Abdominal Bloating: Signs, Causes, Serious Indications
With the start of a new year, there’s no such thing as a shortage of parties and celebrations. In the first few days of 2019, we enjoyed a lot of food as a celebration and most of the people dined unmoderated. Who wouldn’t enjoy the holidays? However, there will be times when we cannot dig in any further and starts feeling bloated. Bloating can turn into a big discomfort when at times, especially during the evening.
Bloating or abdominal bloating is the condition when the abdomen feels full and looks swollen. It is characterized by a tight feeling inside your abdomen. When you poke your abdomen, it’ll feel hard and discomforting.
Causes
There’s a lot of things that can cause abdominal bloating. Here’s the list of things that you might watch out for when you feel abdominal bloating.
- gases – is the number one source of bloating. There are two ways gases can accumulate in your stomach. The first one is through gulping up of air which might happen on a lot of circumstances. The second one is through the gases produced during digestion. Eating a lot of food that causes gassiness (carbonated drinks, fibrous veggies, dairy products) can cause bloating.
- Overeating – is the usual reason for abdominal bloating. The human stomach can only digest a limited amount of food. Some food is harder to digest than others. Because of this, the food stays longer in the stomach and the digestion will last longer. If the person is continuously eating, he or she might feel bloatedness more frequently.
- Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) – GERD happens when the lower esophageal sphincter, or the one preventing eaten food to come back to the esophagus, is weakened. Bloating is associated as a symptom of GERD.
- Problems in digesting food- this depends on the person and on the food that he or she ate. If the person has an indigestion problem or if the food consumed is highly fibrous, fatty, or both, bloating will likely occur.
Getting Rid of Bloating
According to Margie Navarro, an acupuncturist for bloating Brooklyn NY, a natural way of getting rid of abdominal bloating is to drink a cup of ginger tea before a meal. The ginger is helping the muscles in the digestive tract relax, releasing trapped gases. Moving or walking to help to digest the food is also recommended.
When Bloating Is Considered Dangerous
There are times when being bloated means a more serious disorder is manifesting. If there’s blood in your stool, or if your bloating is accompanied by fever, or if your waistline suddenly started expanding, you might want to consider help from a gastroenterologist to detect hidden disorders that are causing your abdominal bloating.
A lot of disorders can cause bloating and you need to watch out if this is caused by an abdominal disorder or other means. Serious disorders that cause bloatedness include Ascites, Celiac disease, Dumping syndrome, Ovarian Cancer, and problems in the pancreas (especially when the pancreas failed to produce enzymes for digestion).