8 weeks post op. Abdominal discomfort

Women's health
1

Hi ladies. I’m 8 weeks post op rectocele and cystocele repair and generally doing pretty well but if I’m up sitting or on my feel for very long I get abdominal aching and feel bloated.

Not sure if I should still be feeling this at this stage but with Christmas and visitors for 12 days OJ’s d done more than before then. I find laying on the bed to rest is the best place .

I can now sit at the table to eat which is nice .

Today had a little discoloured blood stained discharge. Perhaps just from a suture but this seems to happen periodically when I’ve been on my feet too long.

Any guide to how long is expected to be “safe” to be active before resting.

I certainly couldn’t return to work and am not driving yet.

Thank you x

2

Hi Paddiwhack. The best thing to do is just listen to your body in my experience. We are all different so heal at different rates. Two months is a short time for recovery from rectocele and cystocele so try to rest off your feet each day as long as you need to when possible. I was at least 3 months before I could sit at table it was so uncomfortable in the pelvic region, I had to keep moving around. A bit embarrassing if I was out! I'm now 7-8 months post op for rectocele and sacrospinous fixation for vault prolapse. I think I may still have the ssp stitch as sometimes they use a permanent or semi permanent one I believe. It catches me out sometimes if I move suddenly or sit too heavily. I can't stand for long periods, have to sit regularly and do such things as peeling veggies while I sit. I think the pinky discharge can go on for sometime too as the internal stitches take awhile to heal and dissolve. Take things easy and don't return to work or drive yet if you don't feel up to it. Best wishes for a happy and healthy new year. Poll X rolleyesrazz

3

The rectocele repair takes a little longer to recover from. Everyone recovers at different rate so best to listen to your own body and use that as indication of how much is too much. Take progress slowly gradually building up how much you do. I was just starting to feel a little more mobile around 8 weeks and although looking back and comparing to early weeks I felt a little more near normal I still was limited. I felt really good at 12 weeks post op and although I returned to work it was still a bit to early.

It's one thing feeling great and near normal when you can control how much you do and rest when needed but quite another when at work and you can't just go sit down when you need too. Employers haven't got a clue about sagging insides and the need to rest when overdoing things.

These repair ops are major surgery and take months for deeper tissues to recover properly, our pelvic floor takes the weight of our pelvic organs and as soon as we get up to walk about the pelvic floor takes that weight hence we feel it like a dragging sensation. It just needs time to heal properly. Even sitting comfortably can take weeks and again at work you need to be able to get up and take a break from sitting too long every hour for a little while.

Please take care,

Phyl x☺

4

Wow!!! That long and you still have pain??? I need a rectocele and perineum repair. So afraid it may not work or have nerve damage. So afraid to have sex because I feel nothing during sex. No pain or anything. Either I get it fixed or a remain alone for life👏🙏🙌😞

5

I'm almost 75 now and I believe healing takes much longer as we age. I have very weak muscles and ligaments now too. My view is that you should take the advice of your urogynaecologist if he/she advises a repair. No one can promise you that sex will be ok or better but if it's important to you, give it a try. Nothing ventured, nothing gained! Good luck and my best wishes. Poll X rolleyeswink

6

Your still healing , you will get there I’m 12 weeks in now and still get a little ache in my back and groin when I’ve over done it , just rest when you can x

7

Hi I an 8 weeks post surgery for rectocele and perineum repair today. I'm definitely not feeling back to my normal self with being achy and tired especially after doing too much. I think I might be reading too much but see that some people feel much better by 4-6 weeks. 

​I'm due back to work next week and I'm really worried as I have a very busy/stressful job. I have been driving for a couple of weeks but only on a handful of occasions. 

​I'm frustrated that this is all so slow!

 

8

Your GP should extend your medical note - it doesn't sound like you are ready to go back to work yet. 

  

9

Hi Phyl

Thank you very much for your lengthy reply.

Today I have done a little work in the office then rested before a little in the kitchen.

