TMI...vaginal fistula?

Sashgat2012

i am a ftm 11 weeks post-partum from a vaginal delivery. everything has healed really well as far as i can tell - no urine leaking or trouble peeing, no trouble with bm's either.

two days ago, i was lying down in bed, and i passed gas (i know, tmi) - but when i passed it...it also passed out of my vagina as well...really freaked me out. and it's happened several times since then.

i had a mid-line episiotomy and at my 6wk follow-up, my ob said there were no signs of fistulas, but he didnt do the exam himself, he monitored while a physician's assistant did a very quick and (imo, a half-assed) external exam.

anyone out there had this experience? i'm a little concerned i may need surgery or something like that. planning on calling the obgyn tomorrow.... 

carolyn6609

Coming out of lurking to say I had a similar experience around 9 weeks pp... I was pretty convinced I had a fistula and went in to have it checked. My OB did an uncomfortably thorough exam and saw no signs of fistula but said that things were a bit stretched out and I was probably just feeling the effects of that. It has definitely gotten better but to be honest things do feel a bit different than they used to (still). Definitely get it checked, but hopefully it's just a matter of things being slightly different due to delivery and nothing too serious. My OB did say that there would be issues with BMs if it was actually a fistula, so if you haven't had any trouble there that is a good thing. I was horrified when I was dealing with it so I just wanted to let you know you're not alone and hopefully it will turn out okay!

Kim-n-Eric

I'm no doc but most likely, no. If there really was a fistula you would most likely be passing stool through the vagina too.

janswedding

I know this post is pretty old but I wanted to share my experience with you just in case you ever checked back

I got a very small fistula from my delivery 2.5 years ago.  I think it happened because of a very long (8 hour) second stage, and forceps delivery that resulted in third degree tear.  The specialist I went to was dismissive, but the ob said I probably had one.  It was so small though, I never had to do anything about it, and over time, I either got used to it or the symptoms diminished a bit, so it may have partially resolved itself on its own.  I had feelings of gas passage, but no stool passage except, (sorry, very tmi) only with diarrhea I would have a very small amount of liquid stool spotting on my underwear.

My experience has taught me that western doctors seem to know little about fistulas, as it is so rare here, or else just under recognized here.  If you think you have one, you probably do, as the symptoms are unmistakable.  But if it is so tiny that it's not giving you stool passage problems, a doctor probably won't be able to find it, and you have very little to worry about.  In that case, it is best left alone, because fistula surgery is a very big deal, and also risky, so you really don't want to mess with it.

 I hope this helps you.  You will probably be fine!  It is easy to freak out about, I sure did worry a bunch, but it sounds worse than it is.