Hernia

Hernia

        Hernia is the sliding of a part of your abdominal cavity (your upper stomach, your lower bowel) into some other area of your body, connected to your abdomen by some sort of canal. When the muscles that hold the canal loosen enough for the sac of fatty tissue to pass right through, your hernia symptoms have developed completely. There are many kinds of hernia (hiatal, umbilical or abdominal) and one of the most important characteristic of this condition is that it can be reversible or irreversible. If the hernia is reversible, it is called a sliding hernia and it can be gently pushed back into the abdomen, without requiring any kind of hernia surgery. However, if it is irreversible or strangulated, causing severe problems to your digestive system, it has to be repaired.

Hiatal hernia symptoms

        One of the most common types of hernias in the world, it affects more than half of the entire world population by the time they reach 65. It is not a fatal condition, but it can be quite painful if it is not treated at the appropriate time.

        This is what happened within your body when you have been diagnosed with hiatal hernia: a part of your upper stomach has passed through a herniation in your diaphragm and has gotten itself stuck inside your chest cavity.

        The treatment includes surgery, the use of antacids and a change in lifestyle: you need to stop lifting heavy objects, to stop running daily and you even need to modify your diet.

        ...read more about hiatal hernia: Hiatal hernia

Inguinal hernia symptoms

        Inguinal hernia represents the sliding of a part of your lower abdominal organs, such as your lower bowel, through the inguinal canal in on either side of your groin. It usually manifests itself in men, causing, in severe cases, impotence and infertility. The symptoms of inguinal hernia include the appearance of a bulge between your thigh and groin area, pain (local, referred or general), constipation, lack of appetite and weight loss.

Hernia symptoms

        Hernia symptoms are easily identifiable and hard to confuse with those of other diseases:

• The appearance of a bulge: it usually contains some sort of fatty tissue and a part of the organ in the immediate vicinity of the herniation.
• Pain: be it local (it manifests itself only when you touch the bulge), referred (the sac itself does not hurt, but when you touch it, an area close to the hernia site hurts) or general (when the hernia has become strangulated, the pain intensifies until it affects the entire body), the pain is the first true sign that there is something wrong.
• Nausea, vomiting, constipation, lack of appetite, weight loss: all of these digestive symptoms manifest themselves when the guilty party is a part of your intestine or your stomach.
• Urinary problems: when your hernia bulge presses on your bladder, you could have problems urinating.

        ...read more about hernia symptoms: Hernia symptoms

Hernia pictures

Umbilical hernia symptoms

       Just like its name suggests, an umbilical hernia is localized somewhere next to your belly button. In fact, a bulge that forms inside your belly from the inner lining of your abdomen slides through a canal to the surface of the skin, pushing at your belly button from within. Unlike in other types of hernia symptoms, the canal at fault here is not a natural one that simply gets loosened. This time, the stripes of muscles that form your abdominal wall move so that they create a hole, tiny at first, through which the troublesome sac of lining glides to the outside of the skin.

       It manifests itself mostly in young children, as a congenital defect. However, it fixes itself by the time your child reaches four years of age. If you are an adult and suffer from umbilical hernia symptoms, the only way to repair it is through surgery.

Hernia surgery

       Hernia surgery is not exactly a complicated or dangerous procedure. However, that does not mean that it should be taken lightly or that it should be agreed with unless you completely understand what is going to happen to your body. Basically, your surgeon is going to try and fix your loosened muscles. Of course, he or she will push the sac of fatty tissue and internal organs back into your abdomen, but the main goal is to avoid a recurrence from the symptoms of hernia.

       There are two main procedures that are performed to repair a hernia:

• Open surgery: the surgeon cuts on top of your bulge, removes it and then inserts a plastic mesh to offer an extra bit of support to your abdominal muscles.
• Laparoscopic surgery: the only difference from the open version is that instead of one large cut, you have a lot of small ones through which the surgeon inserts surgical instruments, controlled by a remote control.