I guess partly I feel like people expect me to be getting on with it by now. I am just going to go at my own pace. Thank you and happy New Year x

10

I don't think you sound like you're ready to go back to work yet. Another 4 weeks in which you can gradually build up your strength and energy, (hopefully), should help you no end! Ask your GP for another 4 week sick note, tell him/her how you're feeling and what you can or can't do yet. If people recover from pelvic floor surgery in 4-6 weeks they are very lucky or foolhardy. If you want the repair to last, now is the time for healing properly not partly!  Best wishes and a Happy New Year. X Poll rolleyessmile

11

Hi Paddiwhack, I am now at 11 weeks post op and like many of us probably did too much over Christmas in terms of making beds, laundry and sitting with guests and am paying for it now. I was checked at 7 weeks (I wrote a separate thread on this) but also checked again at 9 weeks as I continued to be concerned about my slow recovery, ongoing discomfort with sitting, standing more than about 45 minutes etc and also that I could see lumps or bulges in the vagina which were getting increasingly larger and lower and was worried the prolapses has returned. I was told I should continue to rest, and that healing was taking longer. I have also atrophic vaginitis ....the skin is thinning and dry in the vagina despite local Vagifem pessaries, Oestrogen cream and HRT patches being used for the last 4-5 months and this thin skin is slowing my healing and causing my discomfort I think. I am holding on to the fact that I have good and comfortable control of bowels and bladder which was not the case with the Rectocele and Cystocele but I am very upset that I am still uncomfortable if I am active and there seems little hope at the moment that I will feel comfortable to enjoy or consider even engaging in intercourse. The consultant explained that the lumps I can see are the loose skin where it was stretched from the prolapses, he said if he had cut it away and made it tighter, smoother etc it would have made a near perfect permanent repair but sex would be impossible...... But sex doesn't seem possible anyway at anytime in the foreseeable future the way I am feeling with the soreness. I am due to see him again next week at 12 weeks but may push it back until a bit later as I think I still need more time to heal and each internal exam although ultimately reassuring gives several days of discomfort which I could do without at the moment. I think Paddiwhack we have had a lot done and whilst we are younger than some of the ladies who have had the op we also have the complications of the hormone issues of menopause and previously are used to being fit and active with busy lives. My consultant was clear that in my case time and rest are required. Through trial and error I have learned I can only be active for 1 to 2 hours (eg shopping, light housework) or can only sit for about 45 mins or so I then have to lie down ..... This isn't always practical and I end up carrying on and then suffer for it and it takes 2 or 3 days of intensive rest to get back on track. I wish I could offer more positive advice from my experience, but feeling quite low about it all at the moment. I hope you get the chance to rest and feel better soon.

12

Hi redhead ,

Sorry to say this but at almost nearly two years post op I am still much the same haven't recovered to what i would consider normal or as much as I would have liked from A & P repairs.

I still find I am limited as to how long I can be on my feet and how much I can do on a daily basis.

I am 57 and started menopause around 5 years ago, still hot flushing and suffering very dry thin tissue lining inside vag... area. Left with tight painful scar tissue and possible nerve damage although nerve damage not diagnosed yet.

I can walk for about 2 x20 min back and forth to swim pool and swim around 16 lengths in between go for coffee and manage 2 10 min... bus journeys and be home within about 3 hours. But by the time I'm home I am achy and sore and feel like I've just given birth and have huge scab down below. It always takes a day or two to recover, yet they tell us that swimming is gmso good for us and to at least Di a few walks a week to keep fit.

In work I'm now mainly on a seat but have never managed more than my 2x 5 hours shifts a week and although recovering quicker from my shifts I still get achy down below.

I have just done 3 x5 hour shifts over last 3 days and again feel like I've just given birth and all sore and raw especially around area where thin tight scar tissue is despite using my estriol topical cream on regular basis.

I feel I should be much better recovered by now and although front repair is strong and holding up the back repair is weaker and now worried that if may fail again.

Hope things get better for you,

Take care x

13

Thank you Phyl for your reply. We are the same age and it does seem the Vaginal atrophy is affecting have everything feels down there. I took a break from contract work so I could concentrate on getting my prolapses sorted and recovery and had hoped I would feel able to look for work again early in the new year but I find sitting still uncomfortable and would struggle with any commuting to work. I can't regret the op as I couldn't cope with the impact it was having on my bowel and bladder, but I seem to have gained another set of problems! Have you been given any further options to improve things for you such as other treatments, exercises, procedures etc. I was going to ask my consultant about the Mona Lisa treatment some ladies have mentioned, but i realise that is not something that is available through the NHS or even funded by insurance but clutching at straws! The skin on the outside is getting tighter and more sore and I now worry that I have the overhealing of scar tissue also which I have had before following episiotomy and other scars which have gone keloid elsewhere over the years. Gosh we women go through it sometimes don't we? I had no idea this time last year when I was enjoying life to the full that my life would be turned upside down by prolapses and now the surgery. I hope I can start to do some exercise such as the swimming you do, although swimming is not something I have enjoyed before but I have to do something to keep mobile and flexible and avoid my weight creeping up which it is now and I can't imagine that weight gain is helpful in managing the discomfort. Thank you for sharing and I wish you well X 

