Pains and twinges post-surgery

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Hello!

I’m hoping to get some advice please! I had my surgery almost five weeks ago. Up until last week, I felt like I was physically healing well; I haven’t needed to take regular painkillers for about 3 weeks! However, I have returned to work this week and have found my tummy is quite painful (aching around the place where the incision was made, and feeling quite hard/tender to touch); I’m also experiencing slight pressure around the top of my bottom too.

Has anyone else experienced this? I should probably also clarify that I have been mostly office based this week, and I am fortunate to have a 3 year old son who I’ve been more “active” with since my initial recovery period.

I haven’t had any indication of a follow up with the hospital (even though they said I would), and don’t want to trouble the GP if it’s to be expected. Like others on this forum, I feel like I’m more and more paranoid by the minute with every twinge and pain I experience, especially as I had no symptoms (other than bleeding) to diagnose the ectopic first time around.

Would love to hear others experiences post-surgery to help put my mind at rest, as well as the best way of getting back in touch with the hospital.

Thank you x

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Dear PrettyinPink+,

I am so sorry to hear of your ectopic pregnancy and loss,

Unfortunately I am not medically trained so cannot give you specific advice on your symptoms, however I will try my best to help.

Experiencing some pain after an ectopic pregnancy is normal as your body has been through a great deal over the last few months. The pain may be due to adhesions (scar tissue that binds two parts of the body together) which form and take some time to settle. Your body may be preparing to ovulate and many women experience ovulation pain when they did not before their ectopic pregnancy - including myself. You also may have a heightened perception because of the sad loss that you have had to go through.

Having said this, you mention a hard area that is tender to touch around an incision site. Although I do not wish to alarm you, this could be signs of infection and I would advise speaking to your doctor’s just to be on the safe side.

If the doctor is happy that there are no signs of infection, it could be that you have just overdone things a little as it is still early days since your surgery.

If the pain persists, I suggest keeping a pain diary noting when the pain appears, the intensity on a scale of 0-10 and anything that helps the pain eg resting, hot water bottle, paracetamol etc. Visiting your doctors with this information helps them to assess how best to manage your symptoms.

Sending much love,

Karen x

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