If you’ve had Hernia surgery (along with millions of others that have this surgery annually) and are still suffering from pain, then you may need to learn more about what’s causing that pain. In this article we will try to explain why there is hernia pain after surgery and all the things you can do to get rid of that pain. This may include switching to a healthier diet, exercising, taking supplements and reducing stress.
Don’t take your health-care provider’s assumption that pain is just a “natural” part of post-op. It can be minimized greatly with some simple actions that you can take yourself. By educating yourself about the causes of your hernia, you can help your body heal from it, while minimizing the chance of recurrence at the same time.
Surgery Isn’t a Solution for Swelling
First, you should know that surgery isn’t a solution for swelling. If you are dealing with pain caused by swelling from your surgery, it’s underlying cause is chronic inflammation.
Sure, there will be normal swelling as part of the natural response of your immune system to any perceived injury. This is how your body sends rich-oxygenated blood to deliver nutrients and remove wastes to a place in your body that has been infected with a disease, or that has been wounded. This is key for healing.
However, chronic inflammation depresses your body’s ability to heal. Let’s examine how that happens in more detail.
Intestinal inflammation is caused by poor gut health. This inflammation of the gut is the same thing that happens elsewhere in the body when damaged cells release chemicals including histamine, bradykinin, and prostaglandins. These substances cause blood vessels to leak fluid into the tissues, causing swelling.
These chemicals increase blood flow That is what causes swelling. If you have a hernia, though, swelling is what causes your pain, so while your body may be trying to heal you, it is causing you a lot of distress in the process.
With chronic inflammation, the body can’t understand well enough when to stop releasing the chemicals that cause swelling. The body then starts to think that your unharmed cells and tissues are wounded or infected with a foreign pathogen, and they never stop attacking these tissues. Chronic inflammation causes serious diseases including arthritis and even cancer.[1][2]
When inflammation goes on too long, it triggers the formation of disease. A prolonged “state of emergency” declared by your body causes the deterioration of your gut health.
The first problem this causes is the imbalance of your gut’s microbiota. These are the tiny microorganisms in the form of bacteria that live inside you. Some of them are good, and some of them are bad. Some help make vitamins, while others rob you of your ability to absorb nutrients from the foods or supplements that you ingest.
Our microbiota starts to form when we are just babies, and changes over time due to what we eat, chronic illness, stress, medicines we take like antibiotics or NSAIDS, and more. We can promote good bacteria colonization in our gut our make sure that bad bacteria set up shop, adding to the problem of chronic inflammation![3]
What does this mean if you just had hernia surgery?
First, it likely means that your surgeon was attempting to cut out a condition that may reform if the swelling caused by chronic inflammation is not addressed from the root cause.
Second, it means that your surgery has injured your body and it is now sending even more blood to the damaged area in an attempt to heal you, causing even more swelling! No wonder you are experiencing pain.
There is a lot you can do to alleviate this problem, though.
Reduce Hernia Pain After Surgery with the Proper Diet
Swelling is how your body heals you, but constant swelling caused by chronic inflammation makes it nearly impossible for you to heal, and can even lead to further, serious health complications.
Let’s start with a few simple rules to reduce chronic inflammation:
- Eat as much plant-based fiber as you can every day. The fiber rich diet helps to move waste through your intestinal tract. It also helps to fill you up so that you don’t over eat, especially foods that have no nutritional value.
- Add herbs and spices with anti-inflammatory properties. Certain herbs and spices particularly turmeric and ginger have high antioxidant and anti-inflammatory abilities. They can help to reduce inflammation caused by stress, poor diet choices, lack of exercise, and other lifestyle choices that may have contributed to your hernia. You can also try cloves, cinnamon, rosemary, sage, and thyme.
- Add cruciferous vegetables to every meal. Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cabbage cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, and mustard greens contain crucifers which help to reduce inflammation.
- Get rid of all man-made fats and replace them with plant-based fats. Saturated fats can increase the risk of heart disease and many of them are highly processed. Healthy fats like Omega-3s and Omega-6s that are present in foods like avocados, Hemp seed flaxseed, and Camelina oil are much better for reducing inflammation in the body. They also provide energy to your cells, and nourish your skin, hair, and brain.
- Try to reduce processed and refined foods especially sugars and simple carbohydrates. These foods including high-fructose corn syrup and refined sugars found in thousands of foods that we purchase in our grocery stores feed bad bacteria in our guts.
- Eat small meals and add snacks.Eating too much at once strains your digestive system on many levels. When you over-eat, it makes it difficult for your body to properly break down foods, and assimilate nutrients. It also messes with food satiety hormones so you will wat more than you need to more often, leading to obesity and further chronic inflammation. The added pressure of a full stomach can also put unnecessary strain on a hernia. Try to eat four to five small meals or a few smaller meals with snacks throughout the day.
- Try intermittent fasting.Taking a break from eating altogether, even for part of a day, can help to reset your gut, reduce inflammation, and give your body a break from the constant work of digestion. This means that it has more energy to heal wounds (like those created in surgery) and get rid of toxic wastes.
Reduce Hernia Pain After Surgery with Herbal Medicines
Finally, you can aid your recovery and reduce swelling permanently by reducing chronic inflammation with herbal, Ayurvedic medicines specifically designed to help treat hernia conditions.
Hernica and Acidim, two Ayurvedic herbal remedies were created by Grocare to help strengthen the intestinal walls, enhance digestion, reduce inflammation which causes swelling and thus reduce pain caused by a hernia. These medicines treat the body as a whole, instead of as mechanistic parts.
By promoting innate healing, these medicines can help to speed recovery post-op after a hernia surgery, and prevent future symptoms associated with hernia.
