You should worry about a hiatal hernia if you experience severe chest/abdominal pain, difficulty swallowing, frequent vomiting (especially with blood), black stools, or shortness of breath, as these can signal strangulation or severe complications needing immediate medical help (call emergency services). See a doctor urgently for worsening heartburn/reflux, unexplained weight loss, frequent vomiting, or if OTC meds don't work, to manage symptoms and prevent long-term damage like GERD.
With most instances of hiatal hernia, symptoms are unnoticeable and don't need treatment. More serious symptoms of hiatal hernia potentially getting worse may include trouble swallowing, heartburn, belching, tiredness and chest pain.
Treating a hiatal hernia in a child involves lifestyle changes (smaller meals, avoiding triggers), medications (acid reducers like PPIs), and sometimes surgery, especially for severe or congenital types like paraesophageal hernias, often using minimally invasive techniques to return the stomach to its normal position and prevent reflux, with treatment chosen based on symptom severity and hernia type.
Many people discover they have hiatal hernias when they see their doctors about heartburn. Most cases of heartburn are mild and temporary. But if your symptoms are severe, occur often, or are accompanied by coughing, wheezing, asthma, a sore throat, difficulty swallowing or chest pain, talk to your doctor.
As the hernia enlarges, symptoms often worsen, but not always. If enough of the stomach slips into the chest, it can eventually twist. This may cause nausea, vomiting after eating, abdominal or chest pain and feeling fuller quickly after eating. You may also experience trouble swallowing.
Most of the time, pain from a hiatal hernia is related to acid reflux rather than the hernia itself. Acid irritates your esophagus, which runs through your chest up to your throat. You may feel it higher or lower, or the pain may radiate throughout your chest. It may burn.
Speak to a pharmacist for advice if you keep getting hiatus hernia symptoms. They may recommend medicines called antacids or alginates, which can help ease your symptoms. It's best to take these with food or soon after eating, as this is when you're most likely to get symptoms.
Your doctor has arranged for you to have your hiatal hernia repaired. You will have 5 or 6 small (1 to 1 1/2-inch) incisions (cuts) in the middle of your abdomen (stomach area) between your nipples and belly button. Your surgery will take about 2 to 6 hours.
Strangulated hernia or obstruction – symptoms including abdominal pain, inability to have a bowel movement or pass gas, or persistent nausea and vomiting. A strangulated hernia is an emergency situation, and often requires an emergency operation.
Signs of trouble
An incarcerated hernia can become strangulated, which cuts off the blood flow to the tissue that's trapped. A strangulated hernia can be life-threatening if it isn't treated. Symptoms of a strangulated hernia include: Nausea, vomiting or both.
Try to:
The Transoral Incisionless Fundoplication (TIF) procedure is a groundbreaking advancement in the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and hiatal hernia, offering a minimally invasive alternative to traditional surgery.
Changes to the hernia, for example, if it becomes firm, tender, or if it cannot be pushed back in. Pain that worsens or comes on suddenly. Nausea or vomiting. Fever.
This usually causes significant, excruciating pain, redness in area of the hernia, fever and other general symptoms – fatigue, nausea and more. Incarceration and strangulation require a visit to the ER or a call to 911 as soon as possible to reduce the hernia and restore blood flow.
Background. Hiatal hernia repair is commonly performed by both general and thoracic surgeons.
You should go to your nearest A&E straight away if you have a hernia and you develop any of the following symptoms: sudden, severe pain. being sick. difficulty pooing or passing wind.
You can get it surgically repaired, but it becomes an emergency if it becomes what's called an incarcerated hernia. And that's a strangulated hernia. So that's when you get enough of this stuff outside of the abdomen that the blood supply gets cut off to it.
Epigastric pain—this is pain in the middle, upper abdomen. Dysphagia—difficulty swallowing. Shortness of breath—in some very large paraesophageal hernias, the stomach may push on the diaphragm or compress the lungs contributing to a sensation of shortness of breath.
Hernia NHS waiting lists
On the NHS, the maximum waiting time for non-urgent, consultant-led treatments is currently 18 weeks.
Medicare will cover the cost of hernia repair surgery performed as a public patient in a public hospital. It will also cover some of the MBS fee of hernia operations performed in a private healthcare clinic, while an eligible hospital insurance policy can cover the rest.
Who is a candidate for paraesophageal or hiatal hernia surgery?
Yes, a hernia can absolutely cause nausea, especially if it becomes incarcerated (stuck) or strangulated (blood supply cut off), leading to symptoms like severe pain, vomiting, bloating, and inability to pass gas or stool, signaling a medical emergency that requires immediate surgery. Even less severe hernias, like a hiatal hernia, can cause nausea, burping, and acid reflux by allowing stomach contents to come up.
The pain reliever that Dr. Bedford suggests most often for a hiatal hernia is acetaminophen, since it doesn't increase acid levels in the stomach. If that doesn't reduce your pain, he says prescription medications may be recommended, such as: Aciphex (rabeprazole)
Shortness of breath/fatigue/intermittent chest pain.
With a hiatal hernia, your stomach essentially becomes “a third roommate” in your chest, Dr. Trang says. That means your heart and lungs don't have as much room to pump blood and oxygen through your body.