stop the repeated hernia "surgical merry-go-round" I want to get off

Digestive health
1

I found an old closed thread on this site called "Repeated hernias". It seemed a lot of people were experiencing this at that time.

https://patient.info/forums/discuss/repeated-hernias-175407

I had an umbilical hernia repaired 3 years ago and in less than a year noticed a different hernia starting above it. It wasn't painful and I couldn't afford to take off work again to get it fixed so I just watched it. 

3 years later it's just now starting to really feel weird, so I suppose i'm going to have to get it fixed. I didn't realize that if I let it get to big that I'd have to have open surgery to fix it. I haven't gone to the Dr. yet, but i'm supposing thats whats going to happen. 

So many questions, I feel helpless and hapless. 

According to the net It seems like repeated hernias are common. One person from that thread had 20 and the Dr that did my procedure admitted he had 3. 

Has there been any further research in the changes that have taken place in the tissues that cause them to be weaker in that area. 

I'd gladly join a medical study that is focused on how this part of our body is failing over the generations.

Is it something in the american diet?

If someone was on a diet that everything remained soft through the intestine would this help?

Do vegetarians have less hernias?

Another reason I waited was that I thought that my job duties helped cause it by poor lifting. So I was going to wait till I was in a different career.

 

Is there any truth to the statement "the old belief, that they are caused by bad lifting, straining, are largely discounted nowadays"

So many people are affected by this. If the medical profession is content the "surgical merry-go-round" constantly spitting out money like a broken jackpot slot machine, will it ever be looked into?

How do we join together to start a study to protect our children from suffering the same fate? 

2

Have you had an ultrasound or CTScan to confirm it's actually a hernia? If so, what type of hernia is it?

3

I think I actually went back to the Dr. back then and he said it was a hernia I don't remember exactly.

But it's definitely a hernia. It was smaller than it is now. I have always been able to push on it and feel it go back inside it never got stuck like the earlier one though.

4

Well you should look into No Mesh hernia surgery. You don't want all the complications you can get with mesh. Dr. Robert Tomas was my surgeon and he was amazing. Well worth it. Recurrence rate is less than 1%.

5

So are suggesting that the new hernia is related to the old one? Forgive me for sounding cynical but an account named No Mesh Hernia suggesting a No Mesh Hernia repair.

6

The thread that you refer to is my old thread.  I have no answers for you though.  All of my hernias were small but still were repaired by open surgery.  My consultant told me that small hernias are more dangerous as they are more likely to strangulate.  I was told that I have an atypical abdominal wall and aging was making it deteriorate further.  I now wish that I'd asked the surgeon to elaborate on "atypical"  Both sides of my abdominal wall were strengthened with 3 sheets of mesh and for a while I thought that this had sorted it.  However, this year I got the familiar burning pain and my GP confirmed that it is another small hernia.  Since then I think another has appeared on the other side of my abdomen.  Any more time off work and I will lose my job so I have chosen to leave these hernias alone and keep my fingers crossed.  One of my previous hernias used to obstruct my intestines from time to time so I know what the danger signs are.

7

Thanks for the reply. Sorry to hear about it happening again.

So many questions unanswered.

I was thinking that it wasn't the repair malfunctioning but that the tissue that our body's created to protect us was now being compromised in some way.

The first reply to my post seemed to be saying it was the procedure itself isn't stable enough to do what it's supposed to do.

Is the lining breaking down because that's what it's always done but no one noticed it before.

Or are the new ones a result of the mesh failing and allowing more to happen at its edges?

Or did the procedure itself start some kind of system failure within the tissue causing it to thin in completely new places.

Maybe if we figure out the right questions we can start down the road to how to stop this from starting in the first place.

8

All I can say is that all of my hernias have been in my pelvic region.  I have had different types of hernia and they have been located all over this area so I can't see how previous repairs have contributed to them directly.  I have, however, had previous abdominal surgeries unrelated to hernias.  So maybe it is partially caused by surgery in the area and partially by the congenital abnormality that my surgeon noted.  On top of that, I also have a horse and his care involves heavy work in winter so that could also be a contributory factor

9

According to the world wide web, yours would be an inguinal hernia. I think mine is as well.

I'm wondering how much of a change in diet would affect recurrence.

10

I have asked surgeons repeatedly how I can avoid getting hernias and all they came up with was for me to stop smoking which I did 3 years ago.  My first hernia was a spigelian hernia.  The rest have mainly been inguinal with a couple of incisional thrown in for a bit of variety.

11

A reply on the other thread by abrogard4 years ago

just wanted to put it here because I found it to written well 

"I think you'll find out as much as anyone else knows if you google it for yourself. There's plenty information in my experience (googling) on the anatomical details of any hernia at all and also information can be found, though not so plentiful, on methods that are and were used to deal with different hernias and sometimes you can even find a youtube video that shows a procedure actually being performed.

Such a video - on Desarda's inguinal hernia repair - is what largely inclined me towards that technique.

But you'll find no information on other ways of dealing with the hernia. No details on how to cure it. Few if any suggestions on how to live with it, manage it.

No information beyond 'hereditary' on what caused it - suggestions, the old belief, that they are caused by bad lifting, straining, are largely discounted nowadays, I believe, with all the emphasis now placed on 'weakness' of the 'abdominal wall' or 'muscles'.

If you DO find any information where I've suggested there's none to be found then PLEASE post it here or email me.

There's so much about this whole thing that is mysterious. Note 'abdominal contents pushing through the abdominal wall'. Just how strong are those abdominal contents? The intestines are not exactly spears, are they? What gives them the ability to 'push through' ?

Coughing and muscle straining can be seen to compress the lower abdomen to some extent but this compression then is shared across the whole of the contents, a rubbery, wet, smeary mass. What causes one part to 'push through' ?

And, despite what I've said, which seems right, when I feel my hernia sometimes it feels quite hard and solid. Why would that portion of my intestine be so hard and solid? And so on...

I think this whole thing is on a par with the gastric ulcer thing, you know? Believed to be one thing for decades and decades and then those Australian doctors proved it to be a completely different thing: an infection.

It's my opinion this could eventually be 'solved' by some such sudden illumination from a totally unexpected direction. And I can't wait.  [smile]

For a while there I was chasing this 'collagen' thing. Because the external oblique muscle aponeurosis is the tissue that is 'weak' and that an inguinal hernia 'pushes through' - and it is largely collagen.

Ah, great, I thought. A tissue weak in collagen. Let's see if we can strengthen the collagen somehow, like diet and exercise.

But then what? I discovered 90 of the body is collagen or somesuch percentage. It is the most common tissue in the body.

So if your body has a hereditary 'weakness' of that tissue surely it'd manifest throughout the body?

Not in one tiny area.

Anyway... the search goes on...

If you 'follow this discussion' you'll get emails about posts. Is that what you mean? You get them and can't find it otherwise? I'd suggest cut and paste the URL of this page or bookmark it in that case.

regards,

ab"