I'm A Gastro Doctor. Here's The 1 Thing I'd Never Do If I Had Stomach Pain.

This red flag could be a sign that something is wrong.

It’s pretty common to utter the phrase “my stomach hurts.” You’ve probably had stomach pain at some point in your life, whether it’s discomfort after eating, stress-related pain, menstrual cramps or a larger medical issue.

“Abdominal pain, just those two words, is the most common diagnosis we have seen in our ER actually,” said Dr. Shabnam Sarker, a gastroenterologist at Vanderbilt Digestive Disease Center in Nashville. “I would think it was something like chest pain or something else, but abdominal pain is [the most common].”

As anyone with a stomach condition likely knows, it can often take some time to pinpoint exactly what is wrong. Why? Because “there are many causes of stomach pain,” Dr. Sunina Nathoo, a gastroenterologist at the Orlando Health Digestive Health Institute, told HuffPost via email — like gallstones, ulcers, Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome, appendicitis and more.

But there is one thing doctors say they never do (and you should never do) when it comes to any kind of stomach pain. Here’s what they said:

They don’t ignore pain — especially if it’s sudden.