Morning Abdominal Muscle pain !?

This is the first time I've seen these symptoms written about online and had them match me so closely. I am a 29 year old woman and have had this morning, abdominal muscle pain for about 5 years (on and off but mostly on).

I kept scrolling thinking someone's bound to have gotten a medical response, but still no.

My pain is in my abs and wraps around to my back. I thought maybe it was a kidney issue but it is more pronounced in the front- sort of behind my ribs- than in the back. Mine is usually not bad enough to wake me up when I'm sleeping, but god forbid I get woken up by something else because there is no way I'm falling back to sleep. When I wake up I just writhe hoping that it will go away. Usually it feels a little better after about 5 minutes of standing and nearly gone after about 10 minutes.

I have thought about going to the doctor about 100 times, but reading what you all have to say makes me think I'll just waste a lot of money and be told it's nothing. I am, however, surprised to think that this could be a women's issue... it doesn't feel like it is related to any female body parts and I would have guessed that it would have been and equal opportunity pain in the ass.

I'll keep checking back to see if there's a break through.

You're right. It's definitely not just a women's issue. I'm a 56 yr old male and suffer from it every night.

This issue may be related to interior pelvic tilt which means weak hip flexors and weak glutes therefore u overarch ur back and stretch ur abs even more. A common way of fixing that is either developing those muscles or putting a pillow under your lower abs when you sleep. Keep in mind even asleep your muscles are working, make sure they’re working the correct way !!

Well I get the same problem once in a while. It's like I did exercise in my sleep. It goes away after a while. I assume eventually something is going to go wrong enough they will have to check something. I've been skewered with cameras and I've looked at the pictures and they are right. There's nothing physically affecting me. I wonder if it's some spasm thing related to my IBS. It did go pee this morning and it helped, I didn't realize how much I was holding in. Still. It's nice to know I'm not alone. Hope we all get answers soon!

I am 64 and for me this started in college. If I tried to catch up on sleep after an all-nighter, after about 10 hours I'd get abdominal muscle pain. It goes from my diaphragm down to above the groin, and around the sides to my outer back. Over time it has gotten to take less time for it to start. That might have to do with my gut, as it seemed to start getting worse after I l lost 70 pounds and then put it back on in my 40s; most of it came back as visceral fat. Now I can only sleep about 6 hours before it starts. Sometimes I can sleep through it for a while to a total of 8 hours,, but the longer i go past that the worse the pain is and the more time I need to spend in my chair to settle the muscles down. I may have to adjust the recliner to find a comfortable position to get the muscles to settle down and stop hurting.
Sleeping in the chair (full recliner) doesn't seem to trigger it. I have back problems that seem to stem from a sacro-illiac separation, but the ab problem continues independently of whether the back issue is a problem or not, and independent of my appendicitis at 30, kidney stones at 50, leaky gut in my 40s and 50s, etc.

This has been happening to me for years and I think this post HIT THE SPOT. Because it’s literally only when I sleep for longer than normal. I didn’t realize that was the common denominator until I just read this post. Thank you!!

I am a 30 year old male and just started feeling similar symptoms as what have been explained in the earlier posts back in March 2020. Currently it is now into August 2020. At first, I thought maybe I had COVID-19 at some point and this was the aftermath symptoms but the longer this issue lingered, the less it appeared it was related to COVID-19.

My symptoms started out in March 2020 with mostly chest tightness and upper back muscle soreness. The soreness was mild in the morning and then would be very minor throughout the day. Now going into August 2020, the morning soreness now is migrated into my diaphragm and lower back (I think they are physiologically connected somehow) and still some in the chest and upper back area. The soreness stays the whole day but is really sore in the morning sometimes to the point I need to rock back and forth to actually get up because it feels like my abdomen is completely shot and this is the only way to sit up on the bed. When I run, the shock of the running sometimes hits a nerve that is tied to my soreness and it feels uncomfortable so I have limited my running now. I did notice that if I drink a protein shake with milk (lots of dairy) the night before, the soreness/cramp feeling in my diaphragm is a lot worse so I am thinking for that area it may be tied to Irritable Bowel Syndrome that my doctor diagnosed me to have when I was in my teens. Besides that I have no idea where this is coming from. I'm seeing a doctor in November to see if they have any other ideas.

I'm glad I found this page. I've had this issue for several months now and I can't find a reason for it. Sometimes I wake up at night and my abs feel incredibly sore. Sometimes they are still sore in the morning. Sometimes I wake up later and they feel fine. I assume it's related to my mattress and how I'm positioned, since it doesn't happen every night. I wonder if this is a way to work on your abs while sleeping? Doesn't seem to be developing mine that much. Just making for sore, uncomfortable muscles.

