Okay, I thought I would let you guys know, about 10 days ago I came across this site that said that you can relieve hernia pain and symptoms by massaging the reflexpoints on your feet. So I read up on it and started massaging my feet, which were pretty sore at the pressure points at the start. After a couple of days the pain started to recede, and believe it or not, the bulge in my groin got smaller and smaller too.
For the past four days I actually can't feel it anymore at all, my groin feels solid again, just like my left side, and even though I am staying off the exercise still to give it a chance to heal I am confident that, if it isn't fixed, then that I can at least keep the hernia at bay without having a third surgery, which I am so incredibly relieved about.
I have also been taking silicea to improve the connective tissue and hawthorn for about a month as well, I read that this has been used for hernias too so I am just taking that as well until the bottle runs out.
I am not saying that this is the ultimate remedy against hernias or for healing them, I just thought I let you know that so far it has worked for me and, fingers crossed, hopefully it will stay that way. :-)

My husband has had inguinal hernia and had an operation done on it. Due to having liver chirosis they did not put the mesh in but just patched it up as best they could (well that is the doctors story anyways).
Because of the liver chirosis he went to the specialist and all the specialist did was charge $75 consultation fee every couple of months so that he could write our a prescription for water retention with all the usual side effects like hormones and impotence.

As I am a great beleiver in natural healing I took him to an accupunturist who helped him on his way to recovery. It only took 6 months for my hubby to be 90% healthy again. When he went back to the specialist after 6months he was absolutely shocked at the change (mind you hubby hadn't been taking the medication that the specialist wrote out for him).

Anyways, the hubby being the typical man he is decided yep, I can do whatever I please now and either lifted something too heavy, moved to wrong way or whatever and gave himself another hernia.

The accupunturist was able to help him with that too. It took between 6weeks to 12 weeks to for it to completely go away and after three months when it was time to do the general blood tests and ultrasounds for the specialists I got the lady who did the ultra sound to have a look at his hernia, she would not believe me when I told her that he recently had a hernia.

As the hubby being a typical male cannot wait for things to go wrong did himself in again and I am now doing refelexology on his hands and feet. It is slowly but surely helping him also.

What we have found also to held is ginger to soothe the inflamation, rosehip vital is a must as this helps with the vitamin c which actually heals generate/heal tissue cells as well as barley grass which gives the body all the vitamins/minerals etc that it needs. Pretty much food for the body.

Hope this helps anyone who has problems. It may not be for everyone but it certainly helped my hubby.

As far as the barley grass and the rosehip vital goes my family live and breath by it. The story as far as barley grass goes from what I hear has the following history.

A chinese dr? Pretty sure chinese dr had stomach cancer and was given a couple of months to live and was told he couldnt be helped. He got to the point where he couldn't eat. Anyway where this guy lived they had barley shoots/grass growing all around and his wife cut them up and gave them to the hubby, after a while he couldn't eat it like this so she ground them up into a power for the hubby to eat. He got to the point where he couldn't eat it like that either so she diluted it in water. Slowly but surely he got better. This is pretty much how barley grass came about so the story goes. There are many different varieties of barley grass around but I am sticking with the premium one which is in a clear bottle and the bottle is in a cardboard box. Cost a lot more but is well worth is weight in gold. It has bought my hubby back from the grave as far as his liver chirossis goes and I don't really care what any doctor has to say about natural medicines and remedies.

Oh well, hope I havent offended anyone

yours in health

georgy

Hi, I thought I would update. I stopped the reflex zone massages on my feet once the pain had went away, and strangely after it did my stomach didn't really pop out any more either. I think the hawthorn helped this as well, because when I stopped taking it in december and started to do some moderate swimming and fast walking the bulge came back, not as big as before but still, it popped out and I could push it back in.
Since then I found out that taking vitamin q10 complex (30mg) helps with muscle tone so I started taking that, still with the silica and this seems to do the trick. I can lift up to 4 kilos again without my intestine pushing out, before I could not even lift 2 kg without that happening, so this is really much better. If I go over the limit carrying shopping my intestine still sometimes seems to press against the muscle strand and it is painful, but I actually haven't had to push the intestine back in in about a month or so. I am hoping that it is actually healing (fingers crossed!!!) and am still taking it easy with exercise. I do walk five days a week at a pretty fast pace downhill to university which is about a 25 minute walk and that isn't a problem at all. I can also do short runs without getting any problems, I am still too scared to dare anything more since I really believe that the hernia is getting smaller and I don't want to risk it getting bigger again if it might be in the process of actually healing.
So my advice to anyone with a hernia would be:

do foot massages, the sore spots are the ones you need to pay attention to, but buy a reflexology book since people who have liver disease etc. Aren't meant to use it.

