My mom had one: the surgery worked.

Untreated, they are a time-bomb ... a bit of intestines can slip through and "strangle", which means gangrene, severe pain, emergency surgery, and a really long recovery.

I've known three people who had the surgery. It worked in all of them. None seemed to have a very painful recovery, but as I haven't had it, I don't actually know that.

Both my husband and I have had hernia operations, both in the groin area. The most painful thing about my surgery was they used staples and I seriously doubt they use those anymore, as my surgery was in 1979. My husband has two more, one in the groin area (different side) and the other one around his navel area. He lifts heavy items at his job every day.

I had an umbilical hernia about 1.5 years ago. Very small incision...outpatient surgery and home same day. May have taken a couple of the pain pills, but that could have been due to the hour long drive home over rough roads. Grrr!

I've had a hernia on both sides. The operations were no big deal. In fact, for the second one I told the doctor that I didn't like general anaesthesia, and he agreed to simply inject a local numbing agent. The only thing disconcerting was being awake when he was stitching me up and I could feel some tugging. You'll have some achiness and it will be a little hard to get out of bed for a couple of days (you don't realize how you use those abdomenal muscles until you're recovering from a hernia operation!). On the whole, I thought that getting my wisdom teeth out was much worse.

Hernias of the dipahragm are relatively easy to fix - they actually put a flexible patch in there.

Unrepaired, they are a medical disaster waiting to happen: google for "strangulated hernia" and decide if you want to risk THAT. They are a pedal-to-the-metal emergency surgery, and the unfortunate patient usually ends up in the hospital for weeks.