Question:
Any one who has incisional hernia pain...
I'm almost 11 months out and have lost 96lbs. When I went for my 6 month check up I asked my surgeon why I still had pain when I coughed. He examined me and said I had a hernia. He told me to wait until I got under 200 lbs (which I haven't yet) and we could see about getting skin removal along with the repair. But, the past few months the pain has increased. I have a sit down job and work 12 hr shifts. Now, after 6 hrs I start having real bad pain which is usually on my left side just under my rib cage. My stomach pretty much always stays distended and very hard but not always is associated with the pain. Well, I called the bypass nurse and she had me call and make an earlier appt. (instead of my scheduled annual appt.). I saw the new surgeon they have on staff and was not impressed. I left feeling more confused than when I got there. First off, I'm assuming the pain is from the hernia and apparently so did he because he didn't run any additional test. I told him I was sometimes taking 12-15 extra strength tylenol a day for the pain and it wasn't helping. He told me to stop because it was bad for my liver. However, he didn't offer any other type of medication for pain control. He told me he could go ahead and do the surgery or I could wait another 2-3 months and loose some more weight and "kill two birds with one stone" and have the skin removal along with the hernia repair at the same time. He told me to go home and think about it and let him know (I live 2 1/2 hrs away). I would honestly like to wait and see if I could also have the TT but I don't know how much longer I can stand the increasing pain. BTW, I did go to my local ER for the pain before I made this appointment and they did an XRay and determined I didn't have a blockage. I guess what my question is...has anyone had a large incisional hernia, experienced increasing pain and had the pain be something other than the hernia? If the pain is coming from the hernia, I would like to have some kind of pain medication to help aleviate the pain while I try to loose the remaining weight but on the other hand I don't want to ignore or mask the pain if it's coming from somewhere else. Any advise or experience would be greatly appreciated! — Jill H. (posted on August 27, 2004)
August 26, 2004
Jill
I feal for you I had 2 hernias they was the size of a large goose egg I ad
a hernia repair TT done at same time I had started having pain with mine
but I ha been having to do allot of lifting also and the hernia repair was
the most painfull operation I have ever had for the frist 3 days then it
got better but my back hurt bad aslo but thats part of it and I had been on
operation table 4 hrs cause mine was so bad but I am much better now and
thankfull Ihad the operation if your INC does not cover s then I would have
both done at same time cause dr can write it up so its covered if it does
pay for them then I would wait to have TT done Ihave not ad any pain with
were TT is at just fluid build up cause he did not put drains in
Take Care Huggs
Beth
— wildbrat
August 26, 2004
I would be remiss to offer a diagnosis and I am not a doctor, but did he
offer to do a CT scan? Doctors can see how extensive the hernia is with a
scan. I have a script for one because of a hernia, though it is not giving
me too much problems I had it pre-op. I did have a CT in the past just to
see what was going on with another hernia and it showed up on the scan and
it was a small hernia. I would wait on having the surgery, grin and bear it
because you are opening yourself up to needing more surgery down the road
to have them redo the TT when your skin sags more after you loose more
weight, just my lowly opinion. Christine
— ChristineB
August 26, 2004
Hi, I also have an incisional hernia. Im having that repaired and a
complete abdominally plasty at MCV in sept. I have pain at times with my
hernia,, like when I cough or sneeze. I was told that some people never
get theres repaird, that you can actually live with this type of hernia,
you run a slight risk of it strangulating. I have read that if you wear a
girdle or something that will hold the hernia in, it may help with the
pain. Ask the docs about an internal hernia or an ulcer also,, it may not
be the hernia causeing the pain. It doesnt hurt to check it out.
— Amy Hoffman
August 27, 2004
Hi Jill, im 3 weeks out froma lapband with a very large umbilical hernia
repair.it took 8 months to get a date and the surgeon asked my husband why
i waited so long to get repaired!anyway, last week i called my surgeon with
extream left sided pain under my rib cage.he told me it was nothing..maybe
i pulled a muscle .2 days later a had a huge seroma(collection of blood and
fluid) errupt through my belly button.so, off to the ER of a CT(cat scan)
to rule out a bowel obstruction.thank God there was none...so the ER doctor
refers me back to my surgeon as he tells me "nobody else is gonna
wanna fix someone elses problem." well my surgeon is 5 hours away! im
here now being treated for a big infection and now have dressing changes 2x
aday to that area.im stuck here for 10days to make sure this clears and i
dont have to go to the OR again.im not saying you have a seroma..but you
know your body..i would at least insist on a Cat Scan to make sure.All the
best! Tracey
— traceybubbles
August 27, 2004
I had an incisional hernia about the size of a large egg. My Dr. gave me
the first available appointment because he didn't want it getting worse.
If you are in pain it could be that your intestines are getting cut off.
The recovery from the hernia is not as bad as the Gastric Bypass. The Dr.
just ties up muscle. Just a little sore. They can do it lap which is a
fast recovery. It is better to get the hernia repaired asap if it is
causing discomfort. I hated knowing that my guts where popping out of my
muscle wall. Who wants to wait for it to get worse?! Please take care of
yourself. We have been through enough just with the gastric bypass.
