Ah, I love hernia stories! Nothing like a good inguinal hernia. Had a single, right side, years ago. God's pity on anyone who pops a double. I lived with it for several years before surgery. I was working for temp services at the time, had no insurance... so I had to keep going to one job after the next, waiting to work for a company that would hire me without me taking a physical first. Finally did, but waited a year to have it done on my vacation, rather than take time off.
Akira, yours sounded small and mild, so you got lucky, and you'll be back to normal soon. Mine was a huge blow out, I had to wrap myself up with two heavy duty knee wraps every morning. One had a loop, that I stuck my leg thru, the other was one of the big thick white ones, that went over it, then a pair of spandex shorts to keep the whole mess compressed. I tried several different hernia belts that I bought on Ebay, and even something called a sacrioliac belt, that is meant to be worn down low... but spandex wraps with homemade pads made out old handkerchiefs were the best. Not a fun time.
Sometimes when they pop out, the only way to get it back inside is to lie down, and wiggle it back in. The big ones make a sickening noise, too... like sloshing, gurgling water. The painful part was the initial tearing, which seemed to happen slowly over about 2 weeks. I had no idea what it was, thought it was a pulled muscle. Someone talked about them getting infected....that's called a strangulated hernia, where the intestine gets trapped in the hole, and it cuts off the circulation of blood, and a part of your intestine actually dies.... I read that they MIGHT be able to save your life by cutting part of it out and sewing it back together, if they catch it early, but it's best to avoid the whole possible death thing.
So for those of you have odd pains, weird bulges, and hear that sloshing, gurgling sound, get to the doctor ASAP. The surgery sucks, and you'll probably be walking like a 90 year old man for a week, taking really slow, 6 inch steps, but it heals, and you'll almost certainly have to only go thru it once... the sew-in mesh thingy works really good, they say. Sometimes they staple them in, and I read a few stories where that didn't work so good, staples going thru nerves, and all.
Lying down is good. Trying to get up again, slow torture. I had to pee into plastic tupperware dishes for nearly a week, and empty them once a day. It's like one whole side of your body is nearly paralyzed by the pain. Won't be making any sudden moves, that's for sure. But it does heal up, and MOST everything goes back to normal. Only limiting thing for me was I can't do hyperextensions/ Roman chair exercises anymore. I start feeling that pain, and panic.... the idea of that mesh ripping out and having to have surgery again scares the hell out of me. But all other exercises, and running, are totally good, with no limitations. Good luck healing up, man!
