Traveling with illness? The first reaction is definitely not good. But many people with chronic diseases will retort, I have high blood pressure and diabetes for many years, I have been taking medication to work with the disease! Chronic diseases, take medicine to control quite well, work are no problem, travel to relax, adjust life, why not! Indeed, modern people live longer, work more stressful, with chronic disease is indeed the norm to live and work. Daily life and work is relatively regular, while travel is not so regular, can be a leisure vacation, can also be trekking, in fact, the difference in the impact on the body is very large. Not to mention that the characteristics of different chronic diseases vary. Last week I met this Mr. Qian at the hernia clinic. He had booked a driving trip to Europe on the National Day early, and was going to take his parents, wife and children along with his family of five. But at this very moment, Mr. Qian found out that he had an inguinal hernia, and the doctor at the previous hospital advised him to have an immediate operation, but without himself as the tour leader the whole family’s travel plans would be ruined. “Is it still possible to travel with a hernia?” This is Mr. Qian’s main concern. It is a common disease, including inguinal hernia, umbilical hernia, incisional hernia, etc. Among them, inguinal hernia, which is located at the junction of lower abdomen and thigh, is the most common one that Mr. Qian has. From a certain point of view, inguinal hernia can also be seen as a chronic disease because most patients have no symptoms other than localized lumps and slight discomfort, do not need to take medication, and some of them even develop for several years before their lives and health are affected. Therefore, many people feel that it is a minor disease and it does not matter if it is treated early or late. In fact, this is a misconception. In addition to affecting the quality of life, a hernia has the possibility of acute attacks, although the probability is only 3-5%. The essence of a hernia is a hole in the abdominal wall through which the intestinal tube protrudes to the surface of the body to form a mass; however, because the hernia hole is open, the intestinal tube will return to the abdominal cavity through the hole when the patient lies down or pushes it by hand. However, once the hernia has an acute attack, the situation changes. An acute attack of a hernia is medically known as an intussusception, which in layman’s terms means that the intestines are stuck in the hernia hole. The main cause of intussusception is a sudden increase in intra-abdominal pressure, such as violent coughing, forceful defecation, heavy lifting, etc. Due to the excessive pressure and the presence of the hernia hole, a large mass of intestine is squeezed out at once, and too much is squeezed out, resulting in the intestine getting stuck in the hernia hole, just like someone shoving a finger into a smaller hole and not being able to pull it out. Once the intussusception occurs, many serious complications arise. Firstly, the intestinal obstruction leads to intestinal obstruction, and the patient develops a localized lump that becomes hard, painful and cannot be pushed back, and then soon develops severe abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting and other symptoms. Then, as time lengthens, the blood supply to the stuck intestine decreases, resulting in intestinal ischemia. If no emergency surgery is performed to release the intussusception, the blood supply to the intestine will eventually stop completely, resulting in intestinal necrosis and intestinal perforation, followed by peritonitis, toxic shock and even death. Therefore, once the intussusception occurs, it is necessary to rush to the emergency surgery before the intestinal tube necrosis, which is 4-8 hours. Can travel induce an acute attack of hernia? It is indeed a possibility. Especially in the case of high-intensity travel, long hours of hiking, climbing, carrying heavy loads, etc., although these are not acute pressure increases all at once, they are also a relatively short period of sustained abdominal pressure increase, and at the same time, there are still some time constraints when hiking and climbing, so most people do not stop immediately after the hernia is protruding to rest completely, but often choose to tolerate it and rest again when they get to the next point, not knowing that this tolerance This may lead to the intestinal canal being completely stuck in the hernia hole, resulting in the occurrence of intussusception. On the other hand, the risk of intussusception is greater than usual when it occurs during travel. If you usually live in the city, once an intussusception occurs, you can be sent to the hospital very quickly and surgery can usually be performed within 4 hours, with little chance of intestinal necrosis. However, high-intensity travel, which tends to induce acute attacks, often occurs in natural landscapes far from the city. In this case, it is often necessary to delay the transfer to the city hospital and then operate for a long time, and it is possible to miss the best time to operate before intestinal necrosis occurs, which is indeed a risk to life. Of course the probability of relatively easy seaside vacation and other induced intussusception is very small. What about Mr. Qian’s case is still able to travel long distances? I learned about his case. He is 48 years old, he unintentionally found a small lump in his right groin 10 days ago while taking a bath, and it was not there in the morning but was only felt in the late afternoon. At present, he has no discomfort except for the lump, and should belong to a case with less risk of ingrowth among patients with inguinal hernia. Early surgery is definitely the safest, because even the “what if” is still a possibility. Of course, if it is a relaxing trip, it is not absolutely impossible, but there are many things to pay attention to. 1.No hiking, no long-distance hiking, no carrying heavy loads; 2.Take it easy, don’t rush, and once you find local discomfort in the hernia, you need to stop and sit down or even lie down to rest immediately; 3.Tour around the city or city, not to go to too remote places, so that in case of an incarcerated hernia, you can get to a larger hospital within 2-3 hours to receive emergency surgery in time; 4.Consider wearing a hernia belt temporarily. The hernia belt can be worn temporarily to prevent the intestinal tube from prolapsing when standing through physical compression, thus avoiding the ingrowth. After hearing this, Mr. Qian still decided to go on the trip, but also said that he had to re-plan and adjust his itinerary, keeping in mind the above precautions. After returning from the trip, he immediately underwent surgery.