How I Got My Hernia Into Remission Naturally | Interview
Video Transcript Follows:
George:
Hi everybody, this is John, and we’re going to talk a little bit about how he’s dealing with his hernia, and seeing positive results. He had sent me an email and had some good feedback for me, so I figured I would get him on and we could kind of go through his situation, and what he’s doing to have a positive impact on his hernia. So go ahead, and if you could just tell us a little bit about yourself, and how old you are, what you do for a living, and that kind of stuff?
John:
Yeah, George, I just turned 63, which seemed a bit scary. But I got to say, I’m doing a lot of training these days, and feeling as good as I was in my 20s. And so I’ve got a metalwork, a trade business. We do architectural metalwork, such as driveway gates and balustrades, that sort of thing.
So about a year ago … Oh no, it was about July 2020, I was unloading … I was having to move my office, and I was lifting a whole heap of sort of heavy boxes out of the back of a Ram pickup truck. And if you’re familiar with them, they got pretty high sides. So I was leaning, sort of standing next to it and reaching over, and grabbing these toolboxes and office stuff. And I just felt a bit of a twinge down low in the abdomen and didn’t think that much of it. But then a few days later, it because obvious. There was a bit of a lump forming there. And because I’d had an inguinal hernia on the other side 15 years ago, I was pretty sure what it was.
So it gradually … I just left it be for a little while, and then I went and saw the doctor, who actually did my hernia repair 15 years ago. He’s a really highly regarded surgeon, and I was glad to be in his hands. But I’d always thought, you ask any doctor, there’s only one way to fix a hernia, and that’s surgery.
George:
Right.
John:
And you’ll not hear anything different. And because we all got mixed up with COVID and that, I was going to have it operated on late last year. And because I just thought there was no other way to, and it was getting fairly bad. It was starting to really bulge out and give me a lot of discomfort.
So then the surgery got canceled because of COVID. You know what it’s like. They had a bit of a scare here in Sydney, and they deferred all elective surgery. So I thought, “I’ll have a look,” and I just looked around the internet to see, is there any possible way of dealing with this hernia other than surgery? And somehow I stumbled across your website, and I was just amazed someone actually claims they’ve had an inguinal hernia and have … I don’t know if you want to call it cured, or put into remission, or whatever. But it sounded like you’re sort of similar to me. A surfer, you’re really active. You don’t want to have your life constricted by the hernia.
George:
Right.
John:
But, you sort of would rather avoid surgery if it was possible.
George:
Yeah.
John:
And so I got onto your website and I bought your program. I bought some of the Comfort-Truss gadgets, and at first I bought the wrong size, then I had to order another one in a smaller size.
George:
Oh, no.
John:
I mean, shipping costs more than the product.
George:
Yeah.
John:
[crosstalk 00:03:33]. I started wearing it, and it was really helpful because you didn’t have to worry about the hernia bulging when you’re just doing day-to-day activities. So it was good to have that sort of taken care of.
And then I just started doing … I saw your exercise program. I said, “Aw, geez. Am I ever going to really do this consistently?” And I thought, “Probably not.” But I did do all the other things. I do the EFT, I’ve been doing that for years. I follow a whole-food, plant-based diet. And they were two big aspects of your program that were not a problem for me.
George:
Right.
John:
And then I went and saw my physio, and he just said, “Look, we’ve got no experience dealing with hernias because everyone just gets them repaired surgically.” So he sort of had a bit of a … I told him about your program and he said, “Oh, you know, there’s no harm in trying, but we’ve got to focus on strengthening those pelvic floor muscles, and those muscles that are a few layers deep.”
What I did was I had a couple of sessions with him, and really he was just sort of guessing this might help. And what he did was put the ultrasound over my abdomen, and he could tell when I was able to switch on those deeper core muscles?
George:
Oh, really?
John:
And once he got the hang of that, I could then … I kept practicing doing the, I would call them pelvic floor muscles, where you pull everything upwards. And then I just visualized or imagined the muscles that go across the lower abdomen as tightening in that direction. You probably know more than me about what they’re actually called, I think you might say it’s transverse, or abdominis transverse.
George:
Yeah, it’s the transversus abdominis.
John:
So I found I just kept doing those exercises, like lying on the bed and just getting used to switching those muscles on.
George:
Yeah.
John:
And then I’d been avoiding using my rowing machine because I thought it would make the hernia worse. But then I got onto the rowing machine, and I was able to switch on those muscles at the start of each stroke. And then I found, well, nothing went wrong. In fact, then it started to get better fairly quickly, the hernia. So I thought, “Geez, this is really working. I might have to do all of George’s exercises.” I don’t mind doing the rowing machines, because I do it anyway. I want to do it anyway.
