Gas (flatulence) and bloating caused by another medical problem
Gas and bloating can have many causes, including:
- Bowel obstruction. Symptoms may include abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, gas, and bloating.
- Cirrhosis of the liver. Symptoms may include a poor appetite, nausea, diarrhea or constipation, a bloated (distended) abdomen, and dull abdominal discomfort.
- Colon or rectal cancer. Symptoms may include diarrhea or constipation, narrow stools, abdominal pain, bloating, gas, weight loss, and decreased appetite.
- Crohn's disease. Symptoms may include lower abdominal cramping, diarrhea, weight loss, fever, and bleeding from the rectum.
- Diabetes. People who have long-standing diabetes may develop bowel problems that cause bloating and gas.
- Diverticulitis. Symptoms may include abdominal cramping, diarrhea, bloating, and gas.
- Gallstones. Symptoms may include pain in the upper right side of the abdomen, chest, upper back, or right shoulder following a meal of high-fat foods. Additional symptoms include nausea, vomiting, fever, belching, gas, heartburn, or pale stools.
- Ovarian cancer. When symptoms are present they may be vague, such as weight gain, increased abdominal girth, gas, and bloating. Ovarian cancer frequently does not cause symptoms.
- Parasitic infections, such as giardiasis, worms, or amebiasis. Symptoms may include diarrhea, dehydration, mucus or blood in the stools, abdominal cramps, fatigue, weight loss, and gas.
- Peptic ulcer disease. Symptoms include a burning, aching, gnawing pain between the belly button and the breastbone that may extend to the back, loss of appetite, weight loss, bloating, gas, nausea, or vomiting.
- Splenic flexure syndrome. In this chronic condition, gas becomes trapped at the bends in the colon. Symptoms include bloating, muscle spasms, and upper abdominal pain.
- Ulcerative colitis. The most common symptoms are abdominal pain or cramping and diarrhea.
Gas also often occurs during the recovery phase of abdominal surgery. Gas-bloat syndrome may occur after surgery to correct gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
Many people with hiatal hernia, a condition in which part of the stomach bulges upward through an opening in the diaphragm, have no symptoms. But, for those who do, what they eat can be the difference between a good day (or night) and a bad one. Diet plays an important role in controlling the symptoms of hiatal hernia, namely heartburn and acid indigestion. When you have a hiatal hernia, it is easier for stomach acids to come up into the esophagus, the tube that carries food from your throat to...
Read the Hiatal Hernia Diet Tips article > >
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