Abdominal hernia symptoms

       Also called "classic hernia", it is the first one to ever be diagnosed and studied. Abdominal hernia manifests textbook symptoms, is caused by obesity, pregnancy, heavy lifting and muscle strains. The treatment implies a change in lifestyle and, of course, surgery.

Femoral hernia symptoms

       Femoral hernia is one of the rarest forms of hernia out there, occurring naturally in only 3% of patients. The thing about any kind of hernia symptoms is that it can be due to a natural weakness of your body or to a caused weakness (these types of hernias are called incision hernias: after a surgery, the surrounding tissue is thinner, thus allowing your viscera to pass through them into outer cavities).

       Femoral hernia is naturally occurring hernia: your femur is tied through a femoral canal with your abdomen. That canal is considered a weak spot inside your body, making it easy for your organs to move through it to the other side. However, it does not develop suddenly. Normally, it takes years for the muscles to loosen enough for the symptoms of femoral hernia to appear.

Hernia repair

        The only way to repair a hernia is, of course, through a surgery called herniorrhapy. Once a hole is created in your muscle wall, it does not shrink on its own. Therefore, outside intervention is sorely needed. Hernia repair is a rather simple procedure, usually going smoothly and fast, with little to no complications. As was described above, there are two types of hernia surgery: open herniorrhapy and laparoscopic herniorrhapy.

Sports hernia

        Sports hernia is a sort of work - related condition. After all, this type of hernia, also known as athletic pubalgia or groin disruption, appears generally in professional athletes or athletic persons. It is a rather recently discovered version of inguinal hernia, since the first case was recognized in 1980 by an american surgeon who treated professionals of the sports area. This medical doctor was, also, the one to develop a repair procedure for sports hernia.

        Unlike its older sibling, inguinal hernia, sports hernia is known for its rather painful symptoms: due to a dilated superficial ring of the inguinal canal, the athlete develops severe groin pain.

Ventral hernia

        Ventral hernia is a well known and common type of hernia in which the abdominal muscles are weakened beyond their limit. That weakness develops into a canal from the inside of your abdomen, where the liver, stomach and intestines are stored, to the innermost layer of skin. Once the canal lumen is wide enough, some part of your organs are susceptible to pass through it and create a bulge, the first symptom of ventral hernia.

Epigastric hernia

       In this case, there is no organ threatening to exit your abdominal cavity, but rather just a part of some fatty tissue and the peritoneum (the membrane that surrounds the abdomen on the interior). The weak spots are slightly smaller than those of other kinds of hernia, making it harder for the bulge to form.

       When talking about epigastric hernia, that well known symptom, the sac, is more of a lump, most of the times not even painful. It is similar to umbilical hernia symptoms, the only difference being that it develops in your upper abdomen, from your belly button to your diaphragm. Other symptoms include pain at the site of the hernia, redness around the bulge, vomiting, constipation and, in severe cases, weight loss.

Hernia surgery recovery

       After your surgery is completed, there are some steps any patient should follow so as to facilitate hernia surgery recovery:

• Physical effort is completely out of the question in hernia surgery recovery for one to two weeks, in most cases.
• In the long run, you could be asked to avoid heavy lifting, to stop smoking or to put a definitive end to your daily jogging so as to insure that your hernia does not make a reappearance.

Hernia causes and hernia complications

       The most common hernia causes are:

• Obesity;
• Pregnancy;
• Diabetes;
• Heavy lifting;
• Chronic coughing;
• Permanent sneezing.

       As for hernia complications, the most common one is strangulated hernia, which causes severe pain and an immediate need for hernia surgery.

Hernia types and hernia diagnosis

       Hernia is one of the most diverse conditions out there. There are more than 20 known hernia types, but the most common ones are: hiatal, umbilical, ventral, inguinal, femoral, epigastric and sports hernia.

       The easiest way to give an accurate hernia diagnosis is through imaging (X - ray, MRI). However, the classic method of visually checking the patient and asking for an accurate medical history is still the most practiced.