Please help - in agony from episiotomy

[londonliv]

I'm hoping someone can help me. 5 days ago I had my ds. Unfortunately after a long labour on G&A he was stuck & I ended up being rushed into theatre & having a ventouse & episiotomy.
I am home & in absolute agony. It takes me five minutes to get in & out of bed & even turning over is painful. DH has to come and take ds out of his crib & put him next to me to feed as I just can't do it.
Even more worryingly I cant sit on the loo any more to pee but have to hover above. I could at the hospital but am not sure if my painkillers were stronger then or if things feel tighter/more painful.
The MW came on 2 days ago & said the stitches looked fine but the are absolute agony. I am trying to wash with water several times a day & let it air dry naturally to & have been putting witch hazel on my pads but it feels worse not better.
Can anyone tell me when it might improve? Is this normal? I am in tears all the time because I just want to look after & enjoy my ds but I can't do anything as I'm in agony. Also I am meant to go to the clinic today to get him weighed but can literally barely walk even though the hospital is 5 mins away. Can I ask them to come to me?
Any help or advice would be much appreciated - I feel so hopeless right now

I had extreme pain similar - only diclofenac helped at regular intervals and I also used dettol wound spray (i just sprayed it on, no touching). Hopefully, the AB's and new pain killers work for you.

It takes time to recover as it is muscle.

Yes, diclofenic! I knew I had taken something stronger but couldnt remember!

Am glad you got sorted at the doctors, I agree though that the midwives should come to you - mine did for a good few weeks I remember. I hope the antibiotics clear things up super fast for you

Yes, diclofenac was the only thing that touched the pain.

I would also recommend a putting a bag of frozen peas against that area. Bliss.

Even sitting on a blown-up swimming ring was impossible, as you no doubt found out yourself by now.

Can I add to try and get hold of a breastfeeding (if you are) friendly probiotic. I can't recommend this enough as it will massively help prevent you getting thrush from the antibiotics. Biocare do a really good one that you can take during of and BF. You really want to avoid thrush if you can.
And congratulations

Sorry but I have to make the point that you cannot avoid vaginal thrush by taking probiotics meant to help your gut bacteria. There is no physical mechanism for transporting those probiotics from your intestines to your vagina.

You want to take Vitamin B complex (B6, B12 etc) pills for this purpose.

Cote, it was my Dr who recommended the probiotics.

He must have wanted to prevent diarrhoea. Not thrush.

It is just not possible for orally administered probiotics to reach the vagina - they cannot get into the blood stream (thankfully) and there is no other conduit between the intestines and the vagina (again, thankfully).

She told me that candida in the gut is passed out through urine and that is how it transfers to the vagina. She was a specialist I saw because I couldn't get rid of the thrush I'd had since dc2 was born. She advices reducing sugar as much as possible and taking a high quality probiotic. She also recommended vitamin B complex. She told me that women should always take a probiotic alongside any antibiotics to avoid thrush due to antibiotics killing off all the good bacteria.
So again, op, I recommend a good quality probiotic to help avoid thrush.

The antibiotic kills off the good bacteria which csn lead to candida overgrowth in the gut. When you wee, this candida can pass to the vagina; in fact this happens often. Hence the recommendation to take s probiotic. Nothing to do with diarrhoea.

I was in agony for about 5 days then started rapidly feeling better. Honestly it does get better. Three months later it was like nothing happened.

I did have a secondary infection that the midwife missed so please make sure you get yourself checked out as many times as you need. Once the antibiotics kicked in I was loads better.

Congratulations- don't do too much at home. You need to rest. Put the visitors on hold.

I don't want to derail OP's thread and so will stop after this post but:

"candida in the gut is passed out through urine"

That is not possible, since urine comes from the bladder and not the gut.

Ok unless you are a microbiologist or a Urogynecologist as my Dr was then please stop posting the same thing.
Good luck op, hope you get it sorted.

Cote is right, there is no evidence to suggest that probiotics work, even when administered vaginally.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/16790461/
There is no way that gut flora can enter the vagina either unless you are wiping the wrong way and introducing it that way. I don't know where your urogynaecologist went to med school but it seems she doesn't seem to know her basic anatomy and physiology!

I took diclofenac for almost 2 months after my episiotomy (broke down so mine was an open wound.) Double up on thick maternity pads and try different positions for feeding as putting weight on your underside is awful. tepid salt baths patted dry. I also held a maternity pad to me whilst pooing (and weed leaning forwards to try to stop the stinging).

