Is C-section recovery different? And GLP-1 meds postpartum??????

This week, fresh off the press, I am talking about C-section recovery and GLP-1 Medication.

I've had some questions and articles sent to me about both so thoughtit'd be nice to cover the topics.

Is C-section recovery really that different from a vaginal birth recovery that you need a different program?

Why you should always, ALWAYS, see a pelvic floor physio postpartum, even if you've had a C-section.

With regards to GLP-1 meds;

Why it's not a great idea at all to start these postpartum.

Why I always tell people to NOT focus on weightloss postpartum

And, why it's a very troubling trend to see companies starting to sell these for PP weightloss.

And more.

As always; HPNB is, and always will be, FREE for 3 months.

If you decide you want to do the rest of the program, after only 5 months of paying $10/£8 a month you now get FREE LIFE TIME ACCESS! That's $50 max spend, in case you were wondering.

Though I'm not terribly active on  Instagram and Facebook you can follow us there. I am however active on Threads so find me there!

And, of course, you can always find us on our YouTube channel if you like your podcast in video form :)

Visit healthypostnatalbody.com and get 3 months completely FREE access. No sales, no commitment, no BS.

Email peter@healthypostnatalbody.com if you have any questions, comments or want to suggest a guest/topic      

Transcript

Welcome And Today’s Topics

Peter 0:00

Hey, welcome to the Healthy Postnatal Body Podcast. With your postnatal expert Peter Lap, that as always would be me! today. It is just little me and I am talking C-section recovery. Is it really different? And we're talking GLP1 medications like Wegovy. Ozempic, that type of stuff postpartum. Should you or should you very much not? Right, so without further ado, here we go.

Next Week’s Vaccine Guest Teaser

Peter 0:49

This is the one for the 20th, and believe it or not, that's take five that I'm doing because I couldn't get the dates right. This is the podcast for the 20th of July. I hope you're well. Next week, it's Dr. Mike Myers. Uh not not him from uh from Friday the 13th movies. Um, the Vaccine Bible episode. You're gonna love that one. We're talking about measles, we're talking about vaccines, we're talking about risk of vaccines versus risk of illness and and and all that type of stuff. Um it's been a it's been a while since I've done an interview with somebody um at at that level, to be honest with you. Um absolutely loved it, and that doesn't mean I'm not crapping on my other guests here. It's uh it's just that Dr. Myers is is is an amazing guest. Um, and you're gonna love that. So check that out next week. Um, this, like I said, is it's the podcast for the 20th of July. I hope you're well. It's it's summer here, and and and that means cool holidays, and that means my schedule's all over the place. And like I said, I've in last week I have a new friend that comes to stay regularly, Charlie. Um, the Tibetan Terrier, just in case people think I actually have friends. I always talk about cats and dogs, right? Um, because I'm Billy Nomad's poo.

Why C-Section Healing Takes Longer

Peter 2:09

Um anyways, this week I thought we'd talk a little bit about um about c-section recovery, because I get quite a few emails about this, and I haven't touched on the subject in in a little while. The question is always as as it was this week, how is C-section recovery different postpartum from um from a physical recovery perspective, than uh vaginal delivery or recovery, sorry, you know, natural birth air quote, um, sort of thing. And I am very much in the in the camp of I don't care how you give birth, right? It's not about business. Baby comes out, baby healthy, mummy healthy, everybody's happy. Um, so I'm not going to talk about the benefits of vaginal birth versus C-section and all that sort of stuff. I it's just not interesting for me. Um, and and it's not my wheelhouse, right? I take care of mummies after they give birth. I don't do baby health, really. I mean, I have guests that do, but I don't. Um, so I'm just talking about postpartum recovery for the mother. Um, because I get asked a lot about pelvic flora, especially, uh, and diastasis rectile recovery. Why? So let me first of all explain why the recovery is different from the initial stages perspective, uh, not from an exercise perspective, but just from a why does it take longer before you can go back into uh into say the exercise and and your daily life after uh after C-section. And fundamentally, that's just because the scar needs time to heal, they cut through loads of uh layers of tissue, right? It's not exactly keyhole surgery, removing a baby, it's not like getting rid of a gallbladder. Um it's it's a major operation, and therefore, you know, recovery takes a little uh takes takes a bit longer. The scars need to heal, and even though on the scars on the outside appear to be healed, you're not necessarily completely healed after uh at the at the six-week stage. So we give it eight weeks. That's fundamentally what that eight-week period is about compared to the six-week period that the doctor tells you to wait uh before go back to exercise after you've given um if you've given um uh if if you've had a vaginal birth. Um that's the difference from that

