Hernia repair

steve Beyer

 Any and all thoughts, experiences, opinions with surgical repair of inguinal hernia. Looking into and leaning toward a non-mesh correction. Not too keen on having a piece of mesh in me.

morpheus

If you've been having to push stuff back in often, you'll be glad you got it fixed. Mesh is fine, extra support. Downtime is a few weeks to let it really grab hold but at least it's 'offseason'. Nows the time to get it fixed for an athlete. Otherwise, it may pop up and need to be repaired at a more inconvenient time.

rmiller

I've had both sides of my tires blow out (not at once, though). Mesh both times. Agree with Chris - get it fixed now. A few days of lying around and slow walking, a few more days of limited range in walking, but within two weeks you'll be pretty much good to go for general life activities, minus lifting heavy things or exerting too much. That can take a couple/few months, and incrementally gets better over time. I was shoveling snow within a few weeks. My dad was on the treadmill like the next day - said 'yeah I think it really helped loosen things up!' Crazy bastard!

Not sure of your situation, but I was under the impression that mesh was preferred because it's a stronger repair, whereas non-mesh may be more prone to re-popping. But like I said, probably depends on the situation and severity. I can tell you that after having both sides done, I don't ever really think about it, you don't feel the mesh at all - the only evidence is a scar.

steve Beyer

thanks guys.

Just FYI, looking into non-mesh because of issues with chronic pain and/or immune reaction in percentage of those who go with mesh. Whole idea behind mesh is that scar tissue will form around it, which for some leads to chronic pain issues. And IMO (full disclosure- I'm a practicing chiropractor, but not AT ALL anti-MD), what is the preferred procedure medically has multiple factors behind it (sometimes influenced heavily by those with vested financial interest), isn't always as clear-cut as it seems, and has a way of changing. There are still some docs doing non-mesh repair, and done by them (ie.. those who have experience- surgery is as much an art as a science), there is actually a lower recurrence rate.

Still weighing it all out, and doing my due diligence, so I appreciate the input!

larsrec

I'm facing the same thing. Let us know how it turns out, especially the return to training.

kjanracing

The recovery time is a lot longer without mesh. My first repair in my 20s was my right side without mesh. I think I couldn't lift anything over like twenty pounds for about six weeks. Any movement that involved abs really hurt, which is most any movement! As I was a power lifter at that time, it killed me. After about 10 years, that side blew again and the surgeon used mesh. Shorter recovery and it felt a lot stronger in that area. After about another ten years or so, that familiar feeling was back, both sides this time. Had mesh done arthroscopically on both sides. Really fast recovery and it was a really easy surgery. Yes, just get it done now. Take the time to heal. It just gets worse and can become dangerous. You will be glad you got it fixed.

dougandpam1

Thanks much for all this information folks. I am a new member and was just diagnosed with an inguinal hernia on my left side. I actually have been having pain for about a year now (never prevented me from training, but limited range of motion to the point where I could barely tie my left shoe) so I am glad I finally got it figured out. I go in on 18 December for a meeting with the surgeon and have been very happy to have seen the comments about mesh and how long it takes to get back in to training.

steve Beyer

Quick update. Finished 3rd week of recovery from surgery(surgery date was Fri. Dec. 21st). Did non-mesh repair. Obviously too early to tell anything long-term, but I can give the following: I was definitely more sore than I expected at first, but will qualify that by saying 1. I never had ANY surgery, and was a little naive about the effects of even a "routine out-patient" surgery. 2. That "more than expected" soreness lasted approx. 10 days with a sharp decrease in discomfort level after that. 3. The discomfort level was exacerbated the first few days by the gosh-awfull constipation brought on by the general anesthetic from surgery. At the risk of grossing someone out, but in the attempt to help someone avoid what I went through, I would say start "milk of magnesia" ASAP after surgery just to be safe, and don't wait to day FOUR to do an enema like I did( that's what it finally took, and all I can say is thank goodness for enemas!).
Also I would add that did brisk walks last week and felt fine- even felt like could have done LRP run but didn't. Going to do longer brisk walks this week, with a plan to resume training week after that- doctors orders were that could return to unrestricted full activity after one month. Don't anticipate any problems but will give one more update shortly after jumping back into normal workouts.

steve Beyer

starting 2nd week of preseason wko's today. Will start outseason again next week if everything OK, which it was last week. First couple of runs felt some "twinges" at incision site, like stretching of scar tissue. Last couple of runs felt completely fine, except of course the decreased level of fitness from one month totally off No issues of discomfort with any ride last week.