How Much Pain Will I Be In After Hernia Surgery?
Published January 16, 2023
How much pain will I be in after hernia surgery? Having any kind of surgery will cause different levels of pain afterward. At the same time, everyone feels pain differently. That’s why doctors usually ask us how the pain feels on a scale of 1 to 10. It gives them a sense of your pain. Let’s attempt to understand the kind of pain one encounters after a hernia procedure and how to handle it.
What Causes The Pain After Hernia Surgery
Usually the abdominal pain after surgery is caused by injury to your skin, muscles, and nerves during the surgery. The extent of the surgery affects how much pain you may have afterward.
For most surgeries you will have mild to moderate pain for a few days after hernia surgery, and you will feel significantly better near seven days post surgery. Follow all orders made by Dr. Carlos Barba.
Get plenty of sleep, sit up, walk as soon as you can, and then walk every day as it increases blood flow and aids in healing.
How Pain Can Affect Your Healing After Hernia Surgery
Pain plays a significant role positively or negatively after surgery. Your goal is to heal, which reduces or eliminates the pain.
Pain affects how well you sleep. It can make you feel listless with no energy. Too much pain can prevent you from sitting in a chair or walking which are necessary for healing.
Pain can cause you to have shallow breathing and may not allow you to cough as needed. This can lead to pneumonia.
Pain affects your appetite causing your bowels not to function properly. Nutrition is important for healing.
Pain affects your mood and your feeling of well being.
How To Mitigate The Pain
Most doctors recommend the following to mitigate any pain after hernia surgery.
- Take 1000 mg of Tylenol the night before surgery.
- Post surgery: take 1000 mg Tylenol every six hours for the first three days. If no relief, switch to 600 mg ibuprofen every six hours.
- Some patients need a narcotic pain medication after ventral or incisional hernia repair, but it is not needed for inguinal surgery.
- You should only take the narcotics if you get no relief from Tylenol or Advil.
Contact Dr. Carlos Barba at (956) 621-4981 if you suspect you may have a hernia.
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