I went for a checkup yesterday and my doctor found an umbilical hernia that I have to get repaired. I've never had any pain or anything that could be attributed to it. The doctor said I've probably had the hernia since birth. Even though it's 'nothing to worry about' and hasn't caused any problems I have to go under the knife to get it repaired June 1st.

You sound less than conviced, grant. Did you ask lots of questions/get a second opinion/research it independently? You are the boss of you. You don't have to do anything you don't want to (for the most part.)

Not to appear panicky or anything ... but you should probably go see your cardiologist.

That thought crossed my mind as well. But the location of the pain was definitely way below my heart, and didn't extend to my arms or neck or anything. My pulse was a bit high from the pain, but it was regular. I have a little history with back problems (starting, oddly, with some knee injuries I had in my teens), and I'm pretty sure this was a messed up disc/nerve from poor posture.

Still, thanks for the heads-up. I just turned 35, so I'm due for a full-blown checkup. I think I'll call this week or next.

Me too. Well, in the past tense, like a couple of years ago. There was pain for me, but very clearly on or off, not just "ooh, that hurts", but nothing, then "OUCH". I could easily see the bulge, about the size of an apricot, at my bellybutton when it was hurting, and I could push it back in and the pain would go away. I think the pain was less from the insides being messed with but more about the hole being stretched by my big fat guts poking out. I guess if I wore my pants like Steve Erkle I could have let my belt buckle take care of it indefinitely, but that was not an option.

The procedure was done in the doctor's office outpatient style. I got instructions not to eat or drink past midnight and then in the morning I got a ride to the doctor (no driving afterward), and I laid down and got the local application of novocaine or whatever. Then he made the incision, and stuffed a wad of polypropolyne mesh/gauze the size of the end of my thumb into the area and sewed it to the surrounding tissue.

Previously, the recommended treatment was to stitch the hole together threading flesh to flesh. Well, it turns out that the thread would many times pull through the needle hole and the problem would be back--a hole. This new strategy actually fills the hole with the mesh and then anchors the mesh to many more points than the old version. You get the idea.

A word of caution. The procedure itself was pain-less. Thanks to the miracle of modern pharmaceuticals, I walked in and I walked out. I was tender afterward and got a prescription for the pain and instructions that for the next two weeks I was to lift nothing heavier than a fork. The pain meds from the pharmacy came with instructions to take one every four hours. Well, I was tired when I got home so I went to bed.

I fell asleep on my back, very comfortable, and woke some time later and really had to pee. I rolled onto my side and carefully levered myself up with my arms, not my stomach, and stood up. So far so good. I got to about the end of the bed before I started to gray out from the pain. I collapsed to the floor. It hurt so bad, I thought I was gonna die, and I was afraid I wouldn't. Oh, my God. I needed help, and my daughter was in the house and I tried to call for her, but anything above a whisper was tooooo much for my belly. I got her attention by pounding on the floor and calling the best I could. Bless her heart, she helped me crawl to the bathroom.

I had slept about six hours, well past the remedication point in my condition. I can see now that I was just as injured in bed at home as I was 7 hours earlier in the doctor's office. But then I had all those really wonderful chemicals perking through my bloodstream, and my belly, though hurting, was unable to get the message through to my brain. Truly, a miracle.

So the moral of the story is Take Your Medicine. Have someone wake you if necessary. Time your trips to the toilet so they happen when you can stand and walk. Trust them (and me) on that part about the fork.

My mother had an umbilical hernia repair that is the one that should serve as a warning of the worst-case surgical risks.

To be fair, her protrusion was quite huge ... about the size of a softball, or possibly even a good sized cantelope. The size of it, my mother's advanced age, and her poor cardiac condition put her at risk, but the benefits of the surgery were thought to outweigh that ...

Yeah, right.

The surgeon screwed up somewhere along the way, perforated her colon, realized it, and stitched things back up ...

Unfortunately my mother ended up with multiple infections as a consequence of this ... including E. Coli and Staph. She returend to the hospital for an extra 16 days of IV antibiotic treatment.

Like wolf, I don't want to appear panicky or cause any unnecessary panic, but I do know of someone who suffered extreme back pain that was caused by a tear in the aorta. He died within hours, (no panic here!) so that is probably not your problem, but don't put off having that check-up!

That's scary. You know what's even scarier? The doctors are way too burned out to give a shit. About 2 1/2 years ago, I started having severe back spasms. I couldn't even get up- I couldn't even lay on my side in bed- I had to lay flat on my back. The slightest cough or movement would sent me into spasms that were so bad that I was afraid to get up to go pee or get a drink of water. I was really nervous that there was something awfully wrong with me, so I went to the emergency room. I sat in the waiting room for two hours, then saw the doctor- who simply felt my back for a second, said it seemed normal and told me I was probably having muscle cramps and sent me on my way. How did he KNOW that I didn't have a ripped aorta? I think he just didn't give a shit.

with the rheum. arthritis, i'm constantly being prescribed different medicines trying to get the pain and swelling under control, so who knows what kind of reaction my heart has been having? also, the RA interferes with my ability to play guitar, so occasionally I partake of an herbal remedy an hour or two before practice/gigs. Just enough to loosen the fingers and make it not hurt to play. That, plus cigarettes. Oh yeah, and I never met a fried food I didn't like. Then there's single-malt scotch and the occasional bottle of zin. I should have the strongest heart on the planet -- i give it plenty to do.

Noodle, just had another thought ... did the pain start about, oooh. couple hours after lunch, and was there any belching involved?

no, it started in the restroom when I leaned over to wash my hands. A slight twinge that made me go "uh oh, I'm going to have to go see a back-cracker." Then a little later, after slouching in my office chair for about an hour, WHAM.

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