Hiatal Hernia

[Lisa]

Whew, it is getting worse. Every evening is beginning to be more uncomfortable as the days go on.

I can certainly feel the hernia and if I sit sideways or not straight up it will bulge. Sorry, if this is too much.

I believe it is below my rib cage on the right side and a defined protrusion and between the size of a large golf ball but smaller than a tennis ball (correcting: what is a large golf ball? ) I feel this is from years of "IBS".

Has anyone had surgery for a hernia, how do they test (although indicated in my biopsy a year and a half ago) and I have questions regarding surgery or correction. How do they do it. Lapo?

I would be grateful for any advise through your experience. As apparent with most of us, we need to go to the doctors office with support information.

Thank you for your time to post.

[jayhawkmom]

The hiatus is located between the esophagus and the stomach. I don't think you'd be feeling that under your ribs, or on one side or the other. I certainly could be wrong... but I have a hiatal hernia as discovered during endoscopy and on the diagram it shows the location of the hiatus as being "dead center" under the esophagus.

My aunt had laproscopic surgery to repair a hernia about a year ago. Her recovery was a bit difficult - since the "bulge" was pretty large. I would strongly recommend having it checked out sooner, rather than later.

I'm sorry that it's causing you to be uncomfortable. And, I hope you can get it taken care of in a minimally invasive way!

[Michi8]

I was going to say the same as jayhawkmom. You wouldn't likely be feeling a hiatal hernia in that area. Is it possible you have a different type of hernia though? Has your GI suggested you need surgery?

My endoscopy results showed a hiatal hernia and gastritis...I need to be careful about the foods I eat, and be aware of how I move (exercise, sleeping, sitting) to avoid having reflux due to the hernia.

Michelle

[gfp]

The hiatus is located between the esophagus and the stomach. I don't think you'd be feeling that under your ribs, or on one side or the other. I certainly could be wrong... but I have a hiatal hernia as discovered during endoscopy and on the diagram it shows the location of the hiatus as being "dead center" under the esophagus.

My aunt had laproscopic surgery to repair a hernia about a year ago. Her recovery was a bit difficult - since the "bulge" was pretty large. I would strongly recommend having it checked out sooner, rather than later.

I'm sorry that it's causing you to be uncomfortable. And, I hope you can get it taken care of in a minimally invasive way!

Yep but I think itsone of those things where you feel the effects elsewhere.... in many cases because of stomach acids affecting other stuff. I used to get breathing problems which felt like they were in the lungs/under the ribs...

Anyway... regarding surgery it was suggested I might need it and I was put onto ranitidine for life... this was all pre-diagnosis.

Anyway after going gluten-free and loosing a lot of weight (about 50lbs+) it doesn't bother me anymore ... if I don't look after my weight then I start getting the start of problems again.

[Lisa]

Thank you for the replies.

This thing is directly below my last rib on my right side. I feel no pain although I can feel it and during the coarse of the day it feels more pronounced and uncomfortable. It feels almost as if there is an air pocket. I take Omeprazole daily.

Perhaps this is a hernia aside from the large hiatal as indicated by the endoscopy. Guess its time to go back to the doc.

Lisa

[gfp]

Thank you for the replies.

This thing is directly below my last rib on my right side. I feel no pain although I can feel it and during the coarse of the day it feels more pronounced and uncomfortable. It feels almost as if there is an air pocket. I take Omeprazole daily.

Perhaps this is a hernia aside from the large hiatal as indicated by the endoscopy. Guess its time to go back to the doc.

Lisa

If I were a betting person I'd put money the doctor is going to tell you its muscle related .. but that doesn't mean its not connected and certainly doesn't mean you shouldn't have it checked ! If your HH affects breathing then your body adapts and this can cause knots in muscles you don't realise you have!

It does mean you shouldn't feel to worried about it though ....

but that checking it out is the sensible thing, and is likely to amount to nothing serious .....

Now you mention Omneparazole though ......

Read the leaflet.... there are two types of omneparazole both meant to work in the same way and one was really only re-invented as a way to patent it.... however : (and this is why I'm mentioning it) The type that is ion Inexium really makes me ill, I'm like the poster child for the side effects.... in particualr it gives me knotted internal muscles... I get constand headaches, not bad headaches just a dull one and tightening of my back and chest, including what sounds like you describe.... below the ribs...

Luckily I don't need them full time BUT ... when I switched to the generic ones which are very slightly different my side effects are virtually non-existant....

However: From what I read up this is not so simple as one causes side effects and one doesn't.... my research seems to indicate that if you have side effects with one of them then likely you will have less or non with the other... it really seems very individual...

Hopefully you don't have huge stocks ... so you might want to ask the doctor to try the other ones for a month? (regardless of which other means)

[Michi8]

Thank you for the replies.

This thing is directly below my last rib on my right side. I feel no pain although I can feel it and during the coarse of the day it feels more pronounced and uncomfortable. It feels almost as if there is an air pocket. I take Omeprazole daily.

Perhaps this is a hernia aside from the large hiatal as indicated by the endoscopy. Guess its time to go back to the doc.

Lisa

Sounds to me like it may be an abdominal hernia of some sort. Definitely worth seeing the doctor.

