never pregnant, yet prolapse at age 27

welcome to the site, though I'm sorry you had need to search us out
while its true that most of the women here have had children, there have been a number of young women (some even younger than yourself) who haven't yet had children and still suffer from prolapse.

as you know, no one here can really diagnose you, or give you medical advise. its probably always wise to have things looked at by a doctor or other health care professional.
assuming its nothing more than a prolapse, kegels are unlikely to make it better, especially if your pelvic muscles are in good shape.
but since you're young, and haven't been through childbirth or have had a scalpel to your privates, I'd think that this work can be very beneficial to you. I'd start with diet, you've got to get those bowels moving happily. constipation is your enemy. when you strain on the toilet, you are also pushing on the uterus. so don't.
next, get into the posture. this will pull the uterus back into its place, and keep it there.

and another thought, what kind of exercise do you do? are you very athletic? I ask, because crunches and other types of abdominal work are not good for keeping the uterus where it should be. same with some yoga poses and dance styles.

I know how depressing this all is for me, and I'm older with children. I can only imagine how devastating for you. but I'm hopeful for you. I can't make any sort of prediction or promise, but I'd guess that you can stabilize your prolapse, and possibly even reverse it to some degree. you caught it early, you have age on your side. I think you'll be ok. this really doesn't mean that you won't be able to have children someday. many of us have had post-prolapse babies with no problems whatsoever.

Hi Helena and welcome,

As granolamom said, you are not alone by any stretch, as several young and never-been-pregnant women with prolapse have visited here.

We believe the primary cause of prolapse is postural and lifestyle related so as gmom also said, we teach a particular type of bodywork, good diet, and also that all straining against the toilet seat be stopped.

This is an evolving work and it has only been this year that I’ve realized the importance of the round ligaments of the uterus. These come off the front of the uterus, travel down the inguinal canal on either side of the lower abdomen, and embed into the large labia surrounding the vagina.

When we are very young, the uterus forms one long line with the vagina and therefore is carried very high abdominally. However, as we grow the front of the uterus is pulled down and forward to end up in its final, “anteverted” position.

In boys, it is the round ligaments that pull the testes from high in the abdomen into the scrotum. The round ligaments do this by shortening, which suggests a highly specialized ligament indeed!

Although gynecology insists the female round ligaments are of no supportive value and only stabilize the uterus in its forward-facing position, I believe its highly likely that the round ligaments are as important to uterine support in females as they are to proper testicle placement in males. Someday we may learn that the etiology behind severe uterine prolapse in young women is analogous to undescended testicles in males.

At any rate, I too have uterine prolapse and know there are certain movements we can do to tug on the round ligaments, with a resulting pulling forward, and out of the vagina, of the uterus.

I am putting all this information into a new dvd that we are trying to get out this month. When the uterus is pulled forward, the entire vaginal vault, or ceiling, is pulled forward and I believe this concept will become integral to restoring all kinds of pelvic organ prolapse.

All the things we talk about here and that I teach in the book are part of this restoration of normal anatomy: posture, relaxing the belly, natural breathing into the belly, firebreathing, etc.

I’m very excited because I believe we’ve found most, if not all, the pieces of an anatomical puzzle that has been - if not purposefully kept from us - then never discovered by the very people who are operating on us in droves.

Begin learning this postural work and I have no doubt you will reverse your symptoms for the long run.

:) Christine

Hi Helena,
I just registered today so I'm new here too. I also have never been pregnant. I am 29 and have been experiencing "bladder issues" for a couple of years now. My doctor just referred me to physiotherapy and was told I have very weak pelvic floor muscles which led to stress incontinence (leaking urine when coughing, sneezing, laughing, jumping, etc.). But I always wondered about the lump I felt when inserting anything into the vagina. I had to do my own research to discover that I had a cystocele (prolapsed bladder) and asked my doctor to confirm this for me. She did. But why couldn't she tell me about this before? And why didn't the physiotherapist say anything during her manual examinations? And why me? I've never been pregnant, not overweight, etc, etc... We would like to start trying to have children, but this whole pelvic organ prolapse thing scares the heck out of me! And I can't talk to friends about it cause they haven't experienced it (not even friends who have had children). I keep wondering "did I bring this on somehow"?

I must say that I feel a lot better by reading stories of other women with cystoceles or other prolapsed pelvic organs have multiple children and learn to accept their bodies as they are and find ways to live better lives.

I really feel for you, and totally understand what you're going through. It's not something you ever thought you'd be faced with at this point in your life, or even EVER... because it's not something that most women have common knowledge about.

I hope to read Saving the Whole Woman as soon as I can find a copy in Canada or that can be shipped to Canada at a reasonable charge.

