Inguinale Hernia surgery recovery time

KBE6EKCTAH_CCP

KBE6EKCTAH_CCP

The thin end of the wedge
@Steel
Joined
Jan 25, 2009
Messages
29,365
Reaction score
19,447
Hey guys,

This is not an asking for advice thread, as I'm already getting thorough medical treatment. I would like to hear the experience of people who practice the same sports as me (grappling).

So I'm getting surgery for the aforementioned shit. They're basically going to pierce 3 little holes in my stomach, and install a little filet inside. I have hernias on both sides, although they're both quite small (no bulge, and I can still do sports, no real pain, rather like a constant annoying little cramp).

Anybody has experience with that ? Recovery time, any story ?

Stories appreciated.

Cheers.
 
KBE6EKCTAH_CCP said:
Hey guys,

This is not an asking for advice thread, as I'm already getting thorough medical treatment. I would like to hear the experience of people who practice the same sports as me (grappling).

So I'm getting surgery for the aforementioned shit. They're basically going to pierce 3 little holes in my stomach, and install a little filet inside. I have hernias on both sides, although they're both quite small (no bulge, and I can still do sports, no real pain, rather like a constant annoying little cramp).

Anybody has experience with that ? Recovery time, any story ?

Stories appreciated.

Cheers.
Click to expand...

I'm 47 and had one repaired last June. The incisions are nothing and heal in days. Its the scar tissue that forms over the patch they install that takes time to setup and heal. I was able to come back to physical training in a month, I did a bicycle event in Sept where I road 100 miles / day for 2 days, and was back to normal training by then.

Two weeks ago I tore some of the scar tissue doing dead lifts and still recovering.

The advice I would give you is listen to your doctor, and start stretching that area as soon and as much as you can to encourage the scar tissue to flexible.

Now the best story I have is trying not to get a boner when the nurse was using a vibrating razor to shave me before surgery. Between the razor and the sponge it took a lot of concentration.
 
I have two repaired....Right side open and left side laproscopic. Youve got a good 6 weeks to be on the safe side. And the scar tissue will be an issue. You can work that out on your own by cross fiber massage with your fingers. Mine were repaired 2 and 3 years ago and I still have issues with the scar tissue. especially if im doing lots of ab work, leg lifts and all things like that. Not too bad but something...Take it easy on yourself.
 
I had laparascopic surgery to repair a hernia on my left side about seven months ago.

Here's my advice. When you first have the surgery your not going to be able to walk for a day or two. After about a week or so you will be walking upright by yourself fine. Take it easy and try not to cough and sneeze unless you've got a pillow held to your side. Trust me, coughing feels like your guts are going to come out. Its the worst pain.

Take it easy for about two or three months. After that, I would start jogging and doing light core work to strengthen your abdominal s. I would tell you if it hurts, not to do it, but in this case i really dont thing thats an issue. The scar tissue where the mesh settles in will be hurting your for a long time. Mine still hurts seven months out. As long as you dont try to deadlift or squat really heavy weight, i dont think your going to blow it out. I would wait for awhile before starting Jiu-Jitsu again. The thing about Jiu-Jitsu is that you get into alot of positions that force you to put alot of stress on your groin. Getting stacked, playing guard, triangles etc... Anytime where you have to bring your knees close to your head is not great at this time. I'd give it about four or five months, atleast to where your able to run and do abdominal work with not too many problems.

The other thing about this surgery, from my own experience and people i've talked to is that if you get one side repaired it tends to weaken the other side. Myself and most people i have talked to seem to have more pain on the side where they didnt have the surgery. For whatever reason.

Thats my advice man. Good luck. I'm back to doing Jiu-Jitsu again, but like i said, there is still pain, but nothing too crazy. Scar tissue i guess.
 
tstriker said:
Now the best story I have is trying not to get a boner when the nurse was using a vibrating razor to shave me before surgery. Between the razor and the sponge it took a lot of concentration.
Click to expand...

haha that wasnt a problem for me because the nurse they gave me was about 70 years old...

:icon_lol:
 
No the worst is the day or 2 after and having to take a crap! Oh its hard, trying to bare down and being afriaid to bust out the incisions! ....brutal. Keep laxitvies around
 
Fuck, you guys are scaring the shit out of me.

Good thing I made this thread, the doc was like "3 little holes, 45 mn simple operation, it's nothing really".

