Dangerous and Hard to Detect Illness – Hiatal Hernia

Hiatal hernia is the second most common type of hernia and next to inguinal hernia. Let us know here what is hiatal hernia and how it manifests, to check if any of us is suffering from it and then what to do about it.

Diaphragm is located In the upper part of abdomen where the hiatal hernia develops. Hernia appears when particular part of body looses its resistance and another part, which is in contact with the first one slip into it through some aperture available. As per the body parts involved, the hernia can be divided into various types.

In hiatal hernia’s case, the first part is diaphragm and the second part is the stomach, rather its upper side. The normal position of the stomach is under the diaphragm. There is a small hole in the diaphragm through which esophagus passes. When the area around the hole gets weakened, a part of the stomach rolls through it to the chest cavity. There are two types of hiatal hernia, one is called sliding hernia and the other one is rolling hernia. In sliding hernia, the upper stomach slides through the openings of the diaphragm and remains between the stomach and the esophagus. In rolling hernia, stomach slides along the esophagus and not in between as the other type. There is no bulge in this hernia. In most cases there are no symptoms. But, in many cases heartburn and chest burning is noticed which is due to the acid in the stomach which refluxes backwards to the esophagus. People experience the symptoms after they eat hot spicy food and after lying down

Now, don’t get panicked with acidity or heartburn since that may be due to indigestion. But, it is essential to check up with the doctor periodically. Because, it is necessary to detect hernia in the initial stage and if not treated for long may lead to even heart attack in advance stage.