How does it feel to inflate the belly?

Answer 1

In some medical testing or some surgeries (such as laproscopy), a physician inserts a special gas into the abdomen to "inflate" the abdominal wall. This moves the skin, fat layer, etc. up any away from some organs so the doctor or surgeon can visualize (see) the organs easier.

Most of us are familiar with having intestinal "gassiness" in which there's discomfort, sometimes some intestinal cramping, etc. The "gas" that a physician or sugeon uses is NOT inside the intestines, but it can cause gassiness that is similar to intestinal gas.

You may feel sore from having the abdominal wall slightly stretched or from having the organs touched, moved, handled. You may feel a bit bloated, as though having intestinal gas. Any symptoms or changes you feel should get better over a few hours to a couple days.

Answer 2

It depends on the rate of inflation (increase) and over what period of time.

The best example of a slow increase of belly size is pregnancy. As the fetus grows, the skin and muscles stretch. This can cause aches, pains, and itchiness over stretch marks, but other than the baby kicking, it does not produce any significant pain. Most pain during pregnancy, especially late pregnancy, is backache.

Equally, becoming overweight with an increase in belly size is slow with nearly no pain.

The best example of a fast increase of belly size due to illness/disease is ascites---fluid in the belly. See picture above. Ascites can occur when a person has chronic Alcoholism. In this condition, the fluid puts pressure on internal organs and the diaphragm. Since many patients with alcoholism are men, and men are not familiar with the pains of belly increases like in pregnancy, men can be more aware of the discomfort. But also, the person is very sick otherwise and ascites can be life threatening. So the goal is to relieve the pressure by draining the fluid or through medications.