# Hernias



## liz (di-va) (Aug 22, 2010)

I have a paraumbilical hernia...and I hate it.

Anybody else ever had a hernia fixed? With or without mesh? Any experiences to relate/anything, esp related to size? I am totally curious.

I've consulted a surgeon about it twice and those times decided not to do anything but I'm starting to feel like I want to get it fixed soonish. I hate it.


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## liz (di-va) (Aug 22, 2010)

omg 34 views and not one herniated human in the bunch? not even a little one? groin one? tied up in a bow?


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## SoVerySoft (Aug 22, 2010)

You know I've got one. I want it GONE but am so scared. And it keeps getting bigger...and bigger...

My doctor feels it is safer to leave it alone...but hell...how big can it get??

So I am also VERY interested in this topic.


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## prettyssbbw (Aug 23, 2010)

I have a hernia. It freaks me out a lot . I got mine after i had to have an abdominal surgery. 2 of my uncles have hernias and have had them fixed. With one of my uncles,his mesh keeps busting loose. He has one bulging out the size of a grapefruit. Poor guy.
Liz and SVS, what symptoms do your hernias give you?
Mine makes my stomach upset a lot and when it is being especially angry the skin above my hernia will break out in a rash. I want to have mine fixed but the Dr keeps telling me he doesn't advise it at my size because there is a huge chance it will just bulge out again.


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## liz (di-va) (Aug 23, 2010)

prettyssbbw said:


> Liz and SVS, what symptoms do your hernias give you?
> Mine makes my stomach upset a lot and when it is being especially angry the skin above my hernia will break out in a rash. I want to have mine fixed but the Dr keeps telling me he doesn't advise it at my size because there is a huge chance it will just bulge out again.



I have pain from it (not to mention it feels very disfiguring--tum sticks out/up! in a pointy way), but that's it.

How exactly does it upset your stomach? Do you have a hiatal hernia, then? Mine is umbilical, so there is no stomach upset. If there were (as I understand it), it could be a sign of strangulation and I'm supposed to run to the hospital...


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## SoVerySoft (Aug 23, 2010)

Mine doesn't hurt at all - it just looks like I have a cantaloupe sticking out of my bellybutton...Used to be the size of a grapefruit. Sigh


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## CastingPearls (Aug 23, 2010)

I've had a small umbilicular hernia since '02. It hasn't increased in size, though. When it happened it hurt, but it doesn't hurt at all now.

I've discussed it with my doctors and they don't seem too concerned about it but sometimes when I'm on my back my naval pops out like a timer on an oven-stuffer roaster.


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## liz (di-va) (Aug 26, 2010)

Mine definitely hurts at times -- odd moments - and a lot when I (for instance) lean to get something out of the cupboard and the counter digs in. Or when I'm lying on my tummy sometimes or (common problem) when my fat cat lands on me when I'm lying on my back.

So that kinda stuff doesn't hurt for you, SVS, CP?


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## CastingPearls (Aug 26, 2010)

Sometimes when I lean into a counter but rarely. When it first happened I was moving, so I know it happened from lifting boxes. I can't lift anything anymore due to chronic fatigue.

I'm kinda meh about it. Except I used to have a gorgeous navel and it's still cute except when it does pop a little. It's really small, I imagine.


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## SoVerySoft (Aug 28, 2010)

Liz, I avoid any kind of poking and prodding on my whole body because pressure hurts everywhere (I have fibromyalgia) so cats daren't walk on me! But no, my hernia isn't more painful than other places, really. I know that's odd.


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## Miss Vickie (Aug 28, 2010)

Sorry, been away in NP school....

I had several hernias, the first of which was umbilical, then a ventral incisional hernia, and then my whole abdomen just sort of... fell apart. I had mine repaired, with mesh, when I had my post-WLS-weight-loss tummy tuck.

Healing from the mesh and hernia repair was painful, and you cannot -- and I mean can NOT -- lift anything for several weeks afterward. My surgeon didn't even want me lifting a heavy MUG, let alone twisting, bending, or anything like that. But as a result of being careful, the mesh is snug and I don't have any adhesions.

