monchi,
I ran across that google book as well - good info.
Those types of forums are hard to read - mesh sucks, mesh is great debates on and on. Just makes things more difficult. It's hard to use the personal stories as evidence against mesh since that seems to be all that US doctors do. That said - I intend to stay away from it and go w/ an experienced pure tissue repair doctor.
ARenko,
Dr. UM is going to let me know the costs and times. I think Monchi's idea about Shouldice might be a good one.
I've never had a bulge. According Dr. UM, my hernias are pressing on a nerve on both sides, causing me pain. I still can't believe that my lower ab pain is caused by the inguinal hernia, but she says it is.
I've been to two doctors, both couldn't find a hernia. She found it in 5 seconds. She is fantastic. There's no doubt that most doctors are ignorant about hernias.
Dr. UM also said that I could exercise until I feel pain. I guess that means I can't exercise. I can't comb my hair without pain. Just more reason to get it done soon.
Mike in Denver
If my memory serves me correctly, Shouldice won't repair the hernia unless they can diagnose it through traditional means. You might want to check that, but that was the last I heard when I communicated with them.
rem,
Dr. M detected it by physical examination. My other doctors didn't though. The only difference I noticed was she didn't make me cough.
rem,
Dr. M detected it by physical examination. My other doctors didn't though. The only difference I noticed was she didn't make me cough.
Mike in Denver!
That is so interesting. We seem to have quite the same symptoms. But I don´t know what you mean about that you think it is strange that your lower ab pain is caused by your inguinal hernias. Why do you think that is strange? Do you feel that your lower ab pain is too high up? Did she say that by fixing your inguinal hernias then the pain higher up in your abs also should go away because of what? That is a key-question.
Guys-
About the Mesh thing... It drives me nuts to read about if you should have the mesh-reapir or not... I have read so much info that I don´t think there are many doctors that have read more.
The example that monchi (who have contributed a lot to this thread!) gave with the Shouldice that it´s 4-layer technique was like putting on an extra layer of paint when you painted a room. That sounds more like a description of a mesh-repair even if I know what you mean by them being thorough. But if you think about it, a shouldice is rather like scraping the paint from another room and paint the room in question, leaving the "scraped" room with less paint on it´s walls and more prone to be needing a re-painting. All the "paint" you use in a shouldice you have to take from another wall/room.
But as many of you guys I am still gonna go with the mesh-free-repair. I think as some of you have already mentioned, that if you have an experienced surgeon (like Muschaweck) then she could have a perfect result but if you have a general surgeon who performs like 15 hernia-surgeries a year then you should let him use mesh since he most likely won't master the shouldice technique.
these Doctors seem to be adding to the confusion of what a sports hernia actually is.......From what Dr Meyers says is a sports hernia (atheletic pubalgia) is not an actual hernia of any kind...it is a tear to one of the 11 or 13 tendons/muscles that attach to the pelvis/pubic bone.....From what Im reading is DR Um seems to be more of a specialist in detecting inguinal hernias that cant be detected by other Doctors.....I do know that if you read Alberts O.R. report Dr Meyer does actually look for and test for and inguinal hernia with he has you opened up repairing the tendon tears......And according to DR Brown in Arizona there is an area where the latest MRI may or may not pick up ...I think its around the inguinal ring/spermatic cord area........So I think the Doctors have a general idea of what going on but once these Doctors actually open you up is when they can really see whats up
I was thinking about it this weekend and the discussion around "successful surgery" goes around and round. Would I call my surgery with Dr. UM a success? No, I'm in just as much pain now as I was before the surgery. However, from a pure surgical angle, she did repair two SH's (one on each side), remove mesh from my right side, and work through some tangly neuroma I had on the left side. From her end, and I agree with her, the surgery was successful. So I think success rates and the stats around them are essentially based on one's perspective.
I also think that if you catch a SH in under a year and get it repaired, you have a good chane of healing and returning to your activity of choice. This is likely why so many pro athletes report successful repairs; they almost always get immediate attention at the sign of pain. Anything over a year and you're essentially getting it repaired and going down a pain management road. My .02.
Greg,
After reading Mike in Va's post op post, I realized he had an inguinal hernia also which had gotten much bigger than mine. I didn't thing the ab pain would be so bad coming from the hernia. It felt, and I thought it was the abs coming off the bone. It hurts almost all the time. I actually do a mind over matter exercise that helps me a lot. If I keep my mind off the pain and focus on other things, the pain is not as bad. If I lose focus, then the pain is more pronounced. Of course there are things that happen during the day that cause more pain. But I try not to concentrate on them.
