What is a hietal hernia? in plain English, please?

My son has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, swallowing issues and a "hietal hernia" (they are all related because of his EDS). My doctor tried to explain it to me, but I'm not certain of what it is. Anyone else want to try?

Sure - here goes. First of all, I think you're talking about a HIATAL hernia. Let's start with basic anatomy. Your esophagus (the tube that carries food from your mouth to your stomach) has to pass through your diaphragm (that muscle that divides your chest cavity from your abdominal cavity, and keeps all your intestines in your abdomen) in order to get to your stomach which is in your abdomen, right? Which means there is a small hole in your diaphragm through which the esophagus passes. Sometimes, that hole enlarges, and allows contents of your abdomen to slip up through it and into your chest cavity. Most commonly, its a portion of your stomach that slips through.

The result is that a portion of your stomach is in your chest cavity. This isn't neccessarily a big deal, but it may cause or increase already existent heartburn symptoms. Some people have surgery to correct their hiatal hernia. Hope this helps.

Your stomach slides up in to the top part of your body toward your neck, and ends up pushing on your lungs and diaphragm.

A hiatal hernia is when part of the stomach slides up through the opening of the diaphragm into the chest instead of staying in the abdomen

"Any time an internal body part pushes into an area where it doesn't belong, it's called a hernia.

The hiatus is an opening in the diaphragm -- the muscular wall separating the chest cavity from the abdomen. Normally, the esophagus (food pipe) goes through the hiatus and attaches to the stomach. In a hiatal hernia (also called hiatus hernia), the stomach bulges up into the chest through that opening."

So, the hiatus is natural and normal, and the hiatal hernia is when the stomache gets pushed into that opening.

If you want to seek help regarding this problem then you can try the following link and see if it helps www.healthcaretours.com