Pelvic Floor Reality After Any Birth

Peter 4:47

perspective. From a pelvic floor perspective, because this this comes up a lot, does it matter that the baby didn't go through the birth canal? Well, yeah. From the the bits down there perspective, yes, because that's a bit more traumatic, right? Um to actually as as the as the phrase is poop the baby out, right? That that's a bit more traumatic for uh for that region. But having said that, one mistake we quite often seem to make is thinking that oh you gave birth via C-section, therefore your pelvic floor is okay, and that is just not the case at all. Uh the vast majority of issues with the pelvic floor postpartum, and why you always need to see a pelvic floor, physio postpartum, always. Absolutely, absolutely, always. I could whisper this into the mic, I could shout it into the mic, always see a pelvic for uh specialist, uh postpartum, pelvic for specialist, physio, whatever, uh postpartum. Um, like I said, that's not me. That's always that's always not me. I don't do public food because that's an examination, right? There's young to have to be touching involved um in an in an ideal world. There are some people that don't do any of the touchy stuff, and and and I can that, right? There's somatic practitioners out there that are trauma-informed practitioners that will be different, but fundamentally, you know, we need to make sure that stuff is working properly, so to speak. Um, and I'm not a big fan of physios that never touch people, but I'm also a middle-aged white guy. I'm not gonna be in any room, right? The middle-aged white guy thing is a problem enough. Let me put it that way. Um, right, so we're not gonna do that. But so, but I always say spend your money with those guys. I always say spend your money with those guys before you spend it with me. And by that I mean your priority should postpartum should be pelvic floor physio. That is your from a postpartum recovery perspective. That's it from physical postpartum recovery perspective. That's it. That those are the people you spend your money with, and then if you have money left, you can spend it on personal trainers and other physios and fitness programs and whatever else you want to spend your money on. But that is those are the people you give your money to, and they're not that expensive, anyways. That was a little tangent uh that I hadn't planned on, anyways. Most of the air quote damage, most of the issues arise from you having been pregnant, not from you actually giving birth, but you're still pregnant for nine months-ish. Um that internal pressure that causes diastatus recti, for instance, right? I've I've spoken about that several times. Diastasis recti isn't caused by you being pregnant, it's caused by internal pressure. Um, that internal pressure is also downwards. And as Anthony Lowe, the physio detective, uh, always used to say, and and you know, it's the diastasis recti is an adaptation uh to prevent the pelvic floor struggling too much. If you didn't have diastasis, then you would have a problem somewhere else, and that's prolapse and all that type of stuff. You'd have more pelvic floor damage. In most people, you have you have a bit of both, right? You have 100% diastis, 100% of people have diastasis uh during the pregnancy and early stages, because of course you do, you need space for the baby, and but also 100% of people need to get their pelvic floor checked postpartum. Um, and that is because the internal pressure is is building up over the course of nine months. It is not because uh you have given birth and death as in natural birth versus C-section, and therefore you need a pelvic force specialist and the C-section person doesn't. Right? So that's the starting point. Um, you just don't tend to see a pelvic force physio or specialist uh until at the eight-week stage, because you want to make sure that your uh your scouring is completely healed internally and all that type of stuff, right? That that is that that is settled.

