Causes of Hiatal Hernia

I recently had emergency to repair a hiatal hernia with diaphramatic repairs which I would have never imagined was going on in my body.  I have been asthmatic all of my life and I have had numerous x-rays due to pnemonia (pneumonia) and I had an abdominal hernia repaired a couple of years ago and I had a xray before I had surgery to repair that hernia and during or after either of these xrays the attending physicians never questioned or suggested that I may have anything abnormal in my body.  I also have three children and during my pregnancies my physicians never reported anything abnormal.  This is why I am curious as to what could have caused me to have a hiatal hernia of this magnitude due to the the fact that I haven't experienced any trama to that area and the only thing that I believe that could have caused such a thing was frequent heavy lifting which I did for years due to the nature of my prior job.  Could this have caused my hiatal hernia?  I really need to know because I need closure.  This surgery has been life altering and one of the most painful situations I have experienced in my lifetime and I am still recovering and it has been three months after my surgery. Thanks

[selmaS]

Hi..I have a condition called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome in which having hernias are common. I also had a herniated umbilical cord.
The info below is from MedHelps Health Pages...links are in our welcome message at the top of this forum and the icon to the top right.


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The cause is unknown, but hiatal hernias may be the result of a weakening of the supporting tissue. Increasing age, obesity, and smoking are known risk factors in adults. Children with this condition are usually born with it (congenital). It is often associated with gastroesophageal reflux in infants. Hiatal hernias are very common, especially in people over 50 years old. This condition may cause reflux (backflow) of gastric acid from the stomach into the esophagus