dustended stomach with pain

My stomach is distended. I appear to be pregnant, but I am not. Whenever I attempt to excercise I experience pain on the left side of my stomach and have to stop. I feel extremely winded and sometimes dizzy, What could be the possible cause?

[KjFlicka]

One cause for the infamous pregnant looking belly is ascites which is fluid retention in the abdomen. It is really just a major side effect of a more serious issue... commonly liver disease. If it's really a 'hard' belly, I might check that possibility out. I'm sure the folks will chime in here soon with other ideas. Take care.

[Angrypatient]

I have always had a distended stomach. I would say it looks about 4 months pregnant. I just recently had a g/b surgery done and had blood tests done and my liver is fine as is everything else. I guess some women just have that problem.

[mercedes_baby_boo]

I am a gastric bypass patient. Occasionally I get the distended pregnant looking stomach. It is in my case trapped gas and its food in my intestines. Last year it blew up so bad that it ripped my intestinal lining and i had to be airlifted to have emergency surgery. it was the worst pain imaginable. i actually felt it burst. i knew i was dying. my 18 yr drove me to the er in time. you may have some constipation in your colon that may be causing your tummy to do this. now my regime is i drink that nasty stuff to flush me out and if it gets bad i go get tubed at the er. i know its drastic but it saves my life. dont wait too long seek help from your dr as its very serious. best of luck.

[meowta]

That happened to me last summer - it was fluid retention pretty much due to dehydration or lack of fluid intake, Dr. prescribed fluid pills, after taking one and going to the bathroom every 5 minutes all night long, bloating went down and lost 7lbs!
Have had short bowel syndrome for 30 yrs - I think with all the diarhera, we all probably stay slightly dehydrated anyway.  Only took the one fluid pill, then it bloated back up about a week later. One more pill and that was all it took to go away - along with adding a lot more water intake daily! Good luck!