Anyone else have an *internal* hernia repair? (Petersen's hernia, transmesenteric hernia,...

Howdy folks. 

Last Friday I ended up in the ER needing emergency surgery for an internal hernia (they called it a Petersen's hernia) that caused my intestines to twist on themselves, creating an obstruction and cutting off blood supply to the rest of my bowel.  I've been home recovering for the week.

Just curious if any of you have had an internal hernia repair before (not an incisional hernia, those are different.)  If so, what was your recovery like?  How long did you have pain afterwards?  How long before you could eat normally again?

I've been on liquids for about 10 days now and even sometimes they hurt.  I can only manage maybe 6 oz at a time of any liquid, yogurt, shake, etc.  Otherwise I get crampy, stabby, spasmy pains in my small intestine where my surgeon did the repair.  Did you experience this as well?  Just want to compare notes with those who have been through something similar.

PSA:  Please educate yourselves on internal hernias.  I had mine for MONTHS and suffered miserably with abdominal pain, constipation, severe abdominal distention, food intolerances, nausea and vomiting.  I endured several tests that all back "normal."  Internal hernias can be very difficult to diagnose unless you are symptomatic and a TRAINED EYE catches it on a test such as an upper GI or a CT Scan.  Even then, sometimes they are only found through exploratory surgery.  If not caught and treated in a timely fashion, they can be fatal!  My experience is on my OH blog if you care to read about it.

I am glad and not glad to read this and may just go to the DR. I had my surgery 19 years ago. I had an RNY but my bowel was looped up, if anyone else has this surgery please let me know. Anyway I have not felt good. I can not eat anything without getting stuck and nausea and burps I cannot explain. The pain comes and goes with pain radiating to my back and feels.like ribs as well as upper right stomach. I had ended up in ER and they admitted me for low blood. My DR showed dilated small bowel and possible illeous early obstruction, they let me go. I ended up in the ER again and the CT was normal. I do not feel right and I feel like something is wrong. I am about to just go to the hospital that did my surgery. They have me feeling absolutely nuts and at this point just want surgery to see it fix this. Please let me know how long your symptoms persisted.

Me, me, me! Mine happened about 3 years post op and was the absolute worse pain I have ever felt in my life. As luck would have it, I was on vacation in La Paz, Mexico (SCUBA diving) and ended up in a Mexican ER just to be sure I wasn't DYING so I could get on a plane and come home. My hubby took me right from the airport to the hospital.

It took them a LONG time to discover what was wrong with me....the pain would come and go; I would think I was getting better only to end up back in the hospital! I came back from Mexico in mid-October and didn't have the exploratory surgery until after Thanksgiving!! All tests came back "normal". It was only when I FINALLY consented to exploratory surgery that they found the problem and fixed it.

I had lost so much weight pre-op that my nutritional status was awful and as such it was a much harder surgery to recover from. I didn't eat "normally" for probably 4 months or more! I have since gone on to have a regular 'ole bowel obstruction about 4 years after that....so, I seem to be on the every three to four year plan for problems! I have another 2 or 3 before I gotta start worrying!!

I sure hope you start feeling better soon.

 hi Melody,

sorry to hear you are going through this.

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon....in fact, one of my coleaders Lisa, went through it along with several other LIPO members.  Feel free to copy this post to our Facebook LIPO forum for more interaction.

Hope you feel better soon!

(((HUGS)))

Melody,

So sorry you had to go through this, but glad you found the cause of your problems.   Wishing you a speedy and complete recovery.

Peace,

William

 Oh, I sure did have an internal hernia!! I had adhesions also and that partially blocked off the section of the small intestine that connects with the bypassed part of my stomach. This was filled up like a balloon.

