Forum Replies Created

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  • Scarletville

    Member
    August 7, 2021 at 6:10 pm in reply to: Good resource comparing open (mesh) repair types

    Most repairs these days are invariant to whether it’s a direct or indirect hernia from my research into this. That said if it helps you at all, a surgeon I spoke with felt it was fairly probable that my hernia is indirect because while it’s small it occasional goes into the scrotum. As an indirect hernia provides a direct path to the scrotum that explains why a small hernia could reach. A direct hernia that’s dipping into the scrotum would usually be quite large. I hope this information can be of some use to you. Remember that even if you find a surgeon that can do a specific repair you’d like for an indirect/direct hernia they will have to work with what they see when they open you up so keep can open mind.

  • Scarletville

    Member
    July 10, 2021 at 4:59 pm in reply to: We’re Told “Avoid Sneezing” but Never How

    My hay fever is so severe even on a fluticasone furoate nasal spray and 180mg fexofenadine tablets that since my June surgery was cancelled due to covid restrictions I don’t feel safe rebooking till the season is over. Without medication last year I sneezed so much that I could not move my external obliques at all without pain for a week, it felt like I had torn them. It’s literally impossible even medicated to go a single day without sneezing multiple times during the season.

    • This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by  Scarletville.
  • Scarletville

    Member
    May 29, 2021 at 2:15 pm in reply to: Pain from lifting 10 years after repair

    Tough one to comment one, really going to need to see a doctor/surgeon maybe get a scan done to check on things again. Off the top of my head, maybe a small recurrence at the edge of the mesh. If the pain didn’t descend into your testicles I’d say maybe even IBS symptoms and if the pain was only in the lower region varicose veins. I think you really are just going to need to see a professional to have any idea of what’s going on and stress that you’ve experienced it for 4 years now it’s not a pulled muscle you want an answer.

  • Scarletville

    Member
    May 26, 2021 at 12:09 pm in reply to: Can CT scan accurately determine size of my hernia?

    I have read small umbilical hernias can be suture repaired quite simply but I doubt the NHS will do it. It will probably get worse as hernias tend to with time so personally I’d want to try get the NHS to do it before it becomes a mesh situation which they still might not be willing to do unless they consider it dangerous. If you can at least get a referral to a surgeon and ask them about the risk/reward of repairing it when it’s small it’d be helpful.

  • Scarletville

    Member
    May 26, 2021 at 1:30 am in reply to: Hernia Massaged back into place (& NO surgery)?

    A small hernia probably doesn’t require surgery and a watchful waiting approach taken till it’s problematic but a massage is absolutely not going to cure your hernia. A hernia surgery is the one and only fix. No gym routine, diet or massage is going to cure it no matter how small it is.

    • This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by  Scarletville.
  • Scarletville

    Member
    May 10, 2021 at 8:07 am in reply to: Dr. J’s Own Hernia

    The idea of being able to exercise with a hernia seems so surreal to me. My inguinal hernia is smaller than a golf ball but causes an intense level of discomfort associated with it when it protrudes at all so I’ve always acted to prevent that by wearing a truss. This certainly isn’t a perfect solution so even with a truss I wouldn’t be able to exercise. My hernia first presented after working out in the gym as I was a bodybuilder and immediately drastically changed my life. In my circumstance I knew watchful waiting wasn’t a good fit for me. It’s strange to me that others must not feel it quite the same as myself to be able to remain active.

  • Scarletville

    Member
    May 4, 2021 at 11:37 am in reply to: Mysterious Post-Surgery Swelling

    I’ve seen issues like this posted before, so I’ll link one:
    https://herniatalk.com/forums/topic/my-personal-7-day-experience-after-2-layer-shouldice-with-absorbable-suturesa/
    Reading this will probably give you a good idea of what people would say/suggest to you.

    My personal 7 day experience after 2-layer Shouldice with absorbable sutures…

  • Scarletville

    Member
    April 30, 2021 at 7:20 am in reply to: can scar tissue be removed?