George:
Yeah.
John:
And quite quickly, probably over a month or two, I was able to stop using the truss. And these days, I don’t even think about using it, or probably haven’t used it for about a month and a half, two months.
George:
That’s awesome. And that only took you about two months?
John:
I think so, yeah. Yeah. What I noticed, there are a few things that really made a difference for me. Bread’s probably a food that I’m better off avoiding, but I love it. It’s slightly addictive. And anything that obstructs the bowel I find is a problem because I don’t know how it all works, but if you don’t drink enough water or don’t have enough fibrous food, and then it’s hard to go to the toilet, and you’ve got to strain. That’s when it can sort of push the hernia out. So I paid a lot of attention to making sure I just stick on a good diet, drink plenty of water. So you can go a couple of times a day without any effort. And as you recommended, sort of squatting on the loo is even better. That can make it really easy.
George:
Yeah.
John:
So I found that’s really important. And the other thing for me was my stress response. And I’m fairly sure it was probably part of the cause of the hernia. If I got stressed, I could actually be standing there, the hernia would not even be bulging in the slightest. And honestly, a couple of minutes later, it would be really painful and bulging, like half a tennis ball coming out.
George:
Right, yeah.
John:
And so the stress response, the link to stress is so clear to me. So I use the EFT, and clear that stress. So now I just don’t have that happening at all, so it’s pretty much as if I don’t have a hernia now.
George:
That’s the one part that always amazes me, is that stress response and how critical that is to make your hernia go away. And a lot of people write that off, you know?
John:
Yeah.
George:
And say, “There’s no way. If I just strengthen the muscles, then it’s going to hold it back.” But that stress, and the emotional part of it, is a huge aspect of it that people just overlook.
John:
I’m sure. Yeah, I think I was having a lot of stress in my life at the time the hernia happened, so whether lifting the boxes out of the back of the truck was the straw that broke the camel’s back, or the stress was, who knows?
George:
Yeah.
John:
It was a very stressful time.
George:
What is EFT? What does that entail? What exactly is that?
John:
That’s the tapping. I think that’s on your protocol, isn’t it? The tapping on the meridian points?
George:
No, EFT is not, no.
John:
Oh.
George:
I talk a lot about, you know, stress and repressed emotions and things like that, playing into why you have a hernia, and how it’s used as a defense mechanism to keep your subconscious off of the feelings that your subconscious is trying to suppress.
John:
Yeah, that’s right.
George:
But EFT, I don’t talk about the EFT at all. So I’m interested to hear about that.
John:
I haven’t looked at your program, actually, for a while. I just looked at [crosstalk 00:09:19], and then thought, “Yep, this all makes sense. I’ll do this, and I’ll just modify the exercise program to use my rowing machine instead.” And that was just an experiment to see if it would work. But once I could switch those core muscles on at the start of each stroke, then it just became second nature, so I just switch them on every stroke now.
George:
Right.
John:
And I don’t even have to think about it. And I can do some pretty hard efforts on the rowing machine, like maximum resistance, really slow stroke, which gives you a lot of resistance. It’s like doing squats with a barbell.
George:
Right.
John:
And I’m just not only not having a problem, it’s just getting better and better. But back to your question about EFT, that stands for emotional freedom techniques. And that’s becoming fairly widely known about now. There’s plenty of practitioners in the States and in Australia that do it. And it just involves when you have a distressing feeling, and it could be anxiety, it could be sadness, whatever. You tap on various points in the body that are meridian points, and we’re not quite sure how it works, but it seems to send a soothing signal to the brain. And I find for me, probably within half an hour, the unpleasant distressing feelings just disappear. And then the hernia will disappear as well, if it was bulging.
George:
Really?
John:
I found it’s a bit like a mindfulness practice, the way I employ it quite often. You just focus on the feeling in your body, and do the tapping around the various points of the body. We use about eight of them. And yeah, it just disappears for me. Some people it disappears nearly instantly. I always have about a half hour delay.
George:
Right. How did you learn it? Where did you go to learn that?
John:
I actually have been an EFT coach for about eight years.
George:
Oh, okay.
John:
And there’s a place in the States called EFT Universe that teaches people how to do it, to be coaches or just to learn the technique. You can just look it up online. There are thousands of people out there now. Out there now, coaching. So EFT or tapping it gets known as well, because you to tap on various points on the body.
George:
Okay.
John:
Yeah, I find it works really well for me. I could be … You’ll probably relate to this. You had a trade business yourself, didn’t you?
George:
Yeah, I was a carpenter, yeah.
John:
All right, yeah, well you’d know. You get to a job site and things are starting to not go quite to plan, and you think, “Geez, I’ve quoted so much on this, and it’s going to take me twice as long.”
