Post Ingunal Hernia Repair

My husband had hernia repair in Oct 2006, and is still experiencing pain, numbness and pins and needles, along with excruciating pressure near his incision. We have been to see several dr. The current recommended treatment is cortisone injections in the groin (WOW) and we aren't sure if this is a good option. Has anyone had success or problems with this. Or know of another option?

[monkeyflower]

My husband had the exact same thing. He did go through the injections, and found only very, very temporary relief. He also tried a variety of meds with very limited success. He eventually ended up having a second surgery to sever the nerve (as it turned out, one of the nerves had been caught on a stitch and developed a neuroma). He continued to have pain for a while, but through meditation and energy work he was able to get control over it, and was relatively pain free for about a year. Unfortunately, it's recently come back with a vengeance (possible re-injury, development of scar tissue, etc.), but he has some other health issues that are complicating things, so this has kinda taken a back seat for a while... Personally, while I appreciate his surgeon's concern with pain and retained function/feeling, etc., I just wish he'd gone ahead and severed all the involved nerves while he was at it--that seemed to be the most often suggested remedy. Numbness would beat this constant pain.

So yeah, it sucks. I can tell you I read *everything* about this surgery and I wish I could give you more info; my old laptop had a ton of related bookmarks, but it got dropped and fried the board :-( All I can suggest is try searching on things like "inguinal hernia neuropathy". In the meantime, check out the local pain clinic (and if you don't have one in your town, ask your doctor). Also, if he's open to it, meditation and energy work can help. So can massage, but I think it's important to make sure you find a really, really good therapist (ask your doctor(s) who they would recommend).

I'm so sorry this has happened. I wish you both the best of luck, and hope he's feeling better soon.