Demand the care you deserve! Good luck and God bless.
— shellyi
August 27, 2004
I begin having problems a year ago, my stomach stuck out and it sounded
like a ripe melon if you patted it (above my belly button). My Doctor
referred me to my surgeon--BTC now Barix. I saw them in February --my
weight loss had come to a stand still even though I exercized 4-5 times a
week --60 -80 minutes cardio, no refined sugar, no pop, no alcohol, I
limited carbs. My orginal surgeon was unavailable, surgeon on duty told me
to lose more weight and have everything done at once. In May 2004 I made an
appointment with a BTC surgeon closer to home and he agreed the hernia
needed to be repaired. I was feeling miserable, gas was getting trapped in
the intestines and I had surgery in June 2004. I was on a 10 lb lifting
restriction since February, the pain from the hernia was bad. It was a
very large hernia...much larger than they thought. I had out patient
surgery ...went home two hours after surgery. I really hurt though, the
surgeon used the same incision as my open ..the incision was only 3 inches
shorter than the open. I went back to work one week later-- back to cardio
exercize in 3 weeks. My tummy looks so much better and feels better. I've
lost 10 more pounds and according to my friends I look like I've lost
50lbs!. I too had blood and liquid build up under the skin by the
incision, but no infection. I was very lucky. Have the surgery, you have
too much to risk, emergency surgery is not good. I've talked to other post
ops in my support group and they advised the same thing. Its not worth
waiting around for...do it now.
— debmi
August 27, 2004
Hi -- just wanted to comment more...I am 50 I live 100 miles away from the
hospital where I had hernia surgery. As I said I went home in 2 hours
afterwards...they put in a pain pump (epaderma pain killer)and it was in
for 48 hours. My trip home was fine. I didnt feel bad until 24 hours
later. Prior to surgery, I experienced pain when I coughed, had a bowel
movement, or even leaned against a counter. My stomach was as hard as a
rock, my clothes fit terribly -- hard to get jeans zipped etc. Best wishes
to you. I hope you feel better soon---its such a great feeling after you
have surgery and heal --I even started running --with my binder on. You
can get a TT later.
— debmi
August 28, 2004
Hi, I also had an incisional hernia for about 7 months and it was causing
me alot of pain, I waited as long as I could. My Ins denied me TT at same
time, so I had togo ahead with the hernia repair, July 7, 2004. I came home
and after a week I got sicker than ever, couldnt keep liquids done even. I
had to go to the Er and found that I had an open hole and had to operate
again, this time placing in mesh, on July 21. I now feel much better and
very glad I did it. I have lost another 6 inches off my waist since then. I
havent decided if I want to fight for an appeal on the TT just yet, I am
pretty happy with the results since the hernia repair. So it was truly for
the best. I wish you the best in whatever you decide, just don't wait too
long. God Bless Patricia 9-30-03 314/161 past goal
— pateblkbrn
August 29, 2004
Girl,I feel your pain.I'm having my Hernia Repaired Tuesday.I've been
having pain under my left breast real bad.Felt like I had pulled a muscle
or something.Well my Dr. that did the wls examined me and said that it's
not the Hernia that's bothering me,and he can't be sure until he does the
hernia repair which needs to be done anyway.So while he's in my guts I
guess he'll see what's going on.Good luck.
— Timeko G.
August 29, 2004
Girl,I feel your pain.I'm having my Hernia Repaired Tuesday.I've been
having pain under my left breast real bad.Felt like I had pulled a muscle
or something.Well my Dr. that did the wls examined me and said that it's
not the Hernia that's bothering me,and he can't be sure until he does the
hernia repair which needs to be done anyway.So while he's in my guts I
guess he'll see what's going on.Good luck.
— Timeko G.
August 29, 2004
Sorry you are having hernia problems. I also have an incisional hernia and
an umbilical one. The incicisional one is big and the umbilical one is
smaller but ugly as heck, my belly button is all deformed. I have pain when
I roll around in bed, when I get up out of bed, when I get out of the pool,
coughing, sneezing, leaning on it and going to theb athroom. When I eat it
gets huge and hard. yuck. I figure my abdomen (the upper part) will be
about 5 inches smaller without the hernias sticking out. My WLS surgeon
said I should have it fixed because it bothers me. This was at my 8 month
check, my previous appointment he wanted to wait until I had lost some more
weight and this visit he feels like I have lost enough to have them fixed.
I agree. I hate them and want them fixed. I am scheduled for surgery
October 18th. I have lost 125lbs so far and have 75 more til goal. He
doesn't feel doing the tummy tuck at the same time is a good idea because
with the mesh they use it increases the chance of infection. The incision
would be 2 different places for the 2 procedures. I do have some anxiety
wondering if I should wait until I can have a tummy tuck at the same time,
but what if I never reach goal. You never know. I don't want to wait a
whole year to fix them. my insurance company tends to want people to be
stabilized at their goal weight for 6 months before they'll consider tummy
tuck or paniculectomy. The panni is just removing extra skin and so should
not affect the hernia repairs that will include muscles and stuff. Good
luck what ever happens. Feel free to e-mail if you want to talk some more.
— catleth
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