Hiatus hernia - Awful Health issue :(

I had IBS first, then heartburn, then a pain under the left ribcage from too many sit ups.

2 rennie tablets a day work on the heartburn, a bowl of weetabix with a banana works on the IBS, and massage on the hurty bit fixes it for a few days until it pops out again.

No need for concern though unless theres sickness / fever / flu like symptoms from it.

Eno actually worked the best for me, but its sodium based and sodium / alcohol / caffeine trigger my vertigo and migraines from my broken ears.

I had Eno a few times and it fixed my stomach immediately, but I wondered why I had to spend the rest of the day in bed. I read the ingredients and 'Oh derp, its sodium based. I need calcium'. Coffee did the same thing, it almost feels like its gonna kill me.

Also my vertigo meds which are mostly harmless cause gastro intestinal disturbance as a side effect .... REALLY NASTY stuff on top of my digestive problems, plus they are anti emetic so I end up with stomach pain and completely unable to puke it up :(

Vertigo + IBS / Heartburn is a terrible combination.
 
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Neil79 said:
True ^ i find gaviscon to be crap!, it's great for causing headaches though :D

Bhavv :(, group hug!
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I didn't have headaches from it, but I detest the taste of aniseed and the Tesco version was only in that flavour!

Rennie is poo too (ime of course) as it just makes the acid a bit more neutral. I found Zantac better although still no where near enough. Lanzoprazole was immense it stopped the pain completely.
 
I agree they are great for stopping heartburn but not a HH attack :(

Feels like someone grabbed my insides HH area and is slowly twisting it around, like a pinched nerve increasing in pain.

DAMN YOU HH!
 
Gaviscon is a bit crap, as is the aluminium based antiacids. At least in my opinion Once they leave the stomach you'll get reflux again. They don't tackle the issue. HH are completely different to other hernias such as inguinal/other.

Ranitidine is better and as easily available over the counter (Brand name is Zantac, can get generic Ranitidine from super markets probably listed as "Acid reflux medicine". Normally 75mg tablets). I would go for this first. It's first line treatment for acid reflux at your GPs too but they will give you a bigger dose. I usually find 150mg works a bit better and acid reflux goes down after half hour or so. It works by stopping it from being produced.

Omeprazole is better as it's a PPI (also stops acid being produced but in a different way) but afaik it's not available over the counter. Lamzoprazole works in the same way but is a different drug hence the prazole ending. It generally works better as it tackles the final portion of the "pathway" that produces stomach acid. Ranitidine is a H2 antagonist and works on one (of three) initial things that start the "pathway" so don't work as well.

However, this will only stop acid reflux. If you are getting attacks like the OP these drugs won't help as it's from something else. In the OPs case a strangulated hiatus hernia.

Regardless, if heartburn is a problem you should go and see a doctor. If it's due to excess stomach acid due to an infection or otherwise it needs to be treated. The stomach acid can result in an ulcer which can perforate. Perforated ulcers often lead to death. They can also lead to anaemia and other problems but if they perforate you are in big trouble. I know this doesn't apply to the OP but there are quite a few people in this thread complaining about heartburn.

On a slightly amusing side note, Ranitidine also stops asian flush from drinking alcohol. Nobody really knows why though :P.
 
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Wicksta said:
No medical threads.
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Utter :rolleyes:


Its great to hear of other peoples problems and how they cope or not.

He is not asking for advice, its a discussion on a Hiatus Hernia.

There is no diagnosis needed, and he's just asking for other peoples experiences, which in all honesty makes fascinating reading, realising that so many people have these hidden problems we just never think about.

Did you post just to try and get noticed?
 
Oh yea, slouching in my chair aggravates it like mad, I just have to remember to sit up and put a cushion between the shoulders and backrest to keep the body straight. I need to stop slouching!

Thats the main cause for the thing to pop out and start paining again.

My heartburn isnt bad though, it only happens rarely from the IBS, which is kept in check with weetabix + rennie. Also my vertigo meds stop acid or anything else from coming up, but they worsen the IBS and cause a lot of pain so I cant have them everyday.
 
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bhavv said:
Oh yea, slouching in my chair aggravates it like mad, I just have to remember to sit up and put a cushion against the backrest. I need to stop slouching!

Thats the main cause for the thing to pop out and start paining again.

My heartburn isnt bad though, it only happens rarely from the IBS, which is kept in check with weetabix + rennie. Also my vertigo meds stop acid or anything else from coming up, but they worsen the IBS so I cant have them everyday.
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Pop out? Do you have an an abdominal hernia or something?
 
RollerBall said:
Pop out? Do you have an an abdominal hernia or something?
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*No diagnostics please :p

Feels like it, right around where sit ups cause folding between the ribs and belly. Bad sitting posture and doing too many situps aggravates it. Sitting right stops it from being a problem. Massage fixes it easily and theres absolutely no pain on touch, just relief.

GPs and A+E pretty much laughed their asses of at me when I thought it was serious, they couldnt diagnose it or find anything wrong, but they said the usual do more exercise and eat right, only see a doctor about it again if it gets any worse. Its a painful but completely harmless thing and easy to manage. No negative sickness problems but its been the same for over 5 years. I can get calcium / acid reducing pills on prescription for it, but Rennie is cheaper and tastes better.
 
