Ladies: Do you know any tricks to reduce pain during urination after an episiotomy or similar procedure?

Witch hazel. Seriously.

Also: Pads (like for your period) that are ice cold. Numbs the area.

Try peeing in the bathtub. With water in it, that is.

Oh, one more tip. Get a plastic squeeze bottle, fill it with room temp water, and aim it at the area while you’re peeing.

Probably it will hurt less if your urine is very diluted, which means…drinking more water.

I agree a squirt bottle will help, and/or peeing while sitting in water. The bottles used by chefs for plate decorating work really well. Something like this.

Also, are you allowed to put ointment on it like A&D, vaseline, or neosporin? It might help protect the area, creating a barrier to the urine.

Hope it heals fast.

Viscous lidocaine.

Oh, lidocaine sounds really good. Do you mean like Xylocaine @Rarebear? Or, can she get a spray like Hurricane maybe?

Xylocaine and lidocaine are the same thing. You need a prescription for the xylocaine. Hurricane spray might work. You might be able to get benzocaine over the counter. Look in the insect sting section.

I had a hell of a cut. The best tip given to me was take a glass or bottle of water and pour it over myself as I urinated. Then I refilled the glass several times to give myself a bit of a bidet wash to keep the area clean. I think there are creams that may both numb and act as antiseptic, but I was told that keeping the area dry was better. We can actually buy xylocaine over the counter here in at the chemist, but I never thought of getting any. It wasn’t that bad of pain.

Hm, the obgyn told me not to take baths for a while but probably he didn’t mean a short one just for peeing. xD And I actually have some lidocaine leftover from a bad case of canker sores last year, but I don’t know if I’m supposed to put anything on it. However, the squirt bottle is helping a LOT. Thanks jellies!

Mariah? Really? She told you not to take a bath? Usually after 24 hours it’s fine to get it wet, in fact it’s better to keep it clean rather than get all dirty and gross.

I asked if there was anything special I needed to do to keep it clean and he said take showers instead of baths for about a week…

Bah…okay. What he doesn’t want you doing is soaking it, I guess. In any case, try the insect sting spray.

The spray bottle does help but I still end up crying every time I pee, this shit is ridiculous. I’ve been holding it out of pure procrastination. I should clarify that what I had done was a marsupialization in case that changes any of your answers. I’m going to call the obgyn tomorrow and see what they have to say. I’ll see about whether the lidocaine is okay to use.

You said spray bottle, spray is not nearly as good as a squeeze bottle with a steady stream, and you use the water while you pee, not just afterwards for rinsing. I’m not sure exactly how you are using it now? Cosmetic steady stream bottles usually are not good because the plastic is very hard, and you can’t squeeze out water in a steady stream fast enough, the restaurant ones are soft plastic and squeeze easily. You can also by a sitz bath in any drug store to use while urinating, but it the water does not usually come up all the way to the top of the vulva, I am not sure where your incision is exactly? If it is down near your anus it should work.

Also, the longer you hold, the more painful it will be, because your urine will be very concentrated. I know it is counterintuitive, but the more water you drink, the more like water your urine will be, much less of a salt and acid ratio in it.

I think it is a good idea to call the doctor, and let them prescribe a numbing gel for you.

Thanks for all the help @JLeslie. Spray maybe wasn’t the right word. I’ve actually been using a bottle that a fleet enema came in haha, it’s got a long nozzle and I can squeeze out a steady stream. I think the trouble is that the incision is so close to the opening of the urethra, the urine hits it before the water can really do any good. It was a Bartholin’s cyst so the incision is on kind of the inner labia. I’m not sure about any kind of bath since he said not to take baths but I’ll clarify that when I call tomorrow. I definitely know I’m only screwing myself by holding it, I’m trying to motivate myself to go more often throughout the day, it’s just hard because my sense of dread about the whole thing is just multiplying every day. Yeah I’ll just be really happy if they give me something to make this less awful!

The good thing is that part of the body heals quickly. But, I am sure not fast enough :(

Alright! When I called today he said he’d give me some lidocaine, but also said it usually doesn’t help much. The pharmacist said they’d have to order it because they didn’t have it in, but we told her I had some year-old viscous lidocaine lying around and asked if that’d be okay to use. She said it couldn’t hurt. I used it and….sweet relief. It helped a lot. Thanks everybody!

Yay! Still maybe rinse, because the urine might still be irritating the tissues, your nervous system just isn’t relaying the pain to your brain. I’m not sure how that works.