Abdominal Hernia Symptoms

A hernia is a medical condition, wherein an internal organ or the muscular wall of that organ protrudes through the cavity that contains that organ. There are various locations in the body, where hernia may appear, particularly, those locations with weak tissues are more prone to herniation. The different types of hernia are classified as per the location of its occurrence. Among them, the most common type is abdominal hernias, which are also easy to identify and treat. In this article, we shall take a look at the abdominal hernia symptoms, associated with the various types of abdominal hernias.

Abdominal Hernias

Abdominal hernias are those hernias that occur in the abdominal region (between the thorax and the pelvis). Abdominal organs or fatty tissues protrude through a weakened abdominal wall, resulting in abdominal hernias. It has been observed that most of the abdominal hernias involve intestines as the organs that cause hernias. There are different types of abdominal hernias, like, inguinal (groin) hernia, indirect inguinal hernia, direct inguinal hernia, femoral hernia, umbilical hernia or belly button hernia, incisional hernia, spigelian hernia, obturator hernia and epigastric hernia. Inguinal hernia (lower abdominal hernia) is most common in men and femoral hernia is commonly found in females.

Lower abdominal hernia symptoms include sharp pain in the area, which may be absent in some cases. Abdominal hernias are caused by various reasons, like, obesity, heavy lifting, chronic cough, persistent sneezing, straining during a bowel movement or urination, pregnancy, chronic lung disease, and fluid in the abdominal cavity. Whatever may be the reason, treatment should be taken, as soon as you notice the symptoms and signs. Abdominal hernia symptoms' awareness may help you in identifying this disease.

Abdominal Hernia Symptoms

One of the most common abdominal hernia symptoms is a soft bulge in the abdomen, pelvic area or in the scrotum of men, as the organs protrude out of the abdominal cavity. Abdominal hernia symptoms in women may also include discomfort in the labia, which becomes the location of herniation. But, in some cases, where the herniation occurs inside the cavity itself, the characteristic bulge will be absent and the affected person may not experience any symptoms, until he develops some complications, like strangulation. If there is a bulge due to an abdominal hernia, it can either be reducible or non reducible, that too with or without pain. In the former case, you can push back the bulge into the abdominal cavity and flatten the area. But in some cases, the bulge will not flatten. The following are some of the abdominal hernia symptoms in detail.

Reducible Abdominal Hernia: These abdominal hernias may appear as a bulge or lump in the groin or abdominal area. Such a bulge increases in size as the affected person stands up or do some activities that produces some kind of abdominal pressure (like, coughing or sneezing). It may cause pain and most of the reducible hernias will not be tender on touch. A reducible hernia may turn non reducible as they attain a big size. It may happen that initial stages of reducible hernias may not cause pain, but later it may cause pain too.

Non Reducible Abdominal Hernia: A bulge, which cannot be pushed back to the abdominal cavity right from the initial stages is called a non reducible hernia. Even a reducible hernia may turn non reducible as it grows in size. These hernias can be occasionally painful. Some of these hernias may be present for a very long time, without any pain. Unlike the reducible hernias, where the herniated material move freely in and out of the herniated sack (or bulge), this does not happen in non reducible hernias, which becomes incarcerated. In such cases, the tissues become trapped in the herniated sack and there is a risk of lack of blood supply (strangulation). If the hernia involves the intestine, the intestine may get obstructed in an incarcerated hernia and the affected person experiences pain, digestive problems, nausea, vomiting, etc.

Strangulated Abdominal Hernia: As mentioned earlier, some non reducible abdominal hernias, which are entrapped in the hernial sack, may face a blood supply cut off. This results in strangulated hernias, which causes pain, tenderness of the affected area, bowel obstruction (characterized by nausea and vomiting), fever, etc. Abdominal wall hernia symptoms in case of strangulated ones may also include blood in the stool, constipation, severe pain, gangrene of the area, and shock. In case, the affected person develops these symptoms of abdominal hernia, emergency medical attention is needed.

Read more on:

• Hernia Symptoms in Men
• Hernia Symptoms in Women

In general, the pain associated with abdominal hernias may range between dull ache to sharp pain, which worsens while coughing, urinating, lifting heavy objects, during bowel movements, etc. Even if the abdominal hernia symptoms are not that severe, you must consult a doctor for treating the hernia, in order to avoid the possible complications. The most common abdominal hernia treatment for almost all hernias is a simple surgical procedure, which does not require any long term lifestyle changes.