Hiatus Hernia, Need help urgently it's ruining my life :(

Digestive health
1

Hi everyone,

New to this and urgently need some help/advice on my situation. I am 19 and was diagnosed with depression and anxiety about 8 months ago which I have recently started coping with. But recently things have taken a turn for the worst in the stomach area. After two months of the doctors telling me that my stomach problems were to do with my anxiety I was finally diagnosed with a hiatus hernia last week I also was told I had acid reflux quite a while ago which I thought had gone but obviously not.

I have been belching and burping constantly for about 2 months and it has only stopped after I started taking Ranitidine a few days ago. I have been feeling horrible and sinceit first started two months ago I have lost over a stone unintentionally as I can't seem to digest food properly and feel like I'm going to be sick after eating a proper meal. I used to have bowel movements one a day now sometimes I can't go for a few days. I have horrible back and chest pain sometimes and the worst problem I'm facing at the moment is the shortness of breath!! Even walking up the stairs in my house causes me to feel absolutely terrible. I haven't left my house in at least a week because I feel so unfit. Before this I was up and about all the time, living normally getting on with life, driving etc. Now I'm in constant discomfort and cannot do anything I am basically bed ridden.

I hate complaining and moaning about my situation because I don't want people to feel sorry for me but this stomach problem is making me feel so down. I have also recently noticed I have a raise on my left side below my breast and it is quite painful to touch and I have no clue what it is? I am currently taking Ranitidine 150mg two times a day and occasionally a Lansoprazole 30mg tablet. Before this I was taking Omeprazole and Gaviscon, i don't seem to get Much acid anymore but I have cut down on dairy, spicy foods and don't eat anything remotely fatty. My life is becoming an absolute shambles at the age of 19 and I don't know what to do. The doctors in my area are absolutely terrible and I don't know what to do. This past week especially after starting the Ranitidine I have been feeling unbelievably weak and kind of faint, Please help

2

Hi Isabel, i have the same thing and your anxiety is making it worse. Try to calm down because i was also in panic mode. I've had reflux for over 20 yes and was diagnosed with hiatal hernia Dec 2015. I've tried everything but my doctors say that anxiety makes it worse and it does. He also said that surgery will make it worse. I've read numerous people have had the surgery with the mesh and has had to have repeat surgeries due to that. I take Aciphex in the morning and over the counter Prevacid at night. There are things you can do that has helped me. Inhale, tighten your stomach and hold it while exhaling from your mouth. This will strengthen your abdominal muscles. Also, get your doctor to give you an anti-anxiety medicine..I take Elavil which is very safe and when i need a little extra he gave me Ativan which is also safe..They are older drugs but work. But most of all give it to God, He will give you peace and will not put more on you than you can handle. I hope things get better for you..Let me know how you are doing and God Bless you.

3

Hello ☺ I'm not fimiliar with hiatus hernia and its effects and whether indeed there are good effective treatments for it? Has anyone discussed this with you? There's likely other folks on here who will offer up some more useful information in respect of what treatments are around than I can give.

There's a definite theme of anxiety which you talk about, which along with your mood, you say you feel you're coping better with; this may be something of a 'chicken and egg' scenario - there's the hernia diagnosis and your mood and anxiety which appear to be somewhat playing off one another. Poor physical health will certainly impact on your mental health and vice versa. It does seem there's been some benefit from using medication (the ranitidine appears to have been helpful) and you've taken steps with your diet which I understand will help with acid production. Are you getting your medication from your GP? If so, then I'd go back and speak to one you feel most comfortable with about whether any of your other concerns, such as feeling lethagic more lately, may be side effect related? Your lack of energy may be attributable to how your feeling (mood) and also less calorific intake.

This might seem like a daft question but, what what you like to see improve? It's usually helpful to have some kind of goal(s) in mind so you can aim towards it - best of all they need to be achievable and it's probably an idea to make it possible in an incremental way i.e. Achieving things 'bit by bit'. Lastly, I'd like to say that you're clearly doing a much better job at managing all this than you probably think you are! We're usually our greatest critics and there seems like there's lots going on; that you're seeking answers can only be seen as intelligent.

