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Hernia and pain
My case is so complicated from top to bottoms I was born with 2 linguinal hernias and had a serious brain tumor at 5 that left me with one sided weakness and having to switch dominate sides. So essentially my body is out of wack to start with. About 4 years ago I had an inguinal reoccurrence that was repaired with mesh. It went decently well and at the same time the doctor said he saw the start of the left starting to show signs of left reoccurrence. Fast forward 2 years later and I have a pretty severe pain in my left groin going into my testicles. My doctor did a horrible job of explaining what was going on and I ended up at the ER twice. I was told I had an inguinal hernia and coached on how to reduce it. For the next few months I was almost on bed rest because of the pain end sliding down feeling going into my scrotum/testicles. My surgeon didn’t think that the amount of pain I was in matched the size end location of the hernia. Of course no other testing was done prior to surgery and he prepared the left inguinal hernia with mesh. The level of pain after surgery was much higher than the right side from the start. Did I feel as much of the sliding down nature as much no but still has significant groin pain and testicle pain. They also don’t exactly lay or look the same as pre surgery. The surgeon said the mesh was in place and sent me to a pain doctor. I was doing pain injections and physical therapy to slightly better results. Sadly I then had an issue with hemorrhoids ( all of this seems connected in some way). I had a simple rubber band procedure and immediately had a bad reaction where the banded internal hemmoroid causes a thrombosed hemorrhoids to form. Long story short it started bleeding to a scary point and I couldn’t get it under control so I went back to the ER and ended up staying at night. Since then I’ve been managing them with much better bowel habits and stool softeners. However I know have difficulty sitting/driving for any period of time. Any pressure down there builds and is extremely uncomfortable. The perinium /anal pain is an issue everytime I sit of even lay down on my back (I can only sleep on my side currently). I’m still having groin pain that goes into my penis and testicles and symptoms that mimic levator ani syndrome. I just started with a pelvic floor physical therapist but just as I started I was diagnosed with an incisional hernia above my belly button little less then 2cm in size ( the incisional hernia is from previous hernia surgery incision ) and a tiny umbilical hernia. My surgeon wants to fix the incisional hernia which I agree with but he doesn’t have much to say about my grown pain. Also should be noted that the previous surgeon left a decent amount of fat in the inguinal canal and some have said that could possible by a source of the pain? I guess my worry is having another surgery when it’s not even addressing my main issues kind of scares me. I still feel like there’s something off in my groin (the left sided inguinal repair) but my doctor says the mesh is in place and there’s no defect on ct scan. This is a daily pain for years at this point and I’m just at a point where I want to get relief and my quality of life back.
This may have been the longest post ever on here but wanted to let it all out and maybe someone had an opinion or some guidance. Appreciate Dr. Towfigh for allowing this forum and hope all of you are doing the best you can in your situation. – Brandon
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1 Reply
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Hey Brandon I feel your pain. They told me my mesh was in place too. They lied. I had to learn how to read the imaging myself because I kept being told nothing was wrong with me. I even had a radiologist record on preliminary report his findings as “mesh migrated across abdomen wrapped around testicle testicular pain pulled shorts all the way down artifact still showing moved for delay”, when I went to the ER for cutting sensation in spermatic cord area and behind testicles. Only to have the attending radiologist change the final diagnosis dor the CT scan to “right inguinal pain, patient fixated on mesh migrated across abdomen wrapped around testicle” with a clinical diagnosis of, and educational materials about home care for “Testicular Pain: Unknown Cause” I probably have you licked in the complexity department but that is not my purpose here. After I learned to do the analysis myself, I found so many things wrong inside me that I thought I must not have as firm of a grasp as I anticipated, because I trusted the competency of the radiologists and medical professionals to have a better understanding than I did. There was just no way there could be as many issues plainly visible to me, someone who literally had 3 days of learning experience. Certainly I’m overestimating my abilities to diagnose. I found a way to check my knowledge with AI. I uploaded the files to ChatGPT and instructed it to analyze meticulously for any abnormalities focusing in the specific areas I was feeling it internally, as well as the original hernia mesh repair site. I was blown away with validation of everything I found by computer analysis. My insides have remained in that condition for 2 years being told everything was fine inside. I just did the AI thing a couple of weeks ago, and have it analyzing all imaging I found unreported major and obvious issues. Then maybe I can actually get it fixed, instead of all medical personnel denying I even have a problem. I am having it prepare a comprehensive analysis and report with findings highlighted and labeled to bring to the next doctor I go see. My suggestion to you is either learn to analyze and present a comprehensive presentation if you do find the mesh has moved or deteriorated while still “in place”. ChatGPT is another easy option for another unbiased look to check the state of your mesh and internal issues you may be experiencing pain from. It doesn’t cost anythjng(until you start sending vast amounts of files, then it just limits you if you don’t upgrade for $20/month for plus plan. That shouldn’t be necessary for second opinion purposes. Just tell it what your symptoms are issues you have been having, etc and it will do the rest and give you a detailed report. It does need you to remind it to focus on certain areas, or it will misconstrue what you type. Spelling errors on reports etc. Just a little buggy, but it analyzed fairly well. I was impressed with that aspect.. Worth a try if you believe it may not be there. Many unethical doctors, possibly affiliated with the hospital where surgery was performed, will watch each other’s back and protect their employer from potential lawsuits, rather than prioritizing the patients well being. I’m not saying that’s the case, but I suggest you look into it. The AI could even tell you if there are affiliations. Anyway, Im5sure you will come across my living 2 year nightmare at some point on here. It’s just not the time yet. I hope you feel better and your pain issues are managed properly and well. Stay informed, have a great day.
Nothing out of the ordinary on these CT slices here at all. Perfectly healthy, obviously. Medical professionals have assured me there is nothing wrong with me…. More to come …someday.
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