*** OFFICIAL INGUINAL HERNIA RECOVERY Thread ***

[drgephys]

I was diagnosed Monday with 2 inguinal hernias. After my ultrasound I went and saw my doctor. He wants to use a mesh to repair it and the surgery itself will be laparoscopic(sp)

The one on the left is more pronounced and causes lots of pain.


Questionsfor those who have gone through this-
did you have testicular And lower abdominal pain?
What other symptoms did you experience?
If you had yours repaired with mesh-does it dissolve or is it perm?
Do you still have pain following the surgery?
Were there any complications?

You probably have direct hernias, which are caused by tears in the abdominal floor.

Pain before the hernia repair is normal, and it could happen in the hernia site or in the testicle.

Meshes are never fully absorbed, as they are what keep the hernia in place, but some are partially, about 50%, absorbed. In a laparoscopic surgery, the mesh goes between your peritoneum and abdominal floor.

Complications and pain after the hernia repair vary greatly, from none to severe cases requiring a second, third, etc. surgery.

Good luck!

[FrankCostanza]

You probably have direct hernias, which are caused by tears in the abdominal floor.

Pain before the hernia repair is normal, and it could happen in the hernia site or in the testicle.

Meshes are never fully absorbed, as they are what keep the hernia in place, but some are partially, about 50%, absorbed. In a laparoscopic surgery, the mesh goes between your peritoneum and abdominal floor.

Complications and pain after the hernia repair vary greatly, from none to severe cases requiring a second, third, etc. surgery.

Good luck!

Can one have pain right below the belly button before bowel movements due to this kind of hernia?

[drgephys]

Can one have pain right below the belly button before bowel movements due to this kind of hernia?

I am not sure where exactly you're referring to but pain normally happens at the hernia site and especially during bowel movement or bowel gas, when the enlarged bowel strains the abdominal-wall tear (for a direct hernia), spermatic cord (for an indirect hernia), etc. Direct hernias tend to be located higher.

[FrankCostanza]

I am not sure where exactly you're referring to but pain normally happens at the hernia site and especially during bowel movement or bowel gas, when the enlarged bowel strains the abdominal-wall tear (for a direct hernia), spermatic cord (for an indirect hernia), etc. Direct hernias tend to be located higher.

what I mean to say is at the point where we bend forward below the belly button right above the pubis. Can you get pain when the bladder is full?

[FrankCostanza]

Is robotic more risky for pain and placement?

[drgephys]

what I mean to say is at the point where we bend forward below the belly button right above the pubis. Can you get pain when the bladder is full?

That sounds like probably where the hernia is. Yes, a full bladder can push on the hernia as well depending on where it is located, but it wasn't the case for my left-side indirect hernia.

[drgephys]

Is robotic more risky for pain and placement?

My doctor prefers laparoscopic TEP. I asked him about the robot (da Vinci), and he said he can use the robot but there is no advantage of using it. He also said the robot requires a larger incision than manual laparoscopic TEP. The robot is probably unnecessary in hernia surgery if a doctor is already experienced in manual TEP. It has some nice tools available to the surgeon though.

I kept going back and forth between laparoscopic TEP and open Lichtenstein and finally went with the open Lichtenstein, even though he had recommended laparoscopic TEP.

It's been about two years and two months since my surgery in early June 2018. Do I sometimes have pain? Yes, sometimes I feel slight pain in my inguinal canal when I urinate or move. I sometimes feel scared that one day it's going to turn into an horror mesh story that requires mesh removal. However, it's been mostly good, and it hasn't affected my workouts at all. I don't feel any pain when I lift and the occasional slight pain I mentioned hasn't been a significant concern. The only other thing is that my groin has never gone fully flat after the surgery. Perhaps the mesh was a little larger than it should have been and it's buckling a little.

The difference between laparoscopic TEP or TAP and open Lichtenstein is where the mesh goes. In laparoscopic TEP or TAP, the mesh goes between your peritoneum (the membrane that contains your intestines) and abdominal floor (fascia layer). In the open Lichtenstein, the mesh goes between your abdominal floor (fascia layer) and muscle layer. Both areas (inside or outside your abdominal floor) contain the nerves, blood vessels, and spermatic cord, and both can lead to pain and sexual complications due to mesh.

The key is to find a good doctor with a lot of experience and few failures. Surgery always carries risks, including death, and no one wants to have it, but if you have a hernia, it's not really optional.

[KungFuFighting]

Just checking in again at the 3 year mark here, you can find my earlier posts for more details, but essentially I had a right inguinal hernia repaired; open repair, using mesh. So far haven't experienced any pain, or adverse side effects, and it hasn't affected my activities (although I'm a little more mindful if something is likely to put excessive strain on the area). Hoping the repair remains a success long term.

Good luck, and a swift recovery to everyone.

A little late for my yearly comment, but thankfully just hopping in to report everything is still as described in my last comment (good). Again, good luck and a swift recovery to you all.

[FrankCostanza]

That sounds like probably where the hernia is. Yes, a full bladder can push on the hernia as well depending on where it is located, but it wasn't the case for my left-side indirect hernia.

they didn't find any inguinal hernias. they did lysis an adhesion attached to the sigmoid colon though.

[Bell0c]

Thanks and sorry for the late reply. I decided, finally, the Dr Koch as long as it was close to where I live. I made an appointment. At the moment with all this coronavirus thing I wanted to postpone the procedure. They replied me that they already had cancelled my surgery (they cancelled without telling me, thank god I didn't go to the clinic, after 800 km, to see they already stood me up without notice). The reason was that I was insulting the doctor in the herniatlak forum. Something I never did. I checked and yes, one of my messages had been edited saying that Dr Koch is Dr Mengele or something. You can see there, all the conversation is still there. Even though I complained in that forum asking for the reason why someone with admin rights edited my messages, I never received any answer from that forum. Furthermore, the Dr Koch clinic never replied when I told them...

So now, I have to wait and see, at least my hernia doesn't seem to get worse. I really have to be careful to what doctor I find, I really have had the jinx so far with all this thing.

No problem - as you can see, months go by between visits to this forum these days. I'm sorry to hear you ran into yet more trouble. Man, it's really been one thing after another for you. I don't know what you've ended up doing, but I agree with drgephys that that doctor's solution sounded pretty hardcore. Have you found someone else yet? If so, what course have you taken?

[drgephys]

they didn't find any inguinal hernias. they did lysis an adhesion attached to the sigmoid colon though.

Ah, I hope you get well soon. That would certainly hurt during bowel movement. Will you need surgery?

[dandogg]

That ****s hectic