QuestionI had a c-section 14 days ago and had no complications from the surgery. I was discharged from the hospital 48 hours after the birth. The first night I was home, I went to lie in bed, on my right side and within 10 seconds experienced an intense burning sensation below my incision in my pubic area. It went from that area, down the inner side of my right leg and down my thigh. It was extremely intense pain. It felt as though I was on fire. Once I was able to sit up the pain immediately abated as quickly as it had come on. Since that night, if I am sitting for any period of time, I experience the same pain, but if I raise my right hip up, thus relieving the pressure, the pain goes away as well.
My left side is great. The left side of my pubic region isn't numb at all and isn't sore. Once I touch the right side it is extremely tender and it feels swollen and partly numb.
Is this something serious? This is my 3rd c-section and I have not had this problem with the previous 2. I'm worried this is some kind of nerve damage. I did bring this up with my OB at my 1st postpardum visit and she basically said it was part of the surgery, which didn't help me out much. Thank you for any help you can give.
AnswerDear Melissa
The pain you described and the numbness you feel point out to some nerve injury. This usually occurs during opening the abdominal cavity if retraction of the rectus abdominis muscle goes more lateral than what it should be leading to a possible nerve injury to 1 of, or 3 nerves present in this area.
The most important and most dramatic of these nerve injuries is the femoral nerve injury which clearly is not the 1 in your case. This nerve supplies sensory (skin) areas in your thigh and legs as well as some muscles in thigh and legs and its main presentation, if injured, is foot drop.
The other 2 nerves are the ilioinguinal and genitofemoral nerves which do not supply any muscles but only supply skin. The distribution of the pain u described goes with the genitofemoral nerve or more closely the genital branch of the genitofemoral nerve as the distribution of the ilioinguinal nerve goes more lateral and not to the inner thigh.
It is impotant to clarify that nerve injury does not necessarily mean transection of the nerve. It can be either edema or some type of compression by a blood clot or similar affection. The pain associated with this type of injury usually responds to some analgesics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs provided that u do not have a contraindication for their use. This treatment may continue for weeks, up to 8 weeks, before the pain goes but definitely you should feel better with time. If the injury is of more severity, there are other options available to treatment but at this stage, u better use some analgesics and wait for the result.
I hope that these info are helpful. If u need any further assistance, please let me know.
Good luck
