Hi I am new to this website and created a profile to ask specifically about hiatal hernia repairs. So I will be undergoing vsg and hiatal hernia repair at the same time next week. After reading tons of forums and watching recovery journey videos.. my question remains.. how badly does the recovery hurt? I have read tons of things saying the hiatal hernia repair is what hurts the most . I know i will probably be really sore and nauseated but I have read people saying it feels like stabbing pains in the chest area where the hernia was fixed during surgery. Hospitals scare me and honestly, so does pain. A woman compared the post-op hernia pains to CHILDBIRTH. It freaked me out and I know everyone is different but I just want to know in general if anyone went through any horrible recovery pains like these. I also read it causes a lot of pain when you swallow and makes the recovery process way longer than if you were to get just the vsg done. Idk im freaking myself out lol . Am i wrong to be worried or will it hurt that badly??!?!

I am 6 days post op and I had both. The pain was something I haven't experienced before. I know I was supposed to be walking but the pain was so exhausting. I couldn't get anything down. I am really just getting some water down. I feel like everytime I swallow there is air that wants to come at the same time. I know I can't tolerate cold liquids and everything has to be warm

I had a sleeve and a hiatal hernia repair and the pain was borderline non existent. I was in the hospital for a few days because of complications from anesthesia so I had the luxury of being on the good stuff for pain, but even after discharge it wasn't bad at all. I have no idea why people would think the hiatal hernia is brutally painful, it takes a surgeon 5 minutes and 1-2 sutures.

Honestly gas pains (from having laparscopic surgery) is probably the most painful and uncomfortable part of the entire situation. You'll have discomfort from going to standing to sitting and vice versa but that's about it

I am 6 days post op and I had both. The pain was something I haven't experienced before. I know I was supposed to be walking but the pain was so exhausting. I couldn't get anything down. I am really just getting some water down. I feel like everytime I swallow there is air that wants to come at the same time. I know I can't tolerate cold liquids and everything has to be warm

I feel the same way as you do. I’m 6 days out and still struggling with getting my liquids in. It either has to be ice water super slow or hot broth. Room temperature is nauseating. I burp with almost every sip. My Dr says it’s normal because my hiatal hernia was very large, so longer healing time and greater pain. Good news is today the gas pain in my shoulder has finally let up and I’m so much more comfortable. Sugar free popsicles have been my saving grace.

7 hours ago, Sharmeka said:

I am 6 days post op and I had both. The pain was something I haven't experienced before. I know I was supposed to be walking but the pain was so exhausting. I couldn't get anything down. I am really just getting some Water down. I feel like everytime I swallow there is air that wants to come at the same time. I know I can't tolerate cold liquids and everything has to be warm

Thanks for responding, your reply was reassuring. I will keep in mind to try warmer liquids rather than cold. Cold stuff hurts my teeth anyway so it might be better overall! And Im happy to hear you are 6 days post op , congratulations and best of luck on your new journey !!! :))

5 hours ago, Mhy12784 said:

I had a sleeve and a hiatal hernia repair and the pain was borderline non existent. I was in the hospital for a few days because of complications from anesthesia so I had the luxury of being on the good stuff for pain, but even after discharge it wasn't bad at all. I have no idea why people would think the hiatal hernia is brutally painful, it takes a surgeon 5 minutes and 1-2 sutures.

Honestly gas pains (from having laparscopic surgery) is probably the most painful and uncomfortable part of the entire situation. You'll have discomfort from going to standing to sitting and vice versa but that's about it

Aw lucky!! I can only hope my hernia recovery will be painless. I agree, I figured the gas pains (shoulder pains) would be the most uncomfortable thing from the surgery but you would be surprised how many people said the hernia repair was what hurt the most! I wouldnt be worried if i had not read all the stuff they said lol but i was up all night reading and it freaked me out Also, What kind of complications did you have with anesthesia? Glad all went well, and hope you are succeeding in your weight loss journey !!!

