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Burning, Shooting Pain after mesh repair
On February 9th I had surgery to repair a large incisional hernia, which encompassed my entire lower abdomen. The hernia originally occurred after my c-section that went horribly wrong (infections/wound debridements) and I had it repaired in 2006, without the use of mesh. The hernia returned, so I saw a specialist who used synthetic mesh. The repair was quite large, from my belly button, down to the pubic area across the entire length of my abdomen. I also had to have an ovary removed during the hernia repair surgery, as it had a very large cyst that damaged the ovary to the extent that it couldn’t be saved. Recovery was extremely difficult. It took 6 weeks to get somewhat back to normal and I had a Jackson Pratt drain in place for 3 weeks. My results actually look quite nice, considering all the damage that was previously there. It has been almost 4 months post op, there appears to be no issues, however I am experiencing an extreme burning/shooting type of pain about 60% of the time. OTC pain meds don’t really help. I experience this pain after walking and standing for a little while, typically. I am pretty fit and workout (mostly strength training) 4-5 days a week. I am limited with the amount of abdominal exercises I can do now, but I do get stronger/better with each workout. At first, this pain was occurring on the left side of my abdomen (the side the ovary was taken from) beginning about a month ago. Then more recently the pain has migrated to the right side, no longer on the left. My surgeon says this is okay and is basically my body adjusting to the mesh, which is melding in with my organs/tissues. He said that due to the extensive amount of work that had to be done during my surgery, it should be expected to take longer to recover than most. He said that everything looks/feels great and that my results are great. He also highly encourages me to continue on with my regular workouts. Maybe I am just paranoid, because of all that I have been through, but I would like to know more about why I am experiencing this burning/shooting pain?? Will it ever go away completely? Any information would be much appreciated!
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1 Reply
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Burning, Shooting Pain after mesh repair
If you are improving, you will likely continue to improve. It takes 1-2 years for the body to fully heal and all inflammation to resolve. Many studies have shown that exercise is more effective than medication for pain. Your body is made to move. Keep at it.
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