hernia operation-recovery times

[ozbilda]

has anyone had stomach hernia fixed,if so how long before you could squat and deadlift again.

i have had mine for years and it doesnt hurt, i just push it back in.
although it is becoming more frequent around 20 - 30 times a day now, and i may consider an operation.

[snayers]

I'm in the same boat actually. Just went to the doctor yesterday. I've had a very small hernia in my upper stomach for like 25 years. In the last few months I've been having to "push it in" to relieve some discomfort. I'm scheduled for a CT scan and a talk with a surgeon.

Would love to hear some stories from people that have been through this already. Recovery Time? Bad scarring?

[Fleettechrob]

has anyone had stomach hernia fixed,if so how long before you could squat and deadlift again.

i have had mine for years and it doesnt hurt, i just push it back in.
although it is becoming more frequent around 20 - 30 times a day now, and i may consider an operation.

After loosing about 50 lbs, I notice while showering a bludge on my lower left side ab. I pushed it in and when I pushed out from my lower abs, it popped out again. It never hurted even when I was working out. Anyway my surgeon told me to stop lifting for a month, after the operation, even though he installed one of those mesh liners. He said If I don't, I will be back in for another operation very soon again. He also told me that if it is poping out you better get it done. What happens is your intenstines are contained in this bag and when it tears, a section hangs out through the tear and could cause a blockage in your intestines. Which could be a life threating situation. Better to be safe and wait then not.
Also the scar that it left on my abdomen is about 1 1/2 inches long and it is getting lighter in color as time goes by. Here is something else to think about. My surgeon told me that if you have a hernia on the right side of your abdomen first, the odds of getting one on the left side is about 25 to 30% percent, but if you get it on the left side first, the odds go up to 60 to 75 %, that you will have one on the right side too. Guess what.......? Mine was on the right side....Oh well, I will deal with it when that day comes I guess. :-)

[acetylator]

So far as the surgery goes, barring infection, you'll be back to light work in about a week or two, 6 months you'll be pretty well off and after a year you'll be about 90%. You'll never *completely* recover to perfect but you need to get it done. If the intestine were to break through tha fascia and become trapped in the abdominal muscle it would suffocate and die, which leads to massive infections and a whole world of hurt. fleettechrob is right.

as for the surgeries I've seen, scarring depends mostly on incision size beyond that I dont know what to tell ya.



*edit* I think it'll be at least a year before you squat and deadlift again, however, given you currently have one, you shouldn't be doing that anyway- see above.

[bill9009]

has anyone had stomach hernia fixed,if so how long before you could squat and deadlift again.

i have had mine for years and it doesnt hurt, i just push it back in.
although it is becoming more frequent around 20 - 30 times a day now, and i may consider an operation.

Ok a little background first, I have had 5 hernias in the past year, 3 surgeries, 2 open and one laproscopically. 4 were new hernias, 1 was a recurrent hernia. I now currently believe I have 2 more hernias and will be seeing a surgeon Aug 1 again. So I know what I am talking about, I will also post some pictures of scarring from both types of surgeries as well as some pictures from the inside when they did my laproscopic surgery.

It depends on what type of surgery you have, open or laproscopic. The lap will get you back to doing what you normally do quicker since it is less invasive. The open is prefered for a single hernia. Open is When they just cut a 2 inch incision where the hernia is and slap some mesh in there. The open leaves a bigger scar and recovery is a little longer since they are cutting through more tissue. Lap goes in through the belly button and two other holes right below the waist line and is usually used when repairing more than one hernia at a time. Now depending on where the hernia is might help you decide what type of surgery to have. In my opinion if your hernia is below the waist and it is a single hernia go with the open. You will have a bigger scar but it will be below the waist, so you can only see it when naked. If you have multiple hernias you will have to have it done laproscopically if you have them all fixed at the same time. If you get a surgeon that wants to fix mutlipe hernias at the same time with open surgery, RUN away, that is not they way it should be done. If you have multiple hernias and are having them fixed with open surgery you will have to space out the surgeries. The scars from a laproscopic surgery are much smaller only a few cm's but they are at the belly button so they are noticable without a shirt on.

I'm in the same boat actually. Just went to the doctor yesterday. I've had a very small hernia in my upper stomach for like 25 years. In the last few months I've been having to "push it in" to relieve some discomfort. I'm scheduled for a CT scan and a talk with a surgeon.

Would love to hear some stories from people that have been through this already. Recovery Time? Bad scarring?

There is no need for a CT scan. Either he should be able to feel the hernia, or you will feel the pain. Some hernias will visibly pop out and you have to push them back in. Others will not be so visible but you will feel the pain in a single spot about the size of a dime. All 5 of mine and the 2 new ones have not been visible. I can just feel them when I work my lower abs or jump rope for some reason,

Ok as far as recovery time, After a lap surgery technically you can be back to doing whatever you want as soon as you feel up to it. It is much less invasive like I said earlier.

