You wake with stomach pain that worsens during the day and decide to see your doctor. You describe your symptoms and your doctor examines you. Then the doctor says, "From what I hear, I think you could just have a stomach bug. Rest and come back in three days." This might be a less definitive answer than you're after. But doctors can't always be sure of a diagnosis straight away. As my review shows, doctors use various ways of communicating such uncertainty.