-
Is this a Hernia? In desperate need of help!
My wife has had lower back pain, more specifically on the left side for nearly 2 months now and we have seen a number of doctors and one physical medicine doctor that specializes in spines. She has also had a CT scan of the abdomen and an MRI of the lower back, but nothing remarkable has been found. To give some more background she cannot sit nor stand for more than about an hour before the pain intensifies. When I was giving her a massage per one doctors orders I found an apparent hard bump right around where the dimple of her back is that actually rolls under your finger when you apply pressure. When I apply even a decent amount of pressure on the bump she tells me that is the exact spot the pain radiates from. Since locating the bump I have found many articles that have referenced “episacral lipomas,†“lumbar fat herniations†and/or hernias of the inferior lumbar space. Whenever I have mentioned this to a doctor they just tell me they have never heard of such a thing and just call it “musculoskeletal†and think she needs to take more pain meds and do physical therapy. She is 28 years old, 5’2 and only 130 pounds and we used to go to the gym together before this took place and now she can barely get through 5-hour shift at work. She even saw a Chiropractor of 30+ plus years of experience that believed it was a lipoma without us even mentioning it to him. Am I crazy to believe this is a hernia? I know MRI’s do not catch everything, but how could a bump of 2-3cm be missed by an MRI when the bump can clearly be felt? I apologize for the lengthy message, but I so badly want to find an answer for her, so she can get fixed up and back to the happy healthy life she was living. Please help we are both so discouraged and are starting to lose faith.
-
11 Replies
-
Is this a Hernia? In desperate need of help!
Bravo! Always nice to get back to a normal life. That is why we do it! Thanks for the update. DE
-
Is this a Hernia? In desperate need of help!
Hello Dr. Towfigh,
Thank you for following-up, I wanted to give my wife some time to heal up before responding again. Dr. Tejirian ended up identifying two lipomas and removing them. Since Dr. Tejirian identified two she actually ended up putting her under for about 2 hours! Apparently the two lipomas actually shared a similar location as a hernia, so she actually called in one of your under studies to get a second-opinion while my wife was still in surgery. After receiving the pathology report it turns out she had two lipomas one which was 8cm and another that was 4 cm. Dr. Tejirian also mentioned that the lipomas were both very mobile and they would move from near the middle lower back to underneath her rib; which would help to explain her occasional side pain. But, all in all, I am happy to announce that although the recovery took some time my wife is nearly 100%! She is able to work a full shift at work again and her abdominal tightness has subsided too, which I suspect was due to a form of stress or anxiety from the constant trauma her body was under. Had you not referred us to Dr. Tejirian we may still be looking for a doctor to listen to us and my wife would still be nearly bed ridden. Thank you both for all your help, you helped give my wife her life back!
Best regards,
No longer ConcernedHusband
-
Is this a Hernia? In desperate need of help!
Any update?
-
Is this a Hernia? In desperate need of help!
Best of luck! The abdominal and back pain issue is complex, and requires a proper evaluation. Even then, these things can be difficult and sometimes impossible to figure out.
-
Is this a Hernia? In desperate need of help!
Hello Dr. Earle and Towfigh,
Thank you both for all of your help. The insight you have provided has been invaluable. We got a referral to go and see Dr. Talar Tejirian on Friday Aug 21st! I will be back with an update once we meet with her. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it is only a lipoma. One last question I do have is why my wife is suffering the occasional abdomen tightness/pain/pressure. Whenever her lower back bothers her more than normal (typically after standing or sitting for an extended period of time) the abdomen pain/pressure tends to manifest as well. Is it simply referred pain?
Thank you again,
ConcernedHusband
-
Is this a Hernia? In desperate need of help!
The spots marked seem a bit low and medial for a Petit’s hernia but a physical examination by a knowledgeable surgeon will help figure that out.
The MRI scan you provided is of her spine, so most views will not catch this area, but it seems they did do a pelvis MRI so a review of the MRI as Dr Earle mentioned should help figure out what this is.
If it’s as simple as a lipoma, that is an easy fix.
In the Kaiser system, go see Dr Talar Tejirian in the Hollywood Kaiser on Sunset. She specializes in hernias in the Kaiser system. I’ll let her know to expect you. -
Is this a Hernia? In desperate need of help!
My apologies, we are located in Southern California.
-
Is this a Hernia? In desperate need of help!
Hello Dr Earle,
Thank you for the response. That was my thought initially as well, however the last two doctors we have spoken with claim it is just a “tight” muscle or describe it as general “Musculoskeletal soreness.” Our biggest issue so far is finding a doctor that will acknowledge the possibility that it is something rather just a tight muscle. From what I have read it sounds like these type of Lipoma’s are often misdiagnosed, since lipoma’s are not supposed to cause any pain. Unfortunately, we are limited in where we can go since our insurance is an HMO through the Kaiser network. Do you happen to know any doctors in the Kaiser system that would have some more knowledge in regards to this? At this point we are even willing to go out of the network if need be. I just want my wife to get her life back. She can barely bring groceries in the house from the car anymore. Thank you again for all the help.
Sincerely,
Concerned Husband
-
Is this a Hernia? In desperate need of help!
Sounds like it could be a lipoma. She should have a proper evaluation by a general surgeon. May need to also have the radiologist go over the MRI again and pony out the spot where the limo is. These small masses can easily be missed, especially if they are looking for intra-abdominal or orthopedic problems. Hope this helps!
-
Is this a Hernia? In desperate need of help!
Thank you for the quick response! You have no idea how excited I was to see you respond. I really feel like I have let my wife down by not advocating well enough for her with her doctors and just a simple response from you gives me hope we can get to the bottom of this! We just received her MRI. Please see the attached images and redacted MRI report. I also looked up a Petit’s and Grynfeltt’s hernia and it sounds like there is a chance it is a Petit’s hernia. I did not mention it in the previous post, but there have been at least two separate occurrences where my wife has complained of abdomen pain, which I found is an additional symptom of a Petit’s hernia. The abdomen pain is what actually led to the abdomen CT. My wife has compared her abdomen pain to doing an extensive ab workout, but with additional pressure/pain underneath her ribs. The onset of this abdomen pain came the same time as when her back pain began. Although the abdomen pain has subsided her back pain has not. I also did not mention in the previous post that there appears to be two movable bumps on her back. I have also attached a picture indicating the locations of them. I want to thank you again for taking your time to read my post. In case you haven’t already been told this forum you have put together is amazing. I cannot begin to put into words the hope you have brought my wife I. Even if this ends up not being a hernia the time you have put aside to help us reminds us that there are still caring doctors out there.
My sincerest gratitude,
Concerned Husband
-
Is this a Hernia? In desperate need of help!
There are rare lumbar hernias that can cause pain and a bulge. Some are more common among women.
Look up Petit’s hernia (inferior lumbar hernia, just above the pelvic bone in the back, more often in men and on left side) and Grynfeltt’s hernia (just below the ribs in the back, typically among athletes, such as thin female marathon runners). Sounds like hers may be a Petit’s hernia.
Can you draw a picture and send it to us as to exactly where it is or attach a picture and mark it on her back?
Also, perhaps attach her MRI file if you can? If you can feel it the MRI should show it. If they said “negative” then it was either misread or the MRI was a spine MRI which doesn’t look at that area at all (it is cut out).
Log in to reply.