Possible Causes of Abdominal Swelling
What Makes Your Stomach Swell?
Perhaps you are suffering from abdominal swelling, but you have not an idea as to what is causing it and you wish to find out a bit about it before you go to your doctor.
You can find out some possible causes of abdominal swelling by reading through our article.
Abdominal swelling is an indication of several complications within the body, which includes non-digestive-related problems. It could even be indications of serious disorders like ovarian cancer and cysts, as well as heart failure. Find out more about these conditions in this article.
Ovarian Cancer
Ovarian cancer is one of the cancers with the highest mortality rates, even if it affects only women. What’s worse, there are no tests that can truly discern if a woman has developed cancer in her ovaries. Scientists are still currently trying to find out how to diagnose ovarian cancer in her earliest stage since it is in the early stages that the cancer can be cured.
Aside from abdominal swelling, other symptoms of ovarian cancer may include:
- Abdominal pain, as well as pain in the pelvis, back and legs
- Nausea, indigestion and diarrhea, among others
- Fatigue
- Shortness of breath
- Bleeding in the vagina
- Abnormal urinary activity
If any of these symptoms appear together with abdominal swelling, it would do a person well to immediately go to her doctor and get a diagnosis.
Ovarian Cysts
Ovarian cysts are caused by the failure of a follicle to burst and dissolve if an egg does not become fertilized by sperm. It can also be caused by an imbalance between the female estrogen and progesterone hormones.
Symptoms of ovarian cysts include abdominal swelling, since cysts that burst can cause irritation in the abdominal tissues. Together with this, some symptoms of ovarian cysts include pain or pressure in the abdomen area. Ovarian cysts may also include delayed, irregular and painful menstruation.
Heart Failure
How is heart failure and abdominal swelling related? The answer is edema. When the heart fails, blood is forced to return to the abdomen. This fluid will then fill up in a few places within the abdominal area, including the liver, stomach and small intestine tissues.
When fluid builds up in these places due to heart failure, several other manifestations occur. These include:
- Jaundice or discoloration of the skin to yellow due to fluid buildup in the liver, rendering it unable to metabolize the bile that it produces and leaving it to accumulate in the bloodstream.
- Vomiting or loss of appetite. This is caused by the buildup of excess fluid in the stomach or the intestines, causing loss of appetite and inability of the intestines to absorb nutrients properly.
- Ascites, caused by the excess fluid finding its way into the peritoneal space in the abdomen. The swelling may also be affecting the lower back or the scrotum, for males.
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