4 month update

Dear Mamato2boys,

My heart goes out to you and all of your woes.

May you heal soon, and find some comfort.

Lots of gentle hugs for you,

Oceanblue

I am sending good thoughts your way. Know that amazing healing is possible during the pp period.

I wanted to share some info on pp thyroiditis. I have experience with this, and wanted you to know that it is possible to have transient HYPER-thyroidism during the pp period. It can lead to a hypo phase and then resolve on its own by approx. 12 months pp. Of course, just because it is transient doesn't mean it is any less difficult. The anxiety, weakness, and lack of sleep made me think I was losing my mind. All stress was overwhelming to me during this time. It was the scariest health experience in my life, even scarier than my POP, when I first discovered it.

While you may have Grave's or end up with Hashimoto's (in my case), there are good treatments to be found. I encourage you do a lot of your own research on thyroid issues, when you are feeling a bit better of course. Endocrinologists can be notoriously cocky and stubborn when it comes to new information/patient participation. Of course, many docs are this way, but endos seem to have the market cornered. You will need to take charge of your thyroid health, just as you have with your POP issues. (Of course, I am not saying that you aren't doing this now, I am just telling you what I had to do after many docs and a lot of frustration.)

Be very gentle with yourself during this time.

Best wishes,
gemommy

Hi Mamato2boys,

Just wanted to give you some hope. You are only 4 months pp and you have TONNES of room for improvement. I am now 10 months pp and feeling completely normal on some days. I have primarily a urethrocele, but I had that rectocele type feeling with a full bowel a couple of months ago. It is gone now; not sure what it was. I thought it was a stage 1 rectocele, but so far no symptoms now. My back wall doesn't really move when I push down. Who knows?

Anyway I thought I'd give you a quick update on the my healing from 4-10 months. Honestly this is the period when most of my healing to date has taken place. At 6-8months pp I had some irritation and a bit of that "hangy" feeling, but now at 10 months it is less and less. Visibly I see a urethrocele at the opening, but when I reach up, my front wall feels pretty smooth and sturdy (not like it was early in the pp months), it's not quite concave, but much better than it was. My cervix is almost unreachable in the morning, but by mid-day, I can usually feel it a finger-length up. I have not yet got my period back, but I am noticing more natural lubrication, so my estrogen levels must be rising. This is likely why I'm feeling my urethrocele less and less.

As far as what I can do, most anything. I've lifted things that I wouldn't have attempted several months ago, and I am no worse off. I have chased after my kids (running), I have even jumped a little bit (at my son's gym class), without that falling out feeling. I am careful with the way I do things, but it really isn't limiting. I still want to get back to doing the DVD and some more abdominal work, as well as some firebreathing and nauli, but it is hard to find the time. Posture is what I do most, and I am taking some supplements i.e. vit C, Sepia, and Gingseng and Astraglus (prescribed by my naturopath). I've also found acupuncture helpful.

So don't worry, it will get better. Yes, I would love for this silly little flap of vaginal rugae to go back up above the pubic bone, but I keep feeling better. If I don't look, I don't think about it nearly as much and I feel MUCH better. I hope I continue to heal well in the future months as well. I haven't given up on my urethrocele.

As for the thyroid issue. I can't comment too much. I do know that pp women are more at risk of thyroid problems, but I would imagine they (like prolapse) are more likely to resolve as your body gets back to normal.

You have TONNES of room to improve. When I think back to 4 months pp and look at where I am now, I cannot believe the difference!

Hope you are feeling better soon. Keep us posted.

Janice

Hi,

I had some thyroid issues as well after one of my babies. I found a supplement called iodral. It is iodine. I take one of the 50mg pills a day and things are normal again.

I was tired all the time, gaining weight emotional, hair loss...... These symptoms was not normal and not post partum depression. I went to a naturapath who started me out on 12.5mg iodral then we slowly increased.

It has changed my life and my health.

kathy2124

you can find many reviews and testimonys out on the web with this product, just google it

four months pp is nothing! I noticed a lot of improvement between four months and six months, and another big leap between 10 months and 12 months. lately my rectocele has been a non issue. i guess i still have a cystocele, but i don't notice it. i think my uterus is low, but it always has been. i'm back to my old life. i've come to accept the changes in my body. i'm mindful of my posture and diet, but i don't modify my life beyond that( i guess i don't wear tight clothes). i don't worry about being on my feet all day, or heavy lifting. this weekend i sang an opera, 2 performances of handel's messiah, a church service and a solo concert, and my pop's behaved beautifully. my point is that there is still a lot of room for improvement. hang in there!

don't have much time here, so I haven't read the responses yet.
just want to let you know, I had a postpartum thyroiditis following the birth of my oldest. I found a goiter and felt AWFUL. it was about 5 months pp. anyway, it went away on its own. not to promise yours will too, but I *think* this is less uncommon than you might think. so stay hopeful there. and the thyroid issue might be contributing to your feeling down too. It made me anxious and depressed.
also, when my cystocele finally started getting smaller, out popped a rectocele. that was pretty depressing too. but if you think of it as 'natures pessary' (forgot who coined that phrase but I love it), it will make sure nothing falls out. and sometimes things seem to get worse before they get better. don't want to hijack your thread, but my cervix is lower than I have ever seen it and I'm trying to remember teh 'worse before better' thing too.
it can be scary if we let it, but lets try to keep each other from falling into that trap.

sending prayers, good thoughts/vibes for healing and health your way

{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}

so sorry you are going through this! definately known a few people whose thyroids went out of wack post babies, but they resolved. iodine is very good for at least underactive thyroid (not sure about over), and homeopathy can apparently help as well.. sure there are other things that can help.
take care and keep us updated...

hi again,

this is a great article that explains what iodine does and how it affects the whole body. Your thyroid needs iodine to help with its function. The iodine helps the thyroid know what to do and what hormones to make more of or less of. From the research I have done iodine supplementation can help with both hyper and hypo thyroid. I use it personally for hypo thyroid and I swear by it. My life has changed completely since I have been taking it.

iodine article

The other thing that this article goes into greater detail about is that every cell in our bodies have iodine receptors, our whole bodies need it. I will not bore you with more details, but I cannot say how wonderful my life has been since starting this supplement. It took about two weeks to see the improvements and then slowly increasing my dosage to find the right amount for me. If it works for you it is sooo much better then getting put on synthetic hormones.

kathy2124