Loss of control over bladder after forceps delivery

[Lishhhh]

Hi all...looking for some answers here...I am 4 weeks post partum and had a forceps delivery and long labour...after the birth I lost complete control of my bladder. No sensation to pee and have been leaking urine constantly...bladder was retaining some urine as well due to which had an UTI. I am devastated and feel like I will never be normal again...I have been referred to physio and have been doing pelvic floor exercises but no signs of improvement. .I am hardly able to bind with my new born. This thing is killing me...has anyone ever faced this and if yes did you recover and how long it took.

Worth looking into the Kegel8 ultra 20. I've found it really helpful and it can be used with a prolapse. Some settings are designed to help with prolapse as well.

Initially I was advised to use it daily by my women's health physio, who advised which settings suited my needs. When things improved I was told to use it twice a week for maintenance.

I can sit in bed and read while it works on the muscles internally for 20/30/40 minutes.

Recently I have had more leaks and urgency again, menopausal I think, so I'm starting to use it more often again.

Because I cannot feel the muscles properly with the nerve damage, this reassures me I am not making anything worse, and am targeting the right areas.

@toastjam did you check if you have prolapse?

@Lishhhh

Hi all...looking for some answers here...I am 4 weeks post partum and had a forceps delivery and long labour...after the birth I lost complete control of my bladder. No sensation to pee and have been leaking urine constantly...bladder was retaining some urine as well due to which had an UTI. I am devastated and feel like I will never be normal again...I have been referred to physio and have been doing pelvic floor exercises but no signs of improvement. .I am hardly able to bind with my new born. This thing is killing me...has anyone ever faced this and if yes did you recover and how long it took.

I had similar but with my bowels. My physio told me to stop doing pelvic floors until my stitches came out (6 weeks) and then I started pelvic floor exercises but had to put a finger inside while I did them to make them more effective. From 12 weeks I got the go ahead to use a kegel8 which transformed my life.

@CharleyC0956

Tips for days out. I'm trying to remember what I used to do. I remember taking baby wipes and spare Tena pads in my bag, spare underwear and spare trousers too sometimes.

I used to manage my fluids around toilet access. So if out for ages I'd have a little to drink before, but then have plenty once back so I wasn't dehydrated.

I stuck to water as citrus or fizzy or caffeine drinks made my bladder more tetchy.

I wore dark coloured trousers to give me more confidence in hiding a leak while on the way to changing. I often didn't leak, but I felt more in control with a plan to minimise how public it would be.

I now have a she wee in the car and an empty bottle, that's my emergency plan if I have to pull over travelling and there isn't a suitable bush or toilet very close. Haven't used it yet, but got it when stuck once on a motorway in a jam and realised I had no option. A blanket or large scarf over my lap was the emergency plan.

Getting out of the car with legs together helps prevent a sudden urge to empty the bladder. So I swing my legs sideways out the car then stand up.

I have my keys ready to grab and go in the house fast.

I try to avoid lifting heavy things as that triggers a leak. Couldn't avoid putting a heavy pram in the boot, but I put the baby in the car seat snd left the car seat in the car - I never tried to carry the baby in the car seat. Too off balance and heavy.

Just a process of working out what works for you.

I also liked being out some days in places without many people. Car park and woods or something. Too the pressure off what my bladder might do.

It did improve a lot with time as well, so there is hope, you might have to accept some of this is long term, but it is manageable and there are surgical and medical options (I was offered tablets for urge incontinence at one point).

You're not alone in this. Many more people are managing it than you think. Sorry it's so tough, but you will be ok.

@Ozanj I am thinking if buying kegel8 but wanted to ask physio first...I am glad it worked for you...how many times did you use it in a day...I think it can be used for prolapse as well.

@Everydayiwakeupanditsmonday sure...

@coathangerdays how much h time does it take for the kegel8 to show improvements...at the minute I have leaks all the time but even if I wait 1.5 hrs I can have a full blown wee...this happened to me 2 days back..

@Lishhhh I didn't know about the Kegel8 until years after my injury unfortunately.

I imagine it would need the immediate healing of scars and lesions, as someone said above. So I'd get guidance from a women's health physio or similar when they feel you've healed enough to start.

I think it took a few weeks but I did see improvements. I started to need less changes of clothes, then smaller Tena pads, then less changing of pads etc.

I've both stress and urge incontinence. It works on both of those. And helps with prolapse.

The Urogynae nurses had me complete a bladder diary too. Fluids in. Fluids out.