George:
Yep.
John:
And the stress is starting to build up inside. I can literally feel the hernia. It’s like someone is pumping it up with an air pump. It was starting to bulge out.
George:
Yeah, I know exactly what you mean.
John:
And the pain could be quite bad. I’d actually have to stand there and press it back in discreetly, because that’s how … You know, it’d get quite bad at times.
George:
Yeah.
John:
But it was so related to stress. It was just like someone hit the switch, and the hernia would pop.
George:
Yeah. Yeah, I think a lot of people will relate to that because I have a feeling that whether they’re conscious about it, or now that they heard you say it, they’ll probably pay a lot more attention to it. Like, “What’s going on right now? Why am I feeling my hernia so much?” I use the example of if you have to go and talk to your boss, or something like that. Put yourself in kind of a situation where you’re uncomfortable, and all of the sudden you’ve got this pressure on your hernia, like, “Whoa, what’s going on? It wasn’t poking out like this before.” And it is, it’s just really that stress response, just inflames it and just pushes it out.
John:
It’s just amazing. I can’t believe the correlation between stress and the hernia.
George:
Yeah.
John:
Sometimes I can now feel … I get stressed, and I can feel a little bit of very light pain in that area. But it doesn’t pop out anymore, I just presume because the muscles have got a lot stronger. So it doesn’t pop out even if I do get stressed. But I have really dealt with the stress a fair bit in the last 6 to 12 months, so it’s really not any of the problem it was when the hernia happened.
George:
Yeah. So the exercises that you’re doing to strengthen the transverse abdominis and the pelvic floor muscles, is that the ab vacuum that you’re doing?
John:
Is that the what, sorry?
George:
The ab vacuum, where you suck your stomach in and up?
John:
Yeah. Yeah, and then sort of try and pull up genitals upwards into your body. And then when you’ve sort of pulled things up, I mentally switch on the muscles going sideways across the lower abdomen. And all I know is that I did that with the physio, and he had the … What do you call it? The ultrasound machine on me. And I watched the screen and watched the muscles moving on the screen, which was really helpful, so you know if you’re doing it correctly or not. So I really only had two sessions with the physio, because he said, “Look, I don’t really know much. We don’t have a protocol for dealing with this, because no one tries to fix hernias except by surgery.” So wearing a truss all of the time, which is a bit of a nuisance. Yours was very comfortable. But I’d rather wear nothing, if I could.
George:
Yeah, that’s the whole idea is to throw that thing in the trash eventually, and not have to wear it.
John:
Yeah. So now I can paddle out on my ocean ski, which is quite a twisting motion. I’ve done rowing for 25 years, and that hasn’t been a problem. Obviously, I use the rowing machine and can row in still water. And I’ll surf ski, to get out on the bumpy stuff in the ocean. That used to give me a lot of grief. The hernia would bulge, and I’d get back to shore and have to push it all back in again.
George:
Right.
John:
It’s really uncomfortable. But that just doesn’t happen now. So I’d call it … I mean, maybe I’ve got to do this routine the rest of my life to keep it in check. But I think, well, what’s the downside? All the things we’re doing are really good for us.
George:
Right.
John:
Eating right, getting rid of stress, keeping physically strong. You know?
George:
Yeah.
John:
So it’s going to make me do it, so … My surgery, I’m still on the list. But I’ve deferred it, actually, until early next year, as the first [inaudible 00:16:15]. I just think, “Well, I’ll keep it up the sleeve.” But the way it’s going, I don’t think I’m going to need it, and probably won’t do it.
George:
Yeah.
John:
Yeah.
George:
That’s awesome. And that’s really fast, too. When I hear that you did that in two months, it kind of pisses me off a little bit, because it took me so long to figure things out.
John:
Yeah.
George:
I was trying stuff for like three and a half years of just doing trial and error, and trying to figure things out, until I actually put a plan in place to fix all these things, and then ended up seeing results. I’m really happy to hear that it happened so fast for you.
John:
I just admire your persistence, because like I say, you ask any doctor, “There’s no way to fix this except surgery.”
George:
Right.
John:
And you just kept trying, and not accepting that as the answer.
George:
Right, I knew that there had to be another way. That’s why I wanted to share this, your story with people. Because people need to know that there is another way, and that people are actually doing this. They’re actually reducing their hernia. If they’re not fully healing it, they’re at least reducing it to a point where you can function in your life like you don’t have a hernia, basically, from what you’re saying. And that’s how I live my life.
John:
Yeah, I just get out of bed each day and go, “I can’t believe it.” Because it used to be a real nuisance.
George:
Right, yeah.
