Help! I've heard scary comments from pro-surgery people.....

I don't think I can answer your questions adequately but I can give you my thoughts. I think that some exercises can worsen a prolapse, such as abdominal crunches or any other exercise done while tucking the bum and holding ones breath. I think that almost any exercise can be done without harming a prolapse if it can be done in some modified way, keeping wholewoman posture in mind.
some woman here have had a grade three POP and have seen positive results.
I think obtaining/maintaining a healthy weight is good for overall health and thus good for prolapse.

I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your mom. I really believe that stress,etc impacts our health. maybe now that you're feeling ready to take better care of yourself you will see your body cooperating and responding. I hope that turns out to be true for you as it has for me.

as far as long walks, some women here find that wearing a support garment such as the V2 supporter or a pessary helpful.

try not to let the scary comments take up residence in your mind. you need the space for positive thoughts. {{{hugs}}}

Hi Mozart, I'm really sorry you are feeling so wretched at present. Like Granolamom I can only speak from my own experience, and from what I have read on this site. I doubt very much if a stage 3 prolapse can be completely reversed (that is only my own opinion, however) but it can certainly become less bothersome, and often be forgotten. I know this because this has happened for me.

As Granolamom points out, you have recently had a lot of stress and grief in your life. Discovering one's prolapse is also intensely stressful. So I think the first step towards getting back your normal life has to be stress reduction. Please try not to be blaming yourself for behaviours you think may have contributed to your prolapse. I know those thoughts will come, but when they do, turn on the radio, go out for a walk - anything to escape them. They can do you no good at all.

No human being has ever led a perfectly healthy life in all respects from cradle to grave. You have done very well with your exercise in the past and will do again. We can't know exactly why any individual develops a prolapse at a certain time - which in any case had likely been gradually developing perhaps over decades. Who knows whether gravity, age, childbirth, heredity would have caused that prolapse even if the woman had lived an impossibly healthy life forever? I think we should put all our energies into learning and living the best possible way for the future, and that is what you are clearly determined to do.

When I first discovered my bulges, I was scared to do anything for fear of making them worse. Now, I am back to trail running (just worked up to 6 miles), weight training (1 hour 3 times a week) and hill walking. In the summer I did a difficult 27 mile mountain hike which kept me out 17 hours. None of these activities seems so far to have any effect on my prolapse, which seems no worse than when I first discovered it. I do try to be very mindful of my posture, especially when weight training, and I don't do any crunch/situp type movements. I make sure to arch my back and brace my "pelvic floor" before lifting and I do many exercises sitting that I used to do standing. However, I have to admit that sometimes when things get difficult in the mountains, I do forget about my prolapse and my posture. I just have to hope the posture has become fairly ingrained by now.

I have good and bad bulge hours or even days, but I have never been able to relate that to anything I do or don't. At first the bad times panicked me, but now I just assume they will pass. If I feel too uncomfortable and haven't had a bm for more than 12 hours I sometimes use a glycol suppository to bring that on. It usually works fine, but that is only necessary maybe once a month.

There is no need to agonise now over the choice of surgery or not. That option will always be there. But as my physio, who has helped a lot of women after surgery used to say to them, "Surgery is not a cure, just a repair". I would never rule surgery out completely - in the case of cancer or extreme prolapse I might feel it was the best option for me. As long as I can do without surgery, that option is still there for me as a last resort, so I feel I can risk being active. A woman who has had surgery has not the same freedom.

As to losing weight, I do think it likely (but I don't know) that having a lot of fat inside one's abdomen may contribute to the pressure pushing one's organs downwards. BUT now is not the time to be dieting (another stressor). If you can get back to more physical activity and a calmer frame of mind, you will feel like eating more healthily and the weight will gradually come off.

Good luck!

