idoncov
Forum Replies Created
-
quote Informedpatient21:I need to get some sleep.That’s something I got very little of for a full year with the mesh inside. I had a low grade fever each night and slept at most 2 hours a night, usually just before dawn. There many other issues as well. Everything came to an end when that mesh was removed.
-
2000 members for a 5 year old group. That’s not a lot. I expected a lot more.
-
quote mitchtom6:Thank you all for the kind words and follow up. I apologize for posting 4 times, there must have a been a time delay with my initial post.
A few weeks later I felt a ripping sensation in my groin when I crossed my legs on the couch, and I knew something was very wrong. I wonder what ripped – my mesh? My tissue?
I’ve had that happen to me. The ripping is the sense you feel when the mesh detaches from where it’s attached. Like a zipper. It’s not painful. The pain comes later as your hernia reopens.
-
From the conference article:
quote :Dr. Bisgaard said ….. Even so, he still believes mesh is the best choice for hernia repair. “I do not think it’s a question of using mesh or not. I think it’s a question of furthering the evidence to show which meshes we should use and where should we place it.”WRONG!!!!
Mesh has no future and as long as the medical community continues to think as above we are treading water. Nothing moves forward.
-
Oh, I’ve registered. But it’s still kicking me out.
-
I suggest that you speak to Dr Brown from Fremont, CA. 650-703-9694. He’s very approachable. You need to find a doctor who does not consider the mesh repair to be an option. There aren’t many these days.
-
What a shame we can’t read this.
-
quote localCivilian:[USER=”1660″]idoncov[/USER] Also, how are you feeling after the removal? Any other problems?
It took a great deal of time to recover from the mesh. While the mesh was there I had nightly low grade fevers that came regularly. Even a short 3 block walk would cause me to start sweating and major fatigue. I could no longer sit at a dinner table and finish a meal without these feelings. I remember going to a barber shop and coming home drenched after a 20 minute haircut. There were rashes that would appear after exertion as well.
All this slowly dissipated and went away, almost imperceptively at first. Even though the mechanical pain from the mesh was relieved by the surgery it took a long time for the system to regain it’s ‘balance’. The mesh was removed in February but I still experienced sweating and fatigue going into September of same year. I’m 72 so perhaps a younger man would bounce back quicker. There were times when I thought nothing had changed, that I was just as sick as ever.
-
Those pulling symptoms got worse for me as time went by. Initially they were barely noticeable. I felt a pulling and pain if I slept on either of my sides. As a result I could only sleep on my back. But as time went by the pulling would appear even when going for a car ride of more than say 30 minutes. And it seemed to radiate from the umbilicus area to the back.
When they finally opened me up they found abscesses all along the edge of the implanted mesh. Once the mesh was removed and those abscesses were cut off the body started to recover. But the pain you describe was an immediate fix to what must have been a mechanical issue because it was gone as soon as I left the surgery center.
My take on this is as follows: When you add a 4×6 inch mesh you reduce tension at the hernia site by reducing flexibility of tissue all around it. However, your body is a fluid object that reacts to pressure and gravity. As you move from side to side there is a natural stretching and compression of skin, organs, and what not. If you restrict this motion you build pressure points at the point of restriction (where the mesh is actually sewn on) which cause pain and discomfort. It’s like hanging clothes on a line. Everything hangs at the point where the clothes hand from the wire. When you remove the mesh you free this restriction, the tissues are once again allowed to stretch, and the feeling of being pulled is gone. The bottom line, is that the mesh is an inert material with virtually no stretch. When implanted everything must stretch to accomodate the mesh. The bigger the mesh, the larger area affected, and the greater the discomfort. When I had a smaller mesh implanted this was less of a problem.
Hope this helps.
-
“I’m six weeks post-op from an umbilical hernia repair with mesh done laparoscopically and I have noticed sharp tugging and pulling sensations when I get out of bed or even just from twisting or trying to stand up straight. The sensations aren’t really near my umbilicus but around my abdomen”.
Yep, I know exactly how you feel. Been there, done that.
I can’t tell you what caused it but that pain went away the day after the mesh was removed, never to return. That pain remained with me for a full year from a few weeks after the mesh was put in to when it was removed.
-
quote drtowfigh:[USER=”2608″]dog[/USER] it wasn’t possible technically possible before synthetic mesh so most lived with their hernias, no matter how disabling, and could not be offered a repair. People were maimed by other techniques and complications of open tissue hernia repair. Use of the darning technique caused fistula and erosions and chronically draining wounds. Surgeons were harvesting fascia from the thigh to treat abdominal wall hernias. This worked about half the time for the hernia, and the fascia harvesting left a disabling set of complications to the leg, including nerve injury. Deformity was more common. Testicle loss was more common. Scars were enormous.