John:
As soon as you’d get out of bed, like honestly five minutes later it’d start to be … I suppose it’s just gravity, pushing things down. And five or ten minutes later, starting to push out. You’d think, “Oh, no,” you know? “Here we go again.”
George:
Yeah.
John:
So I’ve always kept generally pretty fit, and doing rowing and paddling and running, up until the injury. But then I really lightened off, had to lighten off, because the doctors said, “Don’t lift more than 20 pounds,” or something.
George:
Right.
John:
I thought, “That’s the end of rowing machine and rowing. I’ll just have to maybe get away with running.” But even running, I’d run and it would start to bulge out, and I’m running trying to hold it in as well.
George:
Yeah. All that pounding as you’re taking those steps, all the pounding is pushing your organs down into that weakness.
John:
I think that’s what it is, yeah. The other thing that is probably a part of this is I’ve lost … Probably lost about 5 kilos, you know, 10, 12 pounds since I started the program. And I think that helps as well, to make sure you’re pretty trim. You don’t want to be carrying excess fat. Especially as you get older, it tends to gather around the core of the body, the visceral fat, as they call it.
George:
Yeah.
John:
Pretty dangerous for us anyway, so we don’t want to … It’s sort of like a blessing. I’m sort of glad I have this hernia, to be honest.
George:
I feel the same way. I feel the same way. I know for me, it helped me through so much other stuff that I was dealing with my body. You know? I would have back pain, and I had shoulder pain and pain in my knee. There was all these different pains I was dealing with that I had to work through, in order to get to where I am now. The hernia is the real reason why I went through all that. You know?
John:
Yeah. I’m just amazed at your persistence with trying to work out a program, and especially with you don’t appear to have any medical background or expertise.
George:
No, not at all.
John:
I’m the same. But I just thought once I got inspired by yours, and I saw all those exercises. “God, I’m not going to do this every day. I just know I’m not going to do it.” So I thought I’d try the rowing machine, because I know I’ll do that.
George:
Yeah.
John:
And that’s just worked a treat.
George:
And really, as far as strengthening the muscles, retraining your transversus abdominis is really sounds like … That’s how it was for me. It sounds like the same thing for you is retraining your transversus abdominis to switch on all the time when you’re doing activities. You have to retrain that muscle to just be switched on. Because I think we get lax from sitting around or from whatever else. That muscle is not used to having to be tightened up while we’re going things, and that’s how a hernia occurs, I think. Would you say that that’s what it was for you, too? You have to kind of mentally retrain that?
John:
Yeah. And then it became second nature. It’s just sort of on all the time when I’m exercising. And I don’t really have to think about it. But that session with the physio, even though he was really a stab in the dark, he had no idea what to do really. Putting that ultrasound on and learning how to know what it feels like to switch on those muscles was really helpful.
George:
Yeah.
John:
Even if that’s all people did, just to get that understanding of when you’ve actually activated those muscles. It’s, I think, really helpful.
George:
Yeah.
John:
Yeah. So hernia surgeons won’t like us, because we put them out of business if anyone listens to us.
George:
Oh yeah, I know. That’s what I’m hoping for. I’m hoping we can get enough people to get good results like this, to be able to actually … So when you do go to a physio, they say, “Yeah, we have this protocol that you can follow,” and you can try it. You know what I mean? See if this works for you. If it doesn’t surgery’s always an option. It’s not like nobody should ever get surgery, because surgery’s the right path for some people. But if you don’t want to get surgery, it’s at least worth a try to try and be proactive about it and fix the hernia, rather than just sitting around and doing watchful waiting.
John:
Oh yeah, watchful waiting, yeah. My doctor was a bit skeptical. But he said, “Well, there’s nothing to lose.” Which is true, there’s nothing to lose. So why not?
George:
Right.
John:
But as I’ve said, it’s really a very holistic approach to fix a lot of things in your life. We all want to be eating well, dealing with stress properly, being physically strong is really important, especially as you get older. So who cares if you’ve got to keep doing it? I want to do it anyway. So if that makes me do it, well, that’s a good reason not to get it repaired.
George:
Right. Yeah, exactly. And did you say that you were a vegetarian or a vegan?
John:
Yeah. I eat a plant-based diet.
George:
Okay.
John:
So no animal foods at all.
George:
Okay.
John:
And it’s not a vegan … I mean, it is vegan, but it’s not called a vegan, because there’s plenty of junk food vegan foods out there.
George:
Right, yeah.
John:
So it’s pretty much the protocol, if you watch a movie like Forks Over Knives, for instance. I don’t know if you’ve seen it.
George:
Yeah, I have.