When it comes to hernias, usually bigger is better, at least in terms of the greatest risk which is incarceration, when a loop of bowel gets stuck through the hole. When I had my gall bladder surgery, I had an incarcerated umbilical hernia at the same time but everyone thought the peri-umbilical pain, intractable vomiting and misery was from the gall bladder. OOPS! Imagine their surprise when they went to place the first first surgical scope and there was bowel hanging out. As hernias get bigger, there is less of a likelihood of having bowel getting stuck so while it looks worse, it's actually less dangerous.

The mesh was great, I healed okay (internally anyway) and it's holding well, several years later. Downside of mesh? If it's a big piece like mine (the size of a file folder) nobody's going to be really jake with going through the mesh if you need later surgeries. So, that's worth keeping in mind if you need mesh, and it's pretty much the consensus of the docs I know that if it's a big repair it will hold better if it's supported with mesh.

Hope this helps! Good luck!


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## Dromond (Aug 29, 2010)

I have an inguinal hernia. It's a small one and rarely bothers me, mainly because I can't lift a lot due to other conditions. It hasn't been a problem for a long time, it's just kinda there these days.


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## willowmoon (Aug 29, 2010)

I have had three hernias in the past -- 2 in the left groin, 1 in the right groin. The last hernia I had was taken care of over a year ago. All three were repaired with mesh. I'm even more careful when it comes to lifting things, I just don't want to chance anything. Now that I'm self-employed, I hardly have to lift anything heavy anymore -- well ... aside from my ego, of course


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## liz (di-va) (Aug 30, 2010)

I'm so grateful people are chiming in! Much appreciated. 3 surgeries, wm! Yoiks! Glad it's fixed.

I hadn't really put that at the front of my brain, Vickie--that once you have (successfully installed) mesh, that you're not gonna want to open it up again! Cripes. I don't know how you couldn't lift a coffee cup for weeks. I live by myself--I know I couldn't! But -- thank you for your well-considered info. Feels really helpful to be thinkin about all the angles here.

I think the saddest part about my hernia for me is that it disturbs some of my happy/sexy feelings about my belly, since it disrupts the line -- the drape, if you will (heh). And it's this big vulnerable/ooky thing right in the middle that, I dunno...I don't wanna touch it, you know? Meh. (It appears to be TMI day in the hernia thread, but--fuck it. I wanted to put that out there, cause it makes me sad!)

I can't wait to see how medicine fixes these in the fabulous future--lil startrekky devices that zip us back up...


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## Miss Vickie (Aug 31, 2010)

Liz, the inguinal hernias that guys get are a little different than ours. They actually have a HOLE in their abdomen that allows the sperm-making paraphernalia to live outside the body and stay nice and cool. So sometimes that hole gets stretched, and allows bowel to skootch down into their scrotums (scroti?) even. (I got to feel one recently in my advanced assessment class. It was pretty interesting).

With women it's usually umbilical hernias, which happen because the sheet of connective tissue between the muscles gets torn. It's well vascularized, and it doesn't have the "give" that muscle and skin has so it gets little tears in it that get bigger and badder and just can't heal. The umbilicus is a weak point, because it has a hole there already that allowed the umbilical cord to attach and the vasculature to grow through that hole. So it's a weak spot and if we're heavy, or have had pregnancies or have piss poor protoplasm, unfortunately, that's the weakest link.

The recovery for me was enormously difficult, but I did have a huge hernia, and an especially cautious doctor. For two weeks I could lift up to about a 12 oz cup of coffee/tea/juice/whatever and no bending, twisting, anything that stretched those muscles. And truthfully? I hurt so bad because of the size of the hernias and the mesh that they used so I wasn't tempted at ALL to do too much. Most people don't have to deal with what I had but if you think of the size of the mesh (size of a file folder) that was attached all around my abdominal muscle, you can imagine why I hurt so much.

On the upside, I did learn how to knit, because I could do little else!

I know what you mean about how it makes you feel about your body, having this weird... thing... sticking out. Things just don't hang right.


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## liz (di-va) (Sep 2, 2010)

Boy, congratters on getting through that, Vickie--I can only imagine what a slog that was.



Miss Vickie said:


> So it's a weak spot and if we're heavy, or have had pregnancies or have piss poor protoplasm, unfortunately, that's the weakest link.


Mine appeared during a bout of bronchitis, when it feels like I more or less coughed my way into it. Ah well.


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