Most people with a hiatus hernia have no symptoms at all. They don’t even know they’ve got one.
So this is where part of the stomach comes up into the chest so that you’ve got the oesophagus, the gullet, coming down into the stomach, a nice little seal.
People with hiatus hernia, in fact, hernia means that a part of your, one of your organs goes through a hole that’s not meant to be there or it’s not meant to be, it’s in a different place than where it’s meant to be. So an inguinal hernia means the bowl pushes through the inguinal canal and a hiatus hernia usually means that part of the stomach comes up into the chest through the existing hole, but it can come up through other ways.
And so most people who’ve got it don’t know they’ve got it. They’ve got a minor one. You can get indigestion, and so a sense of heartburn, you can get regurgitation as well because the valve that controls your food in your stomach goes up into your throat.
There are all sorts of reasons and all sorts of symptoms, but they’re mostly around reflux indigestion.
Dr Norman Swan, Physician and Journalist
