possible surgery

Dear Unsure,

There is a different, and I believe more beneficial, exercise program on the tape (although it

UTI

Dear Unsure

Wow, you have gone that long from diagnosis to booking surgery! Perhaps you could just take a little more time to fine-tune how you are managing it. Or maybe you feel that someone is pressurising you towards surgery?

I have a cystocele too, and prolapsed uterus and have had some urinary tract infections in the past. However, now I have amended my posture, my urethral opening is tucked up a bit higher in my vagina, and I now rarely feel my cervix at the vulva, and haven't had a UTI for months.

I think that wiping properly after urinating, and having a bowel movement are very important, but there are a few other precautions you can take. I think a bit of cross-infecton happens via the crotch of knickers. Possible solutions are

You may fnd you can get your anal area cleaner by using damp wipes after a bowel movement, leaving less faecal matter to contaminate knickers.
Try not to hurry bowel movements so that your body can empty the bowel completely, which may mean less faecal stains in your knickers.
Change knickers several times a day if necessary.
Going without knickers if you can get away with it. Wear a half slip instead, if modesty is an issue.
Wear Boxer shorts instead of close-fitting knickers to keep the crotch of the undies away from the vulval area.
Wear low waist hipster knickers so that when you sit down, the crotch fabric near your anus stays where it is, rather than sliding forward, closer to the urethral opening.
Keep pubic hair longer to form a physical barrier between vulva and crotch of knickers.

It is not easy to discuss these things, even with close friends. Hope some of these suggestions help.

Cheers

Louise

This is wonderful to hear, Hazel. Every woman's success lifts us all. Yes, tighten your pf muscles certainly with lifting and as much and often as you feel necessary. I always say that the pf contracts on its own when we hold the posture, but some women may need to sense it a little more consciously. Splendid!! :D

Dear Hazel,

You ask a very important question and one that has no definitive answer as of yet. I’m so looking forward to the time when we have a cohort of women who’ve been doing this work for several years before they reach menopause and beyond. We will then know for sure what can be expected in a large population of women doing the postural work.

To answer part of your question, yes, the uterus does shrink to pre-puberty proportions, which is very small. How many years past menopause it takes to do this is unknown.

I’m not even officially menopausal, which is defined as being one full year without menses.
However, my uterus has either been pulled unexpectedly high with this work, or it has shrunk (hopefully both!) The proof is that I can no longer push it to the vaginal opening when lying on my back. This is a new discovery and I am SO GRATEFUL. Not to mention the absolute lack of heaviness and dragging sensation in my “tail.” Again, either the work is making all the difference or my uterus is getting lighter. I believe it to be both. For someone who lived with a big, heavy, bulging uterus for well over a decade, this is a joy without measure.

As for the initial heaviness before your walk, I think we can create a little analogy. Imagine that your pelvis and pelvic organs are like a big, tipped bowl of jello. Actually, that consistency is pretty accurate. When you were twenty, the jello was set in a certain shape. But the contents have changed over time into a very different configuration. Your bowels are possibly lower, particularly before emptying. You (and all the rest of us) have for decades placed our body in positions that send tremendous pressure out the back to the point that our “jello” is now low and heavy.

I can tell you that I’ve probably bent over at the waist to touch the ground a billion times over the last few years to push everything back into place. Staying down there for a few toe raises is even more helpful.

What we are doing here is tipping the bowl back up where it belongs. It is no surprise that you feel the heaviness, yet very encouraging that you can also sense it begin to resolve with the posture.

Christine

Hi Hazel,

I hope you are not tying yourself in knots over whether or not to have surgery. It sounds like you have decided not to, even if just for now. You can decide to go ahead with surgery *any time you like*. Putting surgery off is giving your body time to actively heal itself and maintaining the integrity of the body God gave you. You can always decide at a later day to have the surgery, but you can never go back to your uncut body after surgery.