    I would pose this question to a surgeon that is a specialist in hernia repair and extremely good. Most surgeons would want to entirely avoid that scar tissue and and go in from the other side. I’m not sure where you’re located but if in Europe maybe consider speaking with Ralph Lorenz or Andreas Koch.

  • Scarletville

    Member
    February 26, 2022 at 4:00 pm in reply to: Local anesthesia with conscious sedation surgery experience

    Dr. Ralph Lorenz, I hope this reply isn’t too late. He will most definitely get back in touch with you if you contact him. I also had difficulties getting replies from other surgeons.

  • Scarletville

    Member
    January 7, 2022 at 10:21 am in reply to: Local anesthesia with conscious sedation surgery experience

    Late reply but better than never. I didn’t fall back on recurrence rate, the surgeon I found in Germany had a much lower recurrence rate with tissue repair. I simply put more emphasis on getting the repair done in a timely manner. I’m still doing really well, everything doesn’t feel completely perfect yet but feeling pretty damn good so I’m glad things have so far worked out well for me.

  • Scarletville

    Member
    October 27, 2021 at 3:28 pm in reply to: Local anesthesia with conscious sedation surgery experience

    Ah I think that’s “The British Hernia Centre” with the bad reputation. Their prices are truly insanity, I’ve seen higher no where else, it’s cheaper to fly to South Korea for surgery even including the hotel stay! This wasn’t strictly a paid phone consultation though, I had a consultation with him in London and this was the follow up phone call which is part of that, for things such as booking in the surgery and final questions. But yeah his consultation cost a lot and he treated me like that, in comparison in Scunthorpe I had same day consultation plus surgery and they offered me surgery within 3 days of my phone call.

  • Scarletville

    Member
    October 27, 2021 at 7:29 am in reply to: Local anesthesia with conscious sedation surgery experience

    This one an open mesh repair in the UK because covid cancelled my operation in Germany with no known date when I could book in again. This was made even more difficult by the fact Lorenz is very highly sought after and has a long wait list. I just couldn’t wait any longer.

  • Scarletville

    Member
    October 27, 2021 at 7:27 am in reply to: Local anesthesia with conscious sedation surgery experience

    So this is probably going to enrage you as much as it did me but basically I didn’t ask much because of my previous experience with a surgeon. I spoke with Martin Kurzer regarding a tissue repair last year and after my consultation on a follow up phone call he literally hung up on me for asking questions regarding how he was going to do the surgery. After that and another surgery that fell through due to covid and desperately wanting to just get my life started again I resigned to just asking the most basic questions, will you use a flat piece of mesh (yes) and what is the material (prolene). This surgeon may have been absolutely fine with detailed questions but this entire experience has been the most frustrating and drawn out of my life. It’s ridiculous you can pay like £200 for a consultation and a surgeon hang up and refuse to operate on you for confirming details of the surgery he will perform. His basis seemed to be he thought I’d hound him post surgery with questions and issues. I’ve literally not contacted my mesh repair surgeon once post surgery and couldn’t be happier with the results so far.

  • Scarletville

    Member
    October 27, 2021 at 7:19 am in reply to: Shouldice vs Kang surgery experience

    I got mine done in a small private hospital in a small place called Scunthorpe https://trentcliffs.co.uk/. The Surgeon has a recurrence rate of about 2%. The logic behind it was basically that I wanted it done under a local, please see my experience post of that if you’re interested and that if you go to a place where the approach is sort of local first rather than general the price is wildly different. I paid 2k for the entire experience, Martin Kurzer with the St John & St Elizabeth Hospital in London was charging like 3.7k for the same thing. I initially spoke to Martin but seriously the guy was so rude to me it’s just obscene anyway besides the point. Simply put under a LA you can get treatment considerably cheaper if that’s their focus, if you go to a place that does generals all the time then you get given that price. I wanted a LA because I didn’t like the idea of a general and the experience was fantastic while also saving me £1.7k. The small hospital offered incredible care and wait times were non-existent. You can quite literally book in for surgery same week, go to the hospital and practically walk straight into the operating room. At all points there were at least 3x the number of staff to patients looking after us.