I know this is an old thread but I thought I would contribute for anyone who found this site, like me. I wonder if any of you have looked into whether you have pelvic floor dysfunction? I have pelvic floor hypertonia (muscles are too tight) due to endometriosis and adenomyosis. Both disorders have been resolved with surgery, but the pfd is the result of it all and remains. I have made improvements with stretching and walking, and relearning how to use my muscles. Lauren Ohayon's videos on YouTube have been a great help to me. I even emailed her a question once and she pointed me to a video. She does consulting for physical therapy, too.
I had a physical therapist for a bit, but I don't think she was helping me. I stopped going and helped myself via online research about chronic pain, pelvic floor dysfunction, and diastasis recti.

I am not a medical expert. Maybe it has to do with our beds or whatnot. But I am pretty sure it is my pfd.

Also, If urinating is relieving it, you may have an irritated bladder from acidic drinks, or interstitial cystitis, or just sore pelvic floor muscles that have been holding the urine. But drinking water instead of coffee, tea, or soda can help ease the pain.
I've been on this journey a few years now. I still take some ibuprofen, but I greatly reduced the amount because I learned it can hold inflammation in your body and I was having edema issues. For all I know, it is damaging my kidneys. That same medicine damaged my husband's body in several ways. Be careful.

I take CBD oil in my coffee or tea and sometimes vape it as well. It helps me so much and if I run out for a while my symptoms get worse until I take it again.
We make our own and it saves us a lot of money. We wouldn't be able to get it if we didn't make it.

I hope this post helps somebody. Doctors can be clueless when it comes to women's pelvic pain disorders.

God bless everyone. I pray you find healing, in Jesus name!

I’m 27 and experiencing the same exact thing. I do work out so I don’t think it has to do with exercising the core/having a weak core. I think those who believed ulcers were a possibility could be on the right track, but i think that would be more painful for those of us who have been dealing with it for years. i’ve noticed it is much worse if i haven’t gone to the bathroom the night before or if i’m constipated. I have a history of gallstones in my family and noone experienced this dull muscle pain. someone help us!!

I have this problem and I think this is the best answer I have read so far. Even being an avid runner I know I have extremely weak glutes and hip flexors due to sitting at a desk 8+ hours a day. This pain seemed to go away during the pandemic when I worked at home while my kids were virtual, at a standing only desk all day. Back in the office and seated and its back to square zero again.

I think you’re right…I just bought a brand new mattress. It’s a firm mattress. But I know I have a tilted pelvis. I haven’t been doing my stretches to fix the tilt and sore abdomen in the morning has come back.

Everybody eventually gets a stomach ache. It may be a sharp, stabbing pain or a chronic, throbbing aching that causes you to bend into the fetal position. Although you may only occasionally have abdominal pain, it may happen more often in the mornings. Something you ate the previous night, inflammation, or your intestines preparing for a bowel movement could be the underlying cause. One of the main signs we cannot ignore in the pelvic floor is if any infection or weakness in your pelvic area also causes stomach pain. Then better to consult with a medical practitioner for the disease, and weakness can be treated with the help of a pelvic floor expert therapist. So many muscle-strengthening exercises are for retaining pelvic health.

This is the best post I have seen in this thread for these symptoms. I’m going to add my story (so far) for anybody who wants to compare symptoms and hopefully we will all get there!

I am 33 and only started getting the extremely tight upper abdominal muscle pains in the morning after I gave both. My child is almost five months old now and I would say it’s at its peak. The only pelvic floor questions I have been asked is ‘whether [mine] is good’, no actual medical examination. I just presume mine is good.

Here are some triggers I’ve realised make it worse for me (as like many of you it doesn’t happen all of the time);
- If I sleep for longer than 6 hours.
- If I carry my child (weighs around 15lbs) more than usual in the day.
- If I don’t empty my bladder before going to bed.
- If I toss and turn a lot in my sleep.
- If I have one alcoholic drink the evening before.
- If I don’t consistently do my physio recommend exercises.

I had diastisis recti of about 4cm, which has now reduced to 1cm - the doctor / physio believes this could be the cause, however if it is then I question why the pain is at it’s peak now and not before when it was worse.

What I am hoping will help:
- I visit a chiropractor every two weeks (I have done for two years).
- I am getting a new mattress delivered in a month, as my current mattress is 8 years old.
- I am having a private treatment called EmSculpt Neo to try and strengthen my abdominal and flanks.
- I am continuing with physio and will try to be more consistent.
- I am going to track the above triggers and try to eradicate them.

I will post back in a couple of months (I know it’s an old post but somebody might stumble across it and find the results useful).