Also:
take anything that strengthens muscles such as silica and vitamin q10, I think omega fish oils might help as well as well as taking a multivitamin for general health.
Vitamin c is also especially important, as well as calcium and magnesium, so maybe one of those a-z vitamin products would be a good idea to take.
Hawthorn can also relieve symptoms and pain!

Recent research has shown that people who do not get their hernia operated are usually not less in pain than the ones who do, and waiting several years before having an operation does generally not have any bad effects.
I can confirm this from personal experience, before both previous operations a considerable amount of time passed by before I was correctly diagnosed and I didn't feel much more disabled before either surgery, it was really only the doctor scare talk ("you can die if it gets trapped" and "ohh, horseback riding is the worst you can do with a hernia") made me have them.

Now, third time around I am luckily a bit better informed and I won't have another operation unless I feel that there is absolutely no way around it.

Thanks for the update.

In regards to the question about a hernia healing on its own yes it can heal on its own and my husband is living proof of that. He is on his third hernia but only due to his health being low with his liver and his inability to be careful when lifting heavy objects. He seems to think he is superman.

The first hernia he had he had it operated on and mind you the doctor did not do a very good job on it because not long after it came back. The second hernia he had mended on its own with the help of accupunture and natural/herbal medicines.

He is now onto his third hernia which is healing.

As of today I have my hubby on hawthorn and since your last update I had him on the multivitamin complex. All the medication that I have him on are from the health food shop as they provide 100% cold pressed medicines. I find that the natural medicines you buy at the chemist or grocery stores are heat pressed and they are no good simply because all the good things evaporate out of them and there is pretty much nothing left in them when they get to you.

Havent' heard of the reflexology not being good for liver but shall keep that in mind now. I presume you have put a lot of effort into following that up greatly appreciate your feedback on that one.

My hubby has been taking the liver tonic tablets for about 2 months now and mind you his liver did a back flip for a while and this is why I started him back on the natural therapies. After 2 months of the natural therapies his eyes have only a slight tinge of yellow in them.

His hernia has been helped also by the milk thistle in it. The intestines were not only pushed oustide of the wall but have gone into his testicle but with the milk thistle it is not as large as it was before and hopefully now with the multi vitamin and hawthorn this should help even more to reduce and totally heal with time.

The only reason I think the hernia got as far is it did was that he is the type of person that cannot sit still and not do things like heavy lifting etc. He always has to do something.

Going by the size his hernia was and is now, he is healing in leaps and bounds.

What I also found useful for the hernia is for him to lie down on his back and lift his rear end up a bit for half an hour twice a day. This allows for the intestines and pelvis to return to their appropriate positions giving the torn tissue a bit of a rest from the pressure. It is gradually healing with this also. Worth while trying?!?!


Hope this helps. Any feed back you may have let me know and we shall try any suggestions.

Georgy

Hi georgy, thanks so much for your reply and feedback, I think I will try that with the milk thistle now that you have mentioned it, I have heard that it is really good for body cleansing and that so I will definatly give it a shot.

Also I believe that the vitamin q 10 complex is what has greatly contributed to my hernia healing, since I have been taking it it has become really so much better I can't believe it.
It doesn't protrude anymore at all and I did some exercise on my stepper for 10 mins two days ago which was fine, no pain afterwards and no bulge, yay!
I will still be careful with it and try and slowly increase the time that I exercise, I really want to go swimming but want my hernia to be slightly more stable before I go and power on for an hour, I just love swimming too much :-)

i am also doing some strengthening exercises my physiotherapist taught me after my first operation, you basically put a ball (like the rubber ones for your kids) that isn't too hard and big between your knees while sitting on a chair and you just push the ball with your knees slightly together, count till five and release again. Wait five to ten seconds and repeat again a couple of times, that strengthens those thigh muscles and the groin area.

