air bubbles under skin after laparoscopic hernia repair

[ishmaelq]

Hi all -- I had an inguinal hernia repaired laparoscopically yesterday morning, and everything went as smoothly as possible.  Last night, I had a bit of pain in my shoulders (felt like a stitch from running) and I experienced a crackling noise whenever i turned my head.  in a clearer state of mind today, i realized that it feels like there are little air bubbles under the skin of my neck, upper chest and ribs.  My surgeon made no mention of this, so of course i have scanned the web, reading all kinds of things about subcutaneous emphysema, etc.  

There is no pain involved, aside from my hernia area and little stitch-like pain in my right shoulder.  Is this a common, benign side effect or something i need to worry about?  Thank you so much for your help.

ishmael

[Pete1979]

Did this ever get resolved, Ishmaelq, as I have the same condition immediately after the hernia op

[eddiev22]

I have also gone through a hernia repair and i was fine for 3 days and on the 4th day a severe chest pain began on my left side. every time i inhaled it would just kill me so i had to control my breaths. when i laid down it was even worse i guess when i would put pressure on my lung, so i had to get up frequently. as the pain grew i called the dr who did my surgery, being very rude he said "ive done many of these surgeries,  and i have not had one person say anything about chest pains, you did that on your own," i told him what are u talking about im 19 years old i shouldnt have any unusual chest pains he then went on to say i cant do nothing about it right now if it gets worse go to ER so i was very angry about that. the pain little by little went away its the 6th day right now and i can sleep better i can breathe alittle deeper. i dont have any crackiling or bubbles on my outer skin but my chest worries me a bit. but after reading a couple experiences after surgeies i think its just gas trapped in my rib cage. so i see my dr today and man oh man am i going to let him have it

[NickyUK]

Hi! I had a double inguinal repair just over a month ago, and I have been experiencing the exact same thing! I didn't think it was related though...until now! I had severe chest pains the day after my op, which went away, and then I felt fine for a about 2 weeks. Then the chest pain (mainly in the left shoulder and chest) came back out of nowhere about 2 weeks after. It went away after about a day (I thought it was just a trapped nerve in my back), but i also had that crackling noise in my chest which I thought was strange, like i had little air bubbles trapped in my chest. Well, about a week ago the chest pain and crackling noise came back, this time the pain was so bad i went straight to A&E. They did loads of tests and everything was clear. Basically they didn't really give me an explanation, just told me to take pain killers and come back again if it got worse. Well, since then the pain has eased but i still get it quite badly if I exert a lot of energy (ie. in the gym). I've thought this whole time that it was just a trapped nerve in my back or something, but it's a bit of a coincidence that you have the exact same pain and crackling noise and have also just had a laparoscopic hernia repair too......
Nicky (in London)
ps. Do you also have a stitch-like pain in your side??