Rapid weight-loss programs may be lacking in protein and vitamins that are needed for muscle strength, causing weakness in the muscles of the abdomen. Constipation and straining during bowel movements and urination causes increased pressure inside the abdomen. It often feels like a round lump. Or it may appear suddenly after you've been lifting heavy weights, coughing, bending, straining, or laughing. The hernia may be uncomfortable or painful. Some cause no pain. A hernia also may cause swelling and a feeling of heaviness, tugging, or burning in the area of the hernia.
These symptoms may get better when you lie down. In babies, a hernia may bulge when the child cries or moves around. Strangulated hernias, which happen when part of the intestine gets trapped in the hernia, are more common in babies and children than in adults. They can cause nausea and vomiting and severe pain. A baby with a strangulated hernia may cry and refuse to eat. Inguinal hernias typically flatten or disappear when they are pushed gently back into place or when you lie down.
Over time, hernias tend to increase in size as the abdominal muscle wall becomes weaker and more tissue bulges through. If you can't push your hernia back into your belly, it is incarcerated. A hernia gets incarcerated when tissue moves into the sac of the hernia and fills it up. This is not necessarily an emergency.
But if a loop of the intestine is trapped very tightly in the hernia, the blood supply to that part of the intestine can be cut off strangulated , causing tissue to die. In a man, if tissue is trapped, the testicle and its blood vessels can also be damaged. A strangulated hernia is a medical emergency that requires immediate surgery. Talk with your doctor before wearing a corset or truss for a hernia.
These devices are not recommended for treating hernias. They sometimes can do more harm than good. Watchful waiting is a wait-and-see approach. If you aren't sure if you have a groin muscle strain or a hernia, watchful waiting with home treatment for 1 to 2 weeks is okay to try. If you have pain that is increasing or severe, an obvious lump, or evidence of bowel blockage or urinary symptoms, call your doctor to be checked.
Watchful waiting is not okay for infants and children who have inguinal hernias. You and your doctor can decide whether you should have surgery to fix your hernia or if you can wait.
If your hernia doesn't bother you, you can probably wait to have surgery. Your doctor can usually diagnose an inguinal hernia by asking questions about your health and doing a physical exam.
Tests such as ultrasound and CT scans are not usually needed. In most cases, a doctor can find an inguinal hernia during the physical exam. Other tests may be needed if you need to have surgery. These tests check the status of any current health problems, such as lung, heart, or bleeding problems. But if the hernia does not bother you and it causes no other problems, you may not need treatment right now.
Many people with hernias have surgery to repair them when more symptoms develop. It is very uncommon for a hernia to become strangulated , a serious problem that happens when part of your intestine gets trapped inside the hernia. Some people wait to have surgery. Waiting to have surgery does not increase the chance that part of your intestine or belly tissue will get stuck in your hernia.
Waiting will also not increase your risk for problems. The two types of surgeries to repair inguinal hernias are:. Hernias in babies and young children can be more dangerous and often need to be repaired with surgery right away because of the increased risk of incarceration and strangulation. In infants and children, inguinal hernias are always operated on to prevent incarceration from occurring.
Surgery is usually done on an outpatient basis. Recovery time varies depending on the size of the hernia, the technique used, and the age and health of the patient. The two main types of surgery for hernias are as follows:. In open hernia repair, also called herniorrhaphy, a person is given local anesthesia in the abdomen or spine to numb the area, general anesthesia to sedate or help the person sleep, or a combination of the two.
Then the surgeon makes an incision in the groin, moves the hernia back into the abdomen, and reinforces the muscle wall with stitches. Usually the area of muscle weakness is reinforced with a synthetic mesh or screen to provide additional support-an operation called hernioplasty.
Laparoscopic surgery is performed using general anesthesia. The surgeon makes several small incisions in the lower abdomen and inserts a laparoscope-a thin tube with a tiny video camera attached to one end. The camera sends a magnified image from inside the body to a monitor, giving the surgeon a close-up view of the hernia and surrounding tissue. While viewing the monitor, the surgeon uses instruments to carefully repair the hernia using synthetic mesh.
People who undergo laparoscopic surgery generally experience a somewhat shorter recovery time. However, the doctor may determine laparoscopic surgery is not the best option if the hernia is very large or the person has had pelvic surgery.
Most adults experience discomfort after surgery and require pain medication. Vigorous activity and heavy lifting are restricted for several weeks. The doctor will discuss when a person may safely return to work.
Infants and children also experience some discomfort but usually resume normal activities after several days. Surgery to repair an inguinal hernia is generally safe and complications are uncommon. Knowing possible risks allows patients to report postoperative symptoms to their doctor as soon as they occur. Risk of general anesthesia. Before surgery, the anesthesiologist-a doctor who administers anesthesia-reviews the risks of anesthesia with the patient and asks about medical history and allergies to medications.
Complications most likely occur in older people and those with other medical conditions. Common complications include nausea, vomiting, urinary retention, sore throat, and headache.
More serious problems include heart attack, stroke, pneumonia, and blood clots in the legs. Getting out of bed after surgery and moving as soon as the doctor allows will help reduce the risk of complications such as pneumonia and blood clots. Hernia recurrence. A hernia can recur up to several years after repair.
Recurrence is the most common complication of inguinal hernia repair, causing patients to undergo a second operation. Bleeding inside the incision is another complication of inguinal hernia repair. It can cause severe swelling and bluish discoloration of the skin around the incision. Surgery may be necessary to open the incision and stop the bleeding. Bleeding is unusual and occurs in less than 2 percent of patients. Error Email field is required. Error Include a valid email address.
To provide you with the most relevant and helpful information, and understand which information is beneficial, we may combine your email and website usage information with other information we have about you. If you are a Mayo Clinic patient, this could include protected health information. If we combine this information with your protected health information, we will treat all of that information as protected health information and will only use or disclose that information as set forth in our notice of privacy practices.
You may opt-out of email communications at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the e-mail. Your in-depth digestive health guide will be in your inbox shortly. You will also receive emails from Mayo Clinic on the latest health news, research, and care. You'll likely start by seeing your primary care provider.
Here's some information to help you get ready for your appointment. Get emergency medical care if you develop nausea, vomiting or fever or if your hernia bulge turns red, purple or dark.
Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission. This content does not have an English version. This content does not have an Arabic version. Diagnosis A physical exam is usually all that's needed to diagnose an inguinal hernia. Email address. First Name let us know your preferred name. Last Name.
Thank you for subscribing Your in-depth digestive health guide will be in your inbox shortly. Sorry something went wrong with your subscription Please, try again in a couple of minutes Retry.
0コメント