[Closed] Inguinal Hernia?

Had an Inguinal and Umbilical Hernia done in 2010 2 for the price of 1 😉

I had left it for to long to have keyhole due to care issues for my wife, so I had the full 6" scar on the Inguinal and an interesting interpretation of a belly button on the Umbilical.
I was told that the full open with big mesh is stronger in the long run but recovery is longer took me 6 weeks till I could ride a bike (slowly)
I ended up with a bleed in the Inguinal and an infection in the umbilical.

This was purely my own fault and no reflection on the NHS, for the time being see if you can get some support for your groin and no vigorous sex 😉

Bilateral inguinal repair here.

I was sent private by my NHS Trust as they didn't have capacity, my (cyclist) GP made the case for funding on the grounds of physical / mental health and work capability long term if left untreated.

I had full open both sides with mesh. Was absolutely off my tits for a week on the painkillers they gave me, struggled to walk for 10 days or so, very gently back on the bike at 8 weeks as per the consultant's instructions. 11 months later raced EWS in Finale (that's 2 years ago now) and been fine since. I occasionally get a slight discomfort, apparently from the mesh, but it's way, way better than it was for the years I put up with dull aches from the hernias.

Yes had inguinal and umbilical done via keyhole pre covid 2018 in thro umbilical 1x mesh on rhs 2 holes in abdomen all ok 2weeks off work with plenty of rest and drugs,codeine based concrete craps was the worst of any of it. As surgeon said it won’t get better on its own. Not so sure I’d be rushing into hosp atm even if offered. Good luck with it all

Diagnosed with bilateral inguinal hernia beginning of September, saw a private consultant via Axa through work. Explained he’d do both sides at once patching on the inside. However with all that’s going on and NHS requisitioning theatre time, no timeframe given other than I’m now in the ‘system’. Will chase up in the new year.
Some of the recovery stories above a little concerning.

I had a single inguinal but asked the surgeon to do both sides, I was deadlifting 2.5x bodyweight so it was only a matter of time before the other side gave up. I was back in the gym after a week doing stuff that wasn't too taxing on the core.
After 6 weeks I was back up to big squats and deadlift.
The best advice I can give is keep moving and go through your full range of movement, I did suffer some pain even after 18 months.

May be hard to get it done on NHS or privately at present. Best done lap with somebody who is good. Privately it is possible to specify your surgeon but you have to find a good one first. If all goes well recovery is quick.

My Dad (75) had one side pop in August and went privately (Nuffield, Devon) Was still a hell of a delay, but it was done a few weeks ago with a mesh repair by keyhole and was a very slick affair by all accounts, with great treatment (private room, tasty food offerings etc 🙂 ). He was properly knocked out for a few days afterwards, but they whipped in and did both sides as a precaution and he was all good within a couple of weeks.

Bilateral inguinal repair done 3 weeks ago by keyhole. Privately through work policy - Mr Saeed in Manchester - very good.

Thought I’d be back on my feet in a couple of days. Pah, take the full 2 weeks they’ll sign you off work - you’ll need it. But about 10-11days, suddenly started to feel much better.

3 weeks in and I was trotting around the BMX track after my little one of his balance bike. Still not to lift anything over 10kgs until week 6. Any other questions then shout up!

dashed
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Bilateral inguinal repair done 3 weeks ago by keyhole. Privately through work policy – Mr Saeed in Manchester – very good.

Mine were done by Mr Saeed but on the NHS, previous consultant said you won't have a belly button afterwards. Apparently Mr Saeed is a bit of an artist 😉

Here you go - about 4 days in:

https://flic.kr/p/2kmXZab

This fella did mine for 3k in March this year:

https://www.spirehealthcare.com/consultant-profiles/mr-usman-khan-c4277848/

He is keyhole specialist and has done thousands. Did it a week after my first appointment.

He did say I would be on my bike after 2 weeks but I think it was more like 6. Recovery took longer than I expected.

Get it done asap, I'm back to full quality of life now.

Had both sides done at separate times (about 10 years apart).

First one was open and was pretty painful for a while. Second was keyhole and a lot better.

I don't know if its possible with the current situation but when I went to the GP for my second one he sent me to the receptionist to arrange a consultancy - I got offered both the two local hospitals in something like 14 weeks and the local private hospital in a couple of weeks so was kinda no brainer - not 100% sure of the details but apprently the private place does NHS ops too to get some sort of funding from NHS, but sounds like the only pick the simple (healthy, fit, no issues etc) type cases. I was seen and was in two weeks later for op - might be worth seeing if your local NHS does something similar.