I think this might be too early for you hubby just now while his hernia is still protruding, but once it isn't anymore this might be a good way of preventing new hernias from building and so that he can keep on lifting all those heavy things.
It must be worse for a guy, I already feel stupid half the time when I have to tell my boyfriend "can you please lift that for me, it is too heavy" but imagine a guy having to do that? Tell him I feel for him, I absolutely hate being helpless and I love my exercise, not being able to do it so frustrating, and I am absolutely jigging and impatient to start properly and to do more.

Take care and tell your hubby that I hope his groin is back to normal soon!

Lena

Thought I would let you all know, my hernia seems to be pretty much healed, touch wood, at least it isn't giving me any problems anymore at all.

I have went swimming 1-2 times a week for the past weeks, an hour each and when I swim I swim properly, and after the first session where I had some muscle ache I have had no problems during or afterwards at all.
I notice that my right leg (where the hernia was located) is much weaker than my left now because I have been taking the pressure off it so much. I am now concentrating on getting the strength back into it and in building up the muscles again so that the whole groin area can get stronger again.
I can also lift and carry at least 4 kilos now without any protrusion, I think I can problably do more but don't want to risk it in case something does happen.

Take care,
lena

I realised I had a hernia about 2 months ago. Since then it has got slightly worse. It is in my groin, right side, just above the leg and sometimes it feels slightly painful, at other times I notice it not at all.
I just found this forum, and this page and am interested in finding out what other men have done to cause the hernia to heal without surgery.
I am scheduled to have surgery on 18 December, the open cut and put in the mesh type.
But I am worried that the pain of the mesh on the nerves will be too much to bear and that the hernia may reoccur anyway.
I would prefer to strengthen myself and get the hernia to be healed using more natural methods if possible.
I have been doing some exercises, but someone here also mentioned things like milk thistle and Q10, which I shall start taking more (not really taken them much in the past). I also take astragalus for general immune system strengthening as well as other health supplements (mostly bought from Higher Nature).
What other supplements are best to take to defeat the hernia quickly so that I do not need to have the surgery?

I'm a 34 year old guy who's in pretty damn good shape. I hike, mountainbike, & snowboard regularly. I also climb mountains to go backcountry snowboarding as often as possible. I don't work out at all, hurt my back long ago, again this summer, and do have a few creaks and moans, BUT.... feel strongly that I'm not far from being physically stronger than I have ever felt in my life.
How disgusted was I when I felt a dull pain in the groin a few days ago? Pretty sick. My father and nephew have both had the hernia surgery, so I guess it runs in my genes, but I am in far superior physical shape than my father ever even thought of.
I DID move a big pile of gravel two days prior with a wheel barrow, and I guess I'll blame it on that, but the tender testicles and pea sized lump on my pubic line didn't come to notice for two days.
What's the story on the testes? One of the posts mentioned intestines dropping into the scrotum? The pain is minimal and hasn't progressed in two days, but I'm interested in acupuncture and natural remedies as I just recently lost health care. I read on WebMD, and tried later, to "push back in the lump" after applying BioFreeze, to no avail. How critical is it that I see a physician if the pain and lump lessens?
More importantly, whether or not I opt for Canadian surgery, what are my chances that I can exercise and rehabilitate my abdomen and resume my very active lifestyle?
Doctor, Will I be able to snowboard this winter, PLEASE??????

What website was that? Do you recall?

I had my hernia (right inguinal) surgery Tues 18 Dec 2007 at the Royal Free Hospital. There were some delays in getting through the operations, so mine was later than expected, but the surgery went well and I am now recovering at home. There was some pain at first that was hard to bear, but painkillers helped.
Today (Thursday) I have not needed the painkillers, and seem to be making good progress. I shall have to drink more hawthorn tea again, after reading what was written in one of the messages here, as I really do not want any more pain. Sometimes I have to cough, and that puts stress on the abdomen and on the repaired area. Otherwise I seem to be doing well and hope to be going outside tomorrow without any problems.
But I was wondering if there are any special exercises to do after surgery to help with the healing process? I certainly am going to avoid any heavy lifting and anything that puts stress on the wound. I think that walking will help, but is there anything else? While sitting indoors I tend to wiggle my feet and legs around a bit, stretch them out and back, as some simple exercises to help.

