I had SRS (PI Vaginoplasty) 8 weeks ago. It sure has been a crazy ride, and lots of painful moments. But overall it has gone well, and everything seems to heal perfectly. I'm so glad and relieved to finally have gone through with it 😊😌

However, the last two weeks or so I've had lots of cramp-like pains in my lower abdomen. I've gotten used to a lot of various pains since the surgery, such as intestinal pains caused by constipation, healing pains, and jittery nerve pains.

But these pains are certainly different, and way harder to deal with. First of all, it feels more like muscle cramps than just pains. My belly skin feels very tense and is usually pulsating at the pace of my heartbeat. On each side down from the navel there are two 'centers' where the pains seem to be concentrated in. The pain itself feels like ischemia, and my abdomen gets hotter than the rest of my body. Even when the cramp goes away, it still feels sore, like muscle soreness.

And unlike the other pains I've dealt with so far, these come with a bunch of side-symtoms; nausea, occasional diarrhea, headache, dizziness, disorientation, and fatigue. And it varies a bit from day to day, sometimes I feel more nausea than pain etc.

Needless to say, it has been really hard to get all my dilations in. Thankfully, I've gotten at least one 1-hour dilation done each day, but there have been very few days I've gotten all three done. Even when it's not actively hurting, it feels usually very stiff, and hard to push the dilator in.

I have already talked to the surgeon about this, but he said that it was nothing unusual, since it is still in the early stage of the recovery. During the follow-up exam, he didn't find any signs of any complication, and was very pleased with how it was healing.

However, it has been almost two weeks since then. Everytime I've thought it was starting to ebb out and had a day without cramps, it has come back. And there doesn't seem to be any indication that the surgical site itself seems to be damaged, neither the vulva nor the inside of the vagina.

What do you think? I have already planned to contact my nurse navigator for consultation, but I also want to hear other people's thoughts as well.

Edit: I've scheduled an appointment with one of the surgeons early next week, to rule out any potential serious complication. Hoping for the best! 😣🙏🤞🙌

Edit2: Back from the check-up now. According to the surgeon, stress. Basically a negative feedback loop caused by pain, which made me become stressed, which lead me to tensing the muscles in the abdomen, which caused cramps, which caused more pain, and on it went. Which is a relief, but definitely feels rather silly 😅