Hernia Repair

[livingwith]

Greetings,
Almost 2 years ago I had surgery for diverticulitis they removed part of my large intestine and I can’t remember the proper name. Had I known I was going to be living in this kind of pain I wouldn’t have done it and took my chances.
I was always a very active person, I lifted weights and was very physical around the house. Since the 1st surgery I pay for everything I do. The worse thing for me is sitting and needless to say that is what I do for a living, I am a network e...Read the full article

[rick.cole]

Still having pain.
I had surgery on December 17, 2008. The surgeon found about a 3inch section of the hernia mesh that was "floating" which he removed.
I really wanted this to be it but as time goes by (3 weeks now) I am still having the same issue. When I went back to the surgeon I swear he looked at me like I was nuts.
He did mention that there could be an issue on the wall that faces the inside that may actually have a small tear in it. He says I may be constantly tearing it with my activities. He even mentioned more surgery to put some mesh on the inside of the wall to see if that won't fix the issue.

I don't know when that would be done but I can tell you this is really really old and I am having a lot of issues dealing with constant pain. I am even thinking about going to a pain management center/DR but to be honest I can't see how that will help until the physical issue gets resloved.

If anyone reads this and has any suggestions of any kind I would love to hear them.

Thanks
Rick

[BamaMan35805]

Rick, you wrote: "I am even thinking about going to a pain management center/DR but to be honest I can't see how that will help until the physical issue gets resloved. If anyone reads this and has any suggestions of any kind I would love to hear them. Thanks Rick"

I too have the problem of never ending pain after an inguinal hernia repair. My advice to you is to go to the Pain Management Center and get them to help you in anyway possible. That is what I had to do, because my doctor told me that there is nothing surgically he can do to relieve my constant pain. So, I went to the Pain Doc's and they actually were concerned about the level of pain I was having to live my life in. I now take oral morphine, 3 times a day, under a Doctor's supervision and I also get an ileo-inguinal nerve block shot about every three months. This has been ongoing since the spring of 2005 when I had my operation. I have been told that after 4 years, it is not going to get any better than it is now and to get used to taking medications for pain and getting those ever so fun nerve block shots into my groin. I am sorry I do not have better news to report, but I thought you might like the truth for a change, at least from my perspective that is. Hope this finds you doing better than me and I hope you are able to recover fully without going through what I have had to go through. Best of luck to you.

[rick.cole]

BamaMan, Thanks so much for the reply. I can't believe someone read my post let alone replied.

It's now May 13th and I am currently seeing a pain management doctor. They have me taking an anti-depressent at nite and 5mg hydrocodine 3x a day. The hydrocodine is about the only thing that gets me through the time at work but I don't feel 5mg is enough. The anti-depressent helps me get some sleep but as for helping the pain I haven't seen any kind of improvement. To be honest I would question the strength of the pain meds and such but I am so afraid they will say something like "You shouldn't need that so we are taking it all away". That was the attitude of 2 different surgeons, those guys are such pompus ass's.
I still think there is a physical problem and still don't understand why no one can tell me what is going on. I have such a hard time accepting the "theory" of the issue.
Thank you again for replying and I wish you the best with your on going battle.
Rick

[BamaMan35805]

Hey Rick,

No problem. As far as a physical reason, the only one I have been able to get that sounds the least bit reasonable is this, when they sewed the patch into place, they sewed it a little too close to the ileo-inguinal(sp.) nerve, and the aggravation of that is causing the pain. Theoretically, according to the surgeons(who never seem to feel our pain, imagine that), it is supposed to "calm down" once the body has fully adapted to the patch and all the stitches are absorbed. Unfortunately, as we all know, seldom do theory and reality coincide. Especially in my case. I had thought, because I had not suffered the severest of the pain (which you know well) in about 6 months, that maybe the doc was not as full of it as I previously thought he was, and he shall forever go un-named, because he is a good surgeon, just does not have any empathy. Anyway, after six months of relief from the excruciating pain, I made the mistake of moving. After a few longs days of toting box after box out of one house and into the other, I had a flare-up. It almost felt like I had re-injured myself, but the doc ruled that out. So, just last Friday, had to have my oral meds increased and go through the ever pleasant nerve block shot. But keep the faith, somebody, someday, will come up with an effective treatment for this condition. At least I keep hoping anyway, and as long as hope never dies.......

[rick.cole]

Wow, You're diagnosis sounds like my issue, why a doctor can't tell me that is beyond me.
I too pay for everything I do physically. One time I even stretched with my hands over my head and felt a tearing. That set me back to day 1 and yet the surgeon told me he wouln't know why.
I'm sure he is a good surgeon but like you said they have no empathy.
I am a network engineer and if I went to life with the attitude like the doctors I would be unemployed.

All I know is I am so sick of this crap, all I ever told them was I wanted my life back. But I will talk to them about your diagnosis and perhaps they might be able to finally give me a decent diagnosis.

Thanks again for sharing.

Rick