John:
And there’s plenty of programs in the States. [inaudible 00:23:00] Esselstyn has got his Engine 2 program, and there’s Dr. Jon McDougal up in Santa Rosa, California there. So there’s quite a few that will soon teach people how to do these whole food plant-based eating. So I find you’ve got to really … Well, for me, you, I think you’ve got to have bowel motions that are just very low effort. You don’t want to be straining. And again, it’s what should … It’s really good for us anyway, to eat lots of fibrous food and unprocessed food. So again, it’s just forcing us to do things we should be doing anyway.
George:
Yeah. And you said the bread, that was not good for … It didn’t have a good reaction with the hernia?
John:
No. Bread, for me, especially … I made the mistake only about four or five days ago of eating … I love it, that really lovely crusty white bread. And I normally never touch it. And I ate probably the equivalent of three rolls in one day. The next day, I was really seized up, and I thought, “Geez, this has happened to me a couple of times.” I thought, “Yep.” Especially white bread, because it’s just about got no fiber in it. That really does stop the bowel motion. But even whole wheat bread, it’s better, but it still has a similar effect. Plus, you’re getting a lot of calories and not much nutrients from bread, so I love it, but it’s something I should have very little of. And some people don’t react well to the gluten in bread as well. But I think that’s the case for me. It’s just a food that I’m better off having very little of.
George:
Yeah. Have you noticed the same thing with pasta? Like if you eat pasta?
John:
Pasta’s better, because I’ll normally mix in a sauce with plenty of vegetables in it as well, so you’re getting a lot more fiber that way. But I imagine pasta with just a thin tomato sauce would probably be not great, either. But I think it is better than bread. It takes longer to break down, whereas bread breaks down pretty instantly. So I think pasta would be a second tier food, perhaps, to avoid. Or just as long as you have plenty of vegetables with it, so you’re getting that fiber. I try and have a really big leafy green salad every day, and I’ll put some starch with it, like some dry baked potatoes, just diced up. Or some brown rice, black rice. I tend to like a bit of starch with it. Lots of legumes. I think legumes are really got for gut health generally, and at keeping bowel motions pretty low effort and regular.
George:
Yeah. Yeah.
John:
So yeah. Basically that whole food, plant-based diet, I think whether you’ve got a hernia or not, it’s probably the best thing you can do for yourself.
George:
Yeah, I think so too, yeah.
John:
Like I say, I’m 63, and I’m honestly feeling … I gave up running probably about 15 years ago, because I kept getting injuries. And now I’m back. I can to 10Ks, six miles, without much problem. And paddling and I can do an hour on the rowing machine, doing interval work. I could probably do two hours if I wanted to, but one hour’s certainly about my mental limit.
George:
Right.
John:
And most people sort of conk out on rowing machines after about 10 minutes.
George:
Yeah.
John:
I’ve been doing them a long time, so I guess I’ve built up muscles for it. I feel physically better, I think, as on par with what I did in my 20s and 30s, when I was training at a pretty high level.
George:
That’s unreal.
John:
So a good place to be at this age.
George:
And that’s what I always tell people about myself, too. I feel better now, I’m 47. I feel better now than I did in my 20s, for sure. You know?
John:
Yeah. I could probably say that. I’m probably not quite as fast, but I can go do really long efforts. And I don’t need any recovery time. I just bounce back, get back into work. Next day, I could do it again. I don’t have to think, “Oh god, I’ve got to take a week to recover from that session.” It’s nothing like that.
George:
Right. What’s your sugar intake like? Do you eat a lot of sugar or no sugar?
John:
I don’t add any sugar to anything I eat. No. No added sugar, salt, or added oils, either.
George:
Okay.
John:
So I just get the oils out of the food, like avocado or nuts. Yeah. Eat it as just part of the whole food, not as refined oil, like in you pour it on afterward. So yeah, I’ve just followed that plant-based diet pretty much for about 10 years or so now, and that has made a huge difference to how I feel. Yeah. It’s just basically the least processed food possible, and lots of fiber. And for me, no animal foods. Which I don’t struggle with. Some people can’t certainly give them up, but I’ve never really liked them much anyway, so that’s been easy.
George:
Yeah, that was a little bit of a problem for me, when I stopped eating meat. The first time I tried, I just stopped and I went vegan, and I wasn’t really paying attention to my nutrient intake, like proteins and carbs and things like that. I kind of just started eating vegetables, you know? And I could feel like I was struggling really badly. I was starving for protein, you know?
John:
Yeah.
George:
So I ended up going back and eating some meat again, and then I stopped again, and I paid a lot more attention to actual foods that were giving me protein enough, protein for my body to actually have energy throughout the day. And since then, I’ve been fine. No problem at all. But it took a little bit of practice.
John:
Yeah. I just find legumes are sort of something I really … Some people don’t tolerate them so well, but I think it just means your gut has to get used to them over time. But I have no problem, and that gives me all the protein I need. I think we don’t need nearly as much as is made out anyway.
