Abdominal swelling, also known as distention, occurs when the stomach region expands or enlarges, giving off the appearance of being bloated. This typically happens when there is some internal pressure on a person’s organs, and many people experience some form of distention when they eat a particularly heavy meal. This type of abdominal swelling usually goes down after the food digests. However, some people have a more serious form of abdominal swelling that doesn’t disappear quite as easily. Here we’ll look at some of the causes, symptoms and treatments for abdominal swelling.

Symptoms of Abdominal Swelling
In addition to your abdominal region being swollen, these signs may also point to distention:
-- Abdominal pain
-- Feeling uncomfortably full.
-- Having tightness in the abdominal region.
-- Excessive gas or flatulence.
-- Irregular digestion in the form of either constipation or diarrhea.
-- The stomach area feeling hard to the touch, but bloated.
-- The stomach area growing throughout the day.
-- Feeling generally uncomfortable in the gut area.

If the problem causing the abdominal swelling isn’t a serious one, then these symptoms should reside on their own after a few hours. When symptoms subside after a short period of time, then the abdominal swelling is usually due to overeating, ingesting foods that are not compatible with the body’s digestive system, or eating too many fiber rich foods. However if the symptoms continue to worsen throughout the day or are experienced for several days at a time then it’s time to seek medical help, as this could be an indication that something much more serious is going on in the body that needs to be looked at by a medical professional.