When does the settling out stop?

Submitted by louiseds on August 19, 2009 - 3:51am
Body: 

Hi All

You know how we sometimes talk about the differences in how our POP's come about, and how they manifested?

Mine happened almost imperceptably for about fifteen years, then suddenly, during a period of asthma/bronchitis that went on for several years, they all descended quite quickly and demanded my attention.

Then there was a period of feeling kind of full and lop-sided in the vulva. I then found Wholewoman. I was finallyl able to resolve the asthma/bronchitis, but the POP's stayed, well-controlled by WW techniques.

Then a couple of years after that I embarked on some pretty heavy physical work, and my cervix straightened up, but came down a little further. I was at last a little more comfortable.

Now, a couple of years on, menopause seems to have come, and everything has moved back up a bit again, but at last, with the quieting of my reproductive hormones, my cervix is quite tiny, and POPs are pretty stable and manageable.

I am wondering, what has been the path for your POP's? At what age did they settle (if they have settled? Is it something that finally settles at menopause? I guess that if you have not reached menopause you can't really answer this question. But what about in the following years?

I did think of posting this in the Menopause Forum, but I am interested in the experience of younger women too, who might not read the Menopause Forum.

clavicula

August 19, 2009 - 11:06am

I am so sad right now. I felt better, I really did. My bulge was gone, and I started to feel lighter, finally at 9 months pp. But a week ago DD1 had an accident, needed surgery, and I needed to carry her a lot (35 or so lbs), sitting on her bed, sitting on hospital chairs, and now my cystocele is baaaaack, pressure is back and that weird instability feeling and everything, I am so discouraged and disappointed right now. DD1 is fine now, thank God, but I am a wreck again. Maybe I'll end up getting worse and my settling out continues?

Liv

louiseds

August 19, 2009 - 7:51pm

Hi Liv

(((hugs)))

Well, you have just had one of life's unpleasant experiences! So glad dd is OK, and sorry to hear that you are feeling wrecked. I think I would feel wrecked in the same circumstances, and my body would probably be in a similar state.

When you have to pull on all your resources, wellbeing of your own body sometimes goes to the end of the list. We have all done it, and my guess is that the longterm consequences of what you have just done will not result in further POP. This is called a setback, and we all have them. I have cystocele symptoms yesterday and today, and I am sure it is from squatting in the garden pulling out weeds. Bad me! I really am a slow learner. But after five years of this work I have come to trust my body again. I know it will recover in a few days, none the worse. The worrying you have done has probably also hunched you over unconsciously for a couple of days. Now the worry is over you can uncurl yourself, banish the adrenalin that has been driving you, and your guts can relax and get on with letting go. And stop worrying about worsening your POPs. That is a real vicious circle if you let yourself get into it!

You may not feel constipated, but I am guessing that there is still more food, semi-digested, in your abdomen than there normally would be. This will not be helping. When you get filled with adrenalin your body goes into fight or flight mode. Blood is withdrawn from the gastrointestinal system, and it kind of shuts down temporarily to conserve energy for heart, lungs and muscles. This also means that if, during the battle, you do not have time to pause for sustenance, or you are wounded and lose a lot of blood, or you need to sweat a lot to keep your body cool, your body has extra fluid reserves in your intestines that it can call on, because your digestive system and kidneys have slowed right down, preventing loss of fluid from the body. Don't be surprised if you poo more over the next couple of days.

I am sure your POP's will recover within a week or so. Just be kind to yourself, and do lots of walking and wing flapping, and nauli and inversion type activities, to allow your organs to reposition themselves.

Cheers

Louise

alemama

August 19, 2009 - 10:27pm

For the first time since discovering prolapse I have a cough. Doggone it. I never knew coughing could be so irritating to my prolapse. First my hip started hurting and then after a few days my prolapse was bulgier then ever (since I found it 3 years ago). I am holding off on feeling sad though because I have about 3 years of experience with this thing and I am pretty confident that as soon as I quit coughing so much it will start to get better.
Hang in there Liv- your bulge was gone before- it will go away again.

clavicula

August 20, 2009 - 12:04am

Thanks for the support, Alemama and Louise! God bless you!
Liv

fc12

August 20, 2009 - 6:14pm

I've been thinking about this issue. I found POP 7 months ago, 6 months after birth of DS2. I was shocked, angry etc but began WW work and started seeing physio. Things improved and also physio said cystoscele was mild (noone mentioned rectocele). About a month ago. I had an incredibly busy week workig days and nights and weekends teaching, carrying a bag full of books, and a back full of stress ( I also had some emotional issues). After this my bulges seemed SO much worse and after much foraging around down there and many hours spent in strange positions with a mirror I would say I have a urethrocele and stage 3 bladder and rectal prolapse. No day is asymptomatic as I had been having. I have been in mourning yet agan but jumped straight back on WW bandwagon (I was being lax) and each day brings ups and downs.

I keep reading here about setbacks and then getting back to 'baseline'. It seems a week is often mentioned as the time it takes to get back to where you were but I feel I have irreversible damage now and my new 'baseline' is stage 3 which absolutely sucks. Anyway, I hope over the next year I will see gradual improvements. I know it takes longer for some women And I don't fit into typical post partum prolapse so I'm not sure I can enjoy such rates of improvement.

On bad days, and there are many although I'm working hardest on that, I just figure all I can do is follow WW priinciples. If nothing else they won't make it worse and they make me feel better in the head.

Out of interest, has anyone read Caroline Myss' 'Anatomy of Spirit'? I've had it for years but flicked through it. The other day and it seemed appropriate re my body and it's POPs. It's about medical intuition and the effect of one's spirit on one's body.

Cheers
fc12