# Inguinal Hernia Surgery Recovery - this sucks



## Green Giant (Dec 19, 2003)

So out of nowhere in January I started having groin pain, lower abdominal pain, and worst of all of course, junk pain. Particularly right sided.

First - varicocele found on ultrasound, but docs said that wasn't it.

Then - ct scan found the hernia, not horrible (but it was at 8am and after I had been laying all night).

Surgeon didn't think much of the CT, but after seeing me and really checking things had me in surgery the next day. 

Open hernia surgery March 2nd. Recovery early hurt like hell, but went fine. 5.5 weeks later walked all over disney for 9 days with the family with very little pain. So at 7 weeks - back on the bike. 

First week went OK, LOTS of soft tissue pain, but very little of the early hernia pain. So at the end of the week, I pushed it on MTB ride - that was a mistake. Hurt pretty bad again, even some groin pain and junk pain. But, that went away for the most part after 3-4 days. But had lingering pain for another week. So at the 8 week mark after things calmed down I went and got checked again. Doc said all good, go ahead and start riding again. 

So, 9.5 weeks out I went for an easy 15 mile road bike ride. A little sore to start, soft tissue again but ride went well. 1.5-2 days later, a lot of the same pain, pressure in the groin and very little but some junk and abdominal pain.

Took 2 days off and it's subsiding again.

Am I looking for too much at the 10 week mark after open surgery? Or is this crap going to linger for a while? Just looking for guys who have gone through it.


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## Procter (Feb 3, 2012)

I have to do this at some point. Bilateral. Just curious how old are you?


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## Oh My Sack! (Aug 21, 2006)

I wasn't riding mtb when I had my identical procedure. Mesh repair, I presume? Recovery was a hell of a lot more painful than I expected. Did you get that tearing sensation when you stood up? OMG, it was terrible. There was a day maybe 3 or 4 days after surgery where I could not straighten my body out while standing as it felt like a searing hot poker just burning above my right nard. It was so bad I called the surgeon thinking my balls were gonna fall off. He said "normal" :skep: WTF?!! I took it easy as prescribed and like you started some activity when told it was okay. I was riding my sport/tour bike a lot at that time and one day while seated and duck-walking my 700# machine back into the garage I had a bit of a pain event. I guess for a while it seemed problems went away but I still had/have bouts with pain at the repair site. I even sought a second opinion from another surgeon but they blew me off and told me to go back to the surgeon that did the work. I eventually did so and the pain would come and go over time. By the time I did see him again, it had waned and he didn't sense any problems. It's been 4 years and I still get pretty significant pain flare-ups, in fact just recently, I started considering to go back and start some sort of investigative process. I'm still not happy.

I keep seeing these commercials for some of the mesh repair product class action law suits and it makes me wonder if the repair site failed. None of this is probably offering much consolation to you but I guess my advice would be stay vigilant with your recovery observations and b!tch and moan to the doc if it doesn't go away. I'm looking forward to seeing experiences from others that may chime in because I'm pretty pi$$ed about mine.


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## Mountain Cycle Shawn (Jan 19, 2004)

I guess I got lucky. I had a mesh repair and was back to work 4 days later, back on a bike two weeks later and at 10 weeks I was 100 percent, except for a little tightness in my abs a couple inches above the incision. The whole experience was very painful though. Pain meds don't do anything for me, so I didn't take any after the surgery.


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## Procter (Feb 3, 2012)

Oh My Sack! said:


> I wasn't riding mtb when I had my identical procedure. Mesh repair, I presume? Recovery was a hell of a lot more painful than I expected. Did you get that tearing sensation when you stood up? OMG, it was terrible. There was a day maybe 3 or 4 days after surgery where I could not straighten my body out while standing as it felt like a searing hot poker just burning above my right nard. It was so bad I called the surgeon thinking my balls were gonna fall off. He said "normal" :skep: WTF?!! I took it easy as prescribed and like you started some activity when told it was okay. I was riding my sport/tour bike a lot at that time and one day while seated and duck-walking my 700# machine back into the garage I had a bit of a pain event. I guess for a while it seemed problems went away but I still had/have bouts with pain at the repair site. I even sought a second opinion from another surgeon but they blew me off and told me to go back to the surgeon that did the work. I eventually did so and the pain would come and go over time. By the time I did see him again, it had waned and he didn't sense any problems. It's been 4 years and I still get pretty significant pain flare-ups, in fact just recently, I started considering to go back and start some sort of investigative process. I'm still not happy.
> 
> I keep seeing these commercials for some of the mesh repair product class action law suits and it makes me wonder if the repair site failed. None of this is probably offering much consolation to you but I guess my advice would be stay vigilant with your recovery observations and b!tch and moan to the doc if it doesn't go away. I'm looking forward to seeing experiences from others that may chime in because I'm pretty pi$$ed about mine.


^ user name appropriate


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## Oh My Sack! (Aug 21, 2006)

Indeed!


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## Red Rock (Sep 12, 2014)

Try stretching your hip flexors. 5 years after hernia surgery I still get the same groin pain if I don't stretch mine on a regular basis.


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## Oh My Sack! (Aug 21, 2006)

Oh God! If only! Due to back issues, I literally have to do stretches every day, most times several times a day for my flexors, Glute medius, maximus, etc.


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## Green Giant (Dec 19, 2003)

yeah, on top of the damn hernia I have an arthritic hip to to breaking my pelvis years ago. it's been scoped ones, but I have to keep my hip flexors loose also, which has been a challenge with the hernia recovery.

Hopeful though, just did a 30 mile road bike ride... icing now. hopeful tomorrow won't be too bad.


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