We’ve all heard birds tweeting outside the chirping, the tweeting, the sound of birds having a great time. Did you know they call me the song Bird of a Generation? Oh yeah, I really am. But do you know what kind of bird is being sung out there? Do you know the sound of a robin isn’t a blue jade? Is it some other crazy bird?

Maybe it’s a crow or a pigeon. Oh no. All right, now I know you’re wondering. All right, Dr. Asim, what the heck is going on? Are you high? Why are you talking about bird singing when there is a topic on the GI tract? Well, just like when we hear a song, we don’t know what kind of bird it is.

Just like in your gut, you see how I tied it in there? There is a condition that can mimic all other sorts of diseases, whether it’s chest pain, heartburn, difficulty swallowing, or just pain right here that is called a hiatal hernia. The great medical mimicker that’s out there. Sometimes it’s so hard to know if the hial hernia is a cause of your symptoms or just maybe something that’s there.

How to y’all, Dr. Samir here, a k a your poop gu trying to keep you happy and healthy from the top all the way down to your bottom so you can live your best life. In today’s video we’re gonna talk about hial hernias. What are they? How do they form and what symptoms you need to keep an eye out for if you may be having hernia issues.

And the good news is if you have a hial hernia, there is a very effective mentally invasive surgical procedure that can fix that hernia and maybe get your symptoms back on track. Guys, let’s talk about truth. I’m gonna tell you about a patient of mine named Char. Now Char had heartburn for pretty much her whole life, 30 plus years. She was suffering from heartburn regurgitation.

She tried dietary options and it worked out just a little bit. She tried to adjust her lifestyle, ah, some improvement. And so we put her on acid reducing medications and for the longest time she felt great and her heartburn symptoms got better. But over the course of the next three to five years before I saw her, she starts to notice, Hey, I’m having a lot more problems with my heartburn. I am having regurgitation of food when I bend over. Ah, food is coming up. I’m also having some pain right here and also some difficulty swallowing. So she was wondering what the heck is going on? And she came to see me to hopefully evaluate what is going on, did a physical exam, did some imaging, and we did an upper endoscopy or an EEG D. And what we found was that she had a very large hiatal hernia. A large part of her stomach is going above where it should be and this was the cause of her symptoms. Now we tried to optimize her medications, we tried to change her diet even more, but despite doing all of that, she’s still having her issues. And so we did a workup, we sent her to a surgeon, we got her hernia fixed and lo behold, She felt so much better. Her symptoms went away, were able to wiener off her medications and she’s doing great and living happily ever after. So what exactly is a hial hernia? So normally you have this organ or this sheath called the diaphragm, which separates your stomach from your esophagus. Above is where esophagus is. And below that is where your stomach is. And there is a small hole that’s right there which goes through esophagus into your stomach called a hiatus. And this helps prevent your stomach from going above where it should be and keeps your esophagus above the diaphragm. Now for some people that hiatus that hole can become larger and larger and if it becomes too big, part of the stomach goes above where it should be above the diaphragm to create what’s called a hiatal hernia. Now a hiatal hernia, it’s very different from other hernias like your umbilical hernia or a ventral hernia, which you can see typically you cannot see a hiatal hernia. It is on the inside, you can see it, but it can let you know it’s there based on the symptoms it might cause.

And like I mentioned before, hiatal hernia can cause such a wide array of symptoms. It is called the great medical mimicker because it can cause all sorts of symptoms and it may not cause any symptoms whatsoever. And the difficult thing about a hiatal hernia is to know A, is it the cause of your symptoms? B, would fixing the hernia fix your symptoms or C, could your symptoms be due to something else? And that hernia just be kind of a red herring of what is going on. So what are some of the common symptoms of a hiatal hernia? Number one is difficulty swallowing. If things are getting stuck, it could be that the hernia is trapping food where it shouldn’t be, making it more slowly to go down your esophagus, make it more difficult to eat. Number two is chest pain right here. Now keep in mind if you’re ever, ever ever having chest pain, you need to see a cardiologist, your heart needs to be worked up, your heart is probably the most important organ that’s out there. I can fix your esophagus. I cannot fix your heart that needs to be checked out. But assuming that your heart’s doing okay, a hiatal hernia can sometimes cause chest pain. Number three, heart burner acid reflux. When you have a large hiatal hernia, that hernia traps acid above where it should be. And that hernia sometimes can cause the lower esophageal sphincter, which is that door that normally is closed. When you’re not eating to prevent acid from going up into esophagus, that hernia can make that door become wide open. So acid rushes up into the esophagus to cause that heartburn and burning inside the middle of your chest. Number four is abdominal pain, absolutely abdominal pain right here in the middle of your chest. Ooh, that kind of hurt a little bit. That can also be due to a hiatal hernia. I wanna thank you for watching.

If you have it already, don’t forget to smash that like button. Comment down below. Number five, Shortness of breath. Can you believe that if you have a large enough hernia it can collapse your lungs and make it more difficult for you to breathe? I’ve had plenty of patients that had half of their stomach up above the chest cavity compressing on their lungs, causing shortness of breath to occur. And lastly, vomiting. If you have a lot of nausea, vomiting of food or water, you just don’t feel very good. You just, you have that, those issues that can also be due to a hele hernia. Now if you experience any of these symptoms, make sure you talk to one of us to see if we need to see if you have a hernia, but also more importantly is that hernia the possible cause of your issues. Because I can tell all my patients, just because you have a hiatal hernia, it does not mean it needs to be fixed. And not all symptoms can be due to a hiatal hernia. You need a very thorough and careful investigation to see exactly what’s going on cuz there’s no point in you undergoing a surgery that’s not going to help you or it’s not going to fix the issues that you’re having.

But if you’re having these issues, come see one of us, we can see what’s going on and hopefully get you taken care of. What I want you to do this week, my call to action to you, if you have these symptoms, pick up that phone and call your nearest doctor to find out why. Why are you having shortness of breath?

Why are you having difficulty swelling? Why are you having really bad heartburn? You’ll hopefully come away with a diagnosis and a plan of action to get you taken care of. And if it’s a hernia you can come see me or we can do our work to find out exactly what is going on. So I wanna thank you for watching my question day for you.

Have you had a high, the hernia symptoms like this? Did getting your hernia fixed make you feel better? Calm down below. I will love to hear what you guys have to say. Wanna thank you for watching. Don’t forget to smash. That’s like button like sharing, subscribe. And if you haven’t already, don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter.

We can get great tips and trick like you’re learning in this video guys. And thank you for watching. Don’t forget, let’s talk about poop. Thanks guys.