Anyone else had inguinal hernia surgery(groin) Still have pain months later?

[maldorf]

A little over 8 weeks ago I had hernia surgery for 3 different hernias. One was an umbilical that I had for over 18 years, and the other two were in my left inguinal area (left groin).
Ive been back lifting like normal now for a little over 2 weeks and ive been having pain in my groin again. Strange thing is its mostly in the morning only, about 2 hours after I get up. The rest of the day I am fine and able to squat, deadlift etc without pain. I do feel a funny sensation there sometimes, but ive been told thats normal. I guess it will never feel the same again.
I am going in for a CT scan tomorrow morning, have to drink a bunch of white crap 2 hours before I go in. they will give me an IV too to help contrast the picture better.
The surgeon looked me over on wednesday but couldnt find any evidence of a reccurence on the hernia. My question is, to those that have had this surgery a long time ago, do you still get pains down there? Is it normal to have pain when bending over. He thinks maybe its just irritated from the lifting, but not torn. Just looking for some people that have lived through this hell. Guess Ill know more in a few days after the test, but even that test may not tell us anything conclusively. Hes saying that an MRI is bettter, but the insurance probably wont pay for that unless the CT scan doesnt work. So you have to play the game of running the CT scan first. This may drag on for weeks.
In comparison, my umbilical hernia repair feels solid as a rock, and very rarely causes any pain at all. These hernias in the groin seem to be much more troublesome.

 

[NPCS FINEST]

Bro i had this too.....and i took a good 12 weeks off after my sugery from training. I still have that pain in the morning to this day and I bet it's been a good 4 years since i had the surgery maybe 5 now. Sometimes at night when i roll a certain way i get this shooting burning feeling down there that will wake me right up from a dead sleep.

sucks...but it's always going to be there

 

[norm1220]

I have had two mesh repairs, one 8 years ago and the other 3 years ago and both still bother me ocassionaly. The Doc who did the last one said that quite often the mesh will rub against nerve endings if you don't have much in the way of bodyfat. Since I stay pretty lean that seemed to explain it to me.

 

[maldorf]

thanks guys for the fast relplies. Makes me feel a little better to know that this is to be expected. I have read that elsewhere on the net too, but wanted to hear some more. Makes me feel really pissed to think that im going to have to live with that pain every morning for the rest of my life. I am glad though that I can squat and deadlift etc. Been able to work up to 405 lbs on the squats with little discomfort. I am praying that the ct scan will show that everything is ok, and that I wont have to go in for more surgery. BTW, they used mesh on all 3 of my hernias. Open surgery on the umbilical, and laprascopic on the groin.
Do you guys still do squats, deads, and bentover rows heavy? The pain I have wasnt really there 6 weeks after the surgery, but the morning after I hit 375 lbs on the squats it hurt and ive had that pain every morning since now for about 2 weeks. Im wondering if the pain would go away if I stopped lifting all together, and maybe its just us muscle heads that suffer from this. Maybe if I sat on the couch all night and watched tv it would go away! NO CHANCE OF THAT HAPPENING!

 

[maldorf]

OH, anyone know why it only really hurts in the morning after you get up? Even the surgeon couldnt answer that question for me, he just didnt know an answer. Strange thing is I can get up around 4 am to go to the bathroom and it wont hurt then. Its not until around 8am when I get up that it hurts to bend over.

 

[LATS]

sometimes the doc 's leave out the fatc that the mesh works by "covering" the opening then letting scar tissue form over the mesh.. this can cause the tissue to less flexable and this is especially noticeable after long periods of inactivity.. this might be the case..

 

[notthatstrongyet]

A year later and i still have pain sometimes

 

[MoreCowbell]

I had my right side fixed about three years ago after I got my hernia doing warmups on deadlifts. For the most part, it is fine although I don't do deadlifts anymore. I can still do bent over rows just fine and I keep my weights down and reps higher on straight legged deads.

The reason I dont do deads or heavy straight legs is because of the OTHER side of my groin. My doc told me that hernias have a lot to do with your genetics. Some people are more likely to get them and if you get one on one side you can bet your other side is likely to get one too. After I had the right side fixed my LEFT side started irritating me. I can't explain it but it just feels like the right side is so much stronger now that the left side is subject to more pressure. I have pulled my left side before and got really worried that I had blown that side out. The doc told me I was ok and that I had just pulled it. I think it took me about 12 weeks after surgery to really feel comfortable lifting heavy again and to have confidence that my intestines were going to stay put.

The only thing I can think of that would explain why you are sore in the morning is because the muscles tighten up after a night of rest and you just have to get moving a little bit to get the blood flowing down there and stretch it out a bit.

 

[maldorf]

sometimes the doc 's leave out the fatc that the mesh works by "covering" the opening then letting scar tissue form over the mesh.. this can cause the tissue to less flexable and this is especially noticeable after long periods of inactivity.. this might be the case..

A good theory, and sounds like a likely explanation. Makes me wonder if the mesh is a good thing or not. I suppose scar tissue would form with or without the mesh though. I have read that they can go in and sever a nerve down there to put an end to the pain. THey can also do saline injections to kill the nerve. Anyone have that done, or know someone that has??

Just had the CT scan done this morning. Drank a big bottle of Barium and had an iv too. Should get results back on Monday.

 

[MoreCowbell]

A good theory, and sounds like a likely explanation. Makes me wonder if the mesh is a good thing or not. I suppose scar tissue would form with or without the mesh though. I have read that they can go in and sever a nerve down there to put an end to the pain. THey can also do saline injections to kill the nerve. Anyone have that done, or know someone that has??

My doc told me that one of the RISKS to surgery was them cutting or killing the nerve. He made it sounds like you lose some feeling down in your quad and that it's not a good thing. I suppose that if it is really painful that might be an option.

 

[maldorf]

My doc told me that one of the RISKS to surgery was them cutting or killing the nerve. He made it sounds like you lose some feeling down in your quad and that it's not a good thing. I suppose that if it is really painful that might be an option.

Sounds like that might be the case, I know the surgeon mentioned that he would only destroy that nerve as a last resort. I was hoping that it was specific to the groin region, and didnt extend down the femoral area.

 

[maldorf]

bump. Just looking to see if anyone else has some real world experience as feedback.

 

[Tman2002]

reply

Theres a recall on the mesh they use to repair hernia's check it out

 

[maldorf]

Theres a recall on the mesh they use to repair hernia's check it out

Yeah, I heard about that. Going to take a look. I doubt it has much to do with this, but you never know.

 

[maldorf]

For anyone curious about that recall, I just read where it only affects people that had a ventral hernia repaired. A ventral hernia is on the abdomen and happens in the area of an old surgery incision. It says that patch may have a defective memory ring that can perforate your bowel and cause major damage. A really dangerous situation. If the bowel is perforated the contents of the bowel will spill into your abdominal cavity and cause peritonitis, an infection that will kill you in a matter of hours if left untreated. My mother just about died when her bowel burst many years ago.