Well, the pain can be quite bad, with me it always used to be after doing sports, usually a while after it would start. Burning like you describe, a dull ache sometimes or stinging. I sometimes used to put a hot water bottle on it, if you want to try that make sure it isn't too hot, that can make it worse. It helped relief the pain a bit, but mostly I just lived with it.
You can try taking hawthorn, that can relief symptoms and the pain too, it helped me a great deal. Take some vitamin q10 (30mg) to help strengthen the muscles, that may help too.
If you read the thread hernia pain, symptom relief and healing I wrote down a couple of things that have helped me get rid of my hernia, I have been symptom free for a while now and I am not being extra careful anymore exercising, I just watch it with the heavy lifting, but beside that I seem to be sorted.
Good luck and I hope you feel better soon,
lena