Why Exercises Stay The Same

Peter 9:35

Now, from the recovery perspective, assuming all is the same with your pelvic floor, right? So the pelvic floor bit is done and there are no issues there, and all that type of stuff, then the recovery from C-section between is exactly the same as it is through uh for vaginal birth. There is no difference in the way we treat anything or in the exercises or anything. So the the question I had this week is can I do the HP and B program if I've had a C-section, or do I need to tick a different box? And I said, Well, there's no different box on the website because we don't need one. It's a valid question, it's a good question to ask, right? Um, but it's fundamentally the same. Your issues are exactly the same because your pregnancy is exactly the same. There is no difference between a C-section pregnancy and and vaginal birth pregnancy. There's a difference in the labor element of it, in the giving birth element of it. But even that, from a from a postpartum recovery perspective, once the once the scar is healed, the scar is healed, right? We've done. It's good, we're good to go. Right? They've cut through some tissue, quite a bit of tissue, to be honest. But once that's healed, once that's nicely stitched up and recovered and back to back to normal, then we can get cracking, so to speak, as the cool kids say. Um, so the exercises don't change, is what I'm saying. I've seen one or two uh one or two programs, one or two influencers online, and uh God knows I'm not an influencer. As you know, I'm not active online with regards to this postpartum stuff. Uh, other than other than the podcast and and letting people know the podcast is there. I don't do instant videos and all that type of stuff, TikTokies. Um, right, that is not my world, because no one wants to see a bold guy in Garassis talk about this stuff. Um but I've seen I've seen a lot of them say that oh, for C-section, you need to do these exercises and that exercises, and this is a C-section program, this is my vaginal birth program. It's the same. Honestly, it's both as intense as the other day, it's no better or worse. So so you don't really need a special, you don't need to spend your money on a special uh C-section recovery program in the same way that and this I came across this the other day. Someone was saying that, oh, um C-section, people who give birth via C-section um are more likely to have posture issues. Um and I have no idea where that came from, right? I've done this for a fair while now. I mean 12, 13, 14 years, this postpartum stuff. Um, and I can't find anything about that. I don't see any reason as to why that would be. If someone can tell me why that would be, uh there's no study out there that that says there is. Uh, and the people that claim that there are posture issues related to C-section, uh to having C-section for the mother, even for the baby, it there isn't, to be fair, right? That's when you when that's when you come across the the chiropractors that say, oh, if you don't go through the birth canal and all that, the the spine is all messed up and I need to readjust the baby, you don't. That is just not no no. No, that is not why um I there there is no magical alignment that happens as the baby makes its way through the birth canal. Right? The reason I saw that the other day where someone made the claim that the reason we we give birth that way is so that the baby's spine can align. But no, the reason humans give birth that way is so that the baby can come out, so that the baby doesn't need to eat its way out of the belly, eat their way out of the belly. Do you know what I mean? Like sort of an alien sort of it's not an egg, right? It's it's a really weird thing to claim. Um, as Bob scratches his ears in the background, because he's a bit of a jackass, but he's by cat, and we're we're kind of stuck with him. So, yeah, basically, there is no no special c-section recovery, there's no special c-section protocol that you need to follow, um, and and anything like that. It it just strikes me as a bit of a bit of a waste of time. Right, um something else I was I was going to touch

GLP-1 Meds Are Everywhere Now

Peter 14:25

on a little bit. I was sent an article, um, I'm I'm I'm subscribed to an absolute ton of of um uh news outlets and all that type of stuff that that's you know the that send me press releases and all that type of stuff. And there was um a press release from um one of the biotech companies that that makes pills for um basically glp1 medication, so Monjaro, we go via that that type of Ozempic style style stuff. And I was send this and uh someone also sent me then uh a question regarding it, but is whether I wanted to have the that's how usually how it happens. I get sent the press release, and then I get asked, do you want the the the guy who wrote the press release or the the person on behalf of who's of who this press release was was was written. Um do you want them on the podcast? And usually the answer is no. Um because they're selling something, right? And and it's fine. I absolutely love being asked the question because I love the I I read them all and and some of them are really interesting, they're just not necessarily suitable for the podcast. Um and GLP1 meds is is one of those things that I get asked a lot of questions about because they're just everywhere right now. Now, little caveat, I know several people that have that have used them, and for this for them, it's been wonderful. Um I personally think, right, because I asked get asked, should I take this postpartum? And just the answer is

