Third degree tear six months pp

[daisyrose1984]

Hi, when my little girl was delivered I suffered a third degree tear and six months on I am still unable to lift anything heavy or walk any distance without becoming very achey down my vaginal wall (sorry tmi) I have been seeing a women's health Physio and my pelvic floor strength is fairly good again and she is unable to see any reason for the issues I am having and is unable to give me any indication as to whether I will make a full recovery or not and has advised that it's just a case of giving it time and seeing what happens. While I appreciate I'm very lucky not to have more serious issues the idea of never being able to walk any distance again really upsets me and I still have discomfort in my scar tissue too. Has anyone else had similar issues with walking and gone on to make a full recovery? Also any advice re the scar tissue? I have struggled with the perinial massage and found the women's health physio really unhelpful when I asked about alternatives. I am still Breastfeeding which I know can slow healing too. I am trying to remain positive and can cope if it's just going to take time but am so worried that I'll never make a full recovery and still feel quite traumatised by the impact my little girl's birth has had on my body and am terrified of having a second baby. Thanks for reading x

Have you been to the doctors about this at all? They may be able to prescribe you some cream for the scar tissue that may help. It helped me. If you are still having issues, go back and they may be able to refer you to a specialist. Sometimes they can do scans to see if the injury has fully healed but I don't know under what circumstances they'll offer that. Maybe even having a check will put your mind at ease, seeing a gynae (GPs know jack sh*t about childbirth in my experience). It took me about a year to feel comfortable with an episiotomy and 2nd degree tear. Now I don't even know it's there, can't feel it.
And there is also the possibility that you feeling traumatised could make the pain feel worse. Do you feel that it is something you may consider therapy for? Would a birth debrief help? These are steps that I have had to take to deal with my son's birth. xx

Thank you for your reply. That's really helpful to hear that the cream helped you, I discussed this with my GP a few weeks ago and she was meant to be researching this, as she has very limited knowledge about it but I didn't hear anything back, so I've followed this up today. Did you have any achiness when walking or was it mainly the scar tissue that bothered you? I saw a gynaecologist a couple of months ago and I have another appointment later this month re my scar tissue so I'm hoping I'll get somewhere then. I've made a call today to try and arrange a referral to the birth afterthoughts service as I feel I need to understand what happened so I can get some closure. I'm happy to hear you made a full recovery and that the birth afterthoughts service and therapy helped. I don't mind how long it takes I'm just keeping everything crossed that I'll be able to walk normally again. Thanks again x

Not exactly what you're after, but I had problems with tears and had DD2 by CS. She wouldn't exist if I had to have another VB. My CS was a breeze in comparison and I highly recommend it!

Thank you Pico2 I think c section may be the only way forward if we are to have a second. I'm glad it went well for you. How was your recovery from your tears?

Sounds like you're doing the right things now.
I didn't have any achiness only when I'm on my period (just crap tailbone and lower back pain now) but the scar tissue was tight when I sat down etc. Cream helped with that but not the fact my stitches came apart a bit which I'm going to try and battle to see a gynae for. Scars have faded but I'm permanently disfigured because of the stitches coming away, ha!

I think knowing what happened helps a great deal as you then know what you're coming to terms with. The not knowing is the hardest part. It's ridiculous women are left in these situations. Fingers crossed for you too. xx

I had an episiotomy and it used to ache when I'd been standing up too long. The aching stopped at about 5.5 months but the scar did take ages to heal before that and I was afraid it wouldn't. You read so many horror stories online, but I think sometimes the body just needs time to recover. Perhaps you just need to wait a bit longer?

I daisy I felt a bit like this after my first baby (3rd degree tear) I would say it lasted maybe 8-10 months and until recently I still felt achey if I went on a long walk or had my period. It really hurt and I felt I had to sit which was annoying but reading this has made me realise that it no longer ever aches (3.5yrs on). I remember it also improved a lot when I stopped breastfeeding perhaps as hormones there all got back to normal. Anyway there is hope