Annette: Question to you about peterson hernia

Have you ever heard of a peterson hernia? I had surgery 4 years ago and am looking into a revision however the surgeon feels i have a peterson hernia but not as serious as many but will require a Lap Explortary surgery to see what's going on. The surgeon office called Friday and want me to have a sleep test as well as ekg, chest xray lots of lab work, see a shrink, a dietician for a 3 months supervised diet and have to join a group for people that have gained and had complication from surgery. I also had a baby a year ago and went on the depo shot after and gained 41 pounds in 3 months and was told there was no way that it was possible surgeon told me yes its very possible has a lot of patient who have had babys and went on the shot and gained weight. The good thing is he said i haven't failed..

Hi,  Not only have I heard of the infamous peterson Hernia I had one and it almost killed me! The kind I had was a rare internal Peterson hernia. My small instestine somehow got a hole in it. My small instine came through the hole in itself and turned insideout. It twisted then wrapped itself around my pouch, colon, and something else (I'm not sure if it was my pancreas or gall bladder). It then twisted again, flipped over moving my organs from my right side to my left side. to make a long story shorter I went to my P.C.P. early on when I first started having pain on my left side. He told me there was nothing on my left side. and basicly just brushed me off. the day came when I was in so much pain I had my daughter take me to the E.R. at Garden City Hospital. They did some tests and told me it was my pancreas from all of my heavy drinking ~mind you I hadn't had a drink in 10 years at that point! They admitted me and gave me some really good pain meds. They ordered a npo(nothing by mouth) and hooked me up to an I.V.. A ton of tests and five days later, The Dr. told me there was nothing wrong with me, and I could go home. I did go home. My surgeon called me at home to make sure I was alright. Well I was back to work when I  got his message to contact him, I sent him an e-mail, he said he wanted to see me a.s.a.p. By the time I got to see him two days later I was in pain again. he told me He thought a gallstone may be blocking the passage way to my pancreas and he was going to remove my gall blater but first he wanted to take a look around to be sure thats what it was, as soon as he saw it it knew what it was and fixed it. He told me that because of me he changed the wayt he does his surgery. so this won't ever have to happpen to anyone else. He also told me if we would have waited one more day (two tops) I would have been dead  Well I have to go if you want/need more info please feel free to ask. God bless,. Annette

Thank you a girl from another board told me to contact you that you had had problems and about diet so sorry to hear about this and thanks for sharing

I'm not Annette, but just wanted to comment on the depo shot.  After having my 2nd son, I went on it...I gained 80 lbs within 6 months...60 of those lbs came on in the first 3...so yeah, it IS quite possible.  I never lost it either...in fact, it kept climbing and climbing, though at a slower rate.  Good luck with all that's going on.

Thanks for the glad to here that i am not alone but sucks that depo does that damage

I love this community!  Thanks for following up, you two (and others, of course!)

What I have read about the Peterson's is that it is difficult to detect without going in there.  I guess because it is all the same kind of tissue.  And, the tissue will actually die if the circulation is cut off for any length of time.  The fix often involves cutting out the weakened chunk of intestine, resulting in less absorbtion of nutrients and meds, very much like starting the original surgery over. Bottom line is not to screw around with pain and to push your doctor for answers.  Annette got herself into good hands, even when the "hospital" told her she didn't have a problem.