Cross Post: Internal Hernia? What Should I Do?

thank you!!

Lynda,
I did have hernia. Actually 2 of them.  First - we were not sure if that was hernia or GB. So I had GB out and hernia was also found and repaired (so I was told).  But 2 weeks later the pain returned.   Since that time I was in pain on and off for 10 months... until I decided I need it fixed and had another lap surgery that found and fixed hernia.  Buy that time - the hernia was big.
What I was told was that hernia does not hurt - what hurts is when your bowels move inside there and get twisted. They can't move freely, and the twist- restriction cause narrowing of the small intestines and once you eat - and the food gets to that point - it hurts since the food is trying to squeeze through the narrowing.  Once the food passes - you may have some time with no pain - until you eat again.  And so on. In worst case - once the twist-strangulation is severe - the blood flow to the bowels is restricted and part of the bowel may die - that will cause a lot of pain and toxins... with rotting flesh inside.  If that is not operated on immediately - the patient may develop toxemia and die within 48-72 hrs...
I do believe most people do not get to that extreme. 
In 10 months living with my hernia - I had weeks when it did not bother me, and weeks and months that I would hurt 20 -30 min after I ate any solid foods. Liquids - went through, but any solids - I was in pain for 1-3 hrs, depending on how dense the food was and how much I ate. 

The cat scans did not show anything abnormal.  Everything looked good, but based on my symptoms my doc diagnosed possible hernia.   He wanted to operate much sooner than 10 months... but like you - I did not want another surgery and agreed to one when I could not stand the pain any longer.  And was hurting every time I ate food. 

For me  - it was a choice - do I stay hungry - and drink liquids - or ate food and hurt... Finally - I had enough.

Hope that whatever is wrong with you can be fixed soon.

BTW: I also deal with RH and low blood pressure post op RNY. I do get heart palpitation and got really tired.  But that is due to dumping most of the time.   And the RH and dumping is unpredictable at times. 

My BP is low normal now but I have to remember to eat food with salt and spices. 
I finally had all my blood work done and at least most of my vit and minerals numbers are in optimum range.  But that means that I have to take lots of vitamins, and minerals, B12 shots once a week, and I just finished iron infusions to get my iron and ferritin up. The only thing that was too low last time was my RBC, cholesterol, and triglycerides. (yes - they can be too low...).  But I am working on that.  More red meat, more liver, more…

I may or may not have an internal hernia.  I was in the hospital last July with excruciating stomach pains.  It turns out I had a mild case of pancreatitis.  My DS surgeon thinks it was due to an internal hernia that caused a kink in my intestines.  His theory is that when it was kinked it caused a backup of my pancreatic enzymes that caused the pancreatitis and the kinking caused the terrible pain I had.  He went on to theorize that after my intestines "unkinked" that my pain went away and over the next couple of days my pancreatic enzymes normalized.  It makes a lot of sense, although a GI specialist thinks it was due to my taking Tylenol with Codeine and having an allergic reaction to it.

Well, since that time I have not taken any more Tylenol with Codeine (I was self-treating really bad back pain that I had, but knew that years before I had had a bad reaction to T3--so it was stupid to take it--I convinced myself that the reaction was mild and probably related to something else and it happened to be the only pain reliever we had in the house.  I know--dumb).

So was it due to a hernia or the T3?  I dunno.  My CAT scan was normal, but he said they will very rarely show up on CAT scans.  My doctor wanted to do an exploratory surgery as well...but I couldn't bring myself to go under the knife again either.  Which in respect is very funny as now I dream night and day about getting plastic surgery on multiple body parts!  I may just ask my PS surgeon to take a peak at my biliopancreatic limb to see if he sees anything abnormal.  Maybe my DS surgeon can tell him what to look for.

So, in short, it may very well be worth your while to have it further investigated.

Felicia

I had symptoms like yours... pain, bloating, digestive issues and mine seems to be bacterial overgrowth.  Looks up Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth or Small Bowel Bacterial Overgrowth.  Probiotics helped me immensely.  Look for a brand with "B"illions of good bacteria.

Good luck.