Abdominal bloating and distention affect approximately 30% of the general population and up to 90% of those with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Often used interchangeably, they are distinct.

Technically, bloating is a temporary feeling of fullness, usually due to intestinal gas, while abdominal distension refers to a visible, measurable increase in the stomach’s size.

Bloating encompasses a variety of inconvenient feelings, including trapped gas, abdominal pressure, and a feeling of fullness, whereas distention is an increase in abdominal protrusion.

When bloating and pain or distention are chronic problems, a healthcare provider may give you a referral to a specialist called a gastroenterologist. Gastroenterologists have training in diseases ...

Key takeaways: Symptoms of belching, bloating and distention are common and may impair patients’ daily activities. Management of these conditions includes dietary, gut-directed behavioral and ...

Abdominal bloating and gas are among the most common digestive complaints that doctors hear from patients. Often, patients also describe belching or abdominal distension as well as symptoms of ...

Response from Yehuda Ringel, MD Abdominal distension and bloating are commonly reported in patients with IBS. In fact, Manning and colleagues [1] originally included abdominal bloating as one of ...

CHARLOTTE Kent is “starving to death” in front of her parents after a fatal heart condition was tragically mistaken for ...

Bloating, that unpleasant feeling of pressure in the stomach, affects an estimated one in five adults. A separate but related phenomenon, called distention, is the visible increase in abdominal ...

1. An ulcer. Having a sore on the stomach lining causes a burning or gnawing pain, especially when you’re not eating — stomach acid can fuel irritation. 2. Heartburn.

Excessive gas can present as frequent belching or burping, recurrent flatulence that disrupts daily activities, painful abdominal bloating or distension, a constant feeling of fullness or pressure ...