Michelle

[chrissy]

my youngest child had surgery for reflux, which was caused by a good-sized hiatal hernia, just before she turned 10 months old. the surgery my daughter had done was called a fundoplication. the top of the stomach is wrapped around the bottom of the esophagus and stitched into place. i am pretty sure that a fundo is done when someone has surgery to repair a hiatal hernia. you would not be able to feel a hiatal hernia. it is caused when the opening in the diaphragm that the esophagus runs through is too large------so the stomach pushes up through the diaphragm into the chest cavity. my daughter had two upper gi's and an endoscopy and her hatal hernia did not show during any of these tests. it was discovered when they went in to do the fundo. her surgery was done laparoscopically, but it is also done as an open fundo----i think it would all depend on your surgeon. i think that i would like to have the surgery done myself as i have had reflux for almost 16 years. i don't want to be on expensive medication for the rest of my life.

[Lisa]

Thank you for the posts.

Can't a hiatal hernia push other organs out of place (mine is large)

Is there any danger in NOT dealing with this? We are still arguing with the hospital about the cost of my last executive panel.

This is an expensive disease and side effects.

[gfp]

Thank you for the posts.

Can't a hiatal hernia push other organs out of place (mine is large)

Is there any danger in NOT dealing with this? We are still arguing with the hospital about the cost of my last executive panel.

This is an expensive disease and side effects.

Well you still don't know what your dealing with, honestly it could be muscle related especially with omneparazole...

But I really do think you should get it checked out to be safe....

As for the HH I never had mine surgically repaired but loosing a lot of weight really made a huge difference.

[Lisa]

Okay, got a question:

Over the past 5 years I have gone from a 14 pant size to a 6 size and a loss of 20 lbs. That is not much as a concern as the muscle atrophy. My limbs are like toothpicks. My arms shake and I can squat down, but have noticeable difficulty getting back up. I despreately need to work out to build back my muscle strenth, and I am still seeking an appetite and motivation for both.

Could Omeprazole (generic for Prilosec) be desolving my muscles?

Steve, if you post, dumb down your answer for the simple minded, please.

Lisa

[gfp]

Okay, got a question:

Over the past 5 years I have gone from a 14 pant size to a 6 size and a loss of 20 lbs. That is not much as a concern as the muscle atrophy. My limbs are like toothpicks. My arms shake and I can squat down, but have noticeable difficulty getting back up. I despreately need to work out to build back my muscle strenth, and I am still seeking an appetite and motivation for both.

Could Omeprazole (generic for Prilosec) be desolving my muscles?

Steve, if you post, dumb down your answer for the simple minded, please.

Lisa

Erm will look into the degeneration part but in general one of the side effects is mucle fatigue and pain...

Of course we thing of muscles on the outside but we of course have lots inside, the heart is a huge muscle etc. we use a muscle to expand out lungs etc. and we have lots between our ribs... etc. etc.

Anyway I was on Inexium (one type of omneparazole) ... they worked REALLY well for what they were meant to do but boy did I suffer side effects... Tight neck, back etc. but also something I didn't realise... I actually thought I had a problem in my lungs (I was a smoker back then so you can guess what I was scared of) The GP laughed and said she'd send me for an xray anyway but she thought it was muscle related... I wasn't very convinced, it felt very deep... like right inside me and she changed my Rx to the other type of omneparazole without saying why..?

So the chest Xray was clear and I still wondered about the muscle thing... and looked up omneparazole on the internet, read the product sheet, side effects etc. Anyway, the other type don't seem to affect me much and work just as well plus since I lost weight I don't suffer anything like I did... anyway, at one point I ran out of the new omneparazole and still had the Inexium left.. so started finishing them off... what.. pain in chest and middle of my back but really deep and doesn't feel like it can be muscle... stopped them and got the other type (all freakishly expensive but the generic are cheaper) ...

So I'm not saying it is this but it would be a cheap and simple solution and it taught me internal muscle stuff feels mighty weird like a knot inside you that pains you when you bend or stuff.

Anyway, I'd mention it to your GP and suggest changing the type of omneparazole... my mum reacts the opposte way to me... (so she got my old Inexium)

[e&j0304]

Are hiatal hernias related to celiac disease in any way. As in, do people with a gluten intolerance get them more often than others or is it totally unrelated? I can't really see how it would be connected, but celiac disease seems to relate to a lot of other conditions so I thought that I would ask. Someone in my family has one and I think my son may have one too. We're going to a GI on Tues to find out...

[chrissy]

i don't think that a hiatal hernia is related to celiac disease. alot of people seem to develop them as they get older for whatever reason. my daughter was born with hers which is not very common and is considered a birth defect.

[e&j0304]

Thanks. It's interesting. My son has pretty severe silent reflux and has had an endoscopy and they didn't see anything wrong (other than damage from reflux). That was a year ago and his reflux is much worse now than it was then. He spits up into his mouth, swishes it around and swallows it back down. He does this constantly all day long. It is worst for up to an hour or so after he eats. The other day we tried to keep track and during the hour after dinner he refluxed 17 times. Usually he swallows it back down but sometimes it comes out too. It is whole pieces of food (small cereal, etc.) that comes up. Was your daughter doing that at all? No one I've talked to seems to have experienced this.

Lately he has been gagging on vomit in his sleep and screaming, "Owee!!" He doesn't usually complain about it during the day though. He usually just swallows and keeps going. If I'm not paying close attention to him I don't even notice him doing it. He's only 2 years old and has had reflux since he was 6 weeks old.

Ok, sorry for totally rambling on this thread!! It felt good to vent/talk about it a little. I'm trying to get all of my questions in order to ask the GI specialist on Tues.

[chrissy]

my daughter did sometimes swallow the reflux, but she was a spitter most of the time. is he still on meds for his reflux? it sounds like his reflux isn't under control and he is getting a little old for it to still be as bad as it sounds. it is a good thing you are going back to the ped gi.