14

Hi Redhead,

Have never heard of mona lisa treatment, if not available on NHS it must be classed as cosmetic. My sister mentioned in past about getting scar tissue lasered (she has a granddaughter with downs syndrome who had to get throat tissue lasered), so assume that this treatment is similar.

I feel like front has been tightened too much but at least not coming down again, my sister reckons it will gradually slacken off.

I was very active before all this I always went hill walking and swimming, holidays were always active and I went to gym 3 or times a week.

Now it's just swimming and short walks, it is still a struggle to keep weight down. Adjusted my diet to cut out many of the sweet things that going to gym allowed me to eat. But even though I eat a lot healthier still not really active enough.

I know I should be in lower impact employment but let's face facts as an employer would you employ someone who has had two lots of pelvic floor repairs as my age who can't sit for too long or be on feet too long; employers want healthy people who can adjust to needs of business and not the other way around.

Before and after 1st repair had been attending physiotherapist specialising in pelvic floor, she was very good and did strengthen up my pelvic floor muscles which I didn't realize were so lax and made sure I was doing the exercises properly didn't realize I had not been doing them properly for years).

Swimming, walking and hill walking is about all I can do, she did show me some floor exercises to build core without causing any down pressure but only showed me once before signing me off so forgot how to do them almost right away, she also advised could maybe possibly try building up time on cross trainer once pelvic floor strong enough but that didn't work out I found it was touch down pressure. Advised not to do anything where both feet are off the ground, and only low impact exercise.

But even walking long distance I can feel like it's sagging inside and causing down pressure. Only the swimming seems to pull it all in and up, but unfortunately the leg stretching causes pulling on the scar tissue around vag... opening and can be really painful, so I limit the swimming to what I can bare.

I so wish I had taken the extra 3 months without pay, to allow deeper tissues to heal maybe I would not have had all this scar tissue problem as didn't have that after first repair.

It is shocking that nobody talks openly about these problems that seem to almost always happen so sudden as soon as we women begin the menopause.

You would think that our local clinics/GP 's could direct women approaching menopause years towards well women clinic to educate us in awareness of these possible issues and to prepare us - strengthening our pelvic floors and retraining or moving to low impact work, avoiding high impact exercise at the gym - before the pelvic floor fails.

Surely prevention is better than cure.

I am making sure my girls are pelvic floor aware of these issues.

Hope things improve for you soon,

Phyl x💕

15

Thank you Phyl for your sound advice. I read about the Mona Lisa or Diva treatment on the Atrophic Vaginitis forum on this site. I think it helps stimulate cell renewal and collagen production so helps thicken the vaginal walls and skin, but it needs to be repeated every 4 to 6 months. Some of the ladies on the other forum have had good results. I will continue to persist with the local HRT creams and pessaries and hope for the best. I also want to ensure my daughters are well informed but without frightenening them. Come what may, I am determined to start Aquacise and gentle swimming in February and maybe even restart Pilates with the necessary modifications and gradually start walking more ....... Your hill walks sound fun but maybe I will start with walking round the local woods and lakes!  Take care and let's make the most of what we have even if it's not all we would like! 💕

16

I have thought about pilates, but would need to find an instructor who has experiance in pelvic floor conditions and can advice on what to avoid.

Good luck x

17

Hi Phyl

That’s a long time post op for you to still be feeling so restricted isn’t it? I’m sorry you are still having issues. Unfortunately I am way b hi d you so can’t offer any useful advice. 

18

This is very interesting. I was considering trying to do some yoga at home then I can stick to what I am comfortable with?

19

I agree with the others. Please don’t return to work when you know you are not ready. Have you seen your GP? Hope you gain more strength soon 

20

Thank you Margaret 😊