Anyone had surgery for an inguinal hernia ?

Shmoo

I met with a surgeon who told me the is a 30% chance of ending up with chronic pain afterwards...seems like pretty high odds to me.

skunkwerx

Shmoo said:

I met with a surgeon who told me the is a 30% chance of ending up with chronic pain afterwards...seems like pretty high odds to me.

General rule of thumb is research your surgeons. 

So whether you go back to your gp and ask for another referral to a different specialist for a second opinion , or like I did for my Coeliac Disease, ask to be referred to Londons Guys & St Thomas, ie a different and better hospital even though its a big trek away. 

I had to complain a bit to get it, but I wasn't happy that the gastroenterologist at my local hospital was giving a shit. 
Guys found many things he had missed or just not bothered to check you see. 

Many nhs surgeons are also privates, so its worth looking on the net too. 
Really an Nhs surgeon should do the same job to the same standard anyway, but there are many variables, not to mention everyones body is different anyway. 

Make sure to ask the next surgeon questions about their success rate etc, percentage of risks long term like the pain you mentioned. 

No need to settle just yet before you've interviewed a few buddy.  

barry2tone

Not had one, but waiting an appointment at which surgery will be discussed.

Come from a NHS career, so can read the literature. The news on mesh repairs is not good - oftimes worse than the original problem.

tone1

Yep... I’ve had a left side done and probably need the right side doing. My advice is don’t let them use glue to close you up... insist on stitches. My entry wound didn’t last until I got out of theatre and the wound got infected which ended up with me going back in to have the scar cut out and stiching properly. 
I get the odd twinge on the left side but nothing too bad. Beware the post Hernia poo though 

djspecialist

I had one, something like 8 years ago.  Had zero issues since.  I remember the post-op catheter not being a whole lot of fun though!

mbe

I had left side done with open surgery and mesh repair about 7 years ago. Went in at 8.00 am and sent home at 8.00 pm.

Stayed off work a couple of weeks and now and again I get numbness in my thigh front. Meralgia paresthetica. Nothing at all like the pain I used to get before I had my op. I was fronting a band then and the pain was awful, trying to sing from diaphragm was impossible.

Tone71

I had mine done 14 years ago, open surgery and mesh and it was ok, well I say ok, getting home was weird literally put in my car and limped into bed full of drugs, I remember the cricket was on tv in my bedroom and I couldn't be bothered to turn it off and would nod off on the meds and wake up to the game with not much happened, it was like time standing still.

I remember not being able to move at all the following day and my wife having to lift me out of bed to get me moving, I was told to get up every hour and move a little bit, firstly just to the toilet (the first shit was trying to say the least) and eventually down stairs.

Getting to the toilet initially took an age but literally every hour I moved and felt a little bit better and was moving around surprisingly quickly considering, a week later I was walking around the house  

 I'm still numb in the area but it doesn't affect anything and it was something I was warned about, I have had no pain though but weirdly can sometimes feel it when coughing, quite how that works when all is numb I don't know. 

viz

Just had my umbilical done. Takes quite a long time to recover. 

Tone71

viz said:

Just had my umbilical done. Takes quite a long time to recover. 

I need mine doing have put it off for 7 years!

ourmaninthenorth

viz said:

Just had my umbilical cut. 

  I had that done 55 years ago...not recovered yet...

Roland

viz said:

Just had my umbilical done. Takes quite a long time to recover. 

The really good news is that nowadays we can do that operation. In the past you would just have to suffer. If we don’t sort out antibiotics to prevent post-op infection then then that situation will return.

viz

Tone71 said:

viz said:

Just had my umbilical done. Takes quite a long time to recover. 

I need mine doing have put it off for 7 years!

Me too - mine was only done as an emergency in the middle of a ruptured appendix op; their preference initially was to keep it as is as it was pretty benign, but it suddenly became necessary, so hey presto, 2 operations for the price of 1.  

spark240

Not sure what type that is....but I had a normal Hernia Op a few years ago, had a mesh thing fitted...seem fine ?

Shrews

Shmoo said:

I met with a surgeon who told me the is a 30% chance of ending up with chronic pain afterwards...seems like pretty high odds to me.

I had one about three years ago and haven't had any problems since. It was pretty nasty before that, had some really sickening 'kick in the bollocks' type pain on and off for about a year whilst on the waiting list. 

I do believe there have been issues (link below) but I'm ok so far. Gulp!

 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-40132638

Shrews

ourmaninthenorth said:

viz said:

Just had my umbilical cut. 

  I had that done 55 years ago...not recovered yet...

Me too. Left a horrible deep scar, which, even today, seems to get bigger if I eat food or drink beer. 

musteatbrain

Bumping this as I’ve just got back yesterday after a double hernia repair. Doing surprisingly well so far. I actually did quite a lot of searching for hernia discussions on this site as sometimes going on a non-medical site gives a different and more practical source of information. 

So if you are reading this in the future and wondering about a hernia op on the NHS, feel free to message me and I’ll be happy to recount my experiences so far.

stimpsonslostson

I’m concerned I might have a hernia... got a soft bulge down towards my “other hairline” it’s not particularly sore, more of an occasional ache. @musteatbrain how’d it go longer term?

Im at the “self diagnosing/scaring myself via google” stage but will go to the GP ASAP for qualified assessment. 

musteatbrain

Get an ultrasound sorted for an initial look.
I initially self diagnosed myself as “not” having a hernia as I didn’t think there was enough of a visible lump, but it turned out I was wrong.

My recovery has gone well. Almost back to normal, just need another fortnight before I can get fully back to sports and work on my next injury. Very small scars too. It’s been amazing how quickly it’s healed although the first few days were not fun when I needed to cough.

Feel free to PM if there’s any specific questions.

Yearofthegoat

Go to your GP ASAP. If you get a 'strangulated' hernia it can be dangerous.

If they think you have a hernia, don't get an ordinary ultrasound - too many false positives.

Ask for an injected contrast-dye herniogram. The dye shows up what is going on much better.

https://www.ouh.nhs.uk/patient-guide/leaflets/files/100211herniogram.pdf

57Deluxe

I had a Hernia op in Nov 1987. It employed that mesh woven into tissue and was pre keyhole days. So I have a 4"+ scar and hard lump to this day along with occasional twinges and pain on wet cold days or if been on my legs for a long time/walked round London for 8 hours/intensive physical sex kinda thing. It was also a long recovery period and the 12 staples went septic prior to removal. Yes, the most unpleasant thing to ever happen to me physically.

musteatbrain

I’ve been lucky. Ultrasound was a 5 week wait but a 5 minute appointment. I could still train whilst I had it for 6 months but just had to knock the numbers of everything down about 30% and keep an eye on it so they would go back in place and not be one strangulated. Op was a day case and I was back on an exercise bike after a week taking it very slowly