Epistotomy - How long to heal?

[happy-chick]

I had an epistotomy during my labour and just wondered from anyone elses experience how long it takes to heal? How long does it take to be less sore?

Any tips that anyone has for helping things heal or making it a little more comfortable? Ive been using a jug of warm water wen i wee to dilute the wee and it works fab any other tips?

 

[Misslarue]

Mine healed in a few weeks, but only really hurt when I peed. Wish I had thought of the water idea!!
I had a few salt baths that soothed it and my mum swears helped it heal quicker. Salt waters her answer to everything

 

[paradysso]

i did the warm water thing when i first had my piercings, felt soo much nicer. i wud say bathing in warm water with tea tree oil or lavender and arnica tablets?

 

[mrs_tommo22]

When you pee jo, lean for ward on your loo as far as you can - it will stop the pee touching your wound as much, i found it helped and no stinging!!!

It took me a while but i got a infection from doing too much and going out so please rest! And listen to the ladies on here, i found johnsons lavender very soothing in the bath.

 

[laetitia85]

well... where do I start? I had an awful episiotmoy and after nearly 5 weeks it's still not healed. However I used lavender oil in every bath and it really helped. I'm also using something called betadine, it helps with the scarring. But lately I have noticed that the wound is not closed at all, the stitches have gone but the wound is still opened. I called NHS direct in a state of panic and with all the symptoms I described they said I had developped an infection. Yesterday I went to the GP to get a prescription for anti-biotics and I'm starting the treatment today. I'm still in pain, it stings, but i hope the antibiotic will get rid of the infection. (it won't affect breastfeeding).

Advice: keep that area VERY clean and dry.

 

[laetitia85]

bythe way the gp said that it could take months to close properly.

 

[mrs_tommo22]

wow hun im so sorry about the infection, seriously painful so for you. Have you been trying to be supermum?

Try and rest up as much as you can, i know its hard with a baby but with your infection you dont have much choice. I remeber walking being painful with the infection.

 

[laetitia85]

wow hun im so sorry about the infection, seriously painful so for you. Have you been trying to be supermum?

Try and rest up as much as you can, i know its hard with a baby but with your infection you dont have much choice. I remeber walking being painful with the infection.

yes i have been trying to be supermum refusing help from family ... silly me

 

[amzhunny]

hey hun.

mine took 6-8 weeks to heal but my stitches bust open after about 5 days which hurt alot!!!!!!!!!!

baths with no bubble bath or anything in, my mum swore by salt. keeping it clean is vital.

i was told to try and get natural air to it as much as possible so it was an excuse to laze on the bed...

 

[Babylicious]

Mine had healed within two weeks (I had 18 stitches) - I must confess for the first few days I weed in the shower as it was less painful.

 

[KJ]

Laetitia -

Mine was exactly the same. Infected and gaping.

It's healed now but it's still not closed properly. I saw a gynaecologist for a specialist opinion and she said it has healed but it will look like this forever now. Apparently it's still perfectly functional, so I can still have sex and have more babies but it just looks weird.

Am not saying this to frighten you, just to urge you to go and see a gynaecologist. Don't take any crap from your GP. The gynae offered to surgically make mine look normal. She said that was possible by re stitching, but she couldn't guarantee it wouldn't cause any loss of sensation or anything else. So I thought, well, if it;'s just cosmetic I'll leave it.

K.xx

 

[laetitia85]

Laetitia -

Mine was exactly the same. Infected and gaping.

It's healed now but it's still not closed properly. I saw a gynaecologist for a specialist opinion and she said it has healed but it will look like this forever now. Apparently it's still perfectly functional, so I can still have sex and have more babies but it just looks weird.

Am not saying this to frighten you, just to urge you to go and see a gynaecologist. Don't take any crap from your GP. The gynae offered to surgically make mine look normal. She said that was possible by re stitching, but she couldn't guarantee it wouldn't cause any loss of sensation or anything else. So I thought, well, if it;'s just cosmetic I'll leave it.

K.xx

yes, I decided that if they ended up telling me it was just cosmetic, i would also leave it. no point in going through the whole trouble again and an operation just to make it look good! where i come from (belgium) this kind of thing is automatically dealt with by a gynecologist. it's not a case of being referred etc... they automatically let the gynecologist deal with it. here i have to ask for a referral, and i might be on a waiting list. oh well. i'll see how the antibiotics work, then when i have my 6 weeks check with the GP I'll ask to be referred.

 

[happy-chick]

Argh dont scare me lol

 

[laetitia85]

Argh dont scare me lol

aaaw sorry hun didn't mean to!
But some heal perfectly. i'm sure you're one of the lucky ones. in fact what am i saying?? i'm sure most episiotomies heal just fine. mine and KJ's were probably part of the exceptions

 

[lisa&alex]

hi jo.. salt, lavender and teaTREE in the bath just a few drops..you can put a few drops of oil on yiour pads to if you wanted..

 

[Redshoes]

Mine healed real quick, never really had a problem with it.
I took Arnica and Hypericum homeopath remedies, (also Staphisagria is said to be beneficial-you can buy them from Boots),
and also put loads of salt in my baths as well as lavendar oil, and bathed every night.
Also wear cotton pants, but air your bits as much as possible
Very best wishes, hope you're feeling better real soon

 

[libs]

mine healed pretty quickly - I had no problems BUT having read these posts I'm wondering if its because Josh was in SCBU, so I didn't do a lot for the first 2 weeks? I used lavender in the bath and kept it dry, air it as much as possible long skirts and no knickers basically and let it dry well after baths - lie on the bed naked rather than rubbing it with a towel.

My mum also swears by atrixo cream for any stitches - a little will help your skin maintain elasticity and it reduces scarring (advice given by nurses when she had an op on her throat..and I did use a little after my epi)