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Recurrent Hernia Repaired – Couple Pain Questions
Had my recurrent hernia repaired last week, the original was fixed 12 years ago (lapro w/mesh). The repair was completed open with mesh.
The first couple days were painful but I was able to get by without prescription pain meds. I’ve made it a point to walk around, typically hurts the first minute and gets better the more I move. The past couple days things the pain has changed a bit, perhaps it hurts a bit more now that it did originally. I described it to my wife as it seems like things are waking up.
For those that have had an open repair, was your pain recovery linear? Or did you have good days and less good ones? The area round my repair was originally numb with discomfort coming from “inside”. The past two days this area has more feeling and the “inside” pain is now like a hot needle if I move the wrong way. And with the waking up I notice a pressure that was similar to the original hernia. All of this subsides after walking around, but comes back. After my original surgery 12 years ago, one of the lapro holes had the hot needle sensation for a week or so. Perhaps a nerve waking up?
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3 Replies
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Does the pain respond well to anti-inflammatory medications, like Advil or Aleve? Assuming you can tolerate NSAIDs well and your surgeon/doctor approves, that may be a reasonable option to take every day, particularly if the pain is not bad enough to warrant an RX-level pain medication.
Anyway, you’re just a week out of surgery so I wouldn’t worry too much about some milder pain here and there, it’s a significant procedure in a highly innervated area so discomfort is expected.
Keep us updated on your follow-up and progress. If you have good results, consider sharing the procedure, name, and location of the surgeon you had as it may be helpful for other future patients.
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Unfortunately I don’t have the details around the repair aside from what he told my wife (quickly identified the hernia and fixed me up). My incision is about three inches long. It’s more uncomfortable now than it was, but still nowhere near needing prescription pain meds. Even since this morning I seem to have more feeling down there…especially around the hernia side “berry”.
The only time my previous mesh has come into the conversation is in how he approached the repair. I’m guessing mesh was used this time as well. I’ll post updates as things progress, my followup is in a couple weeks…should have all the details after that.
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Hello Vegas. One week is not really enough time for the entry incisions to even heal fully, I think. Open surgery is generally known to be more painful in the early days than laparoscopic. More invasive, bigger entry incisions, work done right inside the inguinal canal. I can’t speak specifically about the feelings of open surgery, since both of mine were laparoscopic.
Can you give some details on what was done, just to round out your story? It’s an interesting one. What did they find, what did they do, was any of the original mesh removed or moved? Thanks. Here is a link to your original topic.
https://www.herniatalk.com/8826-recurrent-hernia-12-years-later
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