Burning urethral discomfort after childbirth

[Mischone]

Ive had this intermittently for the past month, my DD is 8 weeks old. Never had this prior to childbirth.

Ive had a UTI ruled out and over the counter thrush treatments ineffective. I have no dodgy discharge or smell. Definitely no STD's. I'm having swabs taken tomorrow to rule out BV or anything bacterial but was wondering if anybody else had experienced this or could hazard a guess as to what's causing it?

It feels like having cystitis except without the burning when having a wee. The clitoris and our side the urethra feel uncomfortable and sting.

I have a mild prolapse if that could be relevant but GP doesn't think so

Any ideas or experience?

You might need some topical oestrogen cream. Sometimes your hormones are so out of kilter that you get severe vaginal dryness and irritation. For some reason it affects the urethra more than anything else. I had the same problem and that was the reason.

Thank you for replying and for your suggestion, that sounds entirely possible in my case

I'll be sure to mention that to the GP tomorrow

I had a similar problem after birth for 4-5 weeks; 2 courses of antibiotics seemed to clear it. Was weeing standing up until week 5!

It could be related to your slight prolapse, in my experience. Doing your pelvic floor lifts whenever you can should help, and those cystitis sachets should help to relieve the discomfort.

It could be caused by bruising to the urethra during the birth which can take a while to recover, except your baby is 8 weeks and you've only had this for 4, so maybe not.

Congratulations, anyway. :)

It's good to know it's not totally unheard of, pleased you ladies managed to resolve the problem!

@humblebumblebees excuse my stupidity as I'm running on little sleep but do you mean that you had this same problem as a result of a prolapse personally?

I will get some cystitis sachets today on my way to the doctors

Yes, I had that feeling with a prolapse, and also when constipated.

Best to get checked for a uti though, so it's good you're going to the GP. If you are given nitrofurantion (or whatever it's called) don't take the cystitis sachets while on those particular antibiotics as apparently they reduce the antibiotic's effectiveness.

I'm sorry you've also been dealing with a prolapse, isn't it a nuisance being a woman sometimes!

Thanks for confirming. I was hoping somebody would say that because that's what I suspected was causing it for me.

At the GP at 4 so will see what she says

How did you get on at the doctor's @Mischone ? I've got this myself at the moment and am concerned my prolapses may have returned.

Yes, if I come back to this world I want to come back as a cat, not a woman!

I've had this a couple of times, once after normal delivery and once after C-section. The first time it was bruising and nerve type pain and it went after a couple of months. After the C-section I'm not sure what it was but it subsided after a couple of weeks.

Could it be a nerve irritated by the birth. I have something slightly different after giving birth (constant sensation of needing the toilet 24/7 and tailbone pain) and am told this is likely to be caused by pudendal nerve trauma. Oh the joys! Hope you get some relief let us know how you get on

Hello

So when I arrived at the GP appointment she said she'd been considering my symptoms and thought it was something called a urethal caruncle (or something like that) which can occur when prolapse is present, but upon inspecting me down there she said the urethra looked fine so doesn't look like it's that after all.

No other suggestions unfortunately but she took some swabs and referred me to a gynae who I have an appointment with on 12th July, to speak to about the urethra pain and prolapse.

Swab results will be back by the end of next week so I'll have to see if they uncover anything.

She did diagnose my prolapse as a grade 1 cystocele though, until today I didn't know exactly what it was that had prolapsed.

Also a good point about the nerves, I'll ask the gynae about that too

Its baffling me as I've never had this problem in the past, it's sprung up out of nowhere when I was 5 weeks pp.

I automatically thought UTI but nope apparently not.

I'm pretty convinced it's prolapse related somehow and I'll be surprised if the swabs come back with anything

That’s interesting it was the same with me fine until 5 weeks post partum (almost to the day). I know our symptoms are different but I just wondered if it could be a similar underlying cause as I know the pudendal nerve supplies the genitalia as well as the lower urinary tract. Do you ever have any tingling or pins and needles or any areas of numbness?

Yep I've had occasional bouts of a pins and needles type sensation down there

Also a prickly type discomfort and some spontaneous shooting pains that have gone either up toward my stomach or down my legs, If any of that sounds familiar?

Yes - all familiar! I wonder if it could be something similar? I have been referred to a women’s health physio for a pelvic floor assessment I think she will be looking to see if any muscle tension / asymmetry could be irritating the nerve. Might be worth querying with your GP? Really hope you get some answers i know it feels pretty crappy x

p.s. just in case you decide to google around about pudendal neuropathy be a bit careful where you look. It’s easy to find a lot of quite negative experiences and freak yourself out (I had a bit of a panic!) but there are positive stories out there too. If it does turn out to be nerve related - nerves heal

I have had this since 5 weeks PP. also got pain in my bladder & burning sensation on & off, I was back & forth with my GP. Ended up seeing a private physio as I was fed up of waiting with the NHS. Turns out I have hypertonic pelvic floor muscles causing all the symptoms. She’s given me downtraining excercises & streches so the opposite of kegals, I made mine 10x worse as the doctors were all telling me to do them. I’m now nearly 7 months PP & been doing it for nearly a month now. You can find all the speacilist on the website mummy MOT if you google it. Not many NHS psysio’s know what it is. I got referred to one on the NHS & she only deals with loose muscles not tight ones & the lady I’m seeing now if private so I’ve asked my GP for funding through the NHS. Hope that helps

@Mischone any update on this? I am in the exact situation.