I recently sustained a moderate-sized inguinal hernia on the left side of my groin. It’s ugly and slightly painful. I hate the idea of surgery, especially in that part of my body as I have concerns about sexual issues.
Is it possible to treat hernias without surgery? (doesn’t seem likely)
If not, what do I need to know about hernias and their treatment? Will I have problems with impotency? How long will I be out of work? How much will it cost me?
Thanks in advance!
AFAIK, no. You have a hole in the “wall” of muscles that hold your intestines in. Much like a ripped piece of fabric, there aren’t a lot of ways to fix it other than physically repairing the hole.
Doctors used to staple the hole shut, but this wasn’t very effective, as rigorous activity (of any kind) could pull the staples out. Nowadays they stitch a large piece of mesh instead of the staples. It works much better. Occasionally, I will get a small… not a pain exactly… But the mesh will “remind” me that it’s there.
As far as sexual issues… I wouldn’t know. I don’t have any. And the scar I have from my surgery comes within two inches of… teh fun place (the frank, not the beans).
Work? Well, it depends on what you do. At the time I was doing warehouse work, so I had to be on light duty for a couple of weeks. If you do more traditional office work, you should be able to get the surgery on a Friday and return to work on Monday - I did, and I’m a wimp - even though I was stuffing envelopes and not moving cases of baseball cards.
I have no idea what it costs, as I was living with my parents at the time. I can tell you that you must fix it though… It won’t go away, and as time goes on the chances of the hernia getting gangrene increase. You don’t want that - trust me. My doc showed me some pics…
I guess I’m somewhat of an authority on this as I just sustained my second hernia. 
3 Years ago I had my first one on my right side. Previous poster is correct: It HAS to be fixed. If not the hernia will continue to grow. The bump you feel is actually your intestines poking through the intestinal wall. The hole will continue to grow and more and more of the intestines will poke out. Finally there will come a time when the intestines don’t go back in anymore when you lie down. You will have all sorts of problems at this point as intestines will get blocked off.
Anyway, I had the mesh surgery 3 years ago. It’s a rather minor operation and is out-patient. I arrived at the hospital at 7AM, was put under at 8AM and woke up all done at 11:30AM. I was home before 1PM. This was on a monday and I took the whole week as sick time. If I had to, I could probably have gone to work by thursday but I didn’t feel like taking chances.
The first 2 days were very painfull for me. I couldn’t walk unassisted. Don’t know why I had more pain than average.
Last week I found the familiar lump on the other side. Went to my doctor yesterday who agreed it’s another hernia. Have an appointment with a surgeon Dec 8th and will get the surgery middle or late december.
My dad has had 5 hernia surgeries. They started with staples (this was years ago before the mesh) and they kept pulling out and it had to be redone. When it was redone with the mesh it was finally fixed.
Risks are fairly minor. I heard of some cases where they block the blood vessel to the testicle by mistake or sometimes the blood vessel gets damaged. This happened to my Dad during one of his surgeries. But he didn’t get impotent and no permanent damage.
From reading about the procedure it seems the very worst case scenario (and remember you are probably more likely to get hurt in a car wreck driving to the hospital) is the blood vessel to the testicle is severed and the testicle dies. But that still doesn’t mean you’re impotent as you have another one on the other side.
I do recommend you go to your doctor soon. This will not get better. It only gets worse and has to be fixed.
As for cost, I saw the hospital bill (my insurance payed 100%) and it was right at $2k.
Good luck. You’ll be fine! Just get it fixed.
/Markus
Treatment without surgery? Sure. I tried that for twenty-five years. Ferget it!
Laproscopic surgery is how they do it now. Three incisions: navel, another about two inches below that, and the third two inches below that. In and out the same day, two weeks mild discomfort, but not a day goes by that I don’t kick myself for not doing it sooner. Like twenty years sooner.
What I don’t reccomend is having a vascetomy at the same time, like I did. That increased my recovery time a bit (the abdomen was healed, but my nuts would be sore for a month.)
Do you mind my asking, since you are in New York, where did you get it done or from whom did you get a recommendation?
It can(usually) be a very simple surgical procedure, and in many/most cases can be done as an outpatient operation.
There is no other way to fix it, other than by putting the intestine back in, and sewing up the hole, with or without mesh.
After you get it fixed, you will wonder why you worried about it. Do it on a Friday, and you will be back at work on Monday, unless you have a strenuous job.
I had mine fixed in January 2003, it was a double hernia. Although it was done by laparoscopic surgery, the recovery time was still 2 weeks (and I have a desk job). The first day or so, it was impossible to walk without assistance. After that, things improved dramatically. I think the cost was around $2000 too.
Not every hernia needs to be fixed. Lots of older people are willing to live with them; people with health problems don;t always want to take a chance since even small operations can produce problems for some people.
Big hernias are often safer than small ones. Medically, the bowel has lots of blood vessels around it. If a piece of bowel gets caught on the wrong side of a hole in the gut wall, it can strangulate or incarcerate, meaning the blood vessels get cut off or the piece of bowel can’t be forced back through the hole. Operations are done to avoid these problems before they become emergencies, but i) they often do not, and ii) if the hole is big, the risks are less.
Mesh is often, but not exclusively used. Walls can be sewn up or stapled. Incisional and hiatus hernias might also be treated differently.
I had mine done as outpatient surgery at North Shore University Medical Center, I was referred there by my physician. Since I doubt the mods would care for me to name my doctor, perhaps I can say he was the head of laproscopic surgery there?
I had a sextuple repair; three on each side. Even though only the right side had become unbearable, the left side would probably have ‘failed’ soon afterward, I was told. (Doncha love it when doctors use engineering terms?) If you’re willing, click the link for a before and after image.
Graphic Content Alert: Surgery
I had one, right side, repaired by standard cut-your-gut-open surgery. Lots of pain, slow recovery – the usual abominable abdominal surgery bit. Then I got one left side. Talked to the doctor that (I believe) had recently developed the laproscopic repair procedure (Dr. Karl LeBlanc). I tried that method for the second hernia. Piece of cake, like nisobar and postcards said above. Go with the laproscopic.
