What causes abdominal pain after umbilical hernia repair?
Patient: Mymother-in-law is 5 or 6 yrs post op umbilical hernia repair with mesh implant.  She has started wxperiencing abdominal pain that started out as a "twinge" toward the right of the area and has progressed to the point of going to the emergency room d/t the pain.  She is a strong woman and handles pain well.  She rated her pain an 8 on a scale of 0-10.  A CT scan revealed nothing.  Labs revealed nothing.  They told her it most likely was a pulled muscle.  Gave her muscle relaxers and sent her home.  The pain lessened, as she did nothing but what absolutely had to be done.  Decreased movements or muscle relaxers offered the relief...not sure.  Now up and going and no meds and the pain is back with avengence.  UA was negative.  Could this be a mesh issue?  Who should she consult as her surgen is no longer inthe area and her PCP is not real worried. Doctor: Mesh have become notorious for problems. Basically, they are not normal tissue. They do not adapt, change, move, repair as normal tissue does. There can be plain inflammation around them(rare) but certainly scar and not moving iwth the surrounding area causes twinges. There isn't really easy fixes for it.