Hello There,
i searched the web and found that there is some alternative chines medicine, here are the names :
1. hearease
2. HAWTHORNIA

did anyone have ever tried these stuff ?
talking with i doctor i have found that there are some exercise that may help the situation, did anyone ever heard about it ?

as for the food supplements the might help it , whats recommendation there are ? ( stuff like Q10) ?

thanks!!!

I am taking hawthorn tea occassionally, that helps.
For health supplements, I take
astragalus
burdock root
olive leaf extract
slippery elm bark
probiotic mints
vitamins
arnica tablets (to take away bruising), also I used arnica cream for the bruise on my hand (from where they put the drip in) and that bruise has now gone completely
plus pure concentrated aloe vera juice, taking 20 ml in water once daily.

I use supplements made by Higher Nature and Solgar mostly.

am reading all of your good suggestions on self-healing but don't understand why Hawthorn would help -- i thought it was for Heart problems?

Quoting from a website about a product that can help with hernias:

"Introduction: When pain or cramps occur in the lower abdominal area, it may be a hernia or other muscle discomfort and weakness. There are about 5 million hernia sufferers in the USA. Since there are no recognized medications for hernias except for hiatus hernia (a stomach problem), the standard treatment is a surgery.

Hawthornia is a 100% natural formula well proven in China to be effective to relieve hernias (except hiatus hernia) and other related symptoms caused by general Qi-weakness or over-exercises. Hawthornia relieves most symptoms of groin, femoral, and inguinal hernias, and some of umbilical hernia, especially in the early stage of occurrence.

Main Ingredients: The 11 ingredients are hawthorn, fennel, citrus seed, litchi seed, China-berry fruit, peach kernel, corydalis tuber, three-nerved spicebush, nutgrass flatsedge, kelp, and oriental water plantain. With a special process these natural herbs are combined together to produce the synergic effect to improve Qi and to strengthen the lower abdominal organ support muscles and tendons, therefore the symptoms of hernias are relieved. These herbal remedies have been widely used in China over hundreds of years with no side effects.

Main Actions: The herbs work synergistically to strengthen Qi and the organ support muscles and tendons in the lower abs, so that the organs, including intestines, will go back to stay in their original positions, hence won’t fall into any opening on the body wall, therefore the symptoms of hernias disappear. Of course, Hawthornia works best when little symptoms have been felt; if the lump becomes too big, and symptoms remain after 2 bottles of Hawthornia, one may need a surgery to seal the opening first, then taking Hawthornia also help to avoid symptoms happen on the other side of lower abdomen. Usually after taking Hawthornia for only a few days, the symptoms are much relieved, and one could stop taking Hawthornia, or only take it when the symptoms come again, or take Hawthornia as a nutritional supplement."

I cannot post a link to the site as it is forbidden to do so on this forum Do a search on Google for an excerpt from the text above.

Hi -- I'm 55 have a very small, painless, asymptomatic inguinal hernia on the right. I MAY have a tiny on the left as well, the doc's aren't sure (?).

Like everyone out there, I have read the endless surgery horror stories about mesh complications, infections, rejections, etc, and DESPERATELY want to avoid surgery.

So far, the doc's (two regular doc's and one specialist) have said "watchful waiting" is basically ok for now. Maybe they're coming to realize that the risks of surgery may, in some cases, be greater than the risk of just leaving things alone.

However, I'm scared of doing anything that might worsen the condition or "provoke" an accident, so I find myself being ultra-ultra-careful all the time, which is very limiting (I feel like I'm becoming an invalid).

I've been told that mild Pilates can be helpful, but I've seen one or two websites warning that it could make things worse (??). Same with cycling, have seen both sides. Anyone know anything about this?

I've ordered Hawthornia, and am interested in trying vitamin Q10.

Any info on "alternatives" would be DEEPLY appreciated as I don't want to start the "surgery cycle" with one operation after another. Many thanks.

First I would like to state that if your hernia is asymptomatic then yes, watchful waiting is a very good idea. It will give you more time to research and possibly find the right surgeon for yourself. Not all hernias need to be repaired with a mesh implant, although that is how most of them are fixed now days. But you should find a surgeon that you are comfortable with and ask him what are all of your alternatives, if all he offers is mesh, ask why. Tell him that you have heard that there may be complications with these products and are more interested in a full tissue repair with out mesh. If he tells you he can not do it that way, ask him for a referral to someone who can. It does sound like you do have time on your hands to research and find the right way to repair the hernia when the time comes. It is so much better when you see the surgeon, when you have researched and already know what the options are. He will be amazed at how well informed you are.

i had a painfull hernia for five years and it was killing me so i had it fixed about a year ago with scope surgery ( just three little holes) i got the mesh job and it worked out great. in six weeks i was all okay ang i am still doing fine. i am sorry i waited so long.

