Stomach Protrudes, Overweight, Arterial Hernia

Posted on Tue, 6 Sep 2011

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 6 Sep 2011 Answered on

Fri, 1 Jun 2012 Last reviewed on

Question : I was at my cardiologist and have been informed I have an arterial hernia. he said he will not do anything because it's due to my being overweight but I feel this happened while lifting shipments over the years. My stomach protrudes and I have questioned this 6 years ago and he shrugged his shoulders then. What do I do now?

Answered by Dr. Dr. Rakhi Tayal (4 hours later)

Hello
Thanks for writing to us.
An arterial hernia or aneurysm occurs when part of a blood vessel (artery) or cardiac chamber swells, - either the blood vessel is damaged or there is a weakness in the wall of the blood vessel. As blood pressure builds up it balloons out at its weakest point.
Causes of this herniation includes-Atherosclerosis, arteriosclerosis, hypertension, smoking, vasculitis, cocaine use, etc.
Being overweight is indirectly associated to it. Lifting heavy weights is not likely to cause this problem. Loosing some weight, decreasing cholesterol will help.
I hope my answer and recommendations are adequate and helpful. Waiting for your further follow up queries if any.
Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T