A ventral hernia can be mildly painful or even very painful and can cause a sharp pain and the worse it gets the more sharp the pain becomes.
Ventral hernia pain depends on the size and the severity of the ventral hernia and gets worse with activities such as coughing, lifting heavy items, straining during pooping or straining during urination.
Things which make a ventral hernia worse are increased pressure in your abdomen which can result from activities like straining during a bowel movement, straining during urination, heavy lifting, prolonged standing and high intensity workouts.
Aging, pregnancy, obesity, coughing and lung disease can also make a ventral hernia worse.
To prevent a ventral hernia from getting worse you should avoid strenuous activities, avoid heavy lifting and do low impact exercises.
Doing low impact exercises such as walking or swimming are less likely to worsen the ventral hernia.
Avoid any exercises which strain the upper abdomen like sit ups.
Having surgery to fix the ventral hernia is often recommended before it has a chance to get worse.
The size of ventral hernia that is considered large is a ventral hernia that is 15 centimeters in length or width and or has an overall area size of 150 square centimeters.
Any hernias include ventral hernias that are 15 centimeters in length or width or has an overall area of 150 square centimeters are considered to be massive or giant hernias.
Large ventral hernias are dangerous as they also pose a serious surgical risk and can be difficult for the surgeon to separate from your abdominal cavity and the risk of recurrence increases as the ventral hernia grows.
You should be worried about a ventral hernia when it can't be pushed back in and if you experience any sharp abdominal pain, vomiting or nausea, the bulge changes in color and becomes purple, darker than normal or red, the bulge does not reduce in size when you rest, the pain gets worse or comes on suddenly or the bulge becomes tender or firm.
If you experience nausea, vomiting and the bulging area turns blue or a darker color due to loss of blood supply it is a medical emergency and requires urgent surgery.
If a ventral hernia is left untreated it can lead to an intestinal blockage, strangulation and necrotizing enterocolitis.
When left untreated the ventral hernia can grow so large that it blocks the intestine.
An untreated ventral hernia can also lead to strangulation which is when the hernia gets trapped in the opening and cuts off or reduces blood supply to the ventral herniated tissue and if it happens the strangulation is a medical emergency and requires immediate medical and surgical treatment to prevent rupture and tissue death.
An untreated ventral hernia can also lead to necrotizing enterocolitis which is a severe inflammation of the intestines which can occur in the ventral hernia is left untreated.
The warning signs of a ventral hernia are a bulge or lump in your abdomen which can increase in size as time goes by.
The bulge or lump in your abdomen with a ventral hernia may become more noticeable when you stand, cough or put any pressure on your abdomen.
Other warning signs of a ventral hernia are pain such as a mild ache, sharp pain or pressure in your abdomen, especially around the bulge.
The pain may get worse with physical activity like running or lifting heavy objects or when straining during pooping.
Nausea, constipation, fever, vomiting or a rapid heart rate are also possible symptoms with a ventral hernia.
In rare cases the tissue inside the ventral hernia may become trapped and lead to a life threatening condition called strangulation.
Symptoms of strangulation from the ventral hernia include high fever, vomiting, severe nausea, rapid heartbeat, profuse sweating and severe abdominal pain.
Things that increase your risk for developing a ventral hernia include being overweight, a severe blow to your abdomen, recurrent coughing, being pregnant, an enlarged prostate gland, aging and lung diseases such as emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
A ventral hernia is a bulge in the abdomen that occurs when tissue or an organ pushes through a weak spot in the abdominal wall.
The bigger a hernia becomes, the more at risk it is of getting stuck or “incarcerated” in the opening.
This pinches or compresses the hernia, causing pain and potentially obstructing the organ.
You could end up with a blocked intestine, or its blood supply could be cut off (strangulation).
This can cause tissue death so you should take a ventral hernia and other hernias seriously and seek medical attention.
A hernia can also cause gas and bloating by changing the arrangement and shape of the organs in your abdomen.
As a result it can trap gas in your gastrointestinal (GI) tract and increase gas pressure in your GI tract to uncomfortable levels.
Types of hernias that can cause gas and bloating include abdominal hernia.
Surgery can fix the hernia.
After hernia repair surgery, especially during the initial recovery phase, you might feel fuller sooner than before or may have a reduced appetite.
This is a temporary change and is more related to the body's immediate response to surgery and healing rather than any physical reduction in stomach size.