It drives me mad that post birth we can be so damaged and in so much pain and all we'll be suggested is old wives tales bollocks like essential oils in a bath.

The thought of those first couple of months still makes me feel physically sick and very emotional - needless to say I had an ELCS for my second.

Make sure your GP gives adequate pain relief (diclofenac). I hope you're feeling better soon.

I had an epi 6 weeks ago.. It became infected and gaped.. Ick
It has all healed now at 6 weeks and hopefully you'll be the same.
Its really really crap.. Epis are barbaric imo

I had a complicated second degree tear and I couldn't comfortably stand up for more than a few seconds until 2 weeks after. At 5 days pp I was laying in bed all day and having baby brought to me like you said. I was on diclafenic and paracetamol intermittently all day for 3 weeks. Keep taking the painkillers, don't be a martyr to it. It took until about 6 weeks before I could walk anywhere than just around the house. Telling you this only so you dot set your expectations too high! I was a bit disillusioned and thought it would be better in a week. It will get better eventually but it does take time. I agree with the no underwear suggestion, or tena lady pants are amazing as thy provide extra padding. Was also suggested to put sanitary towels in the freezer tho I never tried this myself. Rest as much as possible. You will get there. I am 11 weeks pp an can walk for a couple of miles now :)

Ps I also has infection and antibiotics!!

Also agree with recommendation about probiotic to prevent thrush when on antibiotics. I was told the same by my gynae - can cause overgrowth of yeast leading to thrush. In fact I got nipple thrush due to antibiotics.

Yes, antibiotics kill good bacteria as well as bad, and so can lead to thrush. Take Vitamin B complex along with antibiotics to prevent this from happening.

You can't prevent thrush on your nipples or in your vagina by eating probiotics (good bacteria). It goes to your gut, not to your nipples or to your vagina. Gut bacteria don't enter blood stream and there is no mechanism through which they can travel to other organs in the body.

If gut bacteria (including probiotics) travelled elsewhere in your body, you would probably not survive for very long.

I had forceps and episiotomy with DS. I feel your pain. I found mine got more painful and although I wasn't wholly rational about it at the time now I can look back and rationalise it more. If you cut your finger, it usually feels more sore after a day or two before it feels better. This is the same with your cut. It's a major trauma and it will feel worse before it feels better. I found having a no 2 the worst.

So a couple of things that helped me was to use lavender and tea tree oil in warm water (couple drops of each in a bowl) and dab the area after going to the loo. Also use these in the bath if you get the chance.

I also bought one of those widgey breastfeeding pillows and sat in it for about three weeks. Meant there was less pressure on my vagina when sitting.

I also got my midwife to check it every time she came out. It helped reassure me that it was in fact healing as it should.

If you're still worried though you're still under post natal care for 6 weeks. Ask to be checked by the doctor who did the cut and stitching.

Really hope it starts to feel more comfortable for you soon xxx

Oooowww, I remember it well. It absolutely kills. Get them to check it isn't infected. I had to stay in hospital for a week and demanded some doctors came to look at mine. Turned out it had come loose a bit, but they left it to heal on its own. Also had an infection and antibiotics. My friend had to have hers re-done months later as it still hurt, but I reckon 2-4 weeks is a normal time frame for it to be very, very sore. Poor, poor you. I remember lying on the bed nude with my bits in the air hoping it would heal!!! Eventually it did and now I can't tell the difference.

Congratulations on your baby, warrior mother! Courage X

Oh god love you honestly, I thought the pain in the weeks after DD was born was worse than the actual birth! Someone told me to kinda sit but hover over the lip and put my palms flat on the floor in front of me and then pee!! You look ridiculous, but my god does it stop the stinging! Makes your pee go straight backwards into the toilet rather than running down your stitches and getting all stingy!! My DH opened the bathroom door while I was performing these toilet acrobatics and just said "what the fuck are you doing".....cue my response of "it the only way it doesn't sting" haha

I had a c-section second time round and it healed faster than my episiotomy did, seriously.

I got terrible infections and all my episiotomy stitches burst - the whole way. I was it absolutely agony and despair over it. But eventually it DID get better and the skin regranulated. The only thing that really worked was salt baths (whatever the MW and doctor say) and I also purchased some iodine from Amazon and swabbed with that several times a day. Probably TMI but if I needed to wee I did it in the bath in shallow water to stop it stinging the wound and that really helped too. Good luck.

Brightreddress I also found a csectiin wound so much easier ...I shan't be attempting another vbac thats for sure.