Hernia or Lymph Nodes
Posted , 3 users are following.
Hello all 
So a week ago, on Thursday, I was playing basketball as I often do 4-5 times a week. That evening, I began to feel some discomfort in the right inguinal area of the groin. I did not think much of it because I am often sore after playing.
The next day, I played basketball again only to have the pain and discomfort noticeably increase. It felt like a dull ache in the whole bottom right of my groin area. I was massaging the painful area, almost absentmindedly, when I felt a lump a few inches below and an inch to the right of the belly button. The lump felt somewhat elongated, not circular. Perhaps 1cm at most in length/size. It was very tender, movable ... it felt as though it was "swimming" all over the place as I touched it. Furthermore, I felt a smaller lump below the first one. I found nothing identical on my left side.
Over the next two days while at work, the pain did not lessen but was not terrible. The tenderness seemed to subside provided I wasn't poking at the area. So Monday, I played basketball again. And this time, the whole area seemed to inflame while I was on the court. For the first time, it was actually hindering my movement. When I got home, I put ice on the area and tried to relax. The next day, however, the entire area was extremely tender and sore. In addition, the upper part of the right leg (near the hip) was experiencing a dull numbness and ache. Crunching hurt. Leaning back hurt. Any kind of torso-twisting hurt.
So I called my doctor's office and quite amazingly my doctor was available to see me that day. During the physical examination, he did locate the lump that was bothering me. I asked him if it was a lymph node and he seemed doubtful. He said that while there are lymph nodes in the area I was identifying, they are generally deep in the body and cannot be felt. His notion was that I was having the beginnings of a hernia and the rolling lump I was feeling was fatty tissue.
He scheduled me for a full abdominal ultrasound and specified that they search for evidence of a hernia. So I had the ultrasound and person doing the ultrasound spent a large amount of time on the lower right groin area where the pain/lump was. Then I got the reports on Friday. A nurse from my doctor's office called me and told me that the ultrasound was completely normal except for a cyst on my left kidney 
. She also said there was ZERO evidence of a hernia.
So I asked her ... "did the radiologist or my doctor have any sense of what the lump was?" And she replied that they had wrote nothing about that. I asked her if it could be a swollen lymph node and she said she did not know and that the radiologist and my doctor had written nothing about it so she assumed it was nothing.
So I guess I have a few questions. Firstly, can an ultrasound give a false negative with regards to a hernia? I remain in pain which seems to worsen with physical movement/lifting/jumping etc. Do I merely have an abdominal strain?
Secondly, am I just being overly anxious with the notion that the ultrasound/radiologist/doctor missed a swollen lymph node?? Is there any conceivable way that such a thing could happen? If the ultrasound showed a worrisome lymph node, wouldn't they tell me? They saw the kidney cyst, after all lol.
Has anyone had an experience like this? Any advice and sharing is truly appreciated.
0 likes, 6 replies
jonah30439 NC10
Posted
It sounds like you do have a hernia and possibly hernias as there are two types of inguinal hernias-indirect and direct and differ very slightly in location and how they form.
I’d get a cat scan or a MRI to investigate further and when they do the test have them ask you to bear down during g the exam as it will help to identify the hernia.
I had what turned out to be a direct and a indirect hernia when they only thought had one. It caused a lot of discomfort after excercising and as the day went on and I could feel the area start to swell.
I’m not a doctor but o highly doubt it a lymph node or a cyst etc. it could be a lipoma which you can google but these are often treated the same way as a hernia. Last word of advice only goto a hernia specialist and not a general surgeon. Hernia surgery is not a routine surgery as so many make it out to be. Try and stay away from mesh and have it repaired without mesh and seek out a specialist.
NC10 jonah30439
Posted
Thank you for your response!
During the part of the procedure when the technician was investigating the problem area, I was lying flat on my back. She did have me cough several times while applying the ultrasound device to the area. I never stood or "crunched" my abdomen during the procedure, no.
With your own injury, did you notice that the pain/discomfort seemed to radiate to your hip/upper leg as well? Or was is entirely localized and specific?
Thank you so much
jonah30439 NC10
Posted
Most people who know what they are doing will have you stand for a ultrasound. So I wouldn’t put anything definitive into those test results.
My experience was nuts I had such burnjng pain and heaviness when walking and sitting was uncomfortable. Every rest and doctor visit came back mormal and I suffered for almost a year and a half. Finally another surgeon diagnosed me with a hernia based on a physical exam and when he did surgery to repair it found that I had two hernias a direct and indirect— slapped a huge piece of mesh on them and the mesh ended up folding into a rock hard ball and 5 years later I had to have it removed. That’s why I am teliing you to avoid mesh if it turns out that you do have a hernia. There are specialty places that repair hernias the old fashion way-you may have to travel but it will be with it .
NC10
Posted
So updating this thread.
Nothing has improved since I last posted. The lumps in the inguinal region of the right abdominal remain present and the whole area is tender. I get sharp shooting pains the spread to my hip, down the inner thigh of my right leg, as well as down into the right testicle.
My doctor has examined me again is still relying on the ultrasound result that was negative for a hernia. I asked him directly if the ultrasound would have shown abnormal or enlarged lymph nodes and he said it would have but was not willing to say the lumps were lymph nodes. He placed me on Ciprofloxicin for 10 days thinking to perhaps treat epididymitis, but the treatment made no difference and the pain, tenderness, and pressure have remained.
So now he is sending me next week to do an abdominal/pelvic CT scan. What could possibly be causing all this if I do not have a hernia? The pain was worse after playing basketball two days ago and worse after weightlifting last night. Is this just a terrible abdominal strain and the lumps are not even related? Im getting confused. I suppose the CT scan will answer this question ....
Kaydoo NC10
Posted
Did you ever find out what was causing you pain in your groin?
I have been dealing with the exact same pain as your explaining for 3 years. I had a groin ultrasound close to 2 years ago and my family physician it showed a hernia and referred me to a surgeon/specialist.
When he seen me he could not feel the hernia so he sent me for a pelvic/abdominal ultrasound that I had 2 weeks ago to where nothing showed.
When I went for results of the ultrasound he felt around again to see if he could feel anything and well doing so he mumbled to me kinda under his breath it could be swollen lymph nodes.
He then scheduled me for a colonoscopy and endoscopy that will be done in a couple weeks from now.
Did you have your ct scan? Or find what was wrong?
NC10 Kaydoo
Posted
So my CT scan showed literally nothing. No evidence of a hernia or swollen lymph nodes. Nonetheless, the small pumps persist but are no longer causing me much, if any, pain. My doctor thinks it was all due to a bad abdominal strain that refers pain down the leg, into the testicles, and into the pelvic region.
So ultimately, there was no hernia or swollen lymph nodes. Now, for yourself, did the specialist say why he was scheduling you for a colonoscopy and endoscopy? What would those procedures have to do with a difficult to diagnose hernia? Are you experiencing other symptoms?
Cheers!