Advice - grade 3 tear

[JES12]

Hi all, I had my baby 9 weeks ago and suffered a grade 3 year and had an episiotomy. The episiotomy has healed but I am still having pain when passing a bowl motion. Am I expecting too much too soon?

I have mentioned this to my GP numerous times who has said that she can see cuts but doesn’t seem too phased by it. Is this normal? Has anyone else experienced the same? If so how long did you take to fully heal? Thanks xxxxxx

Are you sure the pain is related to the tear? It could be due to piles too.

Are you constipated? I had a third degree tear and bowel movements only hurt when it was too hard - I took stool softener to help.

Anal fissures - they hurt like hell

Yeah I had fissures for a long time after a 3rd degree tear, sorry
Vitamin e tablets seemed to help, but it did take a while.

Hi OP, I second what others have said. See another GP and ask if you have piles or anal fissures.
Your stools need to be soft enough and so an osmotic laxative (like Laxido) might be needed.
Have you been referred for a rectal scan? (the scan usually takes place around 3 months postpartum)
I'm sorry you're going through this.

Thank you for all of your advice. A fissure makes sense. I did ponder about starting to take my Fibogel and Lactulose again, after your comments I most definitely will now!

Thanks so much x

I had tears with both mine, first one I didn’t have any issues apart from peeing when you have stitches which I swear hurts more than the actual labor 🙈 the second one even though she was smaller was a bigger tear I had constipation and hemmoroids so had to have fibre gel which is disgusting had to take for 7 days 🤢. Finally everything was normal after 2 weeks.

I had a 3c tear which took 7 months to feel relatively normal but I didn't have pain with bowl movements like you are describing. Definitely sounds like piles or fissures to me. Hope you manage to get some relief from it quickly!

I gave birth in summer and had to go to theatre to mend a third degree tear. I was given a ton of fibrogel and lactulose and encouraged to take it frequently.

I felt fine initially and then the stitches dissolved and it was all a bit raw again I think.

Hi OP,

I had a 3rd degree tear with DS1. It actually took a good 3/4 months to pass a bowel movement without pain. It took about 9 months before 'going' felt normal again.

Load up on the laxatives, eat plenty of prunes and avoid rice for the foreseeable future!

I'm having DS2 one week today.... C-section this time to avoid these kinds of issues!