What is an Inguinal Hernia?
Basically, an inguinal hernia or groin hernia is described as a condition in which soft tissue bulges through a weak point in the abdominal muscles. The soft tissue is often part of the intestine. It’s easy to see and feel the bulge, although not all are visible by the patient, especially when obese. Symptoms include pain, especially when a person coughs, bends, or lifts a heavy object.
What are the symptoms of an inguinal hernia?
- There is usually a bulge that protrudes through the skin above the pubic bone on either the left, right or possibly both sides.
- Possible pain in the area of the protrusion
- Aching or burning
- Feeling of pressure
- The bulge usually increases in size when you’re standing, sneezing, coughing, or straining
- One or all of these can be present and varies from person to person
What is a reducible inguinal hernia?
An inguinal hernia is considered reducible when you can gently push the abdominal contents back inside the abdomen and make the lump disappear. If you cannot push the contents back into the abdomen the hernia is irreducible or incarcerated.
What is an Incarcerated inguinal hernia?
An incarcerated hernia is when the hernia cannot be reduced back into the abdominal cavity. This means that there is a loop of intestine stuck outside of the hole in the abdominal wall. Once the hernia is incarcerated it can become strangulated. If the hernia is strangulated the blood flow to the incarcerated intestine or tissue is being cut off and could possibly be life threatening. This usually calls for an emergency surgical procedure to remedy although I have read stories of people being able to get a strangulated hernia back into the abdominal cavity with a lot of work, application of ice, and lying a declined table with the head below the feet, but this is not recommended.
Signs and symptoms that you have an strangulated inguinal hernia:
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- The bulge of the hernia turns a different color
- Sudden pain in the area
- Not able to have a bowel movement
This is not something to be messed around with. If you are experiences any of these systems you need to seek medical attention.
What Causes an inguinal hernia?
There could be many causes for a groin hernia such as:
- Having a chronic cough or sneezing
- Strenuous lifting
- Straining during a bowel movement
- Increased pressure in the abdominal cavity caused by prostate or other organ enlargement
- A weak spot in the wall of the abdomin
Sometimes there is no apparent cause, and the hernia just shows up one day out of nowhere. (This is what happened to me)
Many times people are born with the weakness in the abdominal wall and most are treated with a surgical procedure.
What factors put me risk for an inguinal hernia?
Here are a list of factors that put you at risk:
- Having a previously repaired inguinal hernia
- Being a White Male
- Having a father or other family member who has had a hernia
- Chronic Constipation
- Premature Birth
- Chronic cough
What treatments are available for an inguinal hernia?
The medical establishment will have you believe that you must get surgery to fix a hernia, but through trial and error and the use of a hernia truss I have been able to reduce the size of the lump that was present to nothing at all, and reduce the symptoms of the hernia by 98% up the point of writing this. The natural holistic path to healing an inguinal hernia is not for everyone, but if you just cannot see yourself going the surgical route, and are willing to put in the time and effort necessary, it is not impossible to heal naturally.