Not had a inguinal. But had two umbilical hernias.
First one was done 2009 6weeks recovery as I was working in a Nursing home so couldn’t go back to work straight away. This was a none mesh repair done at Royal Blackburn Hospital. It popped back out mid 2010 after going down a water slide and twisting too much.
Then I had it repaired at BMI Beaumont in Bolton as a nhs patient, had to stay in two nights as they couldn’t get my temperature above 35.5 even with many blankets on.
Took 8 weeks off work. 10 years later it’s still going strong, even though the incision scar is 4.5 inch across my stomach.

Make sure you take plenty of senna and lots of food with fibre, as trying to poo is a painful experience.
And definitely don’t lift anymore than a bag of sugar in weight for at least a fortnight.
This was the Consultant who did mine https://www.bmihealthcare.co.uk/consultants/hamish-robertson-michie

Had an inguinal treated with open surgery and mesh just over 2 years ago.

My surgeon had done loads and managed to address all my concerns about open vs laparoscopic and mesh implants. Was done privately via work insurance, the hernia had stopped me running and was making it difficult to cycle in to work 🙁

Surgery was quick and easy, recovery was initially very painful. I tried to come off the codeine as soon as possible as it was messing with my head.
I was walking like an old man to the corner shop within a week, 4 weeks later I was trying to ride a stationary exercise bike... probably a bit too soon. 3 months after I was cycling to work again and doing canal towpath rides. Running took me a year before I could run free from pain.
Lost some feeling around the hernia area but doesn't bother me.

Used to get a lot of twinges but now I only notice it if my son sticks his knee in the wrong place when climbing over me!
One thing that really helped (from 3 months onwards) was massaging the areas that hurt/twinged to help break down scar tissue. It did take a long time to get full pain free movement back, apparently pain is more common with skinny people.

I had an inguinal done 10 years ago, I only really noticed it as I had a cough and was aware of the pain in my groin. It was 3 months from seeing the doctor to the op, mine was in the hip flexor area.
I was initially told I'd have keyhole and be signed off for a fortnight. When I woke after the op they said I was now signed off for 3 weeks, I phoned my manager the next day who wasn't too happy (we are only a team of 2). After 2 weeks I was still in a bit of pain and couldn't be travelling to work etc so the doctor extended my certificate another week. My manager went mad with me being off a month. We had a nice warm April in 2010 so spent my recovery time in the garden, going back to work with a light tan didn't go down well.

It took at least 6 months to get my fitness back, and even 10 years on the 'hernia area' does feel a bit achy now and again

I had an Inguinal Hernia repair 7.5 weeks ago. It's gone really well better than I'd expected...

Went private using work cover. Just had a look at the claim details and total cost was around 2.2k.

I had a big lump but it wasn't really bothering me apart from the odd twinge. Spoke to GP he suggested go see consultant as he knew I had cover. Saw the consultant back in August he said to me normally he could get me in within a week or two but because of Covid and the government keeping hold of the 'lists' (surgeons using the operating theatres in private hospitals) and only releasing a month at a time he said it was a month or two wait. I imagine this may be longer at the moment with the Covid rise depending on cases in your area etc.

He just said to me - the hernia is only going to get worse so you might as well get it done at some point convenient.

That suited me and I just asked him to get me in November so I'd be sorted by Christmas which is what happened.

Covid test on the Tuesday then self isolate after that (had to take my son out of school for a few days). In on Saturday morning at 8AM. I had opted for open surgery / gauze under local anaesthetic. He did ask if I wanted a general just before the procedure as he could be quicker and he had a lot of patients that morning. I declined.

Home by 1PM. I really didn't find it that painful. Managed on just Paracetamol (have an allergy to Brufen). Slept OK first night. By the Weds I'd stopped even Paracetamol. Took 2 weeks off work. Slowly built up the walking. Listened to my body if it ached / hurt I would take it easy but tried to keep active.

No heavy lifting for 6 weeks. Didn't ride my bike for 6 either. I've now had 2 gentle road bike rides - flattish routes 60 and 90 minutes and all good I'm gonna start building up the miles now.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the replies guys, been really useful to hear some of your experiences. I've made initial contact with Dr Saeed as recommended above so we'll see what happens. I think i'll be going private as my uneducated guess would put me around late April/May for surgery with the NHS (guidelines suggest treatment within 18 weeks of referral, but thats not accounting for Covid), so that rolls recovery into summer and fitness returning in Autumn. I've not been able to ride since July so i've already lost alot, I carried a bookcase round IKEA last week and the next day it felt like someone had kicked me in the nuts!

Sounds very woe is me that doens't it, actually very thankful this is the only thing that has effected me this year and my family has remained healthy.