Thanks to Granolamom and Alix for posting thoughtful and informative advice to Mozart. And, Mozart, my sympathy on losing your mom. I hope you're feeling better.
My question is for Granolamom, who mentioned the V2 supporter. I've never heard of it. What is it, and where can it be found? Thanks! Dogwalker

about the V2, I've never actually used it myself, and I can't remember more details. try typing it into the search box? or hopefully someone who knows more will chime in. sorry I'm not much help

found it, I think
prenatalcradle.com

Mozart, I'm very glad you are finding the support on this site helpful. You do sound happier already. I don't think you should have to apologise for wanting to exercise: without exercise, we are setting ourselves up for all manner of bad outcomes from heart disease and diabetes to osteoporosis and dementia. To me exercise is like breathing - even if I knew it was bad for my POP I would still have to do it. But of course the trick is to be mindful and minimise any risk. For instance, once I would work out in the gym for hours at a stretch, but now I stop at one hour, as I think over-fatigued muscles would be less able to protect my prolapse.

Personally, I no longer do any kind of crunch or situp. That's one exercise one can't do with a hollow back! I am planning to substitute various plank and side-plank static postures. I am pleased to find that many think these superior to crunches anyway.

I didn't mean to reccomend 12 hourly bms - it's just that if the interval is longer than that I personally feel very uncomfortable and I know by experience that what is inside is getting harder and more painful to pass by the hour. As I also have piles, that's pretty disastrous. But I'm sure everyone's timetable for this is different. You sound as if you don't have any problems in that area.

For the record, I have all the celes, but the rectocele is the most noticeable bulge.

As for ordering from strange websites, I avoid ordering from any that don't give a telephone number, and I ring the number to check on them before placing my first order. I'm sure that's not 100% safe, but it must help.

Thanks, granolamom!

Hi Mozart

I am sorry you have had such a challenging time and lost your Mom. Sometimes we underestimate the effect of losing a parent, and it does simply take time afterwards to be able to move on with your life and think about the future. However, your post indicates that you are indeed now ready to make your new beginning, and there's no time like the present, particularly with the start of a new year looming.

We all have different bodies and different POPs. There are no guarantees for anybody, whether you have surgery or not. The others are probably right. If you do nothing you probably will end up with your POPs worsening. But doing Wholewoman techniques could hardly be said to be doing nothing. I think they are definitely wrong in saying that surgery is the only thing that will stop the descent.

I would have to be honest and say that my POPs did descend further, after a marriage trauma that involved my moving out while under great stress, then back in again a few months later, not counting the months of acute stress leading up to the move. It got to a point where using my bowels involved splinting almost all the time and I couldn't empty my bladder. My cervix peaked out whenever I bore down slightly. However, I am now back to better than I was when I was first diagnosed by a gyn. I haven't splinted for weeks and bladder emptying is a breeze. I can squat without my cervix peaking, but only to demonstrate to myself. I normally kneel instead of squatting. My husband has had recent umbilical hernia surgery, so I have been doing all his lifting over 2kg initially, and anything bigger for the last couple of weeks, which have also involved a camping trip with bits of really rough outback driving and boating in quite rough seas. Result? No problems. I guess I have just figured out the 'best' ways of doing so many tasks. It is second nature now, so I don't feel limited in any way.

There are heaps of ways you can learn to use your body without unduly increasing intraabdominal pressure. You can also learn to alleviate it when it happens and reposition your organs if they do descend at any time. I feel sure you will make considerable progress, and not deteriorate if you use your body only in supportive ways. Give it two or three years, or even one year, and if you don't make considerable, and practical progress you can shrug your shoulders and take the surgical route. Unfortunately, doing it the other way around is fraught with difficulties.

From the sounds of replies you have received since you first posted you are getting new ideas to try. It is just a matter of optimising the way you move and do things. I know everybody doesn't experience the success I have had, but I certainly don't put it down to feeling lucky. It has been concerted effort and learning, and unlearning, and it has been so worthwhile. Looking to hearing from you as you progress.

Louise