Many women who don't have the benefits of Christine's knowledge and body work live half their lives with prolapse, without having surgery for various reasons. My Grandma had a lovely lady renting the flat on the side of her house who had a prolapse to the end, which was well into her seventies at least. She was out there sweeping the front path at 6am every day when I stayed over as a kid.

There are still many women in our funny old western civilisation who just don't want to know anything about 'down there', let alone have a doctor examine them and a whole medical team rearrange it for them. Even my ignorant gyno, who seemed hellbent on making me into the bionic woman, admitted to me that prolapses won't kill me.

Just remember that the new posture is not a quick fix. Early on you will probably feel completely healed for periods of time, then whammo, down it all comes again, in reaction to something you have done. Very disappointing when that happens. But over the months it happens less and less often, till now for me, only four months down the track, I only notice it occasionally, and the new posture is getting to be automatic (almost).

Every now and then I just go off into fantasyland while I am walking along like a pinup girl, and imagine myself wearing the slinky floor length red number that I never had because I used to be so butch! Men are glancing sideways at me as I pass, spilling their martinis on their jealous partners as they steal a second look.

Oh well, dream on. I am afraid my slinky red number days are over, but I can dream!

Cheers

Louise

I was really questioning myself lately and hitting some low points. I am having a hard time feeling inactive and having my family and friends think I am "disabled". I didn't want my kids to grow up thinking that their mom was a slug. I love social dancing and really looked forward to learning ballroom dancing after I had all the kids. I just can't believe that I can barely food shop these days without feel crappy down there.

I feel relieved to hear some of the symptoms and frustrations that you ladies are describing. I do feel "slippage" too and when i tell the gyn or pt that I know they cannot understand. I was really questioning the reality of my own symptoms down b/c even the professionals don't elaborate much on how women with prolapse feel on a daily basis. Most tell me it's an individual thing and some women feel nothing even with their bladder between their knees! If they believe that then I think they need their head examined!

I wish we had more tangible resources for women to share their experiences. Without internet acccess I don't know where else I could go for support. It is easy to research the definition of prolapses and all the surgical options for prolapse but not much info available on how to live and deal with it on a daily basis. I think we need to address the mental health aspect as well.

So, I see that my current set back is unavoidable but it is also normal. I do look forward to the stabilization that some of you have reached. Just hanging in there!

Oh Mommi2three,
I am so not surprised that you have "low points", I do also. This whole thing whenever it hits us is HARD! Its not enough that we see our bodies altering before our eyes but we feel physical discomfort to boot. I don't mean to sound at all preachy but you truly have to go easy on yourself and let yourself grieve. Things have changed in your life, (for right now), and that requires some getting used to as much as any other loss. For some reason we are allowed to grieve over a death or a true life treatening event and yet it is not OK to grieve over something like this. Well really it is, and things will get better remember. It honestly makes me weep, (I have been doing a lot of weeping these past few weeks), to think of all of the women out there holding it all together for their children and families while feeling terribly sad and lonely inside. (I am sure I am not speaking for everyone there). Amazing really, women!!!!! It really makes me want to go back to school, get my nurse practitioner qualification in womens health and start to REALLY research this thing the way it should be researched. Thank god for you Christine or where would we be???
Anyway, sorry to spout off but I am truly thinking of you ALL out there!
big big hugs to all and especially to you Mommi2three!!!!
Michelle.

You are so right about the grieving process. It seems like an emotional roller coaster ride. I thought i grieved after the onset of the prolapses. Then it got significantly worse in Jan after a respiratory cold. Grieved again about my new status. Now, getting over another cold...see some more setbacks and it is just wearing me down. I have had a good week in between there somewhere of "feeling stable" and that was amazing. I felt like I was doing everything right and having control over my body.

I just get really frustrated when I can't stop things down there are from going down!!! My husband can't understand any of it. My toddlers need me and I really want to be playful and attentive but the prolapses sap me of energy some days. My mind is ready for the Olympics but my body is held up in a senior center! My apologies to the elders. :-)o

But thank you for your gentle push in the right direction. I hate people feeling sorry for me so i don't like to get into the emotional side of dealing with