Hospital gives only paracetamol+ibuprofen for C-section recovery?!???!

[Scaredmama1023]

I just learnt that my hospital only gives paracetamol and ibuprofen after C-section :(. And for anything else you need to ask and ad-hoc they might give morphine if doctor agrees...

They are such weak medication, I take those for headaches and period pains. To think that's what you get after being literally cut open and stitched back?!?!?! I though I'll be sick hearing this.

I'm panicking, not sure how I'll stick the pain of my C-section recovery. I'm a massive wimp when it comes to pain :(

Ladies... how bad is the pain in like on 1-10 scale where 10 is absolute agony? I guess it changes by day too? And then there is this shoulder tip pain and all. Jeez how did you all cope????

When my son (11) had an appendectomy it was paracetamol and ibruprofen only.

The pain really isn’t that bad, especially after the first day or two, and is easily managed with paracetamol and ibuprofen. I know everyone bangs on about it being major surgery but it’s not in the same league as open heart surgery or a liver transplant.

The main thing is not to overdo it. Listen to your body and treat it gently. You’ll probably feel 90% back to normal on about 2-3 weeks but don’t start mowing the lawn or carrying your Henry Hoover round the house just yet. Make sure you start getting out and about as soon as you feel able. Getting out of the house, even if it’s just for a coffee from the café at the end of the road for half an hour, will help you get back to normal more quickly.

But that’s not what posters have been saying at all, OP - I’m not sure how you could have taken that interpretation from the responses. Most people have said that their pain was well-controlled on a combination of paracetamol and ibuprofen, and they didn’t feel they needed anything stronger.

This wasn't my experience. I've had two sections there (2 and 4 years ago) and both times got morphine straight away, dihydracodeine (sp?) in proper strong post surgery doses, nothing like you get from the pharmacy, and paracetamol and ibuprofen. I took all three for three days then paracetamol and ibuprofen for another two and never had any pain at all. I would make sure you talk to your consultant about it and not midwives. The midwives and nurses at St Thomas seemed to mainly act as gatekeepers and their main goal seemed to keep you from accessing mecial care or pain relief but the doctors were exceptional.

I was given a load of tramadol to take home, but didn’t need it. Barnsley, nearly 18 years ago.

3 years later it was just ibuprofen and paracetamol, which was fine.

don’t panic - stay fit it pregnancy and take it steady.

IV paracetamol is different to tablets, its great. I had it when I dislocated my knee and it was better than opiates. The problem with opiates is they're incredibly constipating and that's the last thing you want post section.

I was at soft play at 2 weeks after - went down the slides as well 😂.

I went because I felt well enough and fancied taking my toddler there. We had a lovely time.

I thought we frowned on telling women what they should and shouldn't be doing. Is the only permissible post partum experience on where you're stuck in the house?

Yep, unfortunately, that's normal. Completely wrong, but normal. (And only the cheap tablets were offered, not an IV. And IV paracetamol isn't stronger than pills, by the way, it's just absorbed quicker by the body.)

Paracetamol does jack for me, so I didn't bother taking anything. I was in pain, but had no one to help, so managed to do normal things like care for my baby, cook, do the washing up etc. The hardest thing was putting pants and socks on, as it's excruciating to bend. It seems counterintuitive, but the more you (gently) move, the better your recovery will be.

And yes, I second taking your own pain medication with you. You'll be lucky to get anything on the ward.

There is a difference between stuck in the house and going down a slide isn’t there.

I’m more referring to what would actually be medically recommended rather than telling women what to do. You’re still very much healing on the inside at that point regardless of how well you feel.

No - it was totally fine. I was shopping Next is less than a week. Paracetamol & Ibuprofen are proper pain relief and if used regularly they’re sufficient

I do think it makes a huge huge difference if it’s a proper emergency or elective.
i had EMC then crash section then elective.

first was okay but pretty painful.

Second was absolutely fucking horrendous. I was green and purple bruised all over from them opening me and getting baby out within 3 minutes while I was under general anaesthetic. I felt awful for a long time after. I couldn’t even go to visit my baby in NICU for 9 hours because I was in agony and on drip morphine and shaking so much from freezing shock.

Third - elective was jolly nice!!

It felt fine, did me zero harm, and the doctor and I joked at my 6w check about how the guidelines meant week but weren't realistic with a toddler as well. She was as 'bad' as it's me seems.

If I wasn't able gently go down a slide without risking my stitches, then they don't sound robust enough for general life either.

It makes me so depressed when I read about women gloating about going food shopping on the way home from the hospital after a c section, like they have it so easy, no love, you have a god awful husband and support network. Sore or not a woman should not be expected to do chores like that literally in the hours after major abdominal surgery.

If I wasn't able gently go down a slide without risking my stitches, then they don't sound robust enough for general life either.

yeah that is the standard the docs use in putting in stitches. Can this person go down a slide?

