[onion_writer]

I jog three or four miles a day, pump weights and do three kinds of crunches. Then last Saturday I was bowling, for God's sake, and suddenly I felt a spasm beneath my waist, a little center of my right knee.

The next day it really, really hurt. It gets better each day. I tried jogging again yesterday, but it hurt, and so I immediately stopped.

Earlier Saturday I had done 90 twists, flat on my back, moving my torso, knees and legs, all the way to the left and right. I'm hoping I just stressed my midsection.

The pain is not so much now, but still very localized. Not so near my groin but just under my waist. Should I wait and see, and then make an appointment with a doctor? Or am I a fool for worrying?

Again, it feels better each day. (P.S., I have no health insurance. Sigh.)

[Palomine]

You probably just strained a muscle and if it's getting better each day, there's little need to see a doctor (in my unprofessional opinion) as long as it continues to improve. As I'm a few years older than you (from what I gather) and probably a fair bit stupider as well, I've had a couple of hernias already. Unless you've got some weird internal type of hernia going on, you'd probably KNOW it if you had one of the more common variety via a small bulge in or around your lower abdomen where the muscle tore. If you don't see or feel any such thing (I assume you'd have mentioned it if you did) you're probably OK and again, as long as you keep feeling better over time, it's probably not necessary to visit an ER.

If, by some chance, it turns out you do have a hernia... at least you can take comfort in the fact that the repair is fairly simple (by surgical standards) and they don't shave your junk before surgery anymore. Whether that's a plus or minus depends on your personal preferences of course.

Good luck... feel better.

[Q_BE]

*snicker snicker snicker*

Sorry, I couldn't help myself. It's just so funny that your bowling caused the pain where your workout regimen failed. I assume that's probably because you had overdone your workout, and the bowling was the provebial "straw" that strained your abdominal region.

I had abdominal hernia repairs as a **09**; I still bear their scars, but that was ages ago in medical science.

Q-"Get well soon!"-BE

PS. I bet I could school you on the bowling alley, OW.

[onion_writer]

Thanks, all, for the very reassuring locker room talk. I'll wait and see, then, unless someone else urges me to see a doctor. Phew!

And thanks again.

[gonZo]

I had a hernia repair last year, and they DO TOO still shave your junk.  
(I think it depends on whether you have open or laparoscopic surgery.)

[Palomine]

I had a hernia repair last year, and they DO TOO still shave your junk.  
(I think it depends on whether you have open or laparoscopic surgery.)

Well, I'm sure they shaved your junk gonZo, but that's only because the nursing staff probably had a crush on you. I never have any such luck.

[rtpoe]

If you do need it shaved, by all that's holy do it yourself! For my bilateral inguinal hernia repair, I wasn't advised to do it myself. And the razor burn from the cheap-ass razors they use in hospitals was the most painful part of the recovery!

[pedonbio]

I think you're working out too much, onion_writer. I've always tried to follow the advice of Robert Maynard Hutchins: Whenever I feel like exercising, I lie down and the feeling passes.

In truth, I've thought I had a hernia several times, but it always turned out to be a pulled muscle. I have fond memories of how I pulled a few, too.

BTW, for any surgery, if you can get it laproscopically, do it! It cuts recovery time by at least half.

[3deroticer]

In my profession I see this many time, and mostly at company softball games. The biggest guys that lift weights, coming to a game and they end up tearing a muscle at play. I can see this in bowling, because there aren't any machine I know in the gym that develop the particular muscle for the movement require for bowling. Strong everywhere else, but not for the the extreme twisting of the abs while swinging a heavy ball off the side while standing on one leg. You are only as strong wherever your weakest link are at.

I agree with Pal that if you are getting better, than it will most likely repair itself, muscle strain 6-8 weeks to recovery.

[onion_writer]

I agree with Pal that if you are getting better, than it will most likely repair itself, muscle strain 6-8 weeks to recovery.

Ugh. 6-8 weeks? That's sad news, but ultimately reassuring. It does get better every day, but it also does still hurt. It's more of a dull ache, though, and I very seldom feel it. In fact, it's hard for me to even make it hurt, to see what sets it off. It seems only to come now when I put pressure on my right knee, lifting up, for example turning myself over in bed.

Thanks for all the good advice.

[onion_writer]

Well, it turns out it wasn't a hernia after all!

It was inflamed appendix. It burst Saturday night and was removed Sunday. It hurts much less, but it's still pretty awful at times. I cannot even begin to describe the pain on Saturday, though.

Soo . . . taking it very slow! I had laproscopy and I've been discharged already. Anyone else here go through this? I'd enjoy hearing your stories. I've started a different thread, for appendix matters.

[Shara]

you don't shave it yourself Gonzo?

[gonZo]

you don't shave it yourself Gonzo?

That's what summer interns are for.   

[pedonbio]

That's what summer interns are for.   

HA! GonZo, I mod for a couple of sites, and whenever an issue arose on a public part of the site I would say something about how we mods should discuss this at our next monthly meeting at Palm Springs or Barbados or whatever. The webmistress passed on a letter she got from an irate member who was upset that we mods were meeting in such lavish surroundings. We had a good laugh.

For the record, mods do not meet, let alone at lavish resorts, and we do not have summer interns. Unless we hustle them ourselves.

[onion_writer]

Ha! Oh, Pedonbio, that is rich! I'm making a note to remind you to tell it again at our Honolulu meeting next month.

You're bringing the Jell-O, right? I have the cheese and crackers.