Give me the lowdown on hernias

April 2, 2009 10:18 PM

So I have an inguinal hernia. What do I need to know?

Male. College-age. Obviously I've been searching on the internet, but it mostly seems to be self-diagnosis (done) and post-op stuff (not what I need now). Obviously I have to see a doctor about this soon, but I'm coming up on the end of the school year and to do it now would be difficult.

I think it's a pretty small hernia (not that I have a ton of experience), it's easily reducible, and it has to be reduced every so often throughout the day.

Questions (YANMD, I know):

-I know this has to have surgery eventually, but how urgent is it? Am I probably ok waiting until early May? (again, I know YANMD)

-What should I absolutely not be doing? What are some precautions I should take?

-Any other useful info?

posted by Autarky to health & fitness (4 comments total)

You can probably wait a little while, but don't take any chances. Definitely talk to a doctor and figure out how long you can go without surgery. It may be that you won't even need surgery. If you do, it'll be minimally invasive - a far cry from what I went through about 30 years ago.

I think I went about a week between diagnosis and surgery. The hernia didn't hurt or cause discomfort in any way.

I was told to avoid any serious physical activity, but it seems that might be overkill by today's standards. Still, not a bad idea to avoid heavy lifting/straining.
posted by O9scar at 11:15 PM on April 2

I'm pretty sure this is what I had (mine more in the abdomen than in the groin area), going by the diagram on this site.

I think I had to wait three weeks for the surgery. The attending doctor actually offered me the choice of either getting the surgery or waiting it out (to see if I could just live with it), given that the tear was not very large. I felt it was sufficiently beyond the level of discomfort to motivate the surgery. In the surgery, they used a three-incision method to insert a mesh or webbing, so as to minimize the size of any one incision. Something maybe to inquire about in your case.

Waiting for the surgery, I tried to avoid the following, just on the basis of the levels of discomfort, after my doctor had told me to take it easy:

Getting in and out of cars.
Doing any kind of lifting.
Bending down to pick stuff up.
No sports, but especially no bicycling (doctor said that).
No romps in the sac.

After the surgery I had a catheter still in there a bit, maybe a few days or a week, I can't remember. To help drain the incision.

Only spent one or two nights in hospital, two I think.

I think at the time I read in other Askmefi posts about people claiming to have fully recovered, i.e. who had not suffered any further effects from the procedure. I was skeptical about this at first, but can largely confirm it in my case. In a year I was back at jiu jutsi, being slammed to the mat by uki with just as much force as before.

I still do feel 'senstitive' in that area and for instance when I tussle with my kids on the floor I'm always on the lookout for whether I'm going to take a knee in that area. I'm also more careful about lifting heavy sacs of shit and so on. Good luck.
posted by rudster at 2:54 AM on April 3

I just had surgery for an inguinal hernia. It was an out-patient procedure, and I experienced minimal pain afterwards. I had actually lived with the hernia for many years before choosing to go forward with the surgery. If you wait, there's a small risk that it could become strangulated, but my doctor also said that we could take a wait-and-see approach rather than going ahead with surgery if I desired.

It sounds like mine was similar to yours (small, easily reducible, had to be reduced several times a day). I did everything I would normally do, including cardio work outs, while I had my hernia. It did not cause me any discomfort, and I mainly chose to go ahead with surgery for cosmetic reasons.

In short, IANAD, but I don't see this as urgent at all, and I think you can just continue with whatever you're doing. At the very least, May should totally be fine. I wouldn't worry about it. If it does suddenly stop being reducible, then you should go to the doctor ASAP, as that means that it's strangulated. But, while it's still reducible and not causing you any pain I think you're fine.
posted by shannonigans at 6:06 AM on April 3

I've had two inguinal repairs, one in 2002 and the other in 2003 after I blew out my first repair lifting heavy objects too soon.

In terms of day to day activities, as you can reduce it with ease and doesn't cause you pain, you can probably continue to do whatever you "normally" do. In general, you should avoid things that create large amounts of intra-abdominal pressure or require the valsalva manuver. You still run the risk of hernia strangulation which would result in the necrosis of part of your intenstine and usually require emergency surgery.

You should do some research into the various surgical techniques used to repair inguinal hernia's. In 2002 that was the polypropalene mesh attached to your abdominal wall with titanium staples, that provides a scaffold for the abdominal wall to regrow over. High surgical sucess rate, minimal complications, quick return to activities, low failure rate etc.

Also, look into the amino acid glutamine and it's relationship to patients who have abdominal surgery. I read multiple abstracts a few years back (sadly after my surgery) that patients who ingested supplemental glutamine after abdominal surgery had better surgical outcomes.

It will probably be very difficult to urinate after the surgery, which is usually a requirement from being released from the hospital. I muscled through it the first time, but on my second (open) repair I needed a cathader, which was not that bad.
posted by zentrification at 4:27 PM on April 3