Open no mesh inguinal surgery. Is this normal?

[Mike M]

It will get better with time per all the doctors I spoke with prior to surgery in the United States and South Korea. I only experienced the usual “painful” hernia repair symptoms the first two or three days. Tension followed which faded over time (had to sit every 15-20mins). Tension was totally gone in about a month or so. My case was probably more difficult than the average repair because my hernia was deep, egg sized, and I was above normal BMI but not obese or anything outside the range for open tissue.

Most facilities do not consider it “chronic” now until after 6 months* but it can take up to 1 year for more serious cases.

[Bob]

WOW,thanks for all the replies. I will try to answer as many questions as I can. It was not at that hospital doug.My surgen thinks the nerve is acting up but will get better weekly. At this point he gave me nerve blockers to deal with the pain,but I didn’t like what I read about side affects so I didn’t take them. I’m still on advil. The burning pain was unbelievable for the first 2 weeks,but now it has calmed down alot and is bearable. Now my tescile hurts and from my cut down to the base of my penis and over to my crease and then back over halfway across where my bladder is all numb to the touch. When I touch it and push on it I have no pain,but all numbness,but I feel lots of pain deep inside that area all the time. I know that makes no sensr.I was a big walker before this.I walked 2 hours a day everyday for 25 years. Now I can maybe walk 10 minutes,but pain never let’s up. Sleeping hurts.moving hurts,sitting hurts. Report says second hernia was discovered after I was opened up. It says one direct and one indirect. It also says nerve was injected with stuff to keep the pain down which I looked up and it said it helps with pain after surgery by doing this.Im 3 weeks out this Wed. I know still probably not enough time yet,but sometimes it feels like no improvement. The burning went way down after icing the area 5 times a day everyday But it doesn’t help the whole area numbness and deep pain below it. It feels like there is something in there at times and bump is still there but I’m told that is common too at this point. Sometimes it feels like hernia is back. This pain is much worse then the hernia ever was.

[Doug]

Hi Bob,
May I ask if your Shouldice was performed at the Shouldice Hospital.
THX

[William Bryant]

http://www.rebeccaayers.co.nz/procedures-and-information/hand-surgery/nerve-surgery-and-nerve-repair#:~:text=If%20your%20nerve%20is%20bruised,continued%20improvement%20over%20many%20months.

Bob, this may help. Nerve damage can take a long time to heal depending on whether sensory or motor and whether cut or crushed. Those are the variables according to this. Sometimes intervention is needed, apparently, presumably to knit nerves back if they aren’t growing back.

Maybe ask surgeon if he thinks it’s nerve damage, if so whether it’s motor or sensory and will surgery be needed or not do they think?

Maybe ask the surgeon what might help healing

[William Bryant]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6563333/

If I’ve read this right this patient had 5 hernias on same side.

Timescale for recovery is going to be different from person to person. General measures would be to walk, as it’s gentle exercise, and still avoid lifting heavy stuff.

Hopefully someone will post who has experience of pantaloon hernias. Good luck

[Bob]

Update. It was a shouldice and a double inguinal hernia on one side. Direct and indirect. Maybe that’s why it’s taking so long to escape this pain. I have lots of faith in the surgeon.Im just looking for some others who may have went through this and how long it took them to recover and anything that helped speed that up.

[Bob]

Hi William. Thanks for replying to me. I’m not sure which one it is. I’m gonna call for copy of report on Monday. Doc just gave me nerve block meds on follow up appointment and said I’m one of the 1% who has pain like this with it after surgery. He says it will keep on getting better weekly,but right now its kinda hard to imagine that. No imaging or suggesting
anything else on his part. Just take pills and wait. I’m very concerned about this even though I know it’s still early post op.

[William Bryant]

That’s a real shame Bob, but it could just be it needs time to settle down. Do you know if it was Shouldice or Desarda repair? It’s usually better to walk as early and as often as you can so persevere I’d suggest. I think most surgeons want patients to walk as soon as possible after operation as it help
Also maybe some imaging could help, has doctor suggested that? If not maybe request it?

Good luck to you and hopefully it’s just time being a great healer.

[Bob]

Hi Thankyou for responding. I had right inguinal hernia no mesh and no nerves cut. I’m told my hole was big..Walking seems to make the pain worse. Before this I would walk 2 hours a day everyday. Now a short distance is hard to do.

[Good intentions]

Even in open no-mesh surgery there are different methods. Some cut nerves and some don’t.

Can you give more details about the method used? And the type of hernia?

I don’t have any experience in your type of problem. Just mesh implantation and removal, both laparoscopic. Healing can take quite a while. I found at times that more activity actually helped the pain, rather than rest. You might experiment and see if the pain stays constant, gets worse, or maybe gets better, with increased activity. It seems counterintuitive but physiologically I think it makes sense. The damaged tissue needs good fluid movement to resupply the tissues with oxygen and remove damaged materials. New blood vessels need to grow in to restore the balance.

[Wim]

How woould Dr Kang deal with direct en indirect? Since he uses local Anesthesia and the place where he makes his incision depends on the type. Or maybe in your case the hernia was direct but the intestine slide further down and they call it direct-indirect for that reason, but in reality it is just a direct hernia-repair?

• This reply was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by  Wim.