As far as pain goes everyone is different. My first open hernia surgery sucked balls. Aug 1, 2007 I came home from the hospital all pissed off at my wife, for some reason, anestesia can have a weird affect on people. I came home went to bed, Then woke up at around 2 am to pee, of course I had slept through when I should have taken the vicodin. So I could not get out of bed for the life of me. You never realize how much you use your abs to move till you cant use them, To make matters worse my wife was 9 months pregnant. Our plan was to get the surgery done before she had our son. He was due aug 22, needless to say he was born the 5th, 4 days after the surgery. So last Aug was rough.

Now I get the second hernia not to long afterwards and had surgery last october, this one was open as well and went much smoother. It probably also helped that I was prescribed ******** after this one.

Now after all this I still did not feel right and still had some pain during ab workouts. So back to the doctor I went, at this time my normal surgeon refered me to a surgeon who specializes in laproscopic surgery since they do not like to go into the same spot with an open surgery. So after giving it some more time to make sure I was fully healed I had another surgery May 29th. This time he went in and found 3 hernias, one was a recurrent(thats when a previously fixed hernia busts through again) and 2 new hernias. So I get all patched back up and come home, this recovery was not to bad at all and I was back to normal activities in a few days. BUT, I ended up with an infection this time from where the stitched were. So a week after the surgery I ended up with about a 103 fever and I felt like i was going to die, after some strong Anti-biotics I was back on my feet again,

Now to today, I have 2 more hernias but will most likely have to wait to have surgery for a while to let my body recover some from the past 3.

So far as the surgery goes, barring infection, you'll be back to light work in about a week or two, 6 months you'll be pretty well off and after a year you'll be about 90%. You'll never *completely* recover to perfect but you need to get it done. If the intestine were to break through tha fascia and become trapped in the abdominal muscle it would suffocate and die, which leads to massive infections and a whole world of hurt. fleettechrob is right.

as for the surgeries I've seen, scarring depends mostly on incision size beyond that I dont know what to tell ya.



*edit* I think it'll be at least a year before you squat and deadlift again, however, given you currently have one, you shouldn't be doing that anyway- see above.

You should be able to squat and dead lift much sooner than a year. Usually within 2-3 months. When they repair hernia the insert a piece of gore-tex mesh and then your body will develop scar tissue that holds it in place and makes your insides stronger than before.

Now I am a weird case, supposedly I am genetically prone to hernias which is why I keep getting them, but most normal people should be fine. The chance of a recurrent hernias is very low, something like 1-3%.

One more thing, with open surgery they do not put you under general anesthesia then give you an IV which puts you to sleep but it is not the type of anesthesia where you have a tube down your throat and are on a machine, now for the laproscopic surgery you have to be under general anesthesia, which can suck, your throat will be dry and hurt for days afterwards.


One more major thing. After hernia surgery it is NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO ****!. This is for 1 due to the fact that you can barely walk to the toilet, 2 you just had surgery in the area that you use to push crap out, and 3, to top it all off anesthesia and pain killers make you constipated. So dont plan on crapping for about 3-5 days. i had to drink plenty of milk of magnesia and take stool softeners and finally on about day 4 while hugging a pillow I managed to get a tird to fall out, and thats about all you can hope for, is for it to basically fal out cause there is no way you are pushing it out.

PM me for any more questions or advice!,


caution second image is graphic, and sorry the first pic was with my stupid iphone

[inkedouttrucca]

i had a hernia fixed when i was like 12. no idea how long it took for me to feel normal. no scar or anything. i recently had a physiccal and he said i had 2 weak spots that could turn into hernias. no pain or nothing. i think he just wanted to squeeze my sac

[Bigchrome]

I had an inguinal hernia op back in november and was back at school 4 days later, barely able to walk around. It hurts like a bitch, especially when I had to transfer myself from the trolley to my bed in the hospital with no pain relief. It healed up ok after about 3 months but I still feel it sometimes when I sit awkwardly or something. Hasn't stopped me deading or squatting yet though.

[yourneyman]

Hi,

Saw your posting from 2008 about your hernia...was just curious to know how you are doing now after a couple of years...about to have the same...

I had an inguinal hernia op back in november and was back at school 4 days later, barely able to walk around. It hurts like a bitch, especially when I had to transfer myself from the trolley to my bed in the hospital with no pain relief. It healed up ok after about 3 months but I still feel it sometimes when I sit awkwardly or something. Hasn't stopped me deading or squatting yet though.

[lockhart6789]

just wondering if you had any more hernias ops?