OK for women to shit themselves 7 months post partum?

[Sugargliderwombat]

I've come away wondering if this is normal or if standards for women really are just this low.

I am 7 months PP. Had a vaginal breech baby with a 2nd degree tear. TMI - I get a dragging feeling in my vag and when I need a number 2 I get a bulge in my vag from my back passage.

Decided I needed to sort my health out and invested in a running pram. Did first session of couch to 5k. Clenched whole way round. Next day, shat myself. 'Jesus this is bad' I thought. ' I'll never run again.'.

Just been to GP. She can't see anything. Not a problem to shit yourself once. Keep doing pelvic floors. Keep running.... Really?! Is it really not that weird to actually shit yourself?!

Yabu - totally fine to shit yourself.
Yanbu - womens healthcare is in the gutter.

Have you seen a women's health physio? GPs don't have the right expertise.

Did you not get referred to see a consultant?
It was a very long time ago when I had my first and I had a third degree tear. I had a referral to go back to the hospital (maybe 6 months after giving birth) for them to check everything had healed properly and they asked me if I had experienced any incontinence.
As this was a long time ago maybe I was lucky and the NHS wasn't such a shit show and you could get an appointment.

I also get the bulge in my vag from back & wondered why. I mentioned it to Dr when I was getting hemmeroids banded. Dr didn't seem concerned. This is what it is ...

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/rectocele/symptoms-causes/syc-20353414

I don't run so can't comment on that part but the bulge hasn't caused me to soil myself so may be coincidence. I find having a step still for going to the toilet helps my empty properly.

I don't think it's normal & should be accepted when we poop ourselves!

Id definitely see a woman's physio, I dont think youre being unreasonable at all to expect not to shit yourself!

Running can encourage bowel movements. If you feel the urge to go, you should stop running and ideally go to the loo. Continuing runs the risk of what happened to you the second time you went running. You're relying on the ability to hold it in whilst running, which can clearly be a challenge.

The dragging feeling and the bulging is something that I agree could need a referral to a women's health physio or some other expert in this area for a more detailed investigation.

Definitely not normal. I had third degree tear, big stomach separation and prolapse was mentioned early on PP. Got to see an NHS physio but private were more helpful - did Pilates and saw a women's health physio who checked how I was doing the pelvic floor exercises. I did a lot of exercises (not just pelvic floor but healing core muscles etc) and it worked really well. So there is hope you can fix it. I think for prolapse they wait until a year PP - I was told that though maybe mine was minor so they wanted to see if it would just go away. I would definitely try to find more support though and someone who can help you with the right exercises

Who are the 11% of arseholes who think yabu to not want to shit yourself?!

The second session of couch to 5k is hardly hardcore. You are walking most of it! If such mild activity is making you lose control of your bowels that is a really bad problem. You need to be referred to a pelvic specialist physio.

Pelvic floor problems are a real issue in putting women off being active and exercising. Its a gendered public health issue that should be taken seriously.

I'm sorry but the second session of couch to 5k is very mild activity. Absolutely no-one who is healthy should shit themselves as a result of this.

People who are healthy do not shit themselves even if they feel the need to go to the toilet. Being able to hold in a bowel movement is normal and not a challenge.

That’s a rectal prolapse. I found the GP pretty useless tbh. They don’t have specific training on it and frequently check it whilst you’re lying down or are currently empty, when it doesn’t show!

I found Facebook support groups helpful in telling me what to tell the GP to get a referral. Or you may be able to self refer to the women’s physio in your hospital - it varies by trust.

It's common for running to encourage the bowels. Imodiim beforehand can help I think.

But it still doesnt sound as if everything is ok in that area. I'd ask for a referral.

Did the GP do a pelvic exam? It’s not their specialty and they need to refer you for a gynae physio appointment.

Go back to your GP and demand that referral. Make a complaint to the practice manager as well as the GP should have done it purely based on the bulging feeling you experience, let alone actually having an accident.

Women’s health will never be a priority unless we make it a bigger problem for them to ignore it, but putting in complaints every single time.

@someepeoplearenice I know, I have done couch to 5k, and I am not saying it's normal. I am just saying that exercise, running, can encourage bowel movements and you should not attempt to continue and hold on to it. The OP should seek further help with what sounds like some kind of prolapse, as I said.