George:
Yeah.
John:
I’m big on complex carbs. That’s the mainstay of my diet. And plenty of leafy green vegetables. I wouldn’t say they’re my favorite food, but I make sure I have a big salad every day, and I feel great for doing that.
George:
How big was your hernia, at its worst?
John:
I would say at times it could pop … I would say it was as if half a tennis ball was popping through. Yeah.
George:
Wow, yeah.
John:
Maybe not quite that big. But yeah, definitely bigger than a golf ball. Between a golf ball and a tennis ball.
George:
Right, yeah. It’s a pretty good size.
John:
Pretty scary to look at, a couple of times. It really bulged out. Holy shit, this looks pretty scary.
George:
Did it ever get to a point where as soon as you got up out of bed, it would just pop out?
John:
Yeah, yeah. At one part, it was like that. You get out of bed and you think, “Oh good, it’s not going to pop out today.” But maybe five minutes later, it did. Yes, at times, I would wake up, and as soon as I stood up, it would start to bulge out. You would just feel it start, it would just get bigger and bigger, and bulge out. That was really disappointing. You think, “Oh god, I’m going to have a day off from it today,” and then …
George:
I know.
John:
Start walking around five minutes later. “Oh no, we’re not [inaudible 00:31:20].” And then at least once I got your truss, that made life a lot more bearable, you know, while you’re in this phase of strengthening the muscles, and dealing with the stress, and eating better. So you definitely need something to wear, and the truss is very comfortable. That’s what I liked about it. It’s just like wetsuit material. And yeah, it really doesn’t make life too difficult, wearing it. You’ve just got to [crosstalk 00:31:47]-
George:
Yeah, that’s what I’ve read on a lot of the reviews that we get, like on the website. That’s pretty much a common theme, people saying that they forget they have it on, or they don’t feel like they’re wearing a truss, you know?
John:
Yeah.
George:
And it does kind of just go away after a couple of days of getting used to it. Do you know what I mean? And then it kind of just goes away.
John:
Yeah. Once I got sorted out and got the adjustments right, and then I had to order another one in a smaller size. I got that right. And then just put it on, and you hardly know it’s there. But it was great to actually notice, “Oh, I haven’t used it today, and nothing’s happened.”
George:
Right, yep.
John:
So that went from a couple of days a week I’d have to wear it, to eventually no days. And where we’re at now, I just haven’t worn it for probably a month, I’d say.
George:
That’s awesome. I just love hearing that. I love hearing that so much because this literally was my purpose for doing this whole thing, was to get people to the point where you’re at right now, and where I am right now, where you don’t need the truss anymore. You know?
John:
Yeah. Life is normal, at the moment.
George:
Yeah.
John:
I don’t know if I stopped doing all the exercise, and if I go backward and do all the things, maybe it’ll come back again. It probably will. So yeah. I wouldn’t say it’s cured as in I can do whatever I like.
George:
Right.
John:
It’s a bit like saying you’ve cured your headache by stopping hitting your head against the walls.
George:
Right.
John:
If you start doing it again, then you’ll probably get a headache.
George:
Yeah, exactly.
John:
But like I say, I’m sort of glad I’ve got it, because it gives me no option but to do these lifestyle measures, which I want to do anyway. Just an added incentive.
George:
Yeah.
John:
I was just amazed at your program, how you persevered for years. Not many people would have done that. I think they would have given up, said, “Oh, I’ll go to the surgeon.”
George:
Yeah. And that just comes from that … I talk about in the program, the reason why. You just have to have a really strong reason why you want to go this way, and not just go and get surgery. And for me, that was … I really wanted to prove to the medical establishment that there has to be another way to do this. That was the first thing. And then the second thing was that I know my kids especially, but my wife and my kids are watching me go through this. And I don’t want them to see me quit. I wanted to set a good example for my kids, to show them that if you persevere, you can figure this out. You can figure things out, and work through them, and turn your problems into something good. Just like what happened to both of us. It ends up being a good thing when you work through it and deal with it in the right way. You know?
John:
Yeah. I hope your program becomes a sort of protocol that gets … Of course, when you mention it to the doctors, there’s no randomized controlled studies approved. [inaudible 00:35:01] all the bullshit. They just seem to be so scared to try anything these days, unless they’ve got some trial to verify it works.
George:
Right.
John:
And of course, no one’s going to do a trial on this, because there’s no money it in [inaudible 00:35:14].
George:
Right, exactly. There’s no reason for them to do it.
