Life After Baby

My aunt had a hiatal hernia which she had repaired thru surgery. Since then I've learned that they're less apt to do surgery. I don't know why. Have you actually been diagnosed with a hiatal hernia and what does the doctor suggest if he doesn't think it warrants surgery?

My aunt, before surgery, put risers under the top of her bed so that she slept at a slant. Gravity helped to keep the stomach beneath the diaphragm. She also ate smaller amounts more frequently.

Your symptoms sound serious enough to warrant surgery. Yes, I'd get a second opinion. If you haven't had a more general physical evaluation I would start with that. As others have suggested it's possible these symptoms on not the result of a hiatal hernia.

Here is a web site with information that might be helpful. http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/hiatal-hernia

Yeah, my first hernia was after my second son. It hurt if I ate much. The hernia was in my bellybutton. I started having a lot of pain in my right side and fevers, and found out when he was 18 months old that I had a cyst on my right ovary. I had to have arthroscopic surgery to remove the cyst (7 cms, it turned out - big cyst!) and while he was in there, he repaired my hernia.

I got another one 16 years later - oh joy. Had that one repaired too. And yes, it started to hurt when I walked, so I didn't feel that I could ignore it. I also wanted to choose my surgeon and choose the timing of my surgery so that I wouldn't end up in the ER with a doc I didn't know in the middle of the night...

I do think that you need to give it more time because it has only been 2 months since you had the baby. And definitely find another doctor. Meanwhile, ask your ob/gyn to give you an ultrasound to see it there is something in there that is NOT a hernia. That would help. I think you would be smart to get your ob/gyn to recommend an internist.

And no, you aren't the only one to not have great life after baby! But you do need some real time to heal. Just make sure that something isn't badly wrong while you are healing.

Have you been to your gynecologist about this? It sounds like some type of post-partum thing.

The other option is to go to a regular internal medicine doctor who might look at other causes besides GI - this could even be some kind of cardiac issue which sometimes presents as indigestion or stomach pain...especially on left side as you mentioned.

I did have heartburn when I was pregnant and it was very painful. I had to sleep practically sitting up, but it would go away the next day.

In the meantime, do you think eating more fiber would make it worse? Perhaps try a mild laxative to clear things out.

I was diagnosed with a hiatal hernia about 16 or 17 years ago. I am on pregnancy number 2 and the heartburn is no different than before. I take Prilosec daily and if I don't, I can feel it almost instantly. Without prying too much, how is your weight? I know that when I am heavier (pregnant or not), the heartburn that comes from the hiatal hernia is greater because the stomach is larger, it presses up on the hernia area causing the stomach acid to move freely in and out of your esophegus. Have you changed your diet any? I was not one to make drastic changes because the idea of lettuce and water for the rest of my life was none to appealing but maybe decrease your caffeine (reduce or switch to 1/2 caffinated or decaf if you can), chocolate, highly acidic foods and see if that relieves any of the pressure. I have never had bowel issues post pregnancy other than making sure if I hadn't gone, I took a stool softener to kind of move things along. I would probably talk to my doc about that but I imagine your anxiety could cause this to be a problem as well.

Issues? Ha ha, is any one ever the same? The weakening of the perineum during pregnancy caused me to tear rectally through the muscle shortly after giving birth. BM's felt like passing razor blades; i'd dig my fingernails into the walls during BM's and then lie in the fetal position until the stinging pain subsided, often with a crying baby that i'd left mid nursing session because my bowel movements always happened in the middle of nursing. Even after peeling myself off the floor, the pain lasted long after. There were many attempts at medical intervention but I ended up with a surgery to repair it.

Ah, yes, the hernia after the baby story. Right after I pushed my daughter out into the world, it felt like a hot knife sliced me across my stomach. When I mentioned it, my OB/GYN said her job was done and that I would have to take it up with my doctor.

Fast forward two and a half years later. I had trouble doing any type of exercising after birth (specifically anything abdominal, so I could try to tighten up and lose the baby fat) as well as I started to get deep, stabbing pains. Eventually the pains got to the point where I'd have them in the car when I was driving to work. I was deathly afraid I'd have an attack and have an accident.

I finally (2.5 yrs after daughter's birth) got my doctor to send me to the surgeon. I told him my symptoms. He asked me how the doctor checked me. I said I was always lying down. He told me to stand up. Then he poked me right in my belly button. I about fell on the floor unconscious, the pain was so bad. I said how come my doctor couldn't find it? He said because my doctor wasn't looking for it correctly.

I had a belly button hernia. When the surgeon went in to repair it, he said it was actually quite bad; he even had to use surgical mesh to shore up the surgical site (which I'm not excited about, as I don't like having anything foreign in my body).

I still have occasional issues with some twinges and little aches and pains once in a while, but now I can actually live with it. And I can exercise, although I have to be careful and cautious when doing anything abdominal.

Did you actually have your hiatial hernia while pregnant? Or did you get one while pregnant/after birthing? You're positive that is the type of hernia you have, that it's not a different type, or that you didn't suffer another hernia?

I do know that doctors these days are opting for less and less hernia surgeries as well as hemmrhoid surgeries. I'm not sure why. Someone told me once that the outcome usually isn't that good, that many hernias rerupture or don't heal very well and that hemmrhoids usually reappear. However, given the intense, stabbing pains I was having and the fact that the hernia was VERY BAD when the surgeon went in, I am having a hard time believing that doctors won't go in and fix these things. But I also blame it on our current healthcare situation and "cutting costs."

I would definitely look into this a bit more, with a different surgeon, if needed.