Problem Episiotomy

[TheZoverlord]

Hi all

I had my son 6 weeks ago and had an episiotomy as they needed to get the plunger in to sucker him out (apologies for laymans terms but no idea how to spell appropriate medical term for 'plunger'). The stitches dissolved before wound was healed and now have a large hole where no hole should be and it keeps getting infected. Has anyone any useful tips as all GP can offer is more antibiotics and these seem pointless as they a)upset my IBS, b)upset my son as I am breastfeeding and c) the infections return as soon as I stop taking them anyway! I am already taking salt/tea tree oil baths after pooping (sorry for TMI) and drying self with hair dryer. Any tips or sympathy from peeps with similar experience would be gratefully received!

Z

I think you mean a ventouse?

so sorry to hear this, have you had a post birth check by an obstetrician? if your wound keeps breaking down/gets infected/is leaving you with extra holes, then you need a referral especially if ABs are not agreeing with you

i would certainly push for a referral back to a gynae/obs at this point if you are not healing 6 weeks after the birth

Yes, ventouse ta. Hospital where i had him say not worth me going to see them while there is an infection as they won't do anything, bit of a no win situation! Have just moved so have new gp, will try get a referral from them i think.

You have my sincere sympathy. My son was born by ventouse and I therefore had an episiotomy. Ouch, huh? I do think a referral from another doctor could be the way forward. Do you think it may need to be stitched up?

push for some more treatment - my parts were in an awful mess after a big cut, and the stitches all came out (apparently it was badly repaired), it got infected as well, but it still healed in about three or four weeks.

if it's not well on the way to recovery by six weeks, sounds like they need to find out why.

Sympathies. I had same prob as you, ended up in hospital on Iv atibiotics at 3 months post natal....you don't want that. Eventually mine cleared, will never know if it was the tea tree baths (twice a day, a big nuisance but very necessary, even keep it up for at least 2 wks after u think infection is cleared) or manuka honey. Sounds gross but worth a try, apply some on a piece of gauze and use a liner (quite messy!) Some docs said I'd need re-stitched cos it looked so bad but that not necessary for me thankfully. Oh, another thing that helped healing was laser treatment with physios...can u ask GP for a referal for that too?
Good luck!

I wasn't stitched up properly either (I had episiotomy and forceps for DS in 2007) and 9 months later (kept being put back by the hospital so should have been sooner) I had a repeated episiotomy under general anaesthetic. The midwife refers to is as 'refashioning'. All is fine now but I'd definitely see someone about getting it sorted asap, dont wait any longer.