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Hernia?
Heir
Ausitn, TXRegistered User regular
Ausitn, TXRegistered User regular
Ok, quick background on me.
26 years old, male. I work out daily during my lunch break at our onsite gym, tend to take our dog for an easy jog in the morning, and sometimes go for a walk in the evenings with the wife and dog. My workouts are pretty intense, lots of lifting and sprints on the days that I do cardio. All in all, I'm in good shape.
However, last night I was laying on my back in bed, trying to fall asleep. I went to scratch my crotch, and coughed right then. When I did so, I felt something bulge out for a second, and then immediately recess. I could only feel it when I was straining (like coughing hard), and only when I was laying down. It seems to only happen on the right side of my crotch.
My question is: has anyone had a hernia, or any experience with them? I called my brother up, as he too is quite athletic (more so than me) and actually had a hernia on both sides of his crotch that required surgery last year.
I'm going to look into seeing our doctor to make sure I"m not being paranoid. However, I would love to hear anyone's input on it. From what I could find on wikipedia, the type of hernia that I think I would have is much more common in men than women. The surgery would be easy (though my brother had horror stories dealing with a cathedar afterwards *shudder*).
So yeah, thoughts? Good way to tell you have one?
26 years old, male. I work out daily during my lunch break at our onsite gym, tend to take our dog for an easy jog in the morning, and sometimes go for a walk in the evenings with the wife and dog. My workouts are pretty intense, lots of lifting and sprints on the days that I do cardio. All in all, I'm in good shape.
However, last night I was laying on my back in bed, trying to fall asleep. I went to scratch my crotch, and coughed right then. When I did so, I felt something bulge out for a second, and then immediately recess. I could only feel it when I was straining (like coughing hard), and only when I was laying down. It seems to only happen on the right side of my crotch.
My question is: has anyone had a hernia, or any experience with them? I called my brother up, as he too is quite athletic (more so than me) and actually had a hernia on both sides of his crotch that required surgery last year.
I'm going to look into seeing our doctor to make sure I"m not being paranoid. However, I would love to hear anyone's input on it. From what I could find on wikipedia, the type of hernia that I think I would have is much more common in men than women. The surgery would be easy (though my brother had horror stories dealing with a cathedar afterwards *shudder*).
So yeah, thoughts? Good way to tell you have one?
Heir on
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So you have two options.
1.)let it get worse, possibly constricting your bowel while making your testicles swell up and turn purple, then get it fixed.
2.)get it fixed.
It's not an emergency, and it has nothing to do with how healthy you are as to whether you get a hernia. The fact your brother ended out with a pair of them probably means it's entirely genetic. They can be caused by genetics as much as by trying to squat thrust 700lb's. If it's poking out then back in, you can probably get the time scheduled off.
Really the biggest thing is making sure your surgeon uses mesh, because without it the hernia will just come back and to make sure and report ANY pain or discomfort after the surgery is done.
Try and ask what type of mesh they will be using, because some have higher infection and complication rates than others. Which is why you want to let them know asap if you have a reaction.
I don't know of anything about surgeons in Houston so I can't point one out for you.
I will say this, pick a General Surgeon who does cases other than just hernias who has been practicing for a while and has a ton of patients. When surgeons start being old and awful, they almost all start doing "just hernias". He should be able to tell you all about the mesh, complications and recovery time.
Edit: The catheter isn't as bad as people say. It's not comfortable, most people describe it as having a kinda full bladder and the urethra gets irritated, but you shouldn't have one in at all for just a single side. It shouldn't take more than an hour or two and even if they do put one in, they'll probably take it out almost immediately when you get to recovery.
Hopefully it's an outpatient thing for you, just don't eat the night before and show up plenty early. There's a lot of paperwork.
I figured doing squats probably didn't help anything.
I read up on the mesh...asked my brother as well. He had the mesh as well, and from the way he told it, it's used most of the time nowadays.
Looks like I'll be going to the doctor this week. Even if I don't have a hernia, I haven't had a checkup in a long time. Probably a good idea to get one.
Thabks.
For years I had a soreness in the sides of my pelvic region that would switch off from side to side and come and go. Eventually, I sneezed and fell out of my chair in pain. The next week I had an extra lump in my scrotum. So, yeah, it's not necessarily from working out.
