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Childbirth

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Original poster

Refusing Clexane after C section

127 replies

MolesOnPoles · 17/12/2022 21:20

Has anyone refused Clexane (blood thinning) injections after a c section?

I’m fine with injections usually, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it on myself after DD was born. It sounds mad but trying to force myself to do it was by far the worst but of my C section recovery. DH would be useless at helping, but I’ll rope him in if I need to.

I’ll be having another C section in the spring, and I’m wondering about discussing whether I can avoid taking them with the consultant.

I know that the risk of a blood clot doubles after a c section, but I can’t find anywhere what the absolute risk is which would be really useful to know.

I will discuss it with a doc, but has anyone else done this?

OP posts:
Ocrumbs · 18/12/2022 07:45

Speak to your consultant. They may suggest which area you can inject them in. If they prescribe them for you please take them.

endofthelinefinally · 18/12/2022 07:45

For me, the number of deaths from PE is pretty compelling. How many deaths are acceptable?

Ocrumbs · 18/12/2022 07:46

The hospital will be used to people with needle phobias so they might have some advicd

Ocrumbs · 18/12/2022 07:47

MolesOnPoles · 17/12/2022 21:44

Gosh I’ve hit some nerves. Yes, I do like to have numbers before I make a decision 🤷‍♀️.

The only number that is relevant is you though. It's the risk to you.

ittakes2 · 18/12/2022 07:56

the clexane needle is so fine
i do know of a woman who had a clot after birth who tragically became brain damaged and needed full time 24hr care and her husband went off the rails from the trauma and became a drug addict and the grandparents had to raise their daughter.
please take your clexane the nhs don’t give out drugs unless there is research to demonstrate it’s necessary

CoffeeBoy · 18/12/2022 08:02

Also rcog says for an elective section you only need heparin if you have other risk factors.

www.rcog.org.uk/media/qejfhcaj/gtg-37a.pdf

i found the video of the consultant talking about this and she says that while rcog says heparin isn’t needed for elective sections they still give it where she works (Sheffield)

QuietYou · 18/12/2022 08:11

I had a PE in pregnancy as a young, fit healthy woman.
Just do the injections, I understand not wanting to I had them for 12 weeks in my first pregnancy then throughout the whole of the subsequent three pregnancies as well as for six weeks after each birth.
I had to psych myself up before every single one but the PE was far far worse, the pain of it and the worry it caused me and my family.
The newer injectors are much easier to use too than the old style ones.

Misty999 · 18/12/2022 08:14

It's a tiny needle just grab a bit of belly and stick it in, got to be done I'm afraid just suck it up.

Ocrumbs · 18/12/2022 08:17

I guess at the end of the day no matter how much I disagree with it, it is your choice. The NHS will try to be there for you if it all goes wrong.

daschundthroughthesnow · 18/12/2022 09:24

@endofthelinefinally no you're wrong - one of the scoring criteria used to decide whether you need a course of blood thinners after delivery is how much blood you lost in labour. Those with greater blood loss are at greater risk of VTE and therefore score for needing the course of blood thinners

bloodyplanes · 18/12/2022 09:36

I have refused them after my c-sections ( 4 of them) and also more recently after gastric surgery. I was just encouraged to get moving quickly and not to sit about for to long.

qpmz · 18/12/2022 12:17

Misty999 · 18/12/2022 08:14

It's a tiny needle just grab a bit of belly and stick it in, got to be done I'm afraid just suck it up.

Exactly this! And get therapy for the phobia.

It really doesn't hurt. A possible sting for a millisecond and then you have the peace of mind.

Absc · 19/12/2022 12:00

midwifes did mine after my section and through most of my last pregnancy. Now I’m pregnant again they are doing mine daily. I had a huge saddle pe that could have killed me. I have a significant needle phobia so this was the best solution for me. (I work in the same building half the week as the midwife unit so it’s easy to manage)

littlemissalwaystired · 19/12/2022 12:04

I hate to scare you OP but a woman i know very nearly died recently due to PEs. It happens to lower risk women too. Could you ask the midwife to do it for you? We have women popping into see us for us to do it sometimes. Don't expect a home visit for 10 days but if you can travel to them they should be absolutely fine to do it! Good luck with your new babySmile

allfurcoatnoknickers · 20/12/2022 16:58

I'm not in the UK and was only given the blood thinners while in the hospital - so two nights. No one even mentioned taking them at home.