It wasn’t a rosey picture before mesh.
These are medical emergencies, rare complications. Mesh, however, is now used for every garden variety hernia. There are surgeons now who will use mesh as an absolutely last resort. Those are the ones I would suggest going to.
-
quote Lucky46:I am in a pretty bad predicament here and have been coming to peace with myself for the last two years.If I’m bad pain wise……I mean worse off than now,cause now I can’t move certain ways,sleep 3-4 hrs,can’t sit,stand long,walk too far….
I hear you. I’ve been there. I know exactly what you’re going through.
You need to get the mesh out pronto.
I took antidepressants to deal with the mental part until the mesh was out. There’s light at the end of the tunnel.
-
“I am in a pretty bad predicament here and have been coming to peace with myself for the last two years.If I’m bad pain wise……I mean worse off than now,cause now I can’t move certain ways,sleep 3-4 hrs,can’t sit,stand long,walk too far.”
I hear you. I’ve been there. I know exactly what you’re going through.
You need to get the mesh out pronto.
I took antidepressants to deal with the mental part until the mesh was out. There’s light at the end of the tunnel.
-
I went through the same experience as your friend is going through for 2 years. Headaches, low grade fever, sleepless nights, night sweats, fatigue, inability to walk for more than 4 blocks without breaking into a sweat, indigestion, diarrhea every 2-3 days, belly pain prevented driving for more than 45 minutes at a time. I was advised and went through all of the suggestions Chaunce1234 makes. Everything came up negative. Stanford’s diagnosis – chronic fatigue syndrome.
Finally requested that my mesh be removed. And the change was miraculous. All those symptoms are gone. The images of the hernia mesh showed abscesses all along the edge of the mesh and nearby. Pathology said they were inflammation due to foreign material in the body. It was a 6×8 inch mesh placed internally between the bowels and the peritoneum.
I know Dr Brown fairly well. He is more anti mesh than most. A big question is how to fix the hernia after the mesh is removed and that depends on the size of the opening. Dr Brown should provide sound recommendations on how to do it without mesh.
Wishing you the best. My advice – trust yourself.
-
You probably mean 4cm, not 4mm?
Dr Brown is not a fan of meshes. He’s very responsive and will answer your questions personally.
-
I have the same thing after my hernia repair. I was told that the diarrhea can be caused by constipation. When you can’t poop due to an obstruction or constriction your system will flush it out with extra liquid. It seems counterintuitive but it makes sense. In my case the constipation was also witnessed during ultrasound. That may be happening in your case.
-
Passing gas is like pooping. It’s not how long it takes, it’s how much pressure you exert to do it. If you’re constipated it can lead to problems during the initial time after surgery. Dr Towfigh advised pushing a pillow against the abdomen while doing it to reduce the outward pressure. Those corsets really help as well. You can sort of tell. If you feel any abdominal pain while farting then that should be a warning.
-
Yes, I had pain below the area of hernia repair before bowel movements. I didn’t know I had a hernia at the time. That particular pain went away after the inguinal hernia repair. It’s strange because none of the doctors could tell me what was causing the pain or whether the surgery would address that.
-
I feel that traveling for hernia repair is a legitimate concern. Should short term complications arise you may or may not be covered by insurance. You may end up staying at facilities and seeing doctors you are not familiar with. If you have long term complications you will likely have to make repeated trips to the doctor that treated you in the first place. The trouble with long term complications is that the specialist is not sure that there is one and will tell you that healing is progressing normally. That can go on for months.
On the other hand having a hernia treated locally by a general surgeon can be a big mistake. Overall, I would say that the danger of being treated by a local surgeon is worse. But traveling to be treated has it’s issues.
-
I’m not a doctor but I can definitely tell you that the golf ball sensation you describe can be cause by a hernia. I have had one for years and the inguinal hernia surgery remedied that issue. In the mornings when fresh out of bed I could lean on one leg on the side of the hernia and feel the golf ball prominently but less so or totally absent when leaning on the other leg. As the day progressed the golf ball feeling became dispersed and seemed to be more in the middle. The same results can be had at any time of the day after a rest in a laying position. Incidentally, if you lean forward while standing the golf ball is much less felt. So I can confirm that that sensation can be caused by a hernia.