Whose had a hernia?? Here's a story with questions at the end

[Albertadiver]

Well, I know this is nothing to do with the outdoors really, but i've seen weirder stuff on the General forum.

So here's a story....

Two weeks ago I woke up with some pretty bad abdominal pain. Thought at first it was gas or something and was going to tough it out and go to work. Thought, man this sucks. Cancelled my first meeting of the day, and then cancelled the next as I alternated from laying in bed and trying to go #2 thinking I was all backed up or something.

I think what might have contributed to this was that we did a 2 night backpacking trip a few days prior, and I found it far more strenuous than past trips, mostly due to me not being in the best of shape I would have liked to have been. I felt like garbage most of the trip. Trust me, lots of shame in that regard, but I have been working on it and down 15lbs so far.

Now, I don't go to doctors. Case in point, my wife finally convinced me to get a checkup and physical after about 6 or 7 years, so I go into the Doctor's office to make an appointment and was told that my doctor passed away 3 years ago. (tests turned out fine once I got a new doctor)

5hrs later, nope, still pain and I had to hold my stomach when walking around to alleviate the pain. My wife made me call health link. Described everything and the nurse said to go to a walk in clinic. Pain was bad enough I called my wife to take me in.

Turns out my new doctor happened to be on call, so I get in after about 25 minutes of excruciating pain sitting up in a chair. (the bumpy ride over in the car wasn't much better) Doc gets me up on the bench thingy and has me lay down. Takes one look at my stomach and says, um, I'll be right back, I'm just going to call an ambulance.

So that kinda freaks me out. Never been in an ambulance before. Doc figures I have a Hernia, and he's worried its strangulated. (intestines push through stomach wall lining and circulation gets cut off which can be big big trouble).

Medics come, put me on a stretcher, and before they leave the doctors office for the hospital they put in an IV. Give me some gravol, and then a shot of Morphine.

Well, let me tell you, that morphine hit me like a ton of bricks. Wow. Anxiety gone, and was calm, and pain was greatly reduced. When I had initially got into the ambulance my legs were shaking like crazy. Paramedic said that was from adrenaline. Never had morphine before, but now can understand why that stuff absolutely needs to be highly regulated.

Get to foothills and they put me in a hallway between two bad guys being guarded by 4 police officers. One was bit by the canine and raving about brutality, and the other looked like he'd been helped to the floor quite nicely. Anyhow, in my state I just found the whole thing amusing and kept giving the thumbs up to the cops.

After my third dose of morphine, a doctor comes by and starts massaging my stomach, which REALLY hurt, even with the morphine, and basically pushed my guts back inside and it was instant relief. I could walk the hallway no problem, and the cancelled the CT scan they were going to send me in for. The medical term for what I had was an incarcerated umbilical hernia.

If you want to see some really gross pictures throw that on google!

As messed up as AHS is, I have to say the medics were absolutely fantastic dealing with a big wussy like myself. The emergency doctor was very thorough in explaining things even in my altered state. From the time I got in the ambulance to the time I was walking out of the hospital was probably less than an hour and a half and emergency was so busy they treated me in a hallway!

Because I'm not an emergency issue now, the treatment is going to take a while to get a consult and then ultimately a procedure.

For those that have had this issue (apparently pretty common in men) I know there's the arthroscopic surgery, or a regular incision. Also they put a mesh in to reinforce the hernia. In my research, I've heard so many different opinions and would appreciate some first hand comments.

Currently I'm wearing a hernia belt to help when at work or out and about. Don't wear at home. I'm pretty gun shy now though and won't do anything too strenuous, although I am going to try a bit of golf tomorrow with the belt on.

Any do's or don'ts? How was treatment for those that elected to have a procedure? Any just gut it out and deal with it if you have a hernia 'attack?'

I'm hoping hunting season isn't a total write-off as we mostly go where it's foot access only.....

[yoteblaster]

Had exactly what you are describing. Hurt like heck when intestines pushed through. Doc in emerg had me lay on bed and he pushed everything back in. Had surgery complete with mesh. Easy peasy and was back to ice fishing two days later. All health care workers were awesome

[trigger7mm]

All health care workers were awesome[/QUOTE]

You’re right, the front line health care/emergency workers are truly unsung hero’s.

[1899b]

I had one for about 20 years which i worked around. Finally had a wake up call while performing squats at the gym beltless last year. Got it repaired and was back in the gym after 4 months.

Dr. Athena Bennett at St Thomas Surgical Clinic in St Albert. I highly recommend...

[Sooner]

I have the same outie happening now, no pain though, my doc has looked at it a few times during physicals. Pushes the bulge around, no pain. But I fear my day is coming when what happened to you will happen to me.

Did you have an outie prior as well?

I am following this one and have my annual physical coming up soon. I keep asking the doc, can we do a preventive op? He is of the opinion, wait till you need it. Ya, that could be out in the woods trying to move a moose over, cutting a fallen log or trying to unstuck a sled lol. Thanks for posting.