It showed my bladder could hold a good amount . But I was constantly feeling full and in need of the toilet when I wasn't.

Apparently I should go and wee every two hours. And drink water through the day.

I was only able to wait about 30 mins, less many days. So I had to gradually build it up again. Urge to go. Sit with it for 5 mins. Then go. So it slowly extended the time and my bladder got the feeling of being full relearned and didn't kick off too soon.

Didn't always work. I had plenty of oh shit moments when the whole thing just went.

But I tried to see it as a process, like learning to walk as a toddler. It was going to involve falling over at times.

@coathangerdays..I guess I only have stress incontinence as the minute because with urge incontinence I need to have the sensation which is missing now...I will ask my physio if I can use the kegel8...many people have given good reviews about it...thanks for all your valuable feedback...makes so much of a difference.

A close observer would, on occasion, still spot me suddenly clenching my legs, slightly folding over and pinching my arm or leg to distract my own bladders sudden immediate plan to empty. Like a middle aged flamingo attacking itself.

The urge spasm thing calms, and then I can quickly make my way to the toilet. Often it happens when I've been sitting for ages then stand up.

I also have low blood pressure. If I leap up too quickly from laying down I can't see for a few seconds.

WatchIng me get out of bed in the morning, and getting to the toilet....... I almost amuse myself some days. I feel I need a soundtrack really.

Glad all the ramblings are useful.

@coathangerdays..hahhaha I do the same..clenching...as soon as I get up from a sitting or lying position..

[quote Lishhhh]@Ozanj I am thinking if buying kegel8 but wanted to ask physio first...I am glad it worked for you...how many times did you use it in a day...I think it can be used for prolapse as well.[/quote]
I was using it anally and vaginally - the physio didn’t actually want me to use it often. Just 1-2 x a week for 12 weeks as I had an epiosotomy and scarring and she was afraid of it splitting open. DS is 18 months old and I’ve only just been given the go ahead to use it more often.

Hope you manage to improve OP now you’ve had a diagnosis and are getting some physio input

I had a vaginal twin delivery with episiotomy and forceps 4.5 years ago. For the first few weeks I was totally numb and couldn’t actual feel when I was weeing. I’d go to the toilet and have to look down and just listen for it to stop. Gradually the numbness went away but my bladder control was terrible. I’d be absolutely fine then all of a sudden i’d be desperate for the loo. Had to retrain myself to hold for as long as I could and i’d do my pelvic floor (when I remembered).

Now I have more control although it’s not the same. I wear thin pads daily now, have to cross my legs when i’m about to cough, sneeze, if i’m lifting anything heavy, or if i’m laughing. I can hold urine in for much longer now if I need to (usually at work) but I have to wee a lot more often now and I panic if there’s no toilet around.

It’s a really horrible situation and it’s just accepted as part of giving birth but it shouldn’t be.

@Ozanj..I don't think then I can use it too..as I am only 6 weeks pp....plus I had 2nd degree tear and episiotomy..

@AColdDuncanGoodhew..it is just not so fair...we have to go through so much....i wish there was more awareness of these problems ...I had watched so many birthing videos and no one spoke about stress incontinence or prolapse or any other thing...I believe NHS should spread awareness about all these...if I had know before..I would have defintely gone for an adoption...and lived my life normally...how sometimes I wish I could undo everything..but ofcourse I then see my beautiful daughters face and all thoughts vanish...

@DinoHat..what prolapse you have?

I just wanted to suggest to posters on this thread that you read the wonderful PMSL by Luce Brett. She blogged about her incontinence for years and recently published a book. Reading the posts on here echoes many of the feelings she explores, and she lists resources which may be helpful. It’s a very funny book amongst the sadness of what she’s gone through.

I ‘only’ have prolapses and haven’t seen a women’s health physio in years but am now wondering whether I could use the Kegel8 with no health professional input: I’m off to research.

@StiffyByng thank you...do you have incontinence too along with prolapse?

No, I don't. I've been lucky. My issues are more around the opposite; chronic constipation from my rectocele.

@Lishhhh @Nameachange031121
how are you both now? Sorry you went through this, I’m still going through it now at 7.5 months post partum. I regained sensation gradually although now once I feel the urge I can’t hold my bladder long.
At the start of my menstrual cycle (until about day 16 my incontinence is now just standard stress incontinence but once ovulation stops I have a really bad week of leaking all the time just standing and walking, better than when I left hospital completely weeing myself but still severe.

just wondering if there’s a light at the end of the tunnel…