Okay so here is my story on hiatal hernia please forgive my spelling. So about a year and a half ago i had ds surgery not by laparoscopy they pulled out my gallbladder and fixed my hernia. I was doing really well i started out at 391 then i wast 245 when i started to notice that i was eating more than most but not to where it was unusual but still had me asking questions. Then i noticed more heartburn not to where it was causing me to choke or anything but enough for me to ask for a higher dose of meds. I spoke to the doctor he did a scope and saw the hiatal hernia again. He tells me that because i was so big to begin with that it probably came back and that i should consider surgery again. I asked how will i know it will not come back again he said well now your alot smaller but i cant guarantee anything. I asked if he was going to slice me open again he said he wanted to try to do it by laparoscopy. If there is to much scar tissue then yes he says. So i have it done and he was able to do it the less invasive way, however i must say and this is just my opinion it hurt so much more than my first surgery. I had the same wonderful pain meds but it was not the incisions that hurt it was all the air they pumped into my body. I had more issues with this surgery than the first one. He had me on Liquids for a few days i could barely eat anything i went from a cup and a half to less than an ounce. Pain from burps coming up at the same time i would swallow ouch! Hiccups when my tummy had enough was new to me heard about it but never experienced it till now. The feeling of everything getting stuck just before it would go into stomach. Cold stuff felt like glass shards warm felt nice but only liquids. Now im about three weeks out things feel better gas pains finally went away pain meds did not help for that only caused severe constipation which i also did not have during first surgery. Right now what i feel is sore stabbing pains in the gut area from being in seated position. I also noted that i needed to wear the binder a lot longer than the first surgery. As for anesthesia i did notice it took me longer to recover from it.


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I am always baffled when people say they have pain from their hernia repair. I don't doubt them, but I don't understand how someone can tell the difference when the diaphragm and stomach are so close together. The surgeon uses a few stitches to tighten the diaphragm around the esophagus. I had minimal pain from my severe hernia where my stomach was bulging and I had zero pain from anything except gas. Everyone is different. Talk to your Dr about how they repair it and see if a better understanding helps ease your mind.

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I had a significant hiatal hernia repaired with my VSG, and there was minimal pain. BUT, at 10 days, I developed fairly severe pain at one of my incision sites that lasted for about a week. Go figure!

I had hiatal hernia repair as well. When I work up, my only complaint was chest pain. It was pretty bad, but only lasted about a day and a half. I never got the shoulder pain and stopped all pain meds after 4 days. Now that I'm 3 weeks out, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Good luck!

HW-354
SW-317 (3/26/18)
CW-307
GW-180

I too had the sleeve, hiatal hernia repair, gallbladder removal and regular hernia repair at the same time. None of them were that bad although any pain I did have I couldn't tell you which was which pain.

I am always baffled when people say they have pain from their hernia repair. I don't doubt them, but I don't understand how someone can tell the difference when the diaphragm and stomach are so close together. The surgeon uses a few stitches to tighten the diaphragm around the esophagus. I had minimal pain from my severe hernia where my stomach was bulging and I had zero pain from anything except gas. Everyone is different. Talk to your Dr about how they repair it and see if a better understanding helps ease your mind.

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That’s my question too! How do they know?

I had a hiatal hernia fixed during the surgery that I didn’t even know I had. And my recovery pain was VERY minimal all the way around didn’t even have much gas pain. So yeah, how do they know what is hernia and what isn’t?

So to the OP.... I had very little pain and an easy recovery. Nothing AT ALL like my Csection and not even as bad as my gallbladder surgery!

I had hiatal hernia repair with mesh as it was so large. Also umbilical hernia repair. I had no problems with anesthesia. There was no unmanageable pain. I went home the next day and have been doing well. I’m on day 6 and I don’t use the pain meds except for at night. I do have to go slow on sipping or eating anything or it feels like a giant burp caught in my chest. No where near child birth lol!

I had both done 11/2/17 and I didn’t have any pain I didn’t use any pain meds, just my experience but everybody is different

21 hours ago, PeacockConnie said:

I had hiatal hernia repair as well. When I work up, my only complaint was chest pain. It was pretty bad, but only lasted about a day and a half. I never got the shoulder pain and stopped all pain meds after 4 days. Now that I'm 3 weeks out, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Good luck!

HW-354
SW-317 (3/26/18)
CW-307
GW-180

Yes i hear chest pain/tightening is common. I believe you when you say you'd do it again in a heartbeat! You have lost so much weight already, keep doing what you're doing girl!!! & Thank you

9 hours ago, clambert1978 said:

I had both done 11/2/17 and I didn’t have any pain I didn’t use any pain meds, just my experience but everybody is different

Hope im as lucky! Hope everything is going smoothly with your vsg journey