27 y/o Active Male w/ Hill Grade III Hiatal Hernia — Anyone Return to Heavy Exercise After Surgery or Lifestyle Changes?
27 year old active male here. I’ve lifted consistently for 10+ years, love beach volleyball, running, and staying active whenever I can.
Over the past 1-2 years, I started noticing episodes of shortness of breath during lifting or volleyball. It would sometimes send me into an anxiety/fight-or-flight spiral because I also felt pulsing/spasms around my chest/sternum area. For a while, I genuinely thought I had some kind of heart issue.
After finally getting checked out, I was diagnosed 2 weeks ago with a Hill Grade III hiatal hernia. Honestly, I felt relieved just knowing what was actually causing a lot of these symptoms. My heart checked out fine overall.
The hard part is that intense workouts now feel like a daily battle. I was advised to:
* cut back on heavy exercise
* make diet changes
* reduce alcohol/caffeine
* take Prilosec
The doctors basically explained that because it’s structural, the true “fix” would likely involve cardiothoracic surgery to pull the hernia back down/repair things.
I’m mainly here looking for input from other active people who went through this.
Did you:
* continue training normally?
* stop lifting heavy?
* avoid surgery and successfully manage it with lifestyle changes?
* get surgery and feel significantly better afterward?
If you avoided surgery:
* what changes actually helped?
* were you still able to lift/play sports?
* did symptoms calm down over time?
If you got surgery:
* were you eventually able to return to lifting/exercise?
* did it reduce the chest pressure, reflux, anxiety sensations, etc.?
* was recovery worth it?
I’m trying to figure out what path makes the most sense because fitness and movement are a huge part of my life, and I really don’t want to give that up.
Would really appreciate hearing from anyone in a similar situation.