Hiatal hernia repair

you folks have been so helpful I feel so grateful for this forum.

im getting hiatal hernia repair at the same time as VSG. I'm wondering if any of you who had this can tell me how much discomfort is involved after the surgery and how long it lasts.

thanks in advance.

Pauline

Hi there. It's incredibly common for those procedures to be done at the same time. During my recovery I wasn't able to tell what pain was caused by which procedure so I'm not sure I'm much help. I was in pretty awful pain for the first 2 days and moderate pain for 4 or 5 days more after that with improvements each day. The worst of my pain was attributed to diaphragmatic nerve damage by my surgeon, but who knows?! I have noticed that people report very different levels of pain after surgery so it's definitely an individual thing.

My hiatal hernia was repaired suring my sleeve & that is what I & my surgeon were most worried about. She was worried because of having to pull head all the way back to work down throat & my having c spine disc rupture, I was worried because of sore throats, trouble swallowing ect.

I'm happy to say I cant even tell she went down my throat. I had absolutely no throat pain, no trouble swallowing my drinks. I think the vast majority of VSG patients have this procedure even if they are unaware of it. Because the hiatal hernia can b & most often is bigger than the new belly

My major pain & its still going steong is the stitches in the muscle infront of the stomach. I can feel the restriction in my new tummy when I've eaten too much yogurt.

Thanks. I think I've decided to not worry about it and take whatever pain meds they give me and keep on walking.

I think I was lucky. I had a hernia repair at the same time as VSG and I don't really feel the recovery was overly painful. I just made sure to take my meds and by the time I left the hospital in 2 days I no longer needed pain meds. I made sure to get up and walk in the hospital.

I also had a hiatal hernia repaired at the time of my VSG. I found the whole surgery much easier and less painful than I had expected. I used the pain pump for the first day in the hospital, then oral meds the second day and nothing after that.

I've had 2 hiatal hernia repairs. One at the time of my VSG that didn't take and one 10 months later. I didn't need any pain meds once I got home from my VSG/HH repair and I didn't really use any in the hospital or at home after my second repair. The second HH repair was a non-event (other than it got rid of my GERD!). I don't think I have a super human pain threshold, it just didn't hurt enough for pain meds. You'll be fine.