Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome (MALS)

Wow, I have to agree with sclindajanssen. If you can recover in a week, everyone will want that doctor’s number. 😊 But seriously, I had lapriscopic surgery as well. I have a desk job too and I attempted to go back after two and a half weeks. That did not work. I was so uncomfortable and exhausted. When you are sitting at home all day it seems like you could go and sit at a desk but don’t count on that. I ended up taking four and a half weeks off. Then I returned half days until I hit six weeks. I am back full time and doing ok. I try to move a lot.

My PCP was more helpful guiding me with the recovery. She said she has patients that have had a hysterectomy and take a minimum of four weeks off and this surgery is much more involved than that. I look forward to being 100% but I realize that will probably take months. Maybe if I were younger 😊. I wish you well but prepare for a longer recovery and consider it a bonus if it does not take as long.

“Feeling crummy” for a week is very alarming and concerning to me. I had lap surgery and it was way more difficult than the C-sections I had. I was back at work after 1 week but should have taken 2-3 weeks off. Recovery was 2 steps forward, 1 step back. Serious nausea lasted exactly 2 months after surgery and that is the norm. Intermittent pain lasted 6-10 months and was aggravated by sitting. I still can’t tolerate sitting very much and it’s been a year since surgery. My recovery from lap was average or better than average. I’ve read many, many testimonies on Facebook MALs Awareness and learned from them that open is more difficult than lap but most have better long term results tha lap. Much pain and nausea for 2 months and many say the 3rd week and 3rd month are tough set backs.
“Feeling crummy for a week” sounds very disconnected with actual MALs patients’ recovery. It’s a highly deep, invasive surgery. They start in the front and go all the way to the spine, cutting through many tissues. Pain is in front and in the back and it’s very hard to roll and sit up for a couple weeks.
A desk job is harder on the surgical site than a standing job because sitting causes compression in the MALs area. I got an elevating work station after 2 months and that is when I really noticed better healing and reduced pain.
Just be aware that surgery recovery for most of us is very challenging, especially the first 3 months but fatigue up to a year for some. So plan accordingly and avoid any major energy consuming tasks and events for 3 months.
With that said, I’m still so grateful for surgery because life is 95% better now. Life is great and I’m full of joy again. I wish you well with a quick recovery.

@kariulrich I'm looking at open surgery and being told I'll feel "crummy" for a week. Should I take that to mean I'll be out of work for a whole week but able to return after that (desk job doing computer work)?

Hi everyone, so good to see this page active! I came across my caring bridge page which has all my posts from my first and second MALS surgeries. In case anyone is interested in what it was like for me before and after surgery. If anyone else has a caring bridge page and would like to share it that would be wonderful! Thanks Kari https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/kariulrich

I’m surprised you found someone in Australia because there was a news story about someone in Australia who had to travel to US for MALs surgery as no one could do it in Australia. So I’m glad there really is a surgeon for MALs in Australia. How are you doing now, 5 years later?
I had lap a year ago and now mild symptoms are just starting to return. I’ve been wondering if open lasts indefinitely.

I am a lung cancer survivor only because Mayo doctors discovered I had lung cancer!, even though I never smoked! At Mayo, I went into life saving surgery immediately...All the while (2)
two years before local doctors told me my symptoms were in my head.
Get a second or third opinion, no matter how much you respect your physician!!!! No one knows your body like you!

I was told it was all in my head for nearly a year then finally they found it. I had full open surgery in 2013 here in Australia.

Hi I’ve had surgery for MALS not sure if you’re still interested in this condition. If you would like more information please let me know. Thanks Rachel

Your words are profound and spot on! Thank you

Hi @sclindajanssen and @astaingegerdm

Thanks for the info, I had come across this but didn't want to believe it. Doctors, consultants and surgeons are considered to be some of the smartest people in society, how can such intelligent people base everything on such a study. They would second guess the dead rather than listen to the living! Looking at MALs in dead people has far too many variables for them to even draw a hypothesis. Because of this belief MALs will stay as a condition of exclusion. MALs sufferers worldwide will continue to suffer silently undergoing unnecessary operations and years of diagnostic procedures making it too late to treat when they do finally find the compression. It takes guts to speak out against this like Dr Hsu from Connecticut who I believe is not very popular amongst fellow surgeon because of how he treats MALs. Sometimes it takes a pioneer to push the boundaries of what we know to change how others think. If I could afford to be treated by Dr Hsu I would fly out to America tomorrow. I think it is up to us the sufferers to help with that change in mindset by demanding similar surgery from our surgeons, it seems that the earlier the treatment with extensive cutting back of the ligament and Nerve bundle the better the prognosis.