nerve pain post birth

[muslimah28]

has anyone experienced this? have you taken medication for it? if so, did it work?i have had major episiotomy problems, and though the wound has now basically healed fromteh outside (a huge relief) i'm still in pain so now its expected nerve pain.

The thing that sorted me out was giving birth to dc2. I tore along the scar from the previous tear, but not quite as badly. Healed up quickly and the untraceable undiagnosable pain I had lived with for the previous 2-and-a-bit years was gone forever.

my gynaecologist did say this actually. but right nowi need to get myself healthy again beforei can even think about another one! DS is just 14 weeks old now... how did you manage the pain in the meantime?

I had an additional problem, in that my wound did not heal properly until it was repaired when ds1was 8m. After that I had an uneasy feeling that I was not believed when I said that I was still in pain, because nobody could find anything physically wrong.

I didn't really do anything about the pain. I wasn't willing to pop pain-killers all day every day, and TBH the pain was generally manageable. Are you in pain all the time? IIRC I was not, especially after the repair had healed, but generally only on contact or in certain postions.

After the repair I was given diclofenac suppositories, which were utterly marvelous. You can now get diclofenac tablets OTC (it's called Voltarol), and I find it more effective in general than ibuprofen, but I don't know whether the tablets are as effective as the suppositories for that particular pain. It may sound odd, taking pr by suppository, but it makes sense as (a) the drug is absorbed into the body at the site where it is needed, and (b) it is absorbed straight into the bloodstream, bypassing the digestive system entirely, which means you need to use less of the medication and the liver has less to break down.

Worth asking your dr if the pain fluctuates, so you could just use it occasionally, for the worst peaks of pain?

It was suggested to me that perineal massage could help. But I've never managed to do it.

Thanks for your advice. I went to see my doctor today and got the suppositories,i hope they work

i actually had a similar thing which is the cause of the nerve pain, my episiotomy wound has been cauterised twice and repaired a third time, so before it seemed that the wound was the cause of the pain. but now the wound is practically healed but there's still pain which is what indicates that its nerve pain.

good idea re the perineum massage too.it makes sense cos its very hard skin there now. i think i'll try it when i can.

i just want to be able to find a way to manage the pain so i can get my life back.

I, too, had two cauterisations before it was finally repaired!

How long ago was the repair done? I remember being shocked at how painful recovery was from the repair work. Of course when you've just had a baby your perineal nerves have been stretched and are less sensitive for a long time afterwards. Not that it feels that way at the time, but I imagine it shields you from quite a lot of pain. A shield which you don't have when you have surgery without being first stretched by a baby's head. Then all the nerves are wide awake abd yelling their little heads off. I wish I'd been warned about it beforehand.

wow, you must have been through exactly what im going through then... did you by any chance read the thread 'midwife shrieking in horror'? that was exactly what happened to me (altho posted by someone else's DH). i have to say, it was such a great support thread as without that i would have had no idea that its possible to get better from something like this.

i last had surgery 3 weeks ago. i actually had 2 weeks of no pain immediately post op but then the pain came back. i was mortified when it was first came back last sunday, but now i've just accepted it and that makes it easier to manage.

unfortunately the dico suppositories gave me diarhoeia! but then i do have IBS so i was probably more susceptible to that as a side effect. the dr gave me both tablets and suppositories so i could see what works best. ive taken a tablet today and it has helped.

i can't say i went through a phase post natally of no pain at all. ive had pain from one thing or another since birth...but it is getting better. i have reflexology done and the lady always asks me to rate the pain out of 10. when i first saw her about 6 weeks ago, it was 8 but today i was able to say the pain was 2. it does go up to 4 but rarely do i get up to 8 again, whereas pre op i was 8 every day. (hope this makes sense!)

how long did it take for your nerve pain to recover post op?

Muslimah, I'm not ignoring but I'm away for a couple of weeks and have no Internet. no mobile either! But a few minutes of v slow connection on mobile just now. Will post properly when I return to RL. Hope the diclof is helping.

thank you that's so sweet of you to keep me updated! the diclof tablets are really helping, i'm so glad you suggested it. i was actually taking them from birth to about 10 weeks every day, every 8 hours. then the gp told me to try to stop taking them as i was taking them by the clock and maybe i didn't need them. so then i kind of forgot all about them. but now my pain has returned, i'm managing it reasonably well with both diclofenac and if i get breakthrough pain (most days) i also take co codamol.

i was worried that i would get too used to co codamol (DH is a pharmacist and he says this is a risk) but now we both just think i shoud take whatever i need. and from my GP appointment i'm reassured that there are other pain relief options open to me, so if co codamol and diclofenac become less effective i can move onto something else.

sorry, i've written a lot more, and not even given you a chance to respond to the previous post. i hope you're having a nice break

Hello Muslimah I have come home to my laptop .

I'll go over to your other, more recent, thread...