenteritis has no known treatment. Regardless of whether your gastroenteritis is bacterial or viral, supportive therapy like drinking lots of fluids and obtaining rest is crucial.
Infections
There are numerous infections that might cause chills and stomach ache. Any serious infection, such as a ruptured appendix or food poisoning, might result in chills or rigors.
Renal stones
Chills are not as commonly connected with kidney stones as they are with severe flank pain (s). Chills are another symptom of kidney stones, particularly if they are accompanied by an infection in the kidneys.
Calcium is one of the many things that can build up in your body and cause kidney stones, which are large masses of crystals. In addition to being painful to pass, these stones may harm your kidneys or obstruct the flow of urine.
Gastroparesis
This condition arises when your stomach begins to work less efficiently than usual. This may occur for a number of reasons, including:
- Type 2 diabetes
- surgeries
- Additional chronic conditions
NOTE: When you have gastroparesis, the nerve signals in your gastrointestinal tract are disrupted. This has an impact on how you move around and digest food, but it may also have an effect on how well your temperature-sensing nerves are working. Particularly following surgery, this can be a medical emergency. If you’ve recently undergone surgery and are experiencing these symptoms, call 911 or get to the closest emergency room.
Pancreatitis
Inflammation that especially affects your pancreas is referred to as pancreatitis. The pancreas is a little organ right behind your stomach that makes hormones like insulin and digestive enzymes.
Pancreatitis can have a variety of reasons that range from infectious to non-infectious, chronic to acute. Acute pancreatitis can cause intense pain over your mid-left upper abdomen as well as a chilling sensation.
When pancreatitis is severe, it may need to be treated with intravenous fluids to avoid dehydration.
What could make your stomach feel cold when exercising?
When there are no other symptoms of infection, some people claim to feel cold in their stomachs or other parts of their bodies. Instead, during activity, this sensation could happen. There are various possibilities that have been explored in studies to explain why this happens.
According to one notion, during exercise, while the skin’s surface temperature rises, other regions of the body may experience a stronger sensation of coldness. Exercise may have an analgesic (pain-relieving) effect, according to another reliable source. Researchers found that regardless of the subjects’ actual body temperatures, the effects were stronger in those who were more susceptible to cold in the first place.
Other hypotheses have looked at the possibility that increased blood supply to specific muscle groups during exercise lowered blood flow and sensation to other regions of the body, leading to a chilly or numb sensation. Another 2016 study discovered that while factors including body weight and gender had an impact on temperature changes and cold sensations in the extremities during exercise, there was no correlation between these two factors and cold sensations in the abdomen. In reality, the study found that the core or abdominal region’s temperatures hardly fluctuated.
What may make your stomach hurt and feel cold at the same time?
Pain and chills are frequent indications of an infection or other serious illness. They may consist of:
- appendicitis
- contagious monocytosis
- meningitis
- Infection of the urinary tract
- Food poisoning due to salmonella
- prostatitis
- epididymitis
- diverticulitis
- Inflammatory illness of the pelvis
- urethritis
- peritonitis
- pyelonephritis
- addison’s disease crisis
- cholecystitis
- IBD (irritable bowel syndrome)
- hernia
When should a go and speak with a doctor?
Although theoretically safe, exercise-induced chilly sensations in the belly should be treated seriously if they persist or are accompanied by other symptoms. These signs could consist of:
- fever
- diarrhea
- nausea
- vomiting
- dizziness
- Excessive breathing
- less frequent urination
- a reduction in bowel motions
- Blood in your feces or urine
- dark urine or tarry stools
- Acute stomach ache
- A firm or hard abdomen
Taking care of the fundamental issue
The aforementioned disorders can be caused by a variety of different factors. There isn’t exactly a cure for stomach chills brought on by exercise.
This often seems to be a problem with blood flow and cold sensitivity.
Antibiotics may ease your suffering if you have bacterial infections or other illnesses having a bacterial origin, such as bacterial gastroenteritis or other infections. Pancreatitis, gastroparesis, and other more severe disorders may necessitate hospitalization and even surgery.
Conditions that influence your metabolism may not necessitate surgery, but they may upset your body’s chemistry and cause additional issues.
Dehydration can sometimes have major side effects, necessitating IV fluids or other forms of supportive treatment.