Txs to all.
 
Ryo said:
I had laparascopic surgery to repair a hernia on my left side about seven months ago.

Here's my advice. When you first have the surgery your not going to be able to walk for a day or two. After about a week or so you will be walking upright by yourself fine. Take it easy and try not to cough and sneeze unless you've got a pillow held to your side. Trust me, coughing feels like your guts are going to come out. Its the worst pain.

Take it easy for about two or three months. After that, I would start jogging and doing light core work to strengthen your abdominal s. I would tell you if it hurts, not to do it, but in this case i really dont thing thats an issue. The scar tissue where the mesh settles in will be hurting your for a long time. Mine still hurts seven months out. As long as you dont try to deadlift or squat really heavy weight, i dont think your going to blow it out. I would wait for awhile before starting Jiu-Jitsu again. The thing about Jiu-Jitsu is that you get into alot of positions that force you to put alot of stress on your groin. Getting stacked, playing guard, triangles etc... Anytime where you have to bring your knees close to your head is not great at this time. I'd give it about four or five months, atleast to where your able to run and do abdominal work with not too many problems.

The other thing about this surgery, from my own experience and people i've talked to is that if you get one side repaired it tends to weaken the other side. Myself and most people i have talked to seem to have more pain on the side where they didnt have the surgery. For whatever reason.

Thats my advice man. Good luck. I'm back to doing Jiu-Jitsu again, but like i said, there is still pain, but nothing too crazy. Scar tissue i guess.
Click to expand...

Txs alot, man.

So you did nothing at all for 2-3 months ? Fuck that sucks.

After how long were you comfortable with randori and rolling ?

Lastly, what do u think of climbing as an intermediary solution until I can grapple again ? I mean it is pretty much the opposite of putting pressure on your core, you actually stretch your core continuously while climbing.
 
KBE6EKCTAH_CCP said:
Txs alot, man.

So you did nothing at all for 2-3 months ? Fuck that sucks.
Click to expand...

Well, kindof. I had my surgery on January 10th and i think by about the end of February I started walking a few miles a day. Not long after that i started Rowing and Kayaking. Really good for shoulders and use your core alot. No problems. Then i started running. Once i was good with all that I started doing crunches and planks and other abdominal work.

I played alot of video games while I was waiting. :) Its just better to be safe then sorry.

After how long were you comfortable with randori and rolling ?
Click to expand...

I started rolling again about June. I took it easy on taking hard falls and just done alot of drilling and light randori in Jiu-Jitsu. Once i knew i was comfortable in common positions, i was back to rolling hard again. I roll like I always have these days.

Lastly, what do u think of climbing as an intermediary solution until I can grapple again ? I mean it is pretty much the opposite of putting pressure on your core, you actually stretch your core continuously while climbing.
Click to expand...

I cant really say. I never tried much of that in my recovery. All i will say is that you can try it and if it doesnt give you any sharp pains, (you'll know what I mean when you do it) then i wouldnt worry about it. Strengthening your core is great and if you can do it climbing without hurting yourself then great.
 
I've had two inguinal hernias repaired - one of the left side, the other on the right. The repair method differed from yours, as both were repaired using a traditional incision so I have matching 3 inch scars on my lower abdomen.

In both cases, my recollection is that I took 3-4 months before returning to start working technique, and another month before I started lightly rolling. Heck, I think I probably didn't return to full form until 8 or so months in -- but that was mainly my wanting to be very careful (and to enjoying some of the off time with my family).

The other thing I'd say is this -- when you return, try to roll with experienced purple belts (at the lowest) if possible. I made the mistake of rolling back into a 'fundamentals' program, forgetting how dangerous those classes can be with brand new white belts.
 
So, 2 days after the surgery, I've decided to turn this thread into a mini blog about my recovery. Where I live ( Germany ), hernias are the most common surgical operations, and sports like judo tend to make hernias happen. Therefore, I'm sure that this thread will one day be relevant to another F12 er getting an OP for an inguinal hernia.

- Day 0 : I woke up 2 hours after the surgey. No major pain if no core movement, rather a feeling of extreme sensitivity in the lower abdomen area. Watched out for core movements(even talking loud!!) and was ok. Had to use this funny bottle to pee in, as I was not comfortable with the idea of getting up at first. Even after the narcotics went away from my systems, I was never really in sharp pain. Could get up to pee on the evening, but that was challenging, as the core is involved in standing up out of bed (it does hurt to stand up), and as I had to be hunched over and walk very slowly for it not to hurt. Ate normally on day 0 (was even starving).

