Umbilical hernia treatment

[shalinico]

Hello, A lil intro abt me before I jump onto my question...A crohns patient under medications ( pentasa 4 tablets and azathioprine 75 mg ) .Had multiple surgeries in 2012 (ileostomy, reversal and for adhesions) . Lately I could notice a bulge in my belly button. It pains occassionally. Doctor said it could be umbilical hernia and had asked me to take CT scan to find out the severity. He also told me that surgery is the only option for treating umbilical hernia. Has anyone been successful in treating your umbilical hernia conservatively without surgery.

If surgery is the only option, appreciate if anyone can guide me to postpone the surgery (wearing belt etc) as I don't want to take chances in the current pandemic.

 

[shalinico]

Can someone plz reply

 

[DustyKat]

Hi Shalinico, sorry for the delay in replying.

The cause of your hernia is likely due to the surgeries you have had if you have had a vertical midline incision. That said they can also occur without surgery.

An umbilical hernia is due to a weakness in the muscle, a separation. When you raise your intra abdominal pressure by doing things like lifting, coughing, etc it cause a piece of bowel to push through the muscle separation and that is what the bulge is that you see and feel.

There really is no way to knit the muscles back together again without surgery. Whilst a belt will support the area it won’t correct problem.

I understand your hesitation in the current climate and normally if the hernia is small, infrequent and you are without pain you can continue to observe it but if it pops out frequently or is permanently out, becomes painful or grows in size then you risk strangulating the protruding bowel and that then becomes an emergency situation.

Have you had the CT? It would be best to do as the doctor says and see how severe the hernia so you can make an informed decision as to when to proceed with surgery.