I have been diagnosed with small hiatus hernia
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I have intermittent severe pain in the stomach area . It is usually worse in the morning on waking up. I had my gallbladder removed because it was thought that this was probably causing my pain. The gallbladder was in fact diseased and had gallstones in it but the pain didn't go away. My energy levels have almost returned but because all blood tests and a scan showed no other problems I had a full endoscopy, ie both gastroscopy, and colonoscopy. A small sliding hiatus hernia was found but the biopsies I had taken have not yet been reports on. I am 74 and a very keen gardener so I do a lot of bending and stretching which doesn't seem either to make my pain better or worse. My gallbladder op was end of January. I can't make any rhyme or reason for the pain and would be grateful for any one else's experiences of hiatus hernias. I do wake up with a croaky voice often but I don't suffer from reflux. I don't drink and I am a pretty healthy weight. I don't have constipation or other bowel problems.
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andrew62131 mvwaugh
Posted
i have read about the problems you are having with your small sliding hiatus hernia
in particular the pain and discomfort you are having when you wake up in the morning.
you might want to try a few simple things like not eating before going to bed and raising your mattress at the head of your bed or raise your pillows so your chest is raised, reducing the posiblity of your stomach sliding through the the small hiatus (hole)in your Diaphragm and into your chest whilst you are sleeping in a horizontal lying position which can cause stomach acid to run out of your stomach and burn the bottom of your osoephagus(sever Heartburn) as a keen gardner you can aviod bending down to much by using a kneeling pad to reduce the instance of having to stand up and bend down all the time small hernias can become bigger through time in the abscence of surgical repair you must look at ways of reducing pressure on the diaphragm whilst carrying out daily living tasks .to reduce the instance of your small hernia becoming bigger
.you may want to find ou more informationt from your gp what size of hernia you have.e.g 1cm or 2.5cm or i was informed i had a small 5cm hiatus hernia which is two and a half inches. i have had a lot of surgery in the past to repiar hiatus hernias which unfortunately were unsuccessful i do hope that your get some relief from your current symptoms .
mvwaugh andrew62131
Posted
re not absorbed as well. I learnt that in particular osteoporosis can become another issue to contend with. I had a bone scan last year and it was considered to be okay. I am also hypothyroid so energy levels are not always what I would like but this may just be an age related problem and post surgery which even if keyhole takes a lot longer to recover from. Again thanks for your suggestions, the bed head raising one is certainly something which I may ask my husband to address for me. I am interested that your surgery repair to the Hernia has not been terribly successful, I had read that this can be done but I was going to ask my surgeon who did the gallbladder removal whether this was an option. Maggie
mvwaugh andrew62131
Posted
re not absorbed as well. I learnt that in particular osteoporosis can become another issue to contend with. I had a bone scan last year and it was considered to be okay. I am also hypothyroid so energy levels are not always what I would like but this may just be an age related problem and post surgery which even if keyhole takes a lot longer to recover from. Again thanks for your suggestions, the bed head raising one is certainly something which I may ask my husband to address for me. I am interested that your surgery repair to the Hernia has not been terribly successful, I had read that this can be done but I was going to ask my surgeon who did the gallbladder removal whether this was an option. Maggie
andrew62131 mvwaugh
Posted
i recieved your reply. you have the same size of hernia as me 5cm get a ruler and mark a 5cm line on a piece of
andrew62131
Posted
sorry for break in my reply i was interupted. i had undergone 4 operations in 3 years to try and repair my hernia. unfortunately for me there was no such thing as keyhole surgery back in the 90,s and all my proceedures were open which caused further complications such as broken ribs collapsed lung large scar across chest chronic post operative pain a thoracotomy to repair a hiatus hernia is a major operation however with keyhole surgery alot of the surgical complications are erradicated . and recovery time is a lot quicker.i had a patch placed on my fourth operation to strengthen the diaphragm in 1993 which lasted until 2012 (19years) when i was diagnosed with a 5th reocurrent hernia.
i am not trying to scare you only trying to make you aware that the option for surgery should not be taken lightly . i was clearly an individual with a high propensity for reoccurrence. hence the amount of surgery i had in the past. your symptoms would need to that bad that it interfered with your quality of life before any surgeon would consider an operation
the operation to repair an hiatus is called a nissun fundoplication it involves pulling down any abdominal contents from the chest cavity above the diaphragm sewing up the hole in your diaphragm and finallywrapping your stomach around your osoephagus like wrapping a scarf around your neck which tightens up the the valve at the top of the stomach which prevents acid leaking into your osoephagus and burning the lining of your osephagus
laproscopic repair is alot less traumatic to undergo and has a higher success rate. having been through the mill myself i am only informing you what is involved i hope it is of some help to you
Andrew
mvwaugh
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andrew62131 mvwaugh
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