The frequency
Water retention in the abdomen can be attributed to liver damage, i.e. advanced cirrhosis of the liver, in 80% of cases. Conversely, almost half of the patients with liver cirrhosis show ascites as a symptom. The second most common cause is a tumor disease.
This can be attributed to 10% of cases. In most cases, the fluid slowly accumulates in the free abdominal cavity. For this reason, it remains symptom-free at first.
Only when a large amount of fluid has already accumulated does the affected person notice that his or her abdominal girth has increased. This is usually first noticed by the tightening of the pants. If symptoms then occur, it can be assumed that a large amount of fluid has already accumulated or that the amount is increasing rapidly.
A feeling of fullness and pain in the abdomen can occur. Loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting due to the increasing pressure in the abdomen can also occur. If the pressure in the abdomen is very high due to the accumulation of water, shortness of breath may also be a symptom.
This is the case when the lungs are unable to expand fully during inhalation due to the high pressure in the abdomen and therefore cannot take in enough air. Water in the abdomen is not necessarily painful at first. There is a lot of space in the abdomen in which the fluid can spread without causing damage, so there is initially no pain reaction.Only when the skin is tightened strongly by the water accumulation or the peritoneum has to hold too much volume can this cause pain.
Often, however, there are complaints before this, which are related to the cause of the water in the abdomen. Liver diseases, for example, can cause pain in the right upper abdomen, while diseases of the pancreas manifest themselves as belt-like pain. If the water accumulation becomes so large that it presses on structures such as nerves, vessels, muscles and organs, pain can also be caused. These are either produced directly at the nerves themselves or can usually be explained by a lack of blood circulation and a consequent reduced supply of blood, oxygen and other nutrients.
