Enema before Hernia Operation

Hi all,

I have recently been diagnosed with a hernia and will need surgery to repair it. What I would like to know is will I been required to have an enema prior to the surgery - I would appreciate your replies. If it makes any difference I'm in the UK. Thanks

You do not need an enema and I would be shocked if you got one because you were having a hernia repaired.

I had right and left side hernia repairs and no enemas were required. In fact you might delay the surgery if they check your bowel sounds, prior to surgery and they are not sounding appropriate.....they may balk.

Also suggest not doing it endoscopicly, doing it the old way reduces later life issues with because of miss positioning or folded patches.

I had a hernia repaired in 1987. went in the night before had a attractive nurse who greeted me with, "i'll be shaving you and giving you a small enema in a little while."

she gave me a fleet enema in sims position then left the room.

although I hate fleets I did come twice while holding the enema as I masturbated then fell asleep with the enema in me. she came into the room to ask about the enema and woke me up.

I tole her I was still holding it and went to sleep.

she laughed and said, "do I have to give you a bigger one?"

I knew she was just kidding but I which I had said yes anyway.

after she shaved my pubic hair she happily said, "There! just like when you were little" and laughed.

I had a hernia repaired in 1987. went in the night before had a attractive nurse who greeted me with, "i'll be shaving you and giving you a small enema in a little while."

Enemas before surgery have been VERY out of style for decades, especially for hernia repairs, so was hospital admission the night before. Hernias are outpatient procedures.

What kind of hernia did you have?

Had this operation about 10 years ago in the UK. Had to shave myself on the side where the operation was to take place the night before, definitely no enema or any instructions to clean out my bowel, operation in the morning and then home in the afternoon, no problem.

Enemas before surgery have been VERY out of style for decades, especially for hernia repairs, so was hospital admission the night before. Hernias are outpatient procedures.

What kind of hernia did you have?

I would guess that if you have a groin hernia where the bowel regularly and easily pushes through the opening in the abdominal wall, the surgeon may wish to have the bowel as "deflated" as possible - hence the possibility of having the gut cleared of all fecal matter. Hello, enema!

I'm going in to have a decades-in-the-making groin hernia as per the description above, repaired in a few weeks' time. I'm supposed to clock in before 10 in the morning, with the operation scheduled for around 3 PM. Plenty time for all sorts of procedures to be executed beforehand...... 😁

The operation is scheduled for 1 October, so gimme a few days to get my shit together (no pun) after the operation and I'll report back on any fun stuff which may have gone down. One can hope, I suppose......

Hey thanks for all the replies - I’m a little disappointed to learn that I will most likely not receive an enema, but hey ho can’t win them all. As for what type of hernia, it’s probably pretty poor of me, but I don’t have a clue. The doctor confirmed the results of a scan and said it needed repairing. My symptoms are painful testes on left side, feels like it’s being squeezed and I have sharp pain in lower stomach area when coughing, sneezing, straining or sometimes when I’m laughing....

I also have a possible inflamed small bowel which I’m waiting to have a scan, apparently if the scan confirms some inflammation then I will need a colonoscopy to investigate the cause of the inflammation.....would an enema be required before this procedure....

As ever thanks for your replies ??

flburst58 said

I would guess that if you have a groin hernia where the bowel regularly and easily pushes through the opening in the abdominal wall, the surgeon may wish to have the bowel as " 😁 eflated" as possible - hence the possibility of having the gut cleared of all fecal matter. Hello, enema!

That isn't the case at all. There is no problem or reason to have an enema before a hernia repair like you describe, especially when you said "you guess" in your answer. I can tell you from experience in the OR standing over the patient that enemas are not needed for those herniorrhaphies.

I had a Hernia operation less than 5 years ago. I didn't get my monies worth either.. No enema, no catheter, nothing. Just shaved, and a great big 8" cut. Doctor states it was to bad to do any other way. I would rather not have had one under these circumstances anyway.

Very rarely do we administer a cleansing enema before an outpatient operation. Most hernia procedures are carried out in a time frame of a few hours, admission to release. For procedures where you'll be confined to a bed for more than two days, then the probability of getting an enema becomes much greater. For most of my CNAs that cover pre-op, a busy week of bowel prep would only be 2 or 3 enemas, rarely more than 5. The modern practice of not using enemas stems more from reducing patient embarrassment, rather than what the patient really needs. I'm of the opinion that any patient admitted to the hospital for more than a few days could benefit from a routine cleansing enema or a colonic, regardless of any surgical procedure. I guess for me it's because I give colonics part time, and see the terrible state of health that people are in because their bowels are so sluggish.

Water, what do you mean by "I didn't get my money's worth" (meaning your money's worth not mine)?

I've had 3 surgeries and in all cases I got my money's worth because they fixed the problem that required the surgery and didn't cause other problems. I'm not sure what my response would be given the choice between going in the day early and being put through a bunch of stuff vs quick in and out and back home recovering in quiet and away from the increased risk of developing a secondary infection.

@moliere, I completely agree with you. I want to spend the least amount of time in a hospital as possible. First I can never sleep a dang wink while in there, if by rare chance I manage to nod off it never fails I am woken up for or from one thing or another.

It also never fails that I somehow manage to catch something else while I am in there. I become a germaphobe as soon as I enter and do everything shy of dousing myself in hand sanitizer and I still end up sick.

I did not have an enema before my hernia operation but an old battle axe nurse did come in my room throw my gown pretty much over my head and announce she was going to shave me "from my knees to my nipples". I think she was a bit shocked to see I was already pretty smooth but she was a woman of her word. She used what looked to be a set of electric clippers attached by a hose to a small vacume cleaner. i was surprised on how extensive job she did but I guess thats up to the surgeon. .

