Understanding New and Severe Abdominal Pain

Your pain and expanding waistline could be a sign of a serious medical illness, particularly if you have nausea or vomiting along with your other symptoms! Seek a medical evaluation immediately!

Increasing abdominal girth (belt size) can result from fat, from an enlarged liver or spleen, from gas in the intestines, from distended intestines (due to a bowel obstruction) or from pregnancy. Less commonly, the abdomen can expand due to a tumor, or due to fluid accumulation around your abdominal organs and beneath the peritoneum (abdominal wall lining). Fluid that accumulates in this area is called "ascites," and it can be a complication of cirrhosis of the liver or certain other illnesses.

Because your pain is accompanied by expansion of your abdomen, the most likely explanations for your pain would be gas, bowel obstruction, constipation with or without a total blockage from stool (fecal impaction), or (if you have cirrhosis of the liver) ascites or infected ascites.