[BlackHeart]

Didn’t you lift weights in the past?
Asking because if you did, I would have thought that would have thickened your stomach muscles enough to avoid hernias. (Think 500kg deadlift and the blowout pressure there without built up abdominal walls)

[roper1]

I had hernia surgery 5-6 yrs ago. My Dr was completely cool to the mesh, doesn't like it, so did the incision. My hernia was too big for arthroscopic. ended up a very long incision, took awhile to heal. I am very strong for my size, I'm just very careful how much I pick up nowadays. A WT or muley in the truck, no prob, moose or elk onto packhorse carefully quartered. As always, listen to the doc. I'm very against pain meds, but took them to keep swelling down & speed recovery. Kind of new for me but glad I listened. Good luck!

[260 Rem]

I had one hernia repaired orthoscopically (used mesh) about 25 years ago. I was back running within ten days. A second one (also mesh) about two years later with open surgery. Longer recovery because of all the staples on the outside. Carried on in Karate for another five years...no problems. The surgery is nothing to worry about. Get it done.

[Bushrat]

Do it now, or it will only get worse. Umbilical hernia is the easiest one to fix.Had it done a year or so ago. They put mesh in, woke up after the operation, talked to the doc a few minutes and walked out the door. Gave me an antibiotic but no pain meds, a bit sore for a couple days but nothing I would call painful at all. Easy peasy.

[cranky]

I did some reading about the mesh procedure somewhere not long ago. Maybe look it up and see what you think. Always good to be informed. Seems i read there is some controversy with the mesh procedure. Talk of lawsuits and such.

But a friend just had it done not long ago with mesh and like others in this thread he's doing great so.

[Jays toyz]

Had umbilical hernia that I could usualy poke back in myself. After a year of dealing with it I got it fixed with a 4" incision and no mesh that took a long time to heal. I tore the facia stitches 3 weeks later and have been poking it back in occasionally for a few years.

I got my hernia lifting a heavy bag of rotten wet grass into a dumpster out at arms length. If I lift that way now, I have to poke...

It's more likely to occur when I am at the high end of my Oprah like weight swings. If you have a bigger belly than you should, you will find relief with less belly.

The mesh, I believe has fallen out of favor due to some infections. Your doctor will know.

[bloopbloob]

Very similar story! I had surgery when I was maybe 22ish? 10+ years ago. Thought I was dying, the pain was so bad. Sitting slumped up on the floor in Emergency, waiting to be seen, dying in extreme pain for about 2hrs. Some guy gets dragged in by friends or family with chunks of glass sticking out of his face, bleeding everywhere, car accident. So I wait another hour+, as that takes priority. Get into a shared room, waiting for the doc, and it's shared with some guy fighting with two cops, screaming as they try to handcuff him to the bed so a doc can force feed him charcoal with a turkey baster for whatever he ingested. Starts spewing black liquid everywhere. Lovely experience.

Long story short, got about a 1" scar just above my bellybutton, had to take it easy for quite a while, but fairly simple procedure. Just have to make sure to give it time to heal. No issues since, just an extra bellybutton...

[bat119]

I got the mesh, I went home next day after surgery with an IV to recuperate I sat in my recliner exhausted and fell asleep. During the night I don't know for sure how but the stitch's had some come undone leaving a 4" one inch deep gaping wound.

I showed the wife she freaked after she calmed down we went to the ER, the wound couldn't be reclosed, they packed it up with saline soaked gauze. The Doc told me the wound would heal from the inside out and I would need to have it repacked daily for 4 weeks, sucked having to have it stuffed daily.In the end I was good with the result and I was left with a gnarly scar.

Other than that things went well, my horror story was an extremely rare occurrence don't let it stop you from getting the work done I didn't miss the hunting season although I didn't do any heavy lifting that year.

[1899b]

Originally Posted by BlackHeart

Didn’t you lift weights in the past?
Asking because if you did, I would have thought that would have thickened your stomach muscles enough to avoid hernias. (Think 500kg deadlift and the blowout pressure there without built up abdominal walls)

Um no. The world record deadlift is 1,041 pounds or 473 kg. Theres nobody pulling 1100 lbs in these parts... LOL

[BlackHeart]

Originally Posted by 1899b

Um no. The world record deadlift is 1,041 pounds or 473 kg. Theres nobody pulling 1100 lbs in these parts... LOL

Eddie Hall. 500kg world record. Burst blood vessels in his head.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Hall

I do know nobody around here is pulling this weight....the concept was if you powerlift you build up the ability to lift heavy deadlifts,.... soooo would it help prevent a fairly common injury through thickening of the abdominal area muscles.

I deadlift (among other lifts) (nothing in compare to Eddie Hall) but always worry about getting a hernia as I add weight to the bar and I age.

[fishpro]

Had an inguinal hernia a few years ago, and while it wasn't giving me any trouble, my doctor recommended I have it repaired. The surgeon I went to only did open surgeries and only used mesh if it was a large repair (mine didn't need it). I was happy with this route, because even though the scar is larger and the recovery time is longer (still not very bad), both the laparoscopic surgery and mesh repair have higher chances of long term side effects.

[elkhunter1234]

I’ve got a belly button hernia that I’m waiting to get into see a surgeon to see if he wants to repair it or just have me keep stuffing it back in 20 times a day. The odd time it gets twisted and I know right away it needs to be pushed back in as I’m puking my guts out. I’ve talked to some guys that say not to get it repaired and to just deal with it.

Jim...