Running does encourage bowel movement, but at the time of it, not a day later, I’d not have clenched all the way round though but found a loo.

however that wasn’t when the accident was, it was the next day you had the accident? So what were you doing that day and in the lead up to it ie in the hours before.

The bulge you feel is a rectocele and cannot be repaired without surgery. I know because I've had one. Once muscle and ligament tissue get separated, no amount of physio is going to put it together again. Although physio definitely helps with recovery.

I remember after my midwife checked over my 3C tear, she said so very casually "one more millimetre and you would have been feacally incontinent". Apparently I was 'lucky'. Ten years later and I'm still not right down there. Probably never will be. And ironically, HCPs don't seem to give a shit.

Of course, most of this could've been avoided if my birth hadn't been a 36 hour monumental clusterfuck, but that's a topic for a whole other thread.

YANBU. Women's healthcare is in the gutter.

You can have an endoanal ultrasound via the colorectal team to check your sphincters if you are having problems after the birth of your child. I have had two and they were not bad at all.

Came to say the same thing. You need to be seen by a gynae the GP is talking rubbish.

Also, did the midwife know it’s breach and let you give birth? Were you informed about the dangers of giving birth to breach babies?

Thank you so much everyone I'm reading these crying, glad I can go back to them and ask for a second opinion without feeling too deranged.

Running was what helped me with both my mental and physical health and to feel that I might not have that again was absolutely awful. Postpartum has been really difficult this time and I desperately want to be able to get out into the wind and mud and rain again. I miss the post run feeling so much.

I second everyone saying that you need a physio assessment . A friend who had a hysterectomy this year got way more help from the physio than anyone else she saw and the lady she saw really explained stuff well . Hope you get it sorted .

Hi! Thank you, i will definitely be chasing a referral for this 🙂.

Yes we did know about the breech, I was under an opti breech hospital who have specialist Dr's and midwives and very specific procedures that are followed to make it as safe as a 'normal' vaginal delivery. Opti breech hospitals are doing great things 🙂.

Could be either/Or. Women focussed health care is indeed shit (pardon the pun)

But running does induce a laxative effect on many people, so in 7 months that is the only time you've had any issues it's fairly understandable that the GP thought as a one-off it wasn't indicative of anything serious.

As pps have said, day 2 of c25k is mainly walking so she probably expected that if there was an issue it would have been evident before now. If you'd gone in saying "ever since I've given birth I've struggled with needing to poo if I walk more than a few metres/or at a fast pace, I've now started jogging and have shat myself every time" then she probably would have taken that more seriously.

By all means if it continues go back again, tell her it's life limiting and you want investigations etc but I don't automatically think she was being dismissive by not doing all those things immediately if its only happened once.

Nothing to do with having a baby, but I'd shit myself if I felt the urge to poo and decided instead of going to the loo, I'd clench and go for a run. That's obvious, isn't it?

That's not to say that you don't need further investigations re the bulge or that women's healthcare isn't woefully neglected.

But clenching and going for a run rather than visiting the loo when feel the urge to poo is likely to end badly for anyone, surely?

I have rectocele that I didn't get looked at for 2 years post partum due to the pandemic. I had specialist physio (private). I did originally think I would have surgery to fix it but now I don't see myself doing it unless things get worse. The consultant and physio I saw told me NOT to run or do anything high impact as it would make it worse. I took that seriously at first but having done lots of strength work (slowly built up) I now feel more or less normal (except it is difficult to get a poo out without putting pressure on my perineum) so I would not feel too disheartened if they tell you not to run.

Did you not realise till you were back? Or are you saying the movement brought on a er movement that you were unable to hold off?

How sure are you that shitting yourself was related to the running? Next day is quite a long time after.

i have ibs and this sort of thing is unfortunately quite common for people with ibs.

tmi but could it have been a stomach bug or food poisoning or similar?

obviously you should see a women’s health person anyway. GPs generally not the right people for this sort of stuff.

With a massive tear you can have torn muscles, not just rectocele. Then kegels do nothing at all. Some injuries can be repaired with surgery, but not all. In any case you need to see a specialist, someone who is an expert on pelvic floor and injuries from childbirth.