- Day 1 : Again, spent almost all day in bed. Pain involved in standing up and changing position in bed gets slowly less intimidating. Could get up for short walks in the alley of the hospital. Still very hunched over and slow. Better than day 0 though. Huge appetite. Small cramps during the night that woke me up from what I think is the CO2 leaving my stomach.

- Day2 : (today) : Walked around quite abit (can go a bit faster and stand upright a little more). Everything is much better than day 0 or day 1. I got released from the hospital this morning. Echography showed the nets are sitting where they should and there are no complications. Also, they removed a disgusting pouch that had been so far held against my stomach. This hideous thing's purpose is to receive drainage blood from the wound. So they pulled out of my stomach this 20 centimeter-ish tube that looked like the tongue of a snake. It was so gross I was almost laughing.
I have also had my first # 2 since the day of the operation (it's pretty weird that it took so long, considering all that I ate). Had to be very careful, lol, but with the help of a little laxative I managed.
Now I'm at home, sitting on my PC. I was able to climb my staircase without a problem (no elevator, live on the 5 th floor). Lower abdomen area is still very tender, and somewhat blow up) and I am getting little cramps (the CO2, again, I guess).

Now, as for the most relevant part, the doctors said that I could just live and move normally as of now. Lying down the whole day isn't recommended. They said to wait 2 weeks before doing light jogging & biking. Then 2 more weeks before being 100%. Than I mentionned that I was doing judo, for which they then added 2 extra weeks. That would make it a total of 6 weeks (only !!!) before I'm back at randori ?? I'm honestly extremely sceptical, and I have vowed not to approach a mat before mid-september (2 months after the operation). Even then I wouldn't be sparring (randori or rolling) right away. However, the doctor said that waiting 5 months wouldn't change a thing, though, that the net IS settled after 4-6 weeks, and that if anything goes wrong after that it won't be caused by not waiting more. Let's see how I feel in 2 months. In the meantime I'll be enjoying the outdoors and putting combat sports on hold completely.

As at today, combat sports are the last things on my mind. Will keep posted. Cheers.
 
As someone who suspects he may have this, but is too much of a pussy to go to the doctor yet. Please keep posting in this thread. It's very informative and helpful.
 
Was teaching days later but didn't get back to competition shape for over a year!As someone else said be careful letting scar tissue form,stretching and light core work helped me big time.The meds they gave me weren't too bad helping either
 
I might get this surgery in a couple of weeks. I have an appointment with the surgeon monday...
Keep us posted and good luck with your recovery!
 
- Day 3:

Slept for the first time last night without pain medication. Nevertheless was able to get decent sleep. Funny thing is, it's some weird feeling of muscle cramp in my left leg that tends to wake me up, not the stomach pain.

Appetite is still pretty big, and have been eating my share of fiber-rich foods to help with the transit. Still, I'm going to get some prune juice today for an extra help ;)

Overall I am feeling even better than yesterday, I must say I am quite surprised by the speed of the recovery so far. The pain involved in standing up from a sitting position has decreased a lot, and I am walking around the appartment almost freely, almost completely upright.

My abdomen is still bloated, although I think slightly less.

Hopefully, the recovery continues being that successful.
 
- Day 5: Still improving. Walking around upright and freely in the appartment. Have been increasing the time spend outside too. Yesterday I spent 3 hours going to a caf
 
- Day 10 : been working since day 7 (I have an office job). The first days of work made me tired, but today I am hardly tired anymore.

The doctor took away the stiching today, the wounds healed perfectly.

The area is less and less sensitive, and I am walking around in the street almost at normal speed, in an upright position.

I don't feel any major incomfort standing up or getting out of bed anymore, but I still feel something and I am still being careful.

The doctor who took off the stitching said that the timeline given to me by the surgeon and other doctors was too optimistic: 6 weeks is way to fast to be doing judo again. Rather she said to start running slowly after 6 weeks, and start slowly with judo and core exercises after 3 months, and be 100% after 4 months. That seems more like it.
Damn, 4,5 weeks before I can start moving my ass seems like a pretty long time :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,280,849
Messages
58,321,739
Members
175,999
Latest member
xande.fight

Share this page

Back
Top