These are the facts as they occurred it is not a fantasy or a lie. anyone's disbelieve is their own problem.

I didn't doubt what you said, I said enemas for hernias went out of style a good 40 to 50 years ago.

I did ask what kind of hernia you had repaired that required pre-op enemas.

I have had surgery, about six years apart, to repair two inguinal hernias. Both were done on an outpatient basis by the same general surgeon. I had pre-op meetings with an anastieseologist both times.

I reported to the hospital surgery center around 7:30 am for scheduled surgery at 9:00 am.

After getting totally undressed and putting on a gown and those weird "socks", all the usual pre-op things like blood pressure, temperature, IV and a host of questions, I was shaved just on the side that had the hernia.

Even though I'm into med fet (DUH), I found no part of it kinky or sexually exciting.

I went into surgery as scheduled, came through it fine and was in recovery for about an hour and a half.

Back home, sore as hell, (with some good pain meds) before noon.

NO enema before surgery !!!!!.

They did recommend that I take a stool softener like Colace to help with not straining while having a bowel movement.

I remember one case in the OR where the patient was to have a right inguinal herniorrhaphy and in addition to the surgeon having signed his abdomen for the surgery earlier that morning, the patient had placed a big piece of tape on his abdomen stating

THE HERNIA IS ON THE RIGHT SIDE

I had an outpatient hernia repair in 2015. The surgeon told me to clean myself out with a bottle of magnesium citrate the evening before the surgery. I told him truthfully that magnesium citrate often failed to work for me and asked if I could do an enema instead. He told me that would be fine. His explanation for the pre-surgery cleanout was that it would help the post-surgery constipation from getting too bad. He also had me take 4 tablespoons of MOM every day during the recovery. When that didn't work, he added Dulcolax to the regimen.

My knee surgery was similar. I can't remember their exact wording but it was based on managing constipation from the drugs and inactivity after the surgery based on my history of having constipation/IBS-C/whatever it is.

I'm not sure why they didn't say mag citrate in my case, but I'm glad they didn't based on my experience trying it once. It was prolonged and unpleasant. Instead they said suppository or Fleet morning of the surgery.

I don't think they're as worried about incontinence or nicking the bowel during the surgery anymore, and are trying to make things as minimally unpleasant for the patient as possible.

My knee surgery was similar. I can't remember their exact wording but it was based on managing constipation from the drugs and inactivity after the surgery based on my history of having constipation/IBS-C/whatever it is. . . . .

Your IBS-C history played a big role in their having you clean out first.

I had hernia surgery done twice on my left side and never had a enema, even the pain pills after the surgery did not create any poop problems.

OK folks, I had my hernia operation on 1 October, and here's the report back.

Sadly, no enema. (Yeah, yeah, Susie, I know you said so but nevertheless...) Also, no shaving. At least not while I was awake, that is. Done right there on the operating table when I was already in dreamland. My hernia repair required a reinforcing mesh which was stitched to my abdominal wall, so there was a substantial amount of internal bleeding afterwards, and a lot more pain than I was expecting.

My operation was not strictly outpatient as most hernia ops are, I checked in at around 10 and was kept in hospital for the night - discharged the next morning. All in all, the operation was a success but jeez, a little pre-op enema fun certainly would have provided some tension relief and livened things up a bit.

It seems that if one realistically expects to get an enema in hospital (for no specific reason) the only country would be Russia - although that has also probably changed by now. What is the world coming to.... 😉

UK here - Hernia op several years ago, private hospital, definitely no enema.

All I can say is I've had 2 hernia operations in my life, both the right side and later the left side.

Actually they are the only operations Ive had in my life.

The last one was in October of 1969. Both required 10 day hospital stays, and both included Soap Suds Enemas ("SSE" as the nurses called them). Ther were administered with a Jones Can the day prior to the surgery.

All I can say is I've had 2 hernia operations in my life, both the right side and later the left side.

Actually they are the only operations Ive had in my life.

The last one was in October of 1969. Both required 10 day hospital stays, and both included Soap Suds Enemas ("SSE" as the nurses called them). Ther were administered with a Jones Can the day prior to the surgery.

What went wrong that you needed a 10 day hospital stay for each hernia repair?

What went wrong that you needed a 10 day hospital stay for each hernia repair?

The key here is the time period during which this happened - 1969. I was 11 years old then and I remember that our neighbour's son went in for an appendectomy in 1970 (no burst appendix or any other complications), which required a hospital stay of a full week (7 days) at the time. Heck, a tonsillectomy was 3 days at least. Hospital stays were just that much longer in the old days, simple as that.

10 days for a hernia repair back then (and the enemas!) to me sounds about right.

I bet you laid there for days 3-10 and watched TV.

On the tenth day, they could have removed your skin sutures before you went home.

I had emerg. appendectomy in 1957 and the total days stayed was 5 at Cincy Childrens. Got pre-op enema from mom under doc's orders before we left for hosp.

Last surgery in 2015 was aortic aneurysm repair with second surgery to stop bleeding femoral artery. Total stay 4 days. No enema instructed beforehand, but took 2 qts. on my own, due to LARS; leaking bowel 6-10 times per day, without cleanout.

Surgery to remove malignant polyp from bladder 2 yrs. ago. Total stay 8 hours; no overnight.

Two pharmacists brothers had a weekend of fun, advertised by The Cleveland Clinic; stayed in nice hotel across from Clinic. Both had hernia repairs and returned to hotel for Sat. night party and drove back to Columbus on Sun afternoon.

Told me Sat. night dinner and booze was great!