Abdominal Hernia

Ok, need to get personal for a minute. I am very bummed this morning.Its gotten bad. It has gotten worse. I know I have to fight on. I have to be able to block it out of my mind. I always thought hernias only happened to out of shape people, never me. I am used to training with chronic injuries that flair up from time to time, but this one is a little different. Its kind of scary. Some girl told me she had one and it bulged out the size of a tennis ball..OMG...I looked at pictures online of exteme cases of it and it is horrid. Hopefully thats not too common.
I dont know how it happened. At first it wasnt all that bad. Its umbilical and Now when I sneeze, cough laugh or exert a certain way, I feel it pushing out. Yea, it hurts for a second. If I push in with my hand when I am coughing or sneezing, I keep it from pushing out and it doesnt hurt. If I cough and dont do that, it hurts like hell for a second as my intestines and omentum push out against the weakness/tear. Crap. I can still train. You cannot see it. My abs look normal. It doesnt hurt all the time. But if I dont consciously keep my core tight, It will push out...so I now have to tighten my core before I do any movements., Maybe thats a good thing....I am thinking I need to really keep working my abs and get my bodyfat to as low as possible. I dont even want to think surgery, but I guess that may be the only way, ultimately. I guess they put a screen over it to keep your intestines from pushing out. But first, I want to lose the body fat and see if that decreases the symptoms. I guess I should be grateful that I can still do stuff. Its stuff like this that kind of shatters our myth of invincibility. Makes us aware that we are mortal. It really really sucks. I did take a bit of a break from training and I wish I hadnt. I have no idea why or how this injury occured.
Anyway, thanks for letting me vent a bit. Maybe someone else has had a similar experience. I am trying not to let this get me down.

No they actually happen to us because we train so hard. That line betwen overtaining and training like a mad man is minute. SOmetimes we train so hard that during the rest of our day, we are so exhuasted that we become susceptable to other physical and medical stressors. I have a long time sliding hiatal hernia in which periodically my stomach slides up through my esophagus- very umcomfy :3:

I have an umbilical hernia as well, it looks like a bird 's beak poking out above my belly button. It really only bothers me when i deadlift over 405lbs or when my rowes get to 275 or above. MY doc told me that it is usuallycause by twisting our bodies while under strain. I'd be willing to bet i did mine moving gym equipment by myself like a moron. 90% of the time it doesn't bother me. the worst movement for me is when i laid on the floor and lifted my son up and then placed him on the floor above my head. whoa that one is rough.

my buddy had to have emergency surgery last year when he had cancer.had to open him up like 3-4 times to fix a feeding tube problem which they botched up.last week i commented to him it looks like he's goin overboard on junk food again cause his stomache's so bloated.he lifted his shirt and i was like holy ****!!
his intestines are popping out thru his muscle it looks like.if it wasn't for his skin his guts would be on the floor.they messed up the last op so bad it never healed right and now he's got an abdominal hernia which they said they can't fix till around september.he looks like he's in constant pain.
this guy beats Hodgkins Lymphoma but the chemo burned his lungs so bad and perforated his intestinal lining and was inches from death.fought back like the crazy little Sicilian that he is and the treatment is what almost kills him.hope he gets a good lawyer to sue these quacks.if he had good medical insurance i know they would've treated him alot better.no insurance and they treat you like you're on a battle field in the civil war...patch 'em up,move 'em out...

Putting 2 and 2 together, Im thinking back to 2008 when I was accidently kicked in the stomach by one of my horses...I had internal bleeding and severe bruising. Damn near killed me...wonder if that is what led to the eventual hernia