John:
No, there’s plenty of money in surgery and drugs. So I tend to have a very … I don’t reject what the medical profession offers, but I am very skeptical, and I’ll question and I’ll look, and not just accept the first answer they give you about a problem. Because they only get taught one way, and that’s the only thing they know. So that’s just my nature. I’m very questioning, and just have this bit of a slightly anti-medical approach. But on the other hand, I’ll certainly use procedures for short-term measures. But I definitely prefer to avoid long-term medication. I think for a short period, but I don’t agree on something for life.
George:
Yeah, same here.
John:
Yeah. And surgery’s the same. I had a very good result with the hernia on the other side, 15 years ago. It hasn’t given me a problem since. But these measures have been in the news a bit, especially for women. And they can really make your life pretty miserable if they don’t go well. And surgery always has some risk, so better avoid it if it can be. But obviously it’s good for some people that it’s possible.
George:
Yeah. What kind of surgery did you get? Was it laparoscopic, or was it open surgery?
John:
Yeah, laparoscopic. The surgeon I’ve got, he’s a professor these days, and he’s very experienced. I certainly felt I’d be in good hands with him. But certainly better not to if you don’t have to.
George:
Right.
John:
You can get all sorts of infections in hospitals these days that can be pretty nasty. And yeah, things can just go wrong. Or not go as planned. So I’d rather avoid the risk if I can.
George:
You were in, what, your late 40s when you had the other one operated on?
John:
Yeah. Early 40s. Hang on, I’ve got to … I’m not good at math. About 45ish, yeah.
George:
Yeah.
John:
Yeah, 45, 48, something like that. Yeah. And that actually was done after I did a really hard session on a rowing machine.
George:
Oh, really?
John:
I just cranked it up to maximum resistance. I was in a rowing team at a surf club here, and we were doing sessions, and you know what blokes are like when they get together. They just want to try and outdo each other.
George:
Right.
John:
And I was just going hard as anything, and then a couple of days later, I started to get this pain down in the lower abdomen. I thought, “Oh, what’s going on here?” And I realized it was a hernia. It was diagnosed, and then we had to get it … Well, I just took their word for it that there was no other option than surgery. I just didn’t question it. So beware of rowing machines.
George:
I think it’s cool that you kind of had both experiences. So you had surgery on one that went fine, and no problems from that. But now you’re dealing with the other one naturally and doing great with that, having positive results with that.
John:
Yeah, so I’ve got one of each. And apparently, you are at risk, when you do get a hernia on one side, apparently, statistically you’re likely to get it on the other side later at some state. But who knows if that’s caused by the first one, or it’s just because of your lifestyle that’s going to catch up with you or something.
George:
Right. Yeah, if you were doing all the stuff that you’re doing now back then, you probably wouldn’t have gotten to the point where you had a second hernia now. You know?
John:
That’s right, yeah. I’m really pleased with the way it’s going. I thought, as you know, I sent you off an email a week or two back and just wanted to let you know how … Even though I haven’t followed your program to the letter, you got me started, and I just played around with an alternative exercise regime that’s worked for me. But if anyone’s going to go out and copy what I’m doing, they’ve got to keep in mind I’ve been doing rowing and rowing machines for probably 25 years, so I’ve got a lot of muscles that have used to that. So if [inaudible 00:39:44] started rowing, they’d probably want to do it gently at first and develop the muscles, because it’s a pretty hard workout, rowing machines. But I think it’s worked well for me.
George:
Did you start out, did you have any pelvic postural issues? Like anterior pelvic tilt, or anything like that?
John:
I don’t believe so. I didn’t really investigate. I mean, I looked at myself in the mirror after I saw … I didn’t think I did have it. So I didn’t sort of go investigating further with a physio or anything. And just sort of got into the rowing machine again and learned to fix everything. Plus the diet, plus making sure that the bowel motions are not … You don’t need much effort. And the stress. So it was just attending to all those things at once, and it seems to be like the magic formula that’s working for me, certainly.
George:
Yeah. That’s awesome, man. I’m so glad to hear your story, and to be able to put this out there for other people to hear. You know what I mean?
John:
Yeah.
George:
Somebody’ll see this, and it’ll resonate with what you’re saying, and it’ll just turn their mind on to think about maybe going naturally instead of getting surgery, or at least giving it a try before they get cut open. That’s what it’s all about, is exhausting all of your options before you go and get cut on, you know?
John:
Yeah, that’s right. I mean, even if you’re on the waiting list for surgery, just put it a year out and give this a try in the meantime.
George:
Right.
John:
Honestly, I was pretty skeptical. I thought, “Ugh, I don’t think this is going to work, but I’ll give it a go.” And I thought, “Well, I’ve got the surgery up my sleeve anyway.”
George:
Right.
John:
I really am amazed at the difference, and how quick it’s been, really. So that’s why [crosstalk 00:41:32]-
George:
Yeah, that’s amazing. It’s amazing.