4

Hi There

Your symptoms are typical of Hiatus Hernia and there is help out there.  Please do ask for a referral to see a specialist and then take it from there.  Yoiur worrying and anxiety will make the symptoms feel much worse.  I do understand as I too have sufferred for many years but I do urge you to seek further help.  Try and keep as calm as you can, especially if you feel short of breath.  It is fixable, and you will get better but you need the reassurance and advice from a professional.

Lynda

 

5

Thank you very much, yeah I'm coping much better with the anxiousness these days although I can definitely sense that I do worry a great deal about being ill. Before this I had never had any major problems which is probably why I'm even more worried about my body these days. I have been prescribed Citalopram but I'm just hesitant to take it as a had a very bad reaction to Fluxotine concerning hallucinations and breathing problems so I stopped it straight away. Thank you so much for your help, I will take into account what you've told me and hopefully will make a full recovery soon!

6

My doctors are very brash about diagnosing, they seem as if they just want to be as quick as possible which sometimes isn't the best for the patients. I've been prescribed so many medications recently I feel like a walking pharmacy!

Realistically I just want to get back to how I felt last year, I've started exercising but I have to be careful as sometimes if it's too harsh I feel worse than I did before. I definitely think my food intake has dropped durastically over the past few months I used to eat like there was no tomorrow and now I'm eating next to nothing because of the discomfort it causes me. Im just very concerned about the pain at the moment and shortness of breath which has really had an effect on me. Thank you for your advice also, I definitely think I next to take it step by step, unfortunately sometimes I feel like I'm taking steps backwards instead of forwards but hopefully that changes.

7

Thank you for your advice, yes I am going to go back to the doctors and ask for a referral as soon as I can get an appointment. Unfortunaltey my doctors always hesitate in referrals as I had already asked for one and they never did it for me which I found odd! I think I just need to be firm and say that now they've diagnosed it I would be grateful if they could refer me as I just want this fixed as soon as possible!

8

It does sound like there's been a bit of trial and error going on with your medications and I'm impressed you've kept on going, as you say you're looking to get things back the way they were last year - it does make this wish entirely possible if you've very recently felt much better and from some of the other comments relating to the nature of your hernia, it could well be exaggerating your symptoms of feeling anxious and low in mood. Perhaps part of this would be going back to the GP who you feel you could talk to best; make a list maybe beforehand - a kind of bullet point thing with the concerns you have and what you'd like done, I'm sure you can insist on onward referral but if in doubt, you can always liaise with your local PALS service, who I've always found to be excellent and who can supply you with what your rights are under the NHS charter and help to advocate on your behalf - it can be tough for most people facing GPs so get all the help you can! I've literally taken lists with me when I've seen my GP before, who cares what they think?! I remain impressed at your determination which will be key here as things don't only go our way (they often do though!). I wish you the very best of luck! I don't think you'll need luck however ☺

9

Did they say how large it is mine was the same way and they tried to tell me I was depressed but I am not a depressed type of a girl but when your not feeling well it's horrible I also have a hiatal hernia with an upside down stomach and my back hurts all thevtime and under my left rib cage I had to have other test to show that my stomach is upside down I can only eat very small amount of food at a time like 1 chicken wing my stomach is ALWAYS BLOATED ALMOST LIKE IM 7 month pregnant I'm having my surgery this coming Friday I'm praying I live through it google dr in your area they usually give them a rating almost like a motel rating I ended up with 1 of the best surgeon in the u s lucky I guess I no it's going to feel better I explain it as shaking a con of soda and I just want to open that can to release the pressure it so painful I do believe if they didn't fine it I wouldn't of lived I pray you get the help you need don't give up there is help you just have to fine the right dr

side 

10

They haven't told me how big mine is still waiting on a referral from my doctors they are absolutely terrible! Good luck in your surgery I'm sure everything will go fine, does it have good success rates?