Hi

You're very lucky. I've just read through dozens of posts about horrific mesh complications. Many have had to have the mesh removed -- one guy was in intensive care for six weeks as a result. The stories are so grotesque and scary that I had to stop reading them.

Please, see the many posts on mesh complications. I've done tons of research on umpteen websites, and the message is clear: although many people are lucky (hopefully you're one of them!), many people are having the most HORRIFIC problems thanks to mesh.

I saw a surgeon last week. He ONLY does mesh, and he ONLY uses standard, heavyweight mesh, the type most linked to serious problems in various trials & studies. The more mesh material, the more the body reacts against it. It make sense.

I am terrified of having sheets of plastic stapled into my body. It's obvious that in many people, the body reacts badly, causing these terrible complications. I personally know of two people in this situation; one may never recover. The mesh has apparently caused a fistula that has broken through her abdomen (to the surface). The doctors can't do anything further for her.

I've looked at study after study, all of which are showing roughly a 30% incidence of chronic pain after hernia repair. 30%. That's shocking, for any type of surgery -- let alone something that is usually billed as so "simple and safe" (???).

I'm in Brighton, England. There's a new "bio" mesh produced in the UK called Permacol. It's made of denatured, sterilised porcine (pig) material. SO FAR it's showing excellent results in terms of NOT producing those horrible infections, rejections, adhesions, etc. I believe Surgisis in the USA is the same material.

The Shouldice procedure is only done correctly at the famous Shouldice Hernia Clinic in Toronto. When it is attempted elsewhere, they do a "modified" version, which is well-known for bad results. That's why mesh was brought in during the 1990s -- because of all the recurrences resulting from the "modified" Shouldice method, which cut corners (bad pun) and often failed.

If I could get to Toronto, that's where I'd go. The Shouldice Clinic. No question!

I see very few posts from the UK about this issue. People here tend to question doctors and hospitals less than they do in the USA. There is very, VERY little awareness about this in the UK --- despite 100,000 hernia ops performed every year here. Why the silence?

I've contacted a bio research firm and they confirmed the excellent results of Permacol. I then contacted the company that makes it and have asked them for a list of nearby surgeons who use this material instead of plastic.

In the meantime I can only hope & pray my hernias remain asymptomatic long enough for me to do enough legwork so that I do not suffer the fate of so many people on this site -- and many other sites -- who have had mesh implanted with horrible results.

Again, I know many people who've had hernia mesh surgery with no problems at all. You are, hopefully, one of them! KEEP LUCKY...and be well.

First I would like to state that if your hernia is asymptomatic then yes, watchful waiting is a very good idea. It will give you more time to research and possibly find the right surgeon for yourself. Not all hernias need to be repaired with a mesh implant, although that is how most of them are fixed now days. But you should find a surgeon that you are comfortable with and ask him what are all of your alternatives, if all he offers is mesh, ask why. Tell him that you have heard that there may be complications with these products and are more interested in a full tissue repair with out mesh. If he tells you he can not do it that way, ask him for a referral to someone who can. It does sound like you do have time on your hands to research and find the right way to repair the hernia when the time comes. It is so much better when you see the surgeon, when you have researched and already know what the options are. He will be amazed at how well informed you are.[/quote]

Very true! The surgeon I saw last week was amazed at how much research I'd done -- he spoke to me in medical terms. Then again, after a year of this, I'm a walking hernia textbook.....UNFORTUNATELY. He actually said at one point, "hmmmm....you know more than I do...." However I don't get his whopping fee (!).

It's very difficult to get a pure tissue repair here. If it exists, it would be a "modified" version of the true & correct Shouldice procedure, meaning it would be a cut-corners job. Which is why they stopped doing it that way here & replaced it with mesh (quick 'n' easy....or so it seemed). I've been warned by a doc friend "never" to have mesh. However that may not be an option. One reasonable alternative might be the new "bio" mesh, Permacol. It is proving (so far) to be much safer than the plastic horrors.