John:
So yeah, I’m very pleased, and I’m very thankful to have discovered your website. I was doing a lot of Googling before I found it, too, so I was-
George:
Yeah, they like to bury me pretty deep in Google. I was up at the top for a long time, like when I first started writing on my blog. I was up at the top on the first page. And then all of a sudden one day they knocked me down to like the tenth page. And I’ve slowly been kind of creeping back up a little bit since then. But I mean, they hammered me. They don’t want you to find natural cures for anything.
John:
Yeah. I mean, it’s a bit the same with COVID at the moment. If you mention anything that’s not telling the official line, they just cut you up and get rid of you.
George:
Yeah, exactly. It’s easy for them just to flip a switch and say, “See ya. You don’t exist anymore.” Like literally, you don’t exist anymore.
John:
They don’t want programs like yours. It might challenge the medical … the orthodox thinking.
George:
Yeah.
John:
And in case we think for ourselves and heal ourselves without the aid of the surgeon.
George:
Yeah, can’t do that.
John:
No, not at all. Those poor surgeons have got to be kept in work.
George:
Oh yeah. Well, it was really nice talking to you. I’m glad that you reached out, and we were able to do this and get this out for people.
John:
Yeah.
George:
Do you have any social media, or anything like that that you would want to share for people to maybe ask you questions? If you don’t, that’s fine. I just like to ask, just in case.
John:
Yeah. Look, I have got a Facebook account. I don’t think I’ve posted anything on it for about two years.
George:
Yeah.
John:
My company website is pretty easy to find. It’s called JB Wrought Iron. We’re in Sydney. That’s probably the easiest way to find me, but you wouldn’t think you’ll be getting answers from a metalwork website. People are free to send me an email via that website. That’s probably the easiest way to find it. And yeah, I’m happy to give people … share my experience. But obviously, they’ll have to work it out for themselves if it’s going to work for them.
George:
Right.
John:
But like we say, there’s just no harm in anything we’re doing. If it doesn’t work, well, what have you lost? Nothing. And you probably gained a lot, too. You got a lot healthier in the process.
George:
Yeah, exactly.
John:
So it’s a risk-free proposition anyway.
George:
Right, yep.
John:
Yeah, yeah. So yeah, I’d be happy to spread the word, and yeah. Just as I say, glad I found you down there on about the eighth or tenth page somehow. I just kept going through all the crazy magic potions, and I thought, “I’m not going to do any of those.” And your website resonated with me, because we’re a bit similar into the surfing and being pretty active. And I thought, “Oh, this is impressive.” So yeah, that was good.
George:
Yeah. Well, that’s awesome, man. I’m glad you found me. I’m glad we could do this. And keep me updated. Shoot me an email if anything changes, for better, for worse, or anything like that. Shoot me an email.
John:
I’ll keep you posted and see how it goes. But at the moment, it looks as long as I keep sticking to my protocol, it’s all going well.
George:
All right.
John:
I’m sure I’ll tell the surgeon, and he’ll just dismiss it as a one-off event, [inaudible 00:45:21]. Or just say, “You never had one to start with.” But he did diagnose it, and I know a hernia when I see it.
George:
Right, yeah, you had one already.
John:
You don’t get half a tennis ball lump sticking out of you if nothing’s happening.
George:
Right, yeah. I actually have a couple other guys that I’ve been talking to that are doing the same thing and having really good results, too, that I’m going to do a couple more interviews with, and you know, get that [crosstalk 00:45:52]. I’m hoping just to kind of start a thing where a lot more people start responding to the protocol, whether it’s mine, or whether they take some aspects of it and add their own, just like you did. You know what I mean?
John:
Yeah.
George:
And hopefully, I get a bunch of people. And if it gets to a point where there are so many people, they can’t ignore that. You can’t ignore that anymore. You know?
John:
Yeah.
George:
So if people are able to find that information and actually put it to use, then you’re not going to be able to ignore that. You know?
John:
Yeah, yeah. Let’s see. Hopefully, it takes off and spreads, because it’s doing a lot of good, even if it doesn’t fix their hernia for some reason. But I’m pretty sure it will, if they [inaudible 00:46:36] long enough.
George:
Yeah, I agree.
John:
But certainly, nothing wrong with eating well, getting rid of stress and keeping strong and fit.
George:
Yeah, yep.
John:
So there are certainly benefits in doing the program, even if you do have to have the surgery in the end.
George:
Yeah. I appreciate you calling and doing this with me. I really do. It’s important. It’s super important to me, so I’m glad we were able to connect.
John:
I’m really appreciative of finding you and your program, and it’s made a very big difference. So more than happy to help the program spread.