Sneezing out internal stitches! D:

Man... and I used to think sneezing out a tampon was bad!

Allergy season has made an early appearance in my area. Yesterday I sneezed violently a couple of times with no warning, and it HURT. A few minutes later, I had a strong urge to use the bathroom. After peeing, I had a brown discharge with two stitches! Ever since those sneezes (and several subsequent ones) I've had a sharp pain in my abdomen. It comes and goes, but it's not as bad as it was 24 hours ago when this all started.

I called both the women's triage line and the nurse's advice line at my hospital repeatedly, and both lines said "Leave a message and we'll get back to you." So I did, and I haven't heard anything. They also said to go to the ER if it's an emergency, but the whole point of my calling was to figure out if I was having an emergency. I can't find any live person who's willing to talk to me.

My temperature is about 98.4. That's about two degrees higher than it has been on average since my surgery twelve days ago, but I can't tell whether my temp is just going back to normal or I have a fever.

Did this happen to anyone else? Should I go to ER or just wait this out at home? The pain's not as bad as it was but it's still there. At my hospital, going to the ER means sitting around people with colds and flu for eight hours, and I really don't want to make this worse by making myself sick and having to cough constantly while I'm healing.

OMG You poor thing. I'm 4 days post-op and I've had to cough a few times. I couldn't imagine having to sneeze. Just thinking about it pains me. I would suggest going to emerg. But you know what emerg is like in your area. Is there a clinic you can go to, or a emergency help line, or health care help line. I know here in Canada these are more available then in your area. If going to emerg is not an option can you call your doctor in the morning, or I know in our area going to emerg in the middle of the night 2am-5am is the best option. No one there. (small town) I'm thinking that you are about 2 weeks post-op internal stitches should be dissolving now. So if sneezing caused a couple to come out, then maybe they are ready to come out. My doctor warned me that if I have spotting or bleeding in a week or two it maybe because of the stitches at the top of the vagina, I had cervix removed. So hopefully that is all it is. I would still want to know exspecailly if you are still having pain. Good Luck.

Unfortunately, I'm underinsured and stuck in America, so my options are an emergency room that's really only good for trauma (I'm in Oakland - they specialize in gunshot wounds and car crashes), or waiting it out til Monday and trying to call my doc on an emergency basis, since she'd have to be called out of surgery to talk to me. Awesome. Oh, and the urgent care clinic? Here we call that the "emergency room".

Times like this I wish I was Canadian.

I'm in Oakland too! Had my surgery at Kaiser. I also sneezed about a week after and had weird pains for a few days after. A little brown discharge means it is old blood. If you had a lot of red bleeding suddenly that might be cause for concern so it doesn't sound like an emergency but certainly communicating with your dr. will give you peace of mind. Also 98.4 is normal temperature. I didn't have any discharge or spotting until week 2 and have had a little every day but my dr said this can happen up to 8 weeks after and not to worry. Hope you feel better soon. Also I looked online and found ways to avoid sneezing if you feel one coming on! It was really helpful. :-)

I have nothing to add except to say sneezing sucks! Oh my golly!

Who is your insurance carrier? I have Blue Cross Blue Shield and they have a 24 hour nurse line I can call if I need help. I just call the 800# for customer care and they direct me to an advice nurse. I know Kaiser also has an advice nurse line, so it may be helpful to call your insurance company and ask then if you can't get through to the triage nurse.

Your temp is normal and no bright red blood....I'd wait it out too. If you spike a temp (over 101) or pass clots or bright red drainage requiring pad changes....then I would seek medical care.