To go back a step, I probably had this for about 2 years before I was diagnosed. I had recurring pain behind the belly button which would eventually resolve after I vomited. Once I had this for 5 days, and my internist said I had a virus. I should have called the surgeon right then and there. I had the pain often. The last time I went to ED after 24 hours of horrible left upper quadrant and umbilical pain. A CT scan showed the doctors what the problem was. Within 24 hours I was in surgery. Dr. O'Malley took 3 hours to do my surgery, and I was in the hospital another 4 days after with an NG tube (goes into your stomach and keeps it drained of fluids). I was able to eat on day 5 when the tube came out  but had no appetite and continued to have little appetite for about 6 months. I lost another 10 pounds. I had post surgical pain but after about 2 weeks that was gone. I did have a lot of fatigue for about 2 months. I was not put on a liquid diet but a regular "bariatric lifestyles" diet and was told to eat normally.

Have you had a post op check yet? If your surgeon didn't give you an appointment, make one and talk about it. 

By the way, I am almost 9 years post lap gastric bypass with RNY surgery. I was told that it is unusual to have this complication so far out, that it usually happens in the first 2 years post surgery. Lucky me.

I do feel 100% better than I did before the hernia was repaired!

I can relate to your journey for my husband. He had RNY 9 yrs ago and he started to have pain at his drain sight a yr post op and it would come and the about a month ago it hit and held on. He had a 9 yr post RNY check w/ his gastric surgeon and he ordered a CT scan the next day and from that they discovered the internal hernia. He had the surgery on May 4, 2017 he got through it ok and he had to do the elimination requirement w/ lactulose help and he was discharged the next day. He had been severely incontinent prior to the surgery due to his Lewy Body Dementia and Parkinson's and so when he returned home and he didn't have hardly any urinary output during that weekend. We called his RNY surgeon, that also did the internal hernia repair and he told us to go straight to the ER to which he was diagnoses as dehydrated and his colon was huge. So once again he had to do the elimination requirement that was successful without the help of medication. They got him hydrated and sent him home with a foley cath and told to get it removed by his urologist 2 days after being discharged. He had the foley cath removed and we expected everything to be fine, and the urologist told him to drink 6-8 glasses of water and see if he can urinate by 3:30 and if you don't call the office. So we had to call the office and he had a new cath. put in, we don't know how long he has to wear it. But that isn't the only problem that he has had, he hasn't been able to have a regular bowel movement since the surgery, in the hospital it was diarrhea and not mostly jus****er. Do you or anyone else reading this experience. We are going to call his surgeon on Monday to see if this is normal. He has been able to eat but not as much as he could before the surgery. And his abdominal pain is about a 5 on the left side close to where the drain of the RNY was, of course he has 5 little incisions on him stomach. He said today the pain is a sharp shooting pain that comes and goes. I know that his surgeon said that his intestines were very twisted and had been that way for a long time, so they untwisted them and anchored them to some mess in hopes that it won't happen again. At that time he said that his colon was very enlarged. I wish they would of checked him out sooner since he started to have the pain much earlier. But the surgeon of the RNY said a year post op was to soon to open him back up if the problem continued then they would have to check it out and we finally go to that point. He has congestive heart and chronic afib on top of the other health issues so going through surgery is especially dangerous for him but surgery on anyone is a potential danger. Thank you for reading my post. I am grateful for anyone's insight.

I had similar experience 4 years out and now again at 15 years out. Surgical consult scheduled Tuesday.

Aug05 2009 I had emergency  surgery for bowel obstruction caused by the bowels going into their self like  a telescope. I had a harder time recovering from this surgery. It happen 4 years post op.Dr. Anthone did both surgeries.
make sure you give yourself time to heal.
best wishes
junebug

What were your symptoms in the beginning, and how did they progress? 

I always make sure I have regular bowel movements.  Five days prior to ending up in ER, I stopeed having bowel movements even after enemas, Dulcolax, Maralax, Benefiber MoM and stool softeners.  I slowly began having discomfort early Wednesday, but it was higher in my abdomen.  Then Wednesday night I had a stabbing pain under my left rib that radiated across my gut.  I finally went to ER.  I had a CT scan with contrast, x-ray and large volume enema.  The tests came back normal.  The problem is my upper gut "just does feel right."  It feels like it does after I have a stomach virus with a lot of vomiting.  It just does not feel right, but I cannot put my finger on it.  I have been beating myself up for even going to ER when nothing was "wrong."  Now I am a little concerned something could be percolating in there, but it is to early to show up.  Can you tell me how your symptoms developed?