An increase in body temperature after any surgical operation is a completely understandable and normal phenomenon. Caesarean section is no exception. But fever can also be a symptom of severe complications, and therefore a special, more attentive attitude is needed to the temperature. In this article, we'll look at the most common causes of fever after surgery, a few days or even weeks after surgery, and tell you what to do in this case.
Physiological causes
Temperature after cesarean section is a normal female immune response to surgical invasion. Normally, it should be short and be at subfebrile values - 37.0-37.8 degrees. In the normal course of the earlier postoperative period, the temperature returns to normal within 1-2 days after the operation.
Delivery on the surgical table cannot be considered natural, physiological. Therefore, for a woman's body, a cesarean section is a great stress, the reaction to which is usually a slight rise in temperature in the first day or two after the intervention.
But the adaptive abilities of the body are quite high and the immune system quickly perceives everything that happens, including the presence of foreign bodies (internal and external threads-sutures), and thermoregulation becomes normal.
Pathological causes
A high fever that rises almost immediately after surgery may be a sign of infection. If the thermometer rises to 38 degrees and higher 3-4 days after the operation, this may also be a sign of infection.
Caesarean section is always associated with possible complications, and there is no way to get away from this. They can occur both during the operation and after it. The accession of an infection is considered one of the most severe complications; it can be fatal for a woman. Additional symptoms of infection in addition to high fever:
- pain in the abdominal area;
- discharge of an unusual color, consistency, with an unpleasant odor;
- suppuration of the postoperative scar, discharge from it.
The most common complication is inflammation of the functional layer of the uterus - the endometrium. It is called endometritis (when endometrial cells are introduced into neighboring tissues - endometriosis), endometritis of the internal scar on the uterus can also develop.
The probability of an infectious complication is, according to experts, from 0.7 to 5% of cases. But this is pretty average data. This happens more often in hospitals where not so much importance is given to sanitary requirements. Today in Russia, most operating rooms and intensive care wards are equipped with modern equipment, sterile instruments are used (disposable, which do not need to be boiled after use), modern antiseptics and antibiotics are used. For this reason, the likelihood of an infectious infection of a postpartum woman is reduced to 0.7-1.5%.
After a cesarean section, a woman should strictly follow the recommendations of doctors. If you ignore them, other complications may arise, which will also make themselves felt with an increase in temperature and 2 days after surgical delivery, and a week later, and a month later.
Other reasons that may present with fever include the following (at any time after surgery):
- improper or insufficient care of the external seams, inflammation, suppuration;
- colds, acute respiratory viral infections, flu (after cesarean section in women, along with inevitable blood loss, the immune defense decreases);
- autoimmune processes in the body of the postpartum woman (suture surgical material, which is used to sew cuts on the uterus, on muscle tissues, is not perceived by the immune system, does not take root, is rejected), while the temperature rises at the level of 37.0-38.0 degrees and lasts for a long time;
- endocrine disorders (a cesarean section terminates pregnancy suddenly, contrary to the laws of nature, and therefore hormonal disruption is not excluded) - temperature is a sign of hormonal imbalance:
- exacerbation of a chronic disease in the postoperative period or the onset of an acute illness (pyelonephritis, nephritis, adnexitis, pancreatitis and others) - due to a strong decrease in immunity, a manifestation of a disease occurs, which was previously characteristic of a postoperative woman, or the disease appears for the first time for the same reason and proceeds, respectively , acutely.
In addition to all of the above, the cause of an increase in temperature after a cesarean section may be stagnation in the mammary glands and their inflammation. Often such a complication occurs 7-10 days after childbirth, when lactation is in the active stage.
By the time the temperature appears, the common reasons for its development can be divided:
- in 2-3 days - acute wound infection, infection, sepsis;
- after 5 days - endometriosis, pneumonia (with coughing and respiratory manifestations);
- in 2-4 days - Acute cystitis (inflammation of the urinary tract due to the installation of a catheter during surgery and on the first day after it);
- 7-8 days - pyelonephritis;
- 10-20 days - mastitis, mastopathy;
- Anytime - flu, ARVI.
What to do?
If your temperature rises after a caesarean section, you should definitely discuss this with your doctor. As you can see, there are many reasons that can lead to its growth. They are all serious and require treatment.
After the operation, the temperature in the maternity hospital for a woman is measured 3-4 times a day. And this is very important so that doctors can formulate the correct idea of the course of the early rehabilitation period. Some women are not too responsible and take measurements seriously, forget to put a thermometer or do it wrong. As a result, some complications at an early stage may go unnoticed and become apparent even when the inflammation is quite serious.
In the hospital and after discharge, a woman needs to learn how to correctly measure her own body temperature. The thermometer, if it is placed in the armpit, must be isolated from the nearby mammary gland.
Milk production begins and the mammary glands are usually hotter, because of this, the temperature may be high. It is recommended to place a thick towel folded 4-6 times between the thermometer and the mammary gland during the measurement. You can measure the temperature in the mouth, in some maternity hospitals this method is considered the most accurate and desirable.
If in the maternity hospital you notice a temperature above 38.0 degrees on the second or third day, be sure to inform the midwife on duty. She will invite the doctor on duty, the woman will be examined, blood will be taken for analysis, an ultrasound scan will be done and the cause of the fever will be determined. Further treatment will depend on the specific cause - antibiotics are used for all types of infectious inflammations, and drugs are additionally prescribed to treat the underlying disease.
If the temperature rises at home after being discharged after some time, chills appear, then, without wasting time looking for additional symptoms, the woman needs to call an ambulance or go to the nearest hospital by personal transport on her own. This must be done as quickly as possible. Many inflammatory processes, when they are extremely neglected, can lead to systemic sepsis - inflammation of the blood, and with sepsis, the prognosis for saving a woman's life is less optimistic.
A specialist tells about the peculiarities of temperature after childbirth in the next video.