I've had 2 c sections - 14 months apart. the guidelines are perfectly reasonable with a toddler as long as you have a supportive partner or some other help in the first couple of weeks. If you don't then I suppose you take your chances and hope for the best. But let's not pretend that is ideal.

No, a brilliant husband who took 6m of leave with each child. But after 2 difficult pregnancies where I ended up housebound due to SPD, the ability to stroll around the shops 3d PP pain free (and eat cake in the cafe 😂) was a total JOY.

You couldn't have kept me in the house if you paid me at that stage.

Sod that!
I asked for oramorph. I got it as it allowed me to walk to the car park (quite a long way away!)

Tbf the pain settled very quickly. I went to a wedding on day 3.
It’s so variable, there’s no predicting how you will be.
My forceps delivery was excruciating afterwards by comparison, I was on morphine / diclofenac for quite a few days with that then discharged with codeine

IV paracetamol worked well for me, but I did have to request it specifically. I had one lot on the labour ward right after the section. They said I could have another later but when I asked (at that point moved to postnatal) the delightful midwife said no because you need to be able to manage on what you can have at home! Not sure why that meant I needed to be in more pain in the hospital.

As with some others my precious forceps delivery was actually much worse for pain. I had dihydrocodeine but it caused awful constipation so I’d looked options up next time around, to ask for the IV paracetamol.

I wasn’t doing chores after my c section, but I was out and about straight away because I wanted to be. I have a condition that causes chronic pain that was exacerbated by pregnancy and the anti inflammatory meds that help aren’t safe in pregnancy. I also had 9 months of continuous sickness. I felt about a million times better straight after a c section than I had in the previous 9 months. It was incredible to not be in pain and be able to eat. I had spent 9 months ill and in pain and doing very little. I was desperate to be doing stuff and felt completely fine to do it. Don’t assume people doing stuff post c section are in a terrible relationship and are being forced to go to the shops. They might just be feeling amazing and want to do stuff.

I wonder why they didn't give you morphine the second time??

I don't know how to thank you everyone! I'm overwhelmed with responses.

I am so scared of my incoming C-section. I am still waiting for a date, but it'll likely be in 1 or 2 weeks.

I'm finding this incredible how many people said the pain wasn't too bad... On other forums it's so different! I've seen a YouTube video about C-section and every single comment below the video was talking about people being in sheer agony for months.

How can it be that people perceive pain so differently? Or do we erase pain from memory? Or try to downplay or overplay it?

I have an option for natural birth but it would only be with an epidural as I'm pain averse. But I am also going to be an older mum, I'm 39 and FTM. They told me my odds of needing emergency, because of an autoimmune issue that I have, are about 50/50. As pain of labour scares me just as much and emergency c-section after hours of pushing is the worst of all of these, I decided to go elective. I got a strong impression the doctors would suggest it anyway, if I didn't.

But I'm just... Struggling to believe people feel hardly any pain post op after being sliced open! That feels too good to be true! I mean I known you're telling your real accounts but my brain cannot comprehend how that's possible!

Move slowly and carefully no sharpe movements, no bending and definitely no straining on the loo. No lifting except baby and no pushing hoover or heavy pram, no carrying the car seat kind of thing. Take all the help you can so you can heal quicker.
windmill your arms as much as possible to get rid of shoulder pain which is caused by wind.
after my last c section with my third child the after pains were worse than the recovery from the operation. Just giving birth is a trauma to the body so you will need to be extra kind to yourself and not expect to be back to fitness for a while but you shouldn’t be in actual pain for all that time.

Oh and a planned c section without going into labour is a much easier recovery than one after a long difficult unsuccessful labour when your body is exhausted before the operation.

Absolutely memories fade, but the proof is perhaps in what people felt well enough to do during that time.

With my second for example, this was the first week

2 nights in hospital (could have been one but they gave me the option of two and I took it, as it was quite nice there)

• trip to the supermarket and to the cafe the morning after we got back.
• a trip to see some friends who live about 40 minutes away, which involved a cafe trip and then going to their house.
• I hosted friends for a BBQ round our house. I didn't do much of the cooking though I I remember chasing my toddler round the garden.
• church
• a pub lunch

If I was in agony I wouldn't have done that. I'm such a wimp I go to bed for 2 days with a heavy cold. I don't power through pain.

I got lucky, and the amount of pain clearly does vary. But I've not known a single person in real life who was in agony for months. I've not known a single person describe it as agony even the day after.

This was interesting, I'd such bad SPD with my eldest I could hardly walk the length of myself by the end then even with the c section pain I was so much more mobile than in my final weeks of pregnancy

Good luck, OP! I was you, I have started more than one thread about my fears and pain management before my elective C section. I hope you’ll be me in a few months time and back here telling other people that they shouldn’t worry and that you didn’t experience any considerable pain :)