The surgery for a single side wasn't too bad, although I was definately out of action for 2 weeks completely. I was gung-ho about my recovery and figured I'd be out for a week at most, but it's really intense stuff and you'll definately be out at least two full weeks (even if your abdominal muscles heal up, chances are your testicles will be so swollen that it'll be hard to walk). Also, you won't be able to do any real intense working out or lifting for about 4-6 months afterwards.
Earlier this year, I thought I was developing a hernia on the other side. I guess I am, gradually, but the doctor said it was extremely minor and he was able to put it back in place with his bare hands (ouch). I'll have another one someday, and it will have to be repaired again...
Also, anecdotal evidence suggests that if you get it on one side, you'll most likely get it on the other someday down the line.
I'm thinking it's probably just a strained muscle from what I've read here, but are there any telltale signs apart from a visible lump that can give me a clue before I get round to seeing a doc?
Mine's more near the pubic bone region. I'll be meeting with a doctor this week, but from what my brother went through, he couldn't work out for a month, and only had soreness for a week or so.
I hope my recovery will be like his, not your's haji. Sucks that you have to go through with that.
And I understand that working out didn't necessarily cause it, but since apparantly it may be genetic, I may already have had some kind of weakness in the abdominal cavity that was further exploited by working out.
To my knowledge hernias don't "come and go". If you lay flat and cough does it poke out?
It may be the start of a hernia, but until it actually pokes out a bit they wont be able to find/operate on it easily anyway. All of the twisting may just be rocking your abdominal muscles more than you're used to, since their primary function is support and stability of the spine.
That's the only time I can feel mine. I have to lay flat and cough rather hard to get it to poke out, and then it's pretty small.
Hernias, especially groinal hernias, aren't necessarily accompanied by pain. I didn't realise I had a hernia for about six months after origination. It would slip in and out quite painlessly and it wasn't until it got very big that I really started to notice it (at first I thought it was cancer. It was like I had a second ballsack). Usually the painful ones are abdominal hernias because they are usually getting pinched by the surrounding muscle and therefore often go septic.
Groinal hernias certainly do come and go, and if you feel a bulge when you cough you mostly likely definitely have a hernia. They can be pushed out through straining or coughing but will often go back in (if it's a big one, you might need to push it back in - mine was v. big and I could slip it back in just by inverting myself enough).
The most common type of groinal hernia is a genetic thing where the tube that your balls fall through when you are born don't close over properly, leaving a weakness that your insides can slip out of. Very little straining is required to cause a hernia in these cases, although they aren't terribly dangerous as there usually isn't any muscle to close back over it.
Abdominal hernias occur when two sets of muscles part, allowing some of your insides to poke out. As mentioned previously, these can be more dangerous as the parted muscles can often close back around the protrusion, cutting it off and causing it to go septic. This can occur either on the side of your abdomen or inside, where the protrusion breaks through into your chest.
As far as I'm aware, all hernias except those that protrude into the chest are fairly easy to spot due to there being a bulge under the skin. Sometimes it is difficult to determine if it is a hernia or something else, though. A colleague of mine has a suspected hernia at the moment and they are going to have to inject it with something that will make it swell up and then a few days later take a scan or somesuch to verify it.
Operation is keyhole surgery, only takes about one or two hours and is reasonably risk free. Your surgeon may give you the option of local or general anaesthetic (for the love of god, why would anybody choose to be conscious while someone cuts their groin open?). Recovery time is typically two to three weeks, usually with a combination of strong painkillers for the first week or so and lots of bed rest, although the doctor will most definitely recommend a much longer recover period if your work involves heavy lifting.
Ah, I remember my hernia op well. September 10th 2001. One day after the WTC attack, two weeks before my 21st birthday. My then girlfriend (now wife) bought me a PS2 for my birthday and gave it to me early so I could sit and play Gran Turismo while I recovered.
Yeah, having just tested it there doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary moving when I cough. Also, the pain is usually right on the edge/line where the central abdominal muscle and the ones to the side connect, so I'm guessing I've just strained it with my twisting around. Thanks.