And remember, Dr. UM said I also have a sports hernia on the right which is pressing on the nerve. So I'm not sure where exactly the pain is coming from in my lower abs.
Dr. UM didn't come out and say what I had. She simply said I had a hernia on the left. I had to ask what kind it was. I asked if I had an inguinal hernia and she said yes, but a sports hernia too on the right.
Have you checked out the hernia center in Las Vegas? Does anyone know about it? They too recommend surgical repair and rarely mesh. Here is their website.
http://www.noinsurancesurgery.com/Hernia/hernia%20symptoms.htm
Let me know what you think.
Mike in Denver
REM........you say she repaired SH's on both sides......what tendons did she find that were torn?....Rectus?...adductors???
JCSportsman,
I asked Dr. M what her definition of a sports hernia was. She described a weakness/ thinning of the abdominal muscles that caused nerve compression. She essentially said the difference between inguinial and sports hernias is that the sports hernia there is not a tear. She said pubalgia is the result of either of these hernias due to tension in the pubic region and nerve contact due to widening of the inguinal canal.
My MRI found a tear and possible tear of the aponeurosis of the rectus abdominis and adductor longus on each side. She said this is pubalgia, not a sports hernia. I guess Myers would call what I have a sports hernia w/ inguinial hernia where Dr. M says it is an inguinial hernia with pubalgia. They sound about the same to me.
Through the years somehow probably thru the Media Athletic Pubalgia got tied in or came to be known as a Sports Hernia......Really in the true sense there is no such thing as a sports hernia ....You either have some kind of hernia or a torn tendon or both..........I think sports hernia came about because most athletes fell into this catogory since there condition was brought on by sports
Meyers does not ever use the term sports hernia.
Albert, It is great to hear your progress but I am sorry about your knee-injury. I have read this whole thread and have seen more than one post commenting that people have gotten knee-injuries after adductor-relase. This is because some of the adductors are attached even under the knee so when you do a adductor-release yhen you make the whole leg/knee more instable and prone to get injuried.
I wonder what you think about that. I mean Meyer seems to be top three in the world with this injurie and I am certain that you still consider your operation a big success but it is important to know that after a adductor-release the patient/athlet need to be very careful to avoid knee-injuries in the beginning.
Yeah, I'm curious about the adductor release too. My surgeon didn't recommend it, but I'm having a lot of problems with tight adductors along with my hamstring and hip flexors. It is getting better, but very slowly.
ha ha ha...
it is the opposite leg and it never would have happened had i not stepped in a 1 ft deep hole while running chasing a fly ball. That can even happen to a healthy guy.
So to answer your question....No correlation. It is healing nicely and am able to walk 5-9 miles per day still and use elliptical.
I think the adductor release has been a godsend. The lower leg pain/pressure I had was pure hell.
My adductors had calcified together. I do not question Dr. Meyers for 1 second. I had no choices and I can see myself being in great shape in another 2-3 months.
I had severe injuries and I am doing this well I can only imagine how much better others will do
The adductor that goes to the knee is the 3rd largest muscle in the body and is innervated by the sciatic nerve as well. The adductors he releases are usually the pectineus and longus which are very tiny. the reason he does this is because these poor muscles have become primary movers because the RA is torn and overload quickly when in fact they are simply supposed to be stabilizers. I do not know if i believe that it makes the whole unit unstable. Look at all the atheletes who have had it. It is just releasing that tendon i think to free itself from more compartment syndrome.
If you look the pectineus and longus are the 1st 2 adductors coming off the anterior pubis whereas the magnus is huge comes off posteriorly. I do not think these 2 tiny muscles would effect this. Now that being said many athletes in their 30's and 40's have meniscus issues to begin with.
first poster here guys. Just wanted to say hi.
hi there;
I was wondering, if so many people think that SH is a nerve related problem, then why some people develop bone damage from SH? I have read about a few cases of people whose SH has gone untreated for a few years who have sustained bone damage, I am one of those people and my bone scan results showed bone related issues, could anyone shed some light on this ?
H
Thank you, JC! I know what you mean re thinking about it 24/7. I'm still not crazy about being cut but I am convinced that this is the only way I will get better and be able to return to sports and working out. I'll be relieved come Wednesday afternoon. I'll try to post often to keep everyone informed about the procedure and how rehab is going, but just in case i don't, good luck to you, too!