Inguinal Hernia

UKBouldering.com

Help Support UKBouldering.com:

hongkongstuey

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2002
Messages
1,430
Location
Hong Kong
Going under the knife on Sat to have one of these patched up (until Tuesday i'd never even heard of these...) so interested to hear about recovery periods from anyone who's had similar done before - have an Albarracin trip booked in late March so keen to know whether there's still a chance of being able to pull even modestly hard (or even at all)?
 
I had a hernia in my stomach (I think this is a slightly different region to inguinal but I’m not sure). I found the operation quite tiring and it took me a good few weeks to get some ooomph back, though other people seem to recover more quickly so perhaps that’s just me.

Probably worth mentioning that after a year I tore the stitches on the repair whilst climbing Rubicon at WCJ. Second time around I got a mesh put in and it’s been fine since.
 
I had open surgery for an inguinal hernia in 2005. I was back doing moderate exercise after 4 weeks, 6 weeks felt ok wearing a harness (but I think I left it a little longer to be safe). I was 19, I don't think I'd recover so quick now! I've never had any subsequent issues with it.

The first week after surgery wasn't very pleasant, with every cough, sneeze or fart making me wince.
 
I was diagnosed with this a year ago and offered surgery. I never found the time to follow through. It hasn’t bothered me or stopped me doing anything and I no longer notice the symptoms.
The only thing that drove me to the Quack in the first place was a mild pain, that seemed to refer into my left testicle and my, now, ingrained paranoia of cancer.
I’m still doing excessive Calisthenics and ludicrous core exercises, without sequelae.‍♂️
 
Good luck! Standard advice would be no heavy lifting for 6 weeks, which would include bodyweight! You'll be sore to some extent for at least this time, but even if the pain settles, excessive force would risk the repair failing. As with recovery from injuries, your number one goal should be for things to heal first time with no complications, as it's never straightforward if you have to have it redone.

That doesn't mean don't go, but I'd advise you assume you're going to be pretty limited in what you can do, and if you can do more then that can be a pleasant surprise.
 
Oldmanmatt said:
I was diagnosed with this a year ago and offered surgery. I never found the time to follow through. It hasn’t bothered me or stopped me doing anything and I no longer notice the symptoms.
The only thing that drove me to the Quack in the first place was a mild pain, that seemed to refer into my left testicle and my, now, ingrained paranoia of cancer.
I’m still doing excessive Calisthenics and ludicrous core exercises, without sequelae.‍♂️

this all sounds very familiar, especially the paranoia part as that was one of the more notable initial symptoms ;D in my case there's also been some notable bulging too, and the discomfort has def increased in the last week or two so surgery seems the sensible course of action sadly
 
PeteHukb said:
Good luck! Standard advice would be no heavy lifting for 6 weeks, which would include bodyweight! You'll be sore to some extent for at least this time, but even if the pain settles, excessive force would risk the repair failing. As with recovery from injuries, your number one goal should be for things to heal first time with no complications, as it's never straightforward if you have to have it redone.

That doesn't mean don't go, but I'd advise you assume you're going to be pretty limited in what you can do, and if you can do more then that can be a pleasant surprise.

Cheers - this was pretty much what i was expecting to hear. With the trip being in the 5-6 week period after surgery (and me being late-40's so not expecting super speedy recovery), i think i'll take the sensible option and replan destination etc. so temptation is out of reach - maybe time to go drink wine in northern Spain instead :icon_beerchug:

Think i'll use this as a prompt to hit the reset button, take a couple of month break form climbing and then come back psyched to get fit and ready for next winter.
 
hongkongstuey said:
Oldmanmatt said:
I was diagnosed with this a year ago and offered surgery. I never found the time to follow through. It hasn’t bothered me or stopped me doing anything and I no longer notice the symptoms.
The only thing that drove me to the Quack in the first place was a mild pain, that seemed to refer into my left testicle and my, now, ingrained paranoia of cancer.
I’m still doing excessive Calisthenics and ludicrous core exercises, without sequelae.‍♂️

this all sounds very familiar, especially the paranoia part as that was one of the more notable initial symptoms ;D in my case there's also been some notable bulging too, and the discomfort has def increased in the last week or two so surgery seems the sensible course of action sadly

Mine hasn’t progressed to a bulge. In fact I couldn’t pinpoint the source of my discomfort at all.
The consultant who first reviewed the Ultrasound and the Radiologist herself, were equivocal on whether I should see the Surgeon. Apparently, it was an internal muscle layer with intact layers over it and a low risk of strangulation. I opted to speak to the Surgeon, however, he asked for a second ultrasound and they couldn’t find it.
I was confused, but hey, it was already calming down.
Then I got a call to say that he and his radiologist had misread the notes and looked in the wrong place and could I come back for a third scan.
low, it did appear unto them..
By the time all this had played out and they finally offered me a surgical treatment option, I had a Deployment looming in a couple of weeks (four months in the Gulf), so figured I’d look at it when I got back (carefully failing to inform the MOD of my condition).
After four months of playing silly buggers with the Bootnecks and keeping up and actually getting stronger, coupled with a sudden change of career with only a week/ten days off in between; I had completely forgotten about it until this thread.
Much probing and wracking of memory to think if I’d had any pain or discomfort over the intervening months, last night.
Nada.
I think I shall persist in wilful ignorance and a silly, macho, defiance…
 
*Lo

Bloody auto correct…

Although, it does accurately describe my confidence in the surgeon, at that point.
 
Wil said:
The first week after surgery wasn't very pleasant, with every cough, sneeze or fart making me wince.

I see what you mean - damn coughing is painful… surgery went well so now recovery begins
 
A word of warning for anyone who ever gets one of these...

It seems there is a high likelihood that after getting the first side all patched up, the other side of the abdomen will give out and also herniate sometime afterwards (in my case, 3 months later and just as you're starting to build some fitness back up...).

here we go again...
 
Yea man - I had 2 in the space of 6 months...

On the plus side, I haven't had any issues with either in the past 6 years.

Good luck with the recovery.

D
 

Latest posts

Back
Top