Hiatus Hernia Surgery, Who Has Done It?

Hello all!

As one might learn from this thread I am having an inflamed hiatus hernia, which is hernia in the stomach.

Medication is taking good care of it and as long as it's not inflamed, there is no pain.

Problem is; if I want to keep it that way, I need to make some radical changes in lifestyle from now on.
Changes like; no tobacco, no alcohol, not too much greasy food, not eating too late, not to much sugar, etc.

All that might seem like good things to get rid of but I see it more like I am being deprived of "life quality"...

Now, I can also have surgery and remove the hernia for good.
However, cutting my stomach open isn't what I want to do...
The stomach is the center of the body and it takes care of much more than just digesting food, like the immune system for instance.

What I want to know is:

Have you had this kind of surgery or any other type of surgical operations in your stomach?

How was it? Did you recover fast? What where the side-effects (if any)?

Do you recommend I get the surgery or might it not be end of my problems?

Extremely thankful for your input

I'm going back to the doctor on the 28th and by then I must have made up my mind on what to do next.



Peace and all the best!
/Raud

I have the other type of hernia, it's down lower in the stomach.
I haven't had the operation, I probably should, but well....maybe when the family's finances are in a better position?
I was offered to options as far as surgery.
one was to just cut it open sew it up, and well, the recovery time would be longer. the other was laser, and then they'd lay a type of mesh over the hernia and the tissue would heal over the mesh. I was told with the laser surgery, depending on what I did at work, I could be laid up a couple days to a couple of weeks....depending on the physical demands of the job....
I hope the doctor has mentioned the dangers of not doing the surgery? he probably hasn't but well, there does seem to be some.

www.revolutionhealth.com...



[edit on 8-5-2010 by dawnstar]

My grandfather had a hernia. and left it like you did.

he died eventually.

go to a doctor. i dont think getting a hernia fixed is a huuuge operation.
People have heart surgery and more complex procederes every day.

Youll be fine.

reply to post by MR BOB


Yeah, I was hoping I'd be fine too

Just that...I have a bad feeling about it. And whatever the doctor tells me, I'd like to hear it from someone who actually had this surgery done on them...

The doctor told me the gastroenterology woulnd't hurt...well, it did!

I'm still pretty young so I'd like to remain more or less intact for a while longer.

reply to post by Raud


I have had a hiatus hernia. I had it removed. Surgically.

Just to clear something up, it is IN your stomach. I have never heard of that. Mine was in my abdomen and all it took was an incision a couple of centimetres long and was out of hospital that day. If this is the case with yours then I recommend you do the same.

Fifteen years later the scar is barely there.

If as you say it is in your stomach then I recommend even more so you get it removed. They are a minor thing but very painful, so please get it checked.

As for giving up smoking and drinking I think the doc was giving you the same crap they feed anyone. My doc always gives the same advice when I go to him for a case of the flu.

Cheers,
Pablo

I've had two hernia operations, no choice, the hernia had popped down into my "gentleman's department", painful and unsightly beyond belief. Both operations lasted under an hour and I was discharged same day, although off work for a couple of weeks. It was the mesh type operation, to which Dawnstar refers.

I think if they fix it on one side, it can fail on the other, hence my double operation.

And I didn't pay a penny for it, thanks to socialized medicine, but that's probably for another thread

Your in luck Raud i am currently recovering from a post operation umbilical hernia,
First do not put it off to long, I put it off for two years i wish i had got it sooner, But the same as you finances were not the best, As the the tear gets bigger more of your internal parts will start to move and eventually will cause a lot off discomfort, And when the operation has to be done they will have to make a far bigger incision to fix and mesh the tear,

This leads to a far longer recovery time and i have been laid up for 4 weeks now, and do not expect to back to my trade in engineering for another two months, I can get about reasonably well but do expect to do any heavy lifting for at least 6/8 weeks postoperative,

The only really down side with this was as i am an active person, Is i tended to put on weight and my blood pressure went up from 123/86 to 156/97 nothing to serious, but all could have been avoided if i had got the procedure done earlier,

So Raud (My doctors words not mine)

"Stop bollocking about and go and get fixed that's if you want an erection after your 50 years old".. again his words not mine


So i hope this helps motivate you in the right direction Good luck

reply to post by Raud


I also have a Hiatus Hernia, but mine is too small for surgery. I did some lifestyle changes as well, and it hasn't bothered me in 4 years. I was told it can only get bigger but I haven't had any problems with it. I was also told if I did get surgery I would have more problems then I did.

