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Right groin pain, or Left groin pain or both - yes Femoral Hernia - NO OBVIOUS LUMP

Posted , 23 users are following.

wacky
wacky

I have a femoral hernia and I wanted to tell you what I have discovered. I am extremely open to other womens experiences, their advice, debate on what I have discussed. I have to complete it by writing a Part 2.

My GP had to diagnose me twice, the second time she told me I had a femoral hernia I listened (I didnt believe her the first time). Hernia me???? Unfortunately my Consultant, US scans (3), MRI, CT scan didnt back her up! I DONT HAVE A LUMP/BULGE.

I will start with three articles that I have found which are very enlightening, they do explain what I am discussing but are probably better written and use medical terminology which I lack. Google :

In Women, Hernias May Be Hidden Agony

(NYTimes.com)

His and Her Hernias: Pelvic Culprit Tough to Diagnose in Women

(Huffingtonpost, Los Angeles)

Hernias in Women : Uncommon or Unrecognized?

(Laparoscopytoday.com)

If you put in Femoral Hernia in Google you get a very simplistic set of causes, symptoms.

But if you do more research and delve much deeper you will find that there is much more connected with a Femoral Hernia.

A femoral hernia (and maybe other hernias in women I am not sure) can be caused or can start with a weakness in the abdomen wall:

Weakness of muscle/abdomen (in the family, speak to your relatives)

Result of surgery (C.Sec./abdominal surgery in the past)

Heavy lifting (relative to how strong you are, see below)

Sports (running, cycling, martial arts, any exercise you are pushing yourself, straining)

Straining during bowel movements (bad diet, not enough fluids)

Fluid in the abdomen (in one of the articles - havent the faintest what that is)

Being overweight (added pressure on the organs)

Colds (pneumonia, or just coughing a lot)

Sneezing (presumably violently!)

Pregnancy or giving birth (could weaken the abdominal wall/muscles)

The heavy lifting will be relative to how strong you are, I have discovered that my friends female cousins in Northern Spain have all had hernias as they pick and carry fruit on a regular basis. Lifting at work, met a female while waiting for my NHS ultrasound who was a gymnast but now coached young children. She would assemble the bars and regularly lift the children onto the apparatus, she believed that caused her hernias, yes two, left and right. Sports, horseriding, running, weight training, etc. If you google forums where sports men and women chat you will find hernias are quite common "Runners World" etc.

Symptoms:

A femoral hernia (and maybe some other types, I am not sure) can be either on the right side, causing pain/problems, on the left side, causing pain/problems or you could have one on the right and the left. I only know you can get one either side as the woman I met while waiting for a NHS ultrasound had had two symmetrical ones that had been operated on. Her symptoms were shooting pains down both legs, groin pain left and right, bowel problems and pain on lifting, there may have been more but we didnt have much time to talk. She was there as her hernia symptoms had come back after being operated on 6 months prior.

My symptoms and without going into long and detailed stories are as follows: Thrush, recurring, altered periods (previously fine), severe right groin pain, bladder infections and bladder weakness, numbness of right thigh, tiredness, bowels (feeling of fullness and (early on) pain while passing the infected area (hernia) now I just have to be very careful what to eat - fibre and more fibre. Constipation can not only be a cause (dont think mine) but it is a common symptom of a hernia, I read somewhere that the hernia can extract liquids from the feces causing constipation. If your intestines have come out and you have a lump you may experience different symptoms.

Diagnosis:

This is where I tear my hair out. There is a part 2 to follow.

3 likes, 46 replies

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  • patricia43624
    patricia43624 wacky

    Posted

    So glad I found this information as it highlighted several of my symptoms Just over four years ago my husband was diagnosed terminally ill.  he ended up in a wheel chair which I used to push.  A while later I noticed this small lump in my left groin

    With the help of my son and his family we looked after my husband until he passed away in March 2014.  During which time my other son fell in love and disowned his family.   You can imagine the grief losing your husband and 'losing' your son.  My stomach used to somersaults  and tie itself up in knots.  I began to get what I was told sometime later was abdominal cramps lots of wind.  I cut out bread and potatoes which helped the wind,  In January 2015 i went to the Gp who took little notice of me told me it was all part of what I had gone through with the death of my husband and the pain was the cramps.  I stressed that i had this lump and pain in my left side and it made noises just like the sink emptying.

    I plodded on and things were getting worse and i was getting days when I could wake up right as rain and then something would come over me and I would have lots of symptoms including 'flu like., just as if i had an infection throughout my body.  September  , returned to GP who simply said I will refer you.  August last year I saw a gastronologist.  She said I  had fruit malabsorption and she would refer me for a scan.(Was told to eat no more than three pieces of fruit a day)  Couple of months later I had a colonsocopy.  I received a letter informing me that the scan was clear apart from a small hernia.  i would be referred to tha general surgeon.  I was seen on Feb. 14 this year and informed that I had spigilian hernia,  Apparently, quite rare and there is a possiblity that I was born with it!  I was told that it needed urgemt repair and would be sent for before the end of the month.  STILL waiting.  Nothing has been explained.

    After reading your post I experience lots of the symptoms that you mention.  I have been to the surgery numerous times with samples for bladder infections, but never get further than reception.  The numbness of the thigh (mine is left) is familiar also pain down the back of my left leg.  There are times when I get terrible smells even though I was frequesntly and don't use anything perfumed..  I can't eat cereals so get my roughage from veg etc.  I really do watch what I eat.  This weekend I have been in absolute agony with pain in my left groin which radiated across my public area into my right groin.  I could hardly lift my legs up and it was agony to walk upstairs.

    it is such a releif to learn that these symptoms are probably related to the hernia,  Thank you so much for passing on the valuable information.

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