Hernia help

[fairycake23]

I've just been diagnosed with a inguinal or femoral hernia on my groin (doctors unsure which yet).

Me and partner are currently TTC so unsure what to do next!

Can I still get pregnant with the hernia or do I have to wait until my surgery? Surgery wait times are obviously high due to covid (up to two years) which we unfortunately cannot afford to wait that long. The hernia is causing pain but it is manageable atm.

Can anyone offer any advice as to what to do please?

Thank you

A few things to consider….
femoral hernias are usually repaired pretty promptly because there’s a higher risk of problems with an untreated one than with an inguinal hernia. Femoral hernias are more common in women iirc.

If you have it repaired before getting pregnant it would perhaps be useful to discuss with the surgeon whether there are any implications if you end up pregnant/pushing soon after.

If you get pregnant before it’s repaired then it almost certainly won’t be fixed I until after you’ve delivered. However, if you were to end up pregnant before it’s repaired you may need to consider the implications for the pregnancy if it becomes incarcerated/obstructed (which are emergencies that require surgery and can make you pretty unwell).

Also if you don’t have it fixed is it likely to get bigger/become more painful during pregnancy and just make things generally more miserable (even if it doesn’t cause one of the emergency scenarios)?

No useful answers for you, but those are the things that spring to mind immediately. HTH.

@Greybeardy

Thank you so much - they are all very useful answers to me!

Initially the doctor thinks it is femoral due to its position but she was then uncertain if it could be inginual.

It is already causing me a fair bit of pain - I have no idea how long I've had it for either so this could be it getting worse already.

I'm hoping I get the surgery through quickly then I can get it sorted prior to getting pregnant. It's just the dread of two years delaying pregnancy which due to personal reasons I just can't risk.

Thank you again, you've been so helpful x

I wouldn't delay pregnancy. I wasn't told to and got pregnant not long after my diagnosis (we'd already been TTC 4 years with several losses, so I wasn't stopping then!). I got through pregnancy and birth (although it was an unrelated EMCS) fine.

Also, my consultant suggested that surgery might cause me more problems anyway, so I decided not to go for surgery. Although he did say that if I have problems with it, I should go straight to A&E.

I'm a Consultant surgeon with an Subspecialist interest in hernia surgery

Things to consider
If this is a femoral hernia should be fixed in next 2-4 weeks
An ultrasound is not entirely reliable
It may also be a cyst of the canal of nuck
Hernia society guidance is all female hernias should be fixed laparoscopically (so pick your surgeon carefully)
If it is reliably excluded as a femoral hernia then I wouldn't not delay TTC- waits currently are enormous
As the gravid uterus fills the pelvis in means that it pushes small bowel out of pelvis so hernias usually become less symptomatic

Hope that helps.
If based in the South DM me

@GucciGucciCoo

Thank you so much for responding.

I have had the ultrasound now (around 4 weeks ago) in which the consultant couldn't see any signs of a hernia but could see there was something there. He did mention that he thinks it's benign and looks like it contains fluid - he also mentioned endometriosis which is something I have long suspected but never diagnosed.

I had my mri a couple of weeks ago and just waiting for the results of that.

The lump is barely visible from the outside, just looks slightly raised in the femoral area of my groin. Feels like an oval/grape sized lump but it does disappear when I lie down - hence the diagnosis of a hernia! It could still be a hernia apparently but they don't think so!

Trying very hard not to think the worst but I'm understandingly absolutely terrified it will be sinister or I will have problems with my fertility.

X

@fairycake23 - sorry for waking this zombie thread. I'm in the same boat as you. Do you mind saying what treatment did you pursue and what's the outcome now?

@AutumnIsMyFavouriteSeason

Hi!
sorry to hear you're in the same position. Mine wasn't a hernia but I've since found out a lot of fertility issues I have so unfortunately it wasn't not all good news at all - I wish I'd had the hernia instead.
What have your doctors told you?

@fairycake23 - thank you for replying. Sorry to hear that and hope you are ok.
I've just had my scan, awaiting doctor's interpretation but from my rough judgement I think it's a hernia.