This seems like a supportive environment, so hopefully you can gain some further knowledge of what's going on in your body right now and look more positively to the future!!

take care,
Raya

hi raya
welcome to the site

I only have a few moments, my dd is waiting for the next chapter in the tale of desperaux, but I wanted to take a min or two to comment

a weak pelvic floor does not cause stress incontinence. a strong pelvic floor (which really isnt' a floor but that is for another post) can COMPENSATE for stress incontinence, but will not cure it.
in a "normal" pelvis, the bladder and urethra are properly situated, and the normal and natural forces, pressures, and anatomy, keep urine in when it should be in as well as allowing full and complete emptying when voiding.
when the bladder and/or the urethra prolaspes, the angle between them changes. this changes the way the forces behave. so when you sneeze or cough, the force is not opposed by the force the angle would normally create, and urine is allowed to be 'pushed' out of the bladder. sometimes a more severe prolapse actually prevents this from happening, if it keeps that angle or creates a greater angle. that's what I believe happened to me and I am counting my blessings that incontinence was never an issue for me. but anyway.
strong pelvic muscles allow you to kegel as you sneeze. this muscle contraction creates a force that opposes the force of the sneeze and does not allow the urine to dribble out. but it will not put your bladder back where it belongs.

why you? I wish I knew.
as for having babies, I'm proof that you can. I'd recommend though, taking a few months to first get a hold on the prolapse thing. confidence in your body is of utmost importance when pg, especially when it comes to the birthing part.

get the book, but make sure to get the second edition. there's more in there that would make it worth the extra for shipping. you really can't find this information anywhere else.

and now, back to the mouse in the dungeon (btw, for anyone with kids and even those without, this is a fantastic book. totally recommend it)

Sounds to me like you might have a rectocele-
give "splinting" a try and see if it helps you to have a bm

give Nauli a try too-it will get your uterus up pretty high (or well it does for me)

oops and by the way I am 29 now- found my prolapses when I was 24 but didn't know what they were and then they went away- and finally found them for real when I was 26 ( I think) I am pregnant with my 4th child and before this pregnancy was feeling GREAT.

I know that after the baby is born I will have a year or two of recovery time but I am hopeful that I will get back to my normal.
Since you want babies in the future you might like to research gentle birth- no pushing for you- not for a bm and not for birth either! And learn how to protect your perineum during birth too-

stick around here- start the posture- stop the straining. You will be feeling much better soon!

Yes, my dd loves this book, too. I hear the movie is coming out! Also, she's listened to it on audiobook. BTW, we have read the most amazing books through our homeschool curriculum, Sonlight. They pick out the most amazing books, mostly Newberry award winners -- history and geography are taught through whole books as opposed to textbooks, which makes history come alive. We just hang on the edge for days getting through them. 30 - 40 great books or more per year. If you get their catalog, you can get a great book list for your local library to search out. Some titles not available at local libraries. There's a forum on sonlight to get used books and curriculum.

Marie

we finished the book last night and its the first time my dd's been excited about a book. I was wondering where to get recommendations for more fabulous books. I will check out sonlight, thanks!

I did see ads about the movie, but I don't want her to see it just yet. I want her to hold onto the visions in her head for a while. I always hate it when movies don't look like the story in my head, kwim?

I want to go see the movie Twilight- but am holding off because I saw a trailer and the actors looked almost nothing like I pictured.

I've been meaning to make a book list for all the different grades as many people have asked for one -- just haven't had time to do it. When I do, I'll email it to you. Off the top of my head, some of my favorite books in that age range:

Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Marvelous Land of Oz and most of the sequels - L. Frank Baum - our absolute favorite is Ozma of Oz;
Snow Treasure (re: kids who hid gold from Nazis in Norway during WWII)
Ten and Twenty (kids who hid Jewish kids during WWII - not sure if you want to get into all this, but it's very age appropriate (I think we read it in 1st grade)
Charlotte's Web (of course)
Pigs Might Fly
Wheel on the School
Dr. Doolittle
Voyages of Dr. Doolittle
Mr. Popper's Penguins
Capyboppy
My Father's Dragon, The Dragon of Blueland, and Elmer and the Dragon
All of the Homer Price books
Magician's Nephew, Lion Witch and Wardrobe and all the other Narnia books by CS Lewis
James Herriot's Treasury for Children

OK, this is really OT now and probably should have been sent as part of an email.

Marie

that's a great bunch of books
can't believe I forgot all about dr doolittle

and my kids know way too much about WWII from way too young an age. its our family history.
so we're not afraid of a few good books around that theme.

off to amazon
I'm a book addict and should really head of to the library first, but there's nothing like owning a good book, kwim?

Sure thing! I'm a book freak, too. Remind me of your kids ages. I will put that book list together and email it to you. Marie