Hernica contains a proprietary blend of more than 12 different herbs, a few of them are:
Pongamia glabra which helps to relieve gas and bloating. It is also an intestinal stimulant that helps the body break down food stuff and absorb the nutrients it needs.
Cassia angustifolia to help treat constipation. Cassia angustifolia helps promotes peristalsis, or the regular contraction of the intestines to help healthy bowel movements. Those who suffer from hernia know just important it is to be “regular.” This herb ensures that you aren’t putting additional pressure on the abdominal wall with overstuffed, polluted bowels.
Holarrhena antidysenterica is an Ayurvedic herb with astringent, anti-dysenteric, and anthelmintic properties. It is a natural stomachic, febrifuge and tonic. It helps to remove bad bacteria and pathogens from the digestive system that might cause digestive upset.
Ferula asafetida is an herb which helps to strengthen the intestines. It promotes healthy digestion. It is also antispasmodic and carminative (helps to relive gas). It is also supportive to relieve constipation.
The second medication created by Grocare is Acidim. Acidim works in harmony with Hernica to further promote natural healing in the body, aid digestion, and prevent chronic inflammation which can lead to swelling and pain.
An additional 12 Ayurvedic herbs are combined to support the body’s healing. These herbs are:
- Purgative
- Laxative
- Anti-inflammatory
- Analgesic
- Anti-arthritic
- Anti-secretory
- Ulcer protective
- Anti-hyperglycemic (supports better blood sugar levels for better gut health)
- Hepato-protective
- Antibiotic
- Carminative (to protect gut health)
- Blood circulation promoting
- Anti-helmintic (kills parasites and harmful bacteria that can cause sugar cravings)
These medicines – Acidim and Hernica– combined with lowered stress, a proper diet, and restored gut health can drastically reduce inguinal hernia symptoms, including post-op swelling. They do so without putting you at risk for the complications of additional surgery.
In addition, if there are symptoms of deteriorated gut health – Xembran is recommended. It helps restores healthy microflora, kills off H. pyloriand other pathogenic (bad) bacteria in the stomach that are directly linked to an increased incidence of hiatal hernia.
Xembran also increases your ability to digest food, while protecting the stomach and intestines from irritation caused by eating spicy foods, highly processed foods, stress, overuse of antibiotics, stomach infections, lack of exercise, and other environmental factors known to affect gut health.
Your hernia symptoms can be lessened with this knowledge and its application.
In closing, a natural approach to caring for your hernia after surgery is available to those looking for alternatives.
Reduce Hernia Pain After Surgery with Exercise
Just after hernia surgery, your ability to exercise may be limited. This is OK, and you should honor your body when it needs to rest and recover. However, physical exercise has many benefits. Exercise decreases your tension levels, reduces anxiety, stabilizes your mood, improves your sleep, and even boosts the immune system. These are all needed to help you recover faster.
Exercise also has a strong link to creating better gut health. With better gut health comes less swelling of the intestines which means your hernia will cause you less pain.
Also, try to specifically target the outer oblique and transverse abdominals when you exercise. These will help to tighten and strengthen the muscles that hold the hernia in place so that it doesn’t pop back into the inguinal canal.
As with any post-surgery exercise, make sure to follow the advice of your doctor and start slow. If low-impact exercise does not aggravate your hernia, then you can slowly progress to more active forms of exercise, and receive all their stress-relieving, inflammation-busting benefits.
Reduce Hernia Pain After Surgery with Stress Reduction
Stress reduction and exercise, along with a better diet will also help you recover more quickly thus reducing swelling, which is causing your pain.
When we are stressed our bodies create more cortisol, a hormone that increases inflammation throughout the body. This process causes cellular and genetic degradation.[4]
Simply eliminating or reducing stress can help reduce inflammation. Cortisol levels also become less variable throughout the day once stress is lowered, meaning your sleep-cycles and healing cycles are not interrupted.
There are many ways to do this. You can try practicing gentle yoga, meditating, laughing with friends, sharing your emotions with others, spending time in nature, practicing mindfulness, breathing exercises, or even just lightning your responsibilities.
Just three months (12 short weeks) of meditation, yoga, and mindful, deep breathing, for example, can lower the bio-markers for chronic inflammation drastically.[5]
Reduce Hernia Pain After Surgery with A Hernia Belt
Using a hernia belt can also help post a hernia operation. But this should only be done once the internal inflammation comes down or it can cause pain. You will need to look to find one that fits you properly but they can help keep the hernia from pushing through the hole in the inguinal canal. If you find one you can wear all the time, with the exception of when you are in the shower, this can help prevent a relapse, and also minimize pain.
There are many different inguinal hernia belts available on the market. You may have to try a few to find the right one.
Testimonials
However, we have a few testimonials from our clients who have agreed to share their experiences and about their hernia treatment without surgery. Hernia is a private disease and not everyone wants to disclose something like this. We salute the people who have the courage to share their experiences. Here they are:
For hiatal hernia you can go to read more here
References
[1]Why You Should Pay Attention to Chronic Inflammation. Cleveland Clinic. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/why-you-should-pay-attention-to-chronic-inflammation/
[2]TA, Ullman, et al. Intestinal Inflammation and Cancer. PubMed. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21530747
[3]Koh, Jung Hee, et al. Dysregulation of gut microbiota and chronic inflammatory disease: from epithelial defense to host immunity. Exp. Mol. Med. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5454447/
[4]Wei, Marlynn, MD, JD. Harvard Health Publishing. Yoga could slow the harmful effects of stress and inflammation. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/yoga-could-slow-the-harmful-effects-of-stress-and-inflammation-2017101912588
[5]Tolahunase, Madhuri, et al. Impact of Yoga and Meditation on Cellular Aging in Apparently Healthy Individuals: A Prospective, Open Label Single-Arm Exploratory Study. Oxid. Med Cell Longevity. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5278216/
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