  • Scarletville

    Member
    October 25, 2021 at 4:09 pm in reply to: Shouldice vs Kang surgery experience

    Hey, despite booking in with Dr Lorenz due to Covid politics I wasn’t able to travel to Germany for surgery and was left in limbo with no dates as to when it would be possible. Given it was a key time in my life and this was the 2nd tissue repair surgery I painstakingly tracked down and booked in I gave up and got a mesh repair. Had the repair done under a local and made a post about it, recovery is going amazingly. I couldn’t be more happy to so far in not be in the category of horror stories.

  • Scarletville

    Member
    May 26, 2021 at 11:55 am in reply to: German COVID-19 Restrictions

    It’s a weird situation, honestly I believe it’s Brexit revenge. I’m fully vaccinated, it’s been proven the vaccinations work on the Indian variant, the UK vaccination rate is much higher than that of Germany and the EU and the Indian variant is present in EU countries and other countries not on their restricted list. I was very surprised by this turn of events as it just doesn’t make sense especially for someone fully vaccinated and travelling for a medical procedure (German requirements on those medical procedures being extremely strict).

  • Scarletville

    Member
    May 18, 2021 at 4:38 pm in reply to: Dr. J’s Own Hernia

    Fingers crossed for both of us, after my operation on the 7th of June I’ll be making a post on here about my experience which might help you decide. Also my surgery is at a different hospital Dr Lorenz does surgeries at which looks considerably nicer: https://www.havelklinik.de/behandlung/zentrum-fuer-allgemeine-chirurgie

  • Scarletville

    Member
    May 17, 2021 at 8:09 am in reply to: Dr. J’s Own Hernia

    Mark if it’s really important to you that you get the surgery done in the UK I believe Dr. Andreas Koch does some surgeries in London as well as Germany. I would consider contacting him. As I said though if price does matter the surgeons and facilities are better in Germany at a much better price. Ulrike Muschaweck definitely does surgeries in London but I think the other options are more preferable for your case.

  • Scarletville

    Member
    May 10, 2021 at 11:09 am in reply to: Dr. J’s Own Hernia

    I don’t know what procedure will be used which is a relief for me as it’s because he can perform multiple types of repair (including Shouldice and Desarda). He will tailor his approach to me and my specific hernia.

    Here are his stats if you’re interested from tissue repairs:
    “We follow up our patients normally until one year and we can report that we have a very low recurrence rate of lower than 0.5% and a pain rate of lower than 1.5%. Younger patients below 50 years are normally ideal for a pure tissue repair. After a short break of normally 4 to maximum 6 weeks after surgery you do normally any sport as you like. ”

    The costs are incredible, the London surgeon was going to charge £4200 for a Desarda repair with 1 night stay in hospital. In Germany it’s going to cost £2,081.34 for the surgery (includes everything) and £103 per night in a private hospital room or £77 in a shared room. Accounting for flights, hotel and even choosing to stay 3 nights in hospital it’s still cheaper and the hospital looks incredible.

    On the NHS, in my case it’s not going to be funded by them at all. I believe you can get them to partially fund it but in my case I’m dying to get this surgery done quick. I have terrible health anxiety so I’ve prolonged waiting far longer than I should have and the longer the lead up to the surgery after I made up my mind the worse it was going to be.

    My opinion on private hernia surgery in the UK is that I see no reason anyone should get it done. It’s cheaper in Germany and the experts are located there hence my London surgeon referred me to them.

  • Scarletville

    Member
    May 10, 2021 at 10:05 am in reply to: Dr. J’s Own Hernia

    Booked in for surgery on the 7th of June with Dr Lorenz in Germany after a UK surgeon referred me as he wasn’t confident enough in tissue repair. I certainly hope to be able to get back to the gym after I’ve recovered. That said even if I could just go for long walks without major discomfort it would be a life changing improvement.

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