I am 30 weeks pregnant and two days ago I had gas problem. My doc prescribed pantop and duvadilan. It helped with gas but then I started feeling pain in my naval area. My doc said I had umbilical hernia. It's quite painful in my case but she says it cannot be cured as I am pregnant. Also she examined me internally and says baby has come down a little bit and prescribed rest for two weeks. I have following queries 1. I am doing very less physical activity and mostly lying on bed with pillow under my feet. Can this help in umbilical hernia. 2. I am bothered by the pain at night and cannot sleep properly. Also I am quite afraid of this hernia and how it might impact my baby. Can it be cured on its own. What all shall I avoid or do in order to cure it. 3. My doc says that the pains that I had was not because of gas and should have felt like labour pains. I am not sure how to distinguish the hernia pain and labour pain. Also please let me know how common is hernia during pregnancy? Am I the only one having it or is it a common problem?
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Every human being has an umbilicus which serves no function in life. It has a role in fetal life when the umbilical vessels serve the needs of the fets. When a pregnancy grows, it causes the tummy to grow. The tummy wall becomes loose and accommodates the growing uterus. Due to this growing uterus, and the fetus within it, the layers of the tummy wall become stretched out. New tissue is being formed which makes the tummy swell out. Due to this the umbilicus gets flattened and this at times also makes the umbilicus swell on laughing, exerting etc. Technically this can be called" umbilical hernia" but most umbilical hernias are harmless. What you are suffering from is the stretching pain and the umbilicus will mostly revert back to normalcy as soon as the pregnancy gets over and within 6 weeks post delivery. Now regarding your queries. 1. Lying in bed or not will not help or worsen the" hernia" because in your case the" hernia" is a natural one, that occurs due to pregnancy and not a disease. 2. The pain which you experience at night can be due to many reasons. There is no need to ascribe it to the hernia only! the hernia is a misnomer in your case. Lets call it" protursion of the abdominal sac into the umbilicus" is a natural part of the abdominal growth in pregnancy. What is natural should not be harmful to the baby. The protrusion will be" cured" or restored to normalcy when the increased pressure in the tummy caused by pregnancy gets relieved at delivery! you have to avoid exertion and constipation. During passage a of hard stools, the pressure exerted can make the" protrusion" more prominent. 3. What ever be the cause of pain. One canot differentiate between the causes of abdominal pain in each instance. The most dangerous of these pains is the one that causes preterm delivery. This pain needs to be addressed and hence most doctors prescribe medicines for these. The other causes of pain like gas, indigestion, acidity, kidney swelling, movement of uterus due to turning in sleep, constipation etc have to be judged and only some of these can be treated.
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Hernia does occur during pregnancy if there has been underlying weakness pre exhisting. Fotlr its treatment is to wait and watch only till delivery. Watch over for size of swelling at umbilicus if any. Umblical hernia pain is usually not very severe. The pain you are having may be labour pains. An examination by surgeon will help in confirmation of these issues.
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