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Opinions on mesh removal & managing chronic pain
I haven’t been on here in a while but there was time when I posted a lot of questions on this site.That being said, I have also seen several doctors in person too. I had a left inguinal hernia repaired about 15 months ago and I felt hopeless for a very long time after the surgery due to continuous complications and chronic pain. It has only been in the last 3 months that I have noticed any improvement but I still worry constantly about the implant. I can feel it inside me and it does still cause me discomfort. Every doctor I see tells me to just live with it.
Some of the symptoms I have had (and still do experience) include a tugging sensation radiating into my scrotum, pain and tightness near my hip bone, and nerve sensations shooting through my thigh. At present most of these are 70 percent gone although they do come back. Some have been gone for a few months now such as the tugging sensation
The upside is that I have been able to resume some of my favorite activities such as biking, rock climbing, and hiking, although to a lesser degree than before. There was a phase in January of this year when I was barely able to walk two city blocks and although I am wildly unhappy with the overall results I have to take what I can get at this point…and I can move again and things seem to be progressing forward again.
So what have I learned from my experience…I don’t have a lot of trust in surgeons, plain and simple. For a while I considered the prospect of having the mesh removed but that meant going to the same professionals who have been so dismissive with my post surgery treatment. What helped me out the most has been physical therapy and movement. It may not be right for everyone but the surgeons offered me very little medical advice and there is an almost criminal lack of information regarding follow up treatment/care for hernia surgery complications. Given the frequency of this surgery and the high rate of complications, it baffles me that research isn’t blazing forward on post surgery treatment modalities. I hate to sound so negative but once a surgeon has done the surgery then you have left their field of expertise and they are not much use. So, back to my point, physical therapy might help. I am in the process of seeking out a couple new therapists for help. One specializes in cesarean complications in women and the other is a sports medicine PT that focuses on my activities. I have my fingers crossed that they can provide more positive results with better encouragement for a happy future than they surgeons who all just threw their hands up in the air.