Also, I found them agonizing and they left huge painful bruises on my thighs and almost caused me to vomit from the pain. I'm floored that apparently they don't hurt some people?! I actually declined the last two shots in hospital because getting up an walking around was about 1000x less painful.

Piggleton · 20/12/2022 17:03

I did my own after c section……honestly you’re so numb in that area that it’s really not that bad

zaffa · 20/12/2022 18:19

wibblewobbleball · 17/12/2022 22:03

Weirdly I found the clexane really painful to inject and had big bruises. I had inhixa second time round (biosimilar to clexane) and it didn't hurt at all really. I wonder if the needles are different? But anyway try asking for inhixa

I had this with Clexane, huge bruises all over my tummy and (TMI) a lot of blood in my poop.
But it was only ten days and I had a couple of risk factors so it would have been stupid to take the risk.
Definitely get DH to do them for you - he may not like it but I'm sure he'd rather you were ok and well

talkingmorenonsense · 20/12/2022 18:24

FFS, just do the bloody things! I had to have them after I had a full hysterectomy, for ovarian cancer. You get used to it. A blood clot could kill you. Imagine your family living with that, just because you’re soft.

jamoncrumpets · 20/12/2022 18:30

Ffs you stick the thing in, press the catch, done. Three seconds. Your baby will enjoy growing up with a mother that didn't die of a post op blood clot.

Use your stomach or thin fat and squeeze the section you put the needle into - you can barely feel it.

pelargoniums · 20/12/2022 18:41

I don’t think “you can barely feel it” helps the OP as it’s clearly not true of everyone, as evidenced by this thread. Certainly I found them hugely painful and distressing: a bit like the drip in labour was hugely painful but I did it to get the baby out (though ended up with a section anyway), or the early days of breastfeeding were painful, or frankly having a cannula put in is unpleasant; so are sweeps and vaginal exams and all sorts. Making humans can be a difficult, invasive, bloody and painful process: but once you’ve gone and done it, the injections are only 10 more days of the process and very much worth it when balanced against the risks of not doing it.

I didn’t particularly want an EMCS but when balanced against the risk of not having it, I signed that consent form without a blink.

Original poster
MolesOnPoles · 20/12/2022 20:19

Hi all, thanks for (some of) the opinions.

I spoke to my midwife today, who said that in my trust it’s given as standard to all c section mums, whereas other trusts only give it when the risk is much higher.

She recommended I speak to the consultant - as I said in my OP I would - but that as long as I’m mobile soon after the op and remain that way many women with my risk factors won’t be given it if they discuss it with the doctors after birth.

So all of you who have said - sometimes literally - ‘don’t be selfish and stupid’…. take a look at yourselves.

OP posts:
CristinaNov182 · 20/12/2022 20:46

I never injected in my tummy. I always did it in my thighs or on front upper legs, alternating legs. The area was less sensitive after a week to the extent it didn’t bother me at all.

WeeFairy · 20/12/2022 20:51

Not saying it is selfish or stupid but I was on them for months for a blood clot in my lung after having no risk factors except pregnancy and a c section. I personally wouldn’t risk it. The situation I ended up in massively affected my mental health and my anxiety throughout my next pregnancy and have been on thinners for almost 9 months as I’ll never be ‘low risk’ in pregnancy again after that blood clot. I’m thankful for my injections even if occasionally I pick a stingy spot - a lot of them I don’t really feel.

Somuchgoo · 27/12/2022 00:56

For my first section, I competed the 10 day course. For my second, I'd had enough after 6-7 days and refused the rest.

I'm severely needle phobic, and even with emla cream on and following my 'needle protocol' which got me through pregnancy, I was having panic attacks and in tears every day. It certainly wasn't 'painless '. The injection was, due to the emla, but the actual medicine hurt like a bee sting every time, for w really long time, and left me with large bruises all over my thighs.

I'd been very very sedentary, and mostly housebound due to severe spd (from 4 flipping weeks), for months, and so within 24hrs of my section, I was moving more than I'd moved in months, and was up and going out within a couple of days. By the time i quit the injections, I was clambering around soft play. I know immobility isn't the only factor that raises risk, but I'd just reached the end of my tether after 9 months of forcing myself to accept needles and blood tests etc.

If i have a third, I'll want to know the numbers do I can make an informed decision about the risks, for someone who is fully mobile.