Question:
Hernia Repair

I had a Hernia repair on Oct.7th 2004 and went back to work 2 1/2 weeks ago , well I got sick with the flu this past weekend with ALOT of coughing!!! Well went to the Doctors yesterday for Meds and told him of soreness in my stomach, but it was in lower stomach. Well he laid me on my back and told me to cough and said there might be a Hernia at the top of my stomach opposite of side from prevouis hernia, well needless to say I almost DIED hearing that, but he said maybe I just pulled some muscyles from all the coughing, which Iam hoping. Has anyone experenced anything like this? Iam hoping its not another Hernia, I htought the henia repair was more painful then the WLS. Thanks christine    — blainejrjeni (posted on November 30, 2004)

November 29, 2004
I had my hernia repair last Tuesday and I must agree it is more painful than the WLS. I still have my drain tube! YUCK
   — lmaxwell

November 30, 2004
Christine my story sounds almost like yours. I had a very large hernia, repaired in January using mesh. I had a tummy tuck at the same time. During my recovery period, I too got a bad cold. While lying on my back, I got a coughing fit, felt something pop and sure enough, another huge hernia popped out. In May I had to have another surgery to fix that one. This time a very large piece of mesh was used. Compared to my RNY, these surgeries were smooth sailing for me. Good luck to you. Wendy
   — Wendy G.

November 30, 2004
I just had a hernia repair and I was in so much pain when I came out of the OR, I had no pain at all with my Open RNY. I thought the hernia repair was going to be a cake walk...I was wrong!
   — [Deactivated Member]

December 2, 2004
Coughing, vomiting, and other forms of muscle strain can open a hernia repair up and cause a recurrence. The problem is that the mesh does not stretch, so with sudden stress, the repair tears. Long term, simply breathing gradually tends to open the mesh where it was sewn to the normal muscles. This is why I advocate hernia repair using the patients' own muscles only. They strecth and expand with these normal bodily movements, and the failure rate is lower than with mesh. Much lower chance of infection, too, because no plastic of foreign material is used.
   — DrL