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bhavv said:
*No diagnostics please :p

Feels like it, right around where sit ups cause folding between the ribs and belly. Bad sitting posture and doing too many situps aggravates it. Sitting right stops it from being a problem. Massage fixes it easily and theres absolutely no pain on touch, just relief.

GPs and A+E pretty much laughed their asses of at me when I thought it was serious, they couldnt diagnose it or find anything wrong, but they said the usual do more exercise and eat right, only see a doctor about it again if it gets any worse. Its a painful but completely harmless thing and easy to manage. No negative sickness problems but its been the same for over 5 years. I can get calcium / acid reducing pills on prescription for it, but Rennie is cheaper and tastes better.
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My bad, I thought you'd already had it diagnosed but hadn't mentioned it. I'm so used to medic forums. Never been on one you can't spitball diagnosis before.
 
On a funny note, i just googled " Strangulated Hernia " to see if it was generally the same symptoms.

I got a picture of a guys penis!, nope that's not where my problem is haha
 
Neil79 said:
On a funny note, i just googled " Strangulated Hernia " to see if it was generally the same symptoms.

I got a picture of a guys penis!, nope that's not where my problem is haha
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Haha. A strangulated hernia is when so much comes out through a small gap either in the diagphram in the case of a hiatal or the muscle wall in the case of an abdo/inguinal/groin/etc hernia. Its blood supply is then cut off in the same way as if you put a rubber band around your finger.

The bit of intestine/fundus of the stomach can then get hypoxic and can die. Which means lots of lots of pain for whoever is experiencing it.
 
Neil79 said:
Can someone recommend me a computer chair which is comfortable and stops me slouching forward because if i'm gaming i probably don't notice i'm doing it
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Might a different type of chair help? One of these http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kneeling_chair wouldn't stop you leaning forwards, but if your legs are at less of an angle to your body then your stomach may be less squashed when you do.
 
My Mam has had a hiatus hernia for years. It used to cause her to have lung infections - she had pneumonia 6 times in 2 years. Last year she had keyhole surgery to correct it. Unfortunately, although the original site held, the stomach popped out somewhere else and she's having problems again (thankfully, not with her lungs this time). The surgeon is unwilling to operate again as she is 70 years old and has other health issues and he says the risk of another operation is too great. She has medication for the acid but still gets a lot of pain and she has difficulty keeping food down. Some days she's fine but a lot of days she keeps hardly any food down :(

On the subject of acid. I had a lot of problems with acid when I had my duodenal ulcer. The doctor prescribed Zantac (Ranitidine) but it gave me diarrhoea so I got Losec (Omeprazole) instead. Fantastic drug. I was diagnosed as having a hiatus hernia after my first gastroscopy but the diagnosis turned out to be wrong (turns out the surgeon who performed it was an alcoholic so was probably ****ed :p). The ulcer was diagnosed after the second gastroscopy (performed by a sober surgeon ;)). I got the triple therapy to eradicate the Helicobacter pylori bacterium which caused the ulcer and more than 15 years later, all is well.
 
RollerBall said:
Haha. A strangulated hernia is when so much comes out through a small gap either in the diagphram in the case of a hiatal or the muscle wall in the case of an abdo/inguinal/groin/etc hernia. Its blood supply is then cut off in the same way as if you put a rubber band around your finger.

The bit of intestine/fundus of the stomach can then get hypoxic and can die. Which means lots of lots of pain for whoever is experiencing it.
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This is what I just had an op for, Inguinal hernia. Well it was actually about 3 months ago, so all recovered now. I lived with it for about six months, luckily mine wasn't strangulated but at times it was very painful. My first op and first time under anaesthetic and I was voilently sick from it - found the pain of recovering worse than the actual hernia!
 
Leviathon said:
This is what I just had an op for, Inguinal hernia. Well it was actually about 3 months ago, so all recovered now. I lived with it for about six months, luckily mine wasn't strangulated but at times it was very painful. My first op and first time under anaesthetic and I was voilently sick from it - found the pain of recovering worse than the actual hernia!
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Ah that sucks. That's the big issue with general, nobody knows how you'll react to it. A lot of the general public never see the risks or side effects from it so always wish they had it for small ops, until you get somebody who it doesn't agree with and boy it can be nasty.
 
Without Google'ing isn't this a really major operation where they have to break your ribs and move the heart and various other things out of the way?
 
dmpoole said:
Without Google'ing isn't this a really major operation where they have to break your ribs and move the heart and various other things out of the way?
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lol no

Your surgeon will make 3 to 5 small incisions in your belly. Your surgeon will insert a laparoscope (a thin, hollow tube with a tiny camera on the end) through one of these incisions and other tools through the other incisions. The laparoscope is connected to a video monitor in the operating room that allows your surgeon to see inside your belly and do the repair.
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Neil79 said:
lol no
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Which hernia operation is that one then unless they've found an easier way to do it?
I know two people who had it done back in the 80s and they were off work for a very long time.

Update:
Just rang one of them up and he reckons it's done by laparoscopy now which is way different to how he had it done.
He says his scar is from the top to the bottom of his upper body.
 
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