Diarrhoea after c section - 3 weeks on?

[Pregnant02]

as of today I am 3 weeks post partum, DD was delivered by an emergency c section which went well. Recovery has been going fine until Saturday when I started with diarrhoea, this continued until Sunday so I put it down to a 24 hour bug. I was fine Monday and Tuesday and then last night it started again. I now don’t think it is a bug as no one else in the house has caught it and it’s returned so quickly.

Has anyone else experienced diarrhoea which has been linked to having a c section? Google suggests all sorts of things but I’m not sure how reliable they are!

My bowels were really bad after my emergency c section I'm 7 months postpartum and there still not the same🙈 I did do a stool sample for infections but nothing flagged up, doctors now think it's ibs😬

Oh gosh, 7 months is a long time to still be suffering bless you. I’m now wondering if it’s linked to the iron tablets I’ve been prescribed, if so I’d rather stop the iron than have diarrhoea everyday!

I was on iron tablets too, I stopped them about a month or 2 ago and things are started to seem abit better, I was getting pain near my ribs but that doesn't seem to have come back, so I think a lot of it is too so with the tablets. I'm just trying to eat more iron foods now.

I agree that iron tablets really can do strange things to your bowels, but you should definitely get a doctor's opinion

Yes I'm sorry to say 3 weeks is nothing in terms of c section recovery for many people. It took me much longer to get my bowels back on track, stop bleeding etc! I know some people seem to be absolutely fine 5 minutes after their sections but mine always took a lot of recovery and my stomach/bowels was the worst part.

Just try to eat small regular meals, drink plenty and rest! It's miserable but you will feel better eventually.

Thank you for all of your replies. I ended up taking Imodium this morning so I could leave the house which isn’t a long term option.

I think it’s thrown me because I’ve been fine for the past couple of weeks and seems to have started from nowhere and with a toddler & newborn to look after it’s really not ideal.

@forevercurious sorry to resurrect your thread from a few months ago but I’m 5 weeks post section and have been experiencing the same for the past week. I just wondered whether things had sorted themselves out?

Yes I did! My GP advised that I could stop taking the iron tablets I was on & it went away! My iron levels were initially only slightly too low and I did have another blood test to double check I no longer needed them. If you’re taking iron it could be the same for you.

@forevercurious , thank you! I am taking iron tablets actually as, like you, my levels were slightly too low after my section. I’ll stop taking them and see if things improve.

Sorry to come back to this but I am struggling really badly with diarrhea, I am 2 weeks post c section (had a really bad one ending in t incision too) I can't keep anything down and feel quite weak from the constant toilet visits. Infections and bugs all ruled out. How long did it take to get back to some sort of normal , basically is there a light at the end of the tunnel??

@Sodthatforagameofsoldiers

@Emsalexson that sounds really hard.

I did feel better eventually yes, but I don't think I had anything as bad as you. Is your MW/GP helping? You will be losing lots of fluids and nutrients and I'm not surprised you feel absolutely rubbish.

I think about 4-6 weeks it began to ease for me. I was readmitted at 17 days postpartum with retained placenta and once that was dealt with I started to begin slowly feeling better.

Interesting, how did they find out about the retained placenta? Ok good to know it does ease up!

to add another possibility, I has an emcs and the suspected sepsis so had lots of strong antibiotics. then was diagnosed with c diff about 6 weeks later, after I had on and off diarrhoea. Had a course of antibiotics and that sorted it out.

The retained placenta started to come away and I passed massive clots. I phoned the maternity ward and was readmitted. I was in a huge amount of pain and there was an infection so I had antibiotics too (which didn't help the stomach or baby's stomach!) but did clear the infection and I began to recover.

Keep mentioning it to your MW or HV and asking for help to make sure it doesn't get worse, in the meantime try sipping electrolyte replacements like Berroca (Aldi do a cheaper version) to make you feel better.

Ah ok! Makes sense, I've had all tests and there seems to be no infection, my markers are all in normal range. (I had infection in hospital but it's gone now) I have had 2 medium size clots come through but I think if there was placenta it would have been picked up with inflammation markers. I'm going back to the doc today, need to get to the bottom of it.

Hope you get an answer or that it starts to just resolve itself. Your body has been through so much, it's not surprising it's protesting a bit. Look after yourself x

I'm just over 2 weeks post section and the wind is horrendous! I can't eat a big meal; little and often is fine but if I eat a plateful of food then it's an all night fart party

I haven't had a c section but I had a major gynae op with an open incision (laparotomy) and I had some diarrhea a few times for a few weeks afterwards. Its settled down now. My grandmother who's a a nurse said your bowels are very sensitive, and they get irritated when you have surgery near your bowels. Plus there's all the medications you've had - general anaesthetic, painkillers, possible antibiotics? (I had antibiotics)

Give it some time.

So it turns out it's called overflow and I actually am very constipated! It got bad, I went back to delivery suite and they did an x-ray and I am completely backed up with poo! So it's a week of laxatives and trying to pass it for me. Mad how all the doctors didn't catch it, but the midwives did straight away!