Just to update again for anyone that might search for similar experiences in future. I had the surgery done yesterday, went private and saw Dr Goodfellow at Claremont Hospital in Sheffield. Went well as far as I can tell, i'm sore today but nothing I didn't expect. Checked in at 7am and my wife collected me at 3pm. I think all in it cost around £2.5k. Just happy to have had it done, hopefully I get the g ahead to ride from Bozz and the Dr at the same time.

Due to this my fitness has been on a steady decline since July '20, and my weight has been on a similar upward trajectory (how fast can I loose 12lbs?). I've got some work to do.

Got an appointment with my GP to start the ball rolling on treatment for an Inguinal. Over the phone though, so I'm not sure what I can show her.

It's causing a little discomfort, but I can push it back in.

Sneezing is what hurts the most as I don't have time to prepare!

I appreciate times are a bit different due to Covid, but £2.5K I hope it was paid by insurance/work?
Harry if its hurting see your doctor and get on the list, don't leave it like I did or the recovery is longer.

Paid for by myself. I know a lot of people have a hernia without much impact on thier lives, but mine was pressing on the nerve to my testicle making it impossible to exercise/lift/play with my kids so it felt worth it to me.

Good idea to get he ball rolling Harry, unfortunately/understandably hernia's are not high on the priority list at the minute so there was little to no prospect of mine being repaired via the NHS any time soon.

Had mine done twice,(Bupa)
First one was keyhole and that failed within 12 months, the second was open surgery, they had to stitch up the tear then reattached the first lot of mesh into my groin then put a second larger layer of mesh. I then got a post op infection. That was a year ago last week. Still getting pain and swelling.

I think I've been very fortunate.

Had open op on 18th Dec 2020 on the NHS. Could not fault the process. In and out the same day. Bloody hurt mind you.

I bought a truss when waiting. Totally transforming and used it post op as well.

Couldn't recomend the truss enough.

Good idea to get the ball rolling

🤠

Couldn’t recomend the truss enough.

Glad it worked for you but, for the benefit of anyone else reading, I did a fair amount of research on truss' for Dad whilst he was waiting for surgery and my conclusion was it's a gamble to use one if not suggested by the qualified person looking at your googlies area - they can cause more harm than good (disclaimer: internet information).

Just had a telephone appointment with my GP and have been referred for ultrasound and then hopefully some surgery.

Hoping to get back to face-to-face karate over the summer. I held the pad for my lad on Tuesday whilst he fired in a few Round House kicks. Not an experience I want to repeat with a full sized adult!

I had a double inguinal,operated on last March,laparoscopic. Touch wood I've had no problems since the op.After the op I didn't even climb on the turbo trainer for 28 days,but I was walking within 24 hours & going for 4 mile walks after 28 days.I then started doing flat routes on the road bike for a couple of months.I think it was 3 months after the op beforeI did off road climbs as I was wary of damaging the repair.Frustrating as it is to take things easy post op,I think that's a better decision than going for it & having a mesh fail.
HTH

Just back from the docs, who has just confirmed that my weird lumpy groin is an Inguinal Hernia.

Apparently the NHS take a "conservative approach" to surgery but she's happy to refer me and I have BUPA through work so now I have to choose who she refers me to - no idea how to choose a surgeon, google reviews??

It's not really painful but is pretty uncomfortable at times depending what I've been doing - a lot of standing around actually seems one of the worst things for it.

Still waiting for surgery on mine. Got referred to a private hospital last August who were taking up the slack on NHS waiting list, but they “lost” my details and I didn’t actually get on to the list until March. Really, really not happy about this. Highfield Hospital Rochdale, ****ers.

With regards to easing the discomfort I found a video online that showed how to hold it in place using KT tape, which for me it has worked very well. Near vertical strip from above the bump to the top of the leg, then a horizontal one over the top, crossing on the hernia. Both strips about 15 cm long before stretching. Don’t pull them too tight and have no tension in it at all at the ends. Some strategic shaving will be required! I can wear it 7 days a week, with a change required typically after 5 days or so. The odd days when I’ve not got it on, or the tape has gone “baggy” are extremely uncomfortable.

Can still ride a bike and do Karate, lifting heavy stuff requires a bit of thought so that I don’t overdo it. Weirdly standing still for a period of time is about the worse bit for me.

Had open surgery ( surgeon prefers it as success rate is higher), yeah 3k is the going rate.
It took weeks to get over it (5 weeks off work) but was entirely successful.
Plan ahead for constipation after surgery, by far the worst bit of the whole process...ooof.

Your GP may recommend someone.