How big and bad is your hernia? I wish you much luck in your decision.

Originally posted by pablos
reply to post by Raud

 

I have had a hiatus hernia. I had it removed. Surgically.

Just to clear something up, it is IN your stomach.

Yes, it is inside of my stomach.


reply to post by foxhoundone


But this was on the "outside" of your body? Like, you could see it?
Mine is inside (as said above).

I might have misunderstood you though

reply to post by mysticalzoe

I don't know how big it is. I didn't look (my back was towards the tv-screen) but my girlfriend said it was pretty bloody and gory.

My doctor said that 90% of the times, medical treatment was enough. But I didn't ask so many further questions about what he meant with that...I don't want to be on medication the rest of my life... :shk:



Thank you all so much for the input!

reply to post by Raud


Crap guy. That sounds a lot harsher than mine.

Good luck with it. I hope it all gets resolved for you.

If you can afford (assuming you are american) to get it removed I reiterate that surgery is probably the way to go. You don't want that kind of tear hanging around forever.

Especially in your guts.

All the best.

reply to post by Raud


My dad has had surgery for a hernia years back, and currently needs to have it again.

He know's he needs to get it, but he really doesnt want to go through the surgery again.

He's had it for a few years now. His stomach looks inflated.

BTW you might want to look into laparoscopic hernia repair.

Oh and, once my dad is up, I'll ask him about the surgery, and his thoughts on it.




[edit on 8-5-2010 by Oozii]

[edit on 8-5-2010 by Oozii]

A Haitus Hernia is not like the other types of hernias mentioned above. At the top of our stomachs there is a ring shaped muscle which stops the stomach and it's contents coming up into the oesophegus. When this muscle becomes weak or stretched or damaged, it is called a Haitus Hernia and can cause extreme and sometimes dibilitating heartburn and other damage.

WebMD

Medication for the treatment of the condition called Proton Pump Inhibitors turn of the acid pumps in the stomach. Probably not a good idea in the long term. Natural remedies have varying results but Apple Cider Vinegar seems to help by encouraging digestive enzymes and thus reducing the need for the stomach to produce so much acid.

All surgery is risky, there have been stories of going wrong, but very few compared to the number carried out.

Here's a good article in the New York Times which gives both sides
NYTimes

I hope this helps

Peace

As a Nurse, I have assisted in many Hernia ops - 3 or 4 in a morning by the same surgeon. My advice is, if you can have the surgery then have it done. Your quality of life will improve.

It is normally a Day Surgery Procedure which only lasts from between 40 minutes to an hour. You will be able to leave the Hospital in the same day.

They can be done under a local or a general anaesthetic. My advice - a General. The local lets you leave hospital quicker by about 2/3 hours but the General operation is usually quicker in the surgical process (the surgeon doesnt have to keep stopping to put in more local).

Hernia operations nowadays are quite routine. Good luck.

reply to post by pablos


Hehe no, I'm a "socialist" Swede.
The surgery would cost me like $15


reply to post by Oozii


Yikes!
That sounds like crap!
Are you sure it was the same condition as mine? The hernia inside of his stomach?
Does he smoke alot?

reply to post by All_Truth_Soon


Thank you for clearing that up!

I advice all to read that post since I've noticed there are some misunderstandings going about.




Thanks ya'll!

reply to post by Raud


Yeah, the hernia is inside his stomach, and not on the outside.

But just to be 100% positive, I'll ask him.

He just recently started to smoke, but its like 1-2 Cigarette's a day.

reply to post by Oozii


Hmm...

Well, the very frist thing I did when I heard of my condition was to quit tobacco (read about it in the link in the OP).

Sounds horrible. Now I don't wanna do surgery at all...
Thank you for the heads up man.

Yeah, have it fixed, its not that big of a procedure, but it can hurt like hell, but nocthing too life threatening.
But have it fixed anyway, it can be really hindering when you try certain movements.

Nothing to worry about.

Wish you good health for the future

A friend had hernia surgery and they used some kind of netting material as part of the solution. It was very painful for about a year afterward. You might consider inversion and a lakhovsky coil?

reply to post by Dynamitrios


Thanks for the support mate!

I always laugh a little when I see your super-sily avatar

reply to post by Raud


I was diagnosed with a Hiatal hernia when I was 16, I am now 60, I have never had surgery.