Why Postpartum Weight Loss Can Wait

Peter 16:00

no. No. I'm very very big on the you don't go for weight loss for at least a year after giving birth, at least. And I'm not saying people should lose weight, but I'm saying if you want to lose weight, please just wait a year. Postpartum. There's so many other things that that that that you should be focusing on. The health of your baby, the health of yourself, feeling good within yourself, feeling good as a as a person with a new schedule, um, with a new. It doesn't matter whether this is a third child, first child, or or the third, your schedule changes, everything gets more and more messed up, right? Um, everything gets it gets busier, everything is up in the air. You have time off work, then you go back to work, and you have that that phase to go through. And I'm not a big fan of doing any sort of weight loss stuff for at least, like I said, at least a year postpartum. From a postpartum perspective, they are an atrocious idea. So, because what GLP1 meds do is suppress your appetite, and that is the whole point of these medications, and again, nothing wrong with them, I don't mind them at all. Uh, for the people that there's that are supposed to be using them. Um, and I don't mean like Scarlett Johant. So what's her face who apparently is on them. Um, a lot of the Hollywood, uh not Scarlett Johansson, the other one. Uh there are two blonde actresses, I can never tell them apart. The South African lady. Um, anyways, I I don't know. Come to me. She was in the old guard, wonderful movie, wonderful actress. She was also in Monster, that was her, right? Yeah, Monster. Um, anyways, wonderful lady, wonderful actress, clearly on GLP1 meds, and clearly shouldn't be. Um, but for clinically more but the obese people and people with a BMI higher than 30 and all that type of stuff, yeah, sure. Um, I think it's wonderful. I think the idea that people all need to air quote lose weight naturally and buy blood, sweat, and tears and all that type of stuff, is I think it's outdated. I think it's ridiculous. And we know it doesn't work for most people. The issue with most people who take GLP1 meds is they don't do it properly. And by that I mean yes, you're losing weight, but are you making sure you get your protein in? Are you making sure you get your exercise in? Are you making sure you get your hydration levels, right? Are you making sure in some cases that you're finding out the reason why you have all that food noise? Right? Um, all these questions, are you working with a therapist, all that type of stuff? For most people, the answer is no. Um, and postpartum, that's terrible, right? Especially if you're breastfeeding and expressing, it it's because you need to produce enough breast milk, and that means you need to have enough nutrients coming in. You need uh just for mental stability, you need to eat enough. For recovery, you need to eat enough. For yeah, because breastfeeding is mainly about the baby, right? But for yourself to be better and recover, you need to eat enough, you need to keep your protein levels up, uh, you need to keep your nutrient levels up, and that includes carbohydrates and fats, right? Because you know, fat works as the transporter to uh for for vitamins, right? Fat-soluble vitamins, well, they're fat-soluble, right? So you need to make sure that you get enough of everything, post Python. It is it

Muscle Loss Risks And Better Safeguards

Peter 19:55

is absolutely key, it's absolutely essential. Um, and GLP1 meds suppress the appetite, so you don't even notice that you only had a pop noodle for lunch or or something, right? Or you force yourself to eat something, but you don't eat enough, and it becomes a struggle, and then you you can't you can't function well. You should only really do GLP1 methods in any sort of diet for that matter, because the the the principle is the same. You should only do that type of thing if you have the reserves to do it, as in if you have enough fat, if your body composition is such that you can sustain it. Uh, and even then, like I said, for a lot of people who are on GLP1 meds, because they don't get enough protein, they lose muscle mass. Because weight loss is weight loss, right? When we measure weight loss on on GLP1, it's it's the scales we're using. And um according to this little press release that I was sent, what was it? Uh significance of they have 1.6 million adults in the UK have used weight loss medication uh in 24-25, which is you know, that's a lot. Um, but the Lancet in uh Lancet diabetes and enracinology um so that nearly half the weight loss, half the weight lost using that obesity medication was uh medication was muscle mass. And that's a lot. And and the problem with muscle mass is that you need to put that back on as well, right? It is important that that muscle mass is we all know muscle mass is important, right? We did I don't have to sugarcoat this. We know it's important, so you don't want to lose the much of that and putting a back on is a bugger because you know that's a thing you need to work for that as well it doesn't just magically appear out of out of thin air um you so glp1 meds postpartum is a terrible idea glp1 meds if you do the right things you take in enough protein like I said work with a therapist if you need to um make sure you get your micro your micronutrients in all that type of stuff uh get your exercise in do your resistance training resistance training is much more important when you're on a on an appetite suppressant like that much more important and and and too cardio is always important of course you want to keep the heart healthy but maintaining muscle mass becomes such a such a much more much such an important thing I can say much more important more often that it drives me nuts. Apologies if you're listening to that um and you hear it now um because I pointed it out but it's it's GLP1 meant postpartum is no absolutely not thank you don't come to me say it I took them and I was fine I I I I get it some people are people shouldn't be using the postpartum you just you just shouldn't like I said focus on other things focus on your health focus on your sleep focus on your recovery focus on baby's health focus on bonding time with the baby focus on your mental health all those things are significantly more important than weight loss anywho

Wrap Up And How To Reach Me

Peter 23:38

my ramblings are done for yet another week like I said next week Dr. Myers uh with the vaccine Bible finally finally getting that episode out that's the day before his book launch that's why it's coming out then I recorded it ages ago and I've been dying to get this one out but you know the publisher said can you hold on to it and uh yes I can be back to the publisher um anyhow I have a ton of emails to get back to uh with people as well Peter at healthypostnatal body.com if you have questions or comments want to suggest a guest and all that type of stuff but I've I've I'm so far behind on my on my correspondence as I say I will get through it all on the evening of the 20th of July. I promise I will send out like 50 emails yeses and no's and good ideas and all that sort of stuff and no thank yous um so that's me done for another week you take care of yourself here's a new bit of music from Dresden the Flamingo bye now