I find that it's hard to swallow and I get very bloated whenever I eat, I also have a mild intolerance to dairy which makes it worse sadly. I try and drink herbal teas and self massage to relieve pain. I find that the more medications I take the worse I feel! All the best for surgery X

11

Why don't you look for stomach surgeon in your are I'm not sure how this is going to go he did tell me it could be fatal only 5% of people in the world get the upside down stomach but I read that a 100 yr old made it so I gave high hopes but he said they may have to take some of my stomach where are you from my dr does seminar all over the world 

12

I suffer hernia hiatal too. I know how painful in living with hernia hiatus condition because i suffer from it now. This illness has ruined my life so bad, both physically, spiritly, and mentally. I just like a dead man alive with my condition now. I can't live anymore like this.

It was happened since 2008 when I surpressed my anger, i feel my stomach was going up and since then I always feel strangled and trembled on the epygastrum side all the time. At the time, I didn't know that it was caused by hernia hiatus, year by year I through without paying attention to heal my symptoms (during the time, I just think that it was caused by ghost disruption). But later in 2016, when i searched my suffering symptoms on internet, I found that it's caused by hernia hiatus.

The symptoms can be one of this, which I am also experience:

1. suffering thightness inside epygastrum (like being choked / strangled).

2. suffering hard & quick palpilation inside epygastrum, which i think is caused by gastric motililty on the hiatus hole where the stomach was trapped at (gastric motility = stomach contraction movement to crush the food inside the stomach).

3. can't take full deep breathing. i can only take full deep breathing until about 80%-85%, not 100%. Sometimes I just can take short breathing that make me think that i suffer asthma.

4. Hernia hiatal causing the vagus nerve pinched. And i think the pinched vagus nerve could cause impact to another body part, such as blood circulation in our head. Sometimes i could feel sharp palpilation in my head. For me who have sinusitis, the present of hernia hiatal makes my sinusitis worse. When I had cold/flu, I felt that my head's membran is full of mucus and I felt deficit blood supply in my head. I was thinking that maybe I suffered from meningitis disease, but later I suggest that it was caused by sinusitis and get worsen by the present of hernia hiatus.

5. sometimes feeling regurgitate after eating (this symptom is not always there on each hernia hiatus sufferer).

6. sometimes feeling extreme painful in the chest back.

The symptoms are always there 24 hours X 7 days. If you find that you suffer from the symptoms that i have described above, you may put specific attention about the illness's cause to hernia hiatal, the cause is not heart problem, head problem, asthma, cholesterol, blood pressure, gastric ulcers, roemheld syndrome, or etc, but the root cause maybe is hernia hiatus. So try yourself to check to medical clinic whether you have hernia hiatus condition or not.

In many medical articles and many practitioners's opinion, the main problem that hernia hiatus causes is acid reflux (usually acid reflux is called GERD). But to my experience, the main problem of hernia hiatus is not just GERD, i agree that GERD problem is serious but we can't ignore another problems that hernia hiatus can cause. There are many others problems that hernia hiatus can cause beside GERD, such as extreme painful/thightness in the chest, extreme palpilation in the chest, disturb the blood circulation because hernia hiatus cause pinching on vagus nerve, anemia which is caused by cameron lesion, large hernia hiatus can also cause pinching to the heart and cause heart failure but this case is rare.

THE SURGERY is the only option to heal hernia hiatus. There is no other way to heal this illness, except by surgery. I my self plan to undergo surgery, but i am still collecting money for surgery cost & searching for a competent doctor who have good experience on this illness.

Hernia hiatus is still unfamiliar and unconcerned topic in medical world and medical practitioners. Many of doctors are still overlooking or looking trivial to this illness, although hernia hiatus is the root cause of the pasient's illness. The pasient's complain about hernia hiatus is often unbelieved by the doctors, because the doctors haven't ever experience/suffer from this illness. The doctors often just say that our complain (the hernia hiatus sufferer's complain) is just caused by anxiety, trauma, stress, or psychology related problem, but we know that our symptoms/complains are true, it's not psychology problem. If the doctors have ever experience/suffer from this illness, i am sure that the doctors will put more respect to the pasient's complain about what they suffering.

Finally, I hope that the medical world can focus to discover this illness and find a total solution to heal this illness, because this illness has caused so many pain in the sufferer's body and life. Yes, i experienced this too, soooo bad, really !

13

Yes, I to suffer from hiatal hernia. My gastrologist does not recommend surgery because it will make it worse. I have talked to so many people that has had to have 4 or 5 surgeries because it weakens the wall even more causing more hernias. I wished the doctors would take this morning seriously and find a surgery that works. It is very miserable to live with.

14

 Have been in my house and not want to go anywhere I just had my surgery 3/24/17 I'm in a lot of pain but the symptoms are gone .My herinia was was also upside does you can go to YouTube and check it out I would of sold everything in my house to gave this surgery my dr is in Charlotte nc and is 1 of the best I can now eat anything he said EXCEPT BREAD AND MEAT I can now breath no more short of breath I stayed in the hospital from Fri to Sunday i already see a big difference.I hope you get the surgery it was worth every penny let me no how you feel after the surgery 

15

stacy, I wasn't get healed from my illness too, I haven't been undergo any surgery yet. I am too also afraid of surgery and try to avoid the surgery as much as I can, but I can't live any more like this. Now, I just feel that maybe the herniated stomach in me is slowly become a dead organ because the deficit blood supply of the herniated organ. My condition now is very awful, although I am looked healthy from the outside. Nobody's believe to my condition now, from my parent to the doctors. No one even know or familiar to this illness. This illness is "out range" from the medical ability in the place where I live. And the cost of the treatment (surgery) of this illness is expensive.

If you can and if you have enough money, do the surgery ! Because untreated hiatal hernia just get worsen time after time. So, don't postpone your surgery ! But try to find a specialized doctor who can do surgery to you in the hope that hiatal hernia will not recur again after the surgery has done. I hope that you can get recovery from your illness. GBU.

16

I also don't agree if the medical practitioners put priority in gaining profit from their profession. The medical profession is not about business / money, it's about human's life. Could you price a human's life with money? Is it worth to price a human's life for USD 3,000 ? No, although all of this world's price can't buy a human's life. So, I hope that medical practitioners could have some humanity side in working in their profession, for example give the surgery's cost at non-profit cost if the pasient has poor financial. I know that it's hard for the medical practitioners to do this (and even me too if I were a medical practitioner). But it's a good and noble if We can do that. So, for you the medical practitioners, whether you are a doctor, nurse, researcher, or any professions else, try to work in the humanity side in your profession. do not look at the profit/money side, but look to the human that is looking a treatment to you. Heal them with all of the possibility you can give to them, and I will call you "The Doctor" ! "The Doctor" title that you have is true, for the essential aim in the doctor's profession is not gathering money, but to heal the human from their illness to their normal form and life again.

17

Hello. I hope you're feeling better... I've had six (6) Hernia Repairs/Resectionings, and ALL were necessary... If you have to go the surgical route, please research your chosen physician(s)... This is a lifelong condition, and if you can live with it without a procedure, think of that because I'm in Chronic Pain and there's nothing to be done except take medication... Yes, Depression, Anxiety, and the lack of Motivation are my constant companions-but there are also days when a little sunshine makes a difference... Those who view you are looking at the outside only-they can't feel your pain so it's as though the complaints aren't valid... I still experience that with many people- but the ONLY ones who are meaningful are the physicians... Get me?... Take care of yourself...

.

18

AMEN!!!...

19

I hope you get the chance to have the surgery-you sound as though yours may be worse than thought to be... There are some competent physicians who will do a proper procedure... You don't need to wait too long... I KNOW what you're going through... Believe me, I do... Take care of yourself... Let us know how things are going please...

20

Thank you very much, hope you're okay aswell, it's a horrible condition to have to live with. I've found that changing my diet has helped immensely I have cut out dairy and eat basically no junk food anymore (very sad about that). But I've found that drinking hot herbal teas has really helped me, the only real problems I have at the moment are minor breathing difficulties and a lot of stomach cramps and bowel trouble. I feel like my stomach has gotten used to a healthy diet so now when I eat greasy/stodgy foods it just rejects them. I'm hoping you are coping as trust me I know how much pain you must be in. I have been to a chiropractor who was actually very helpful, much more than the doctors, I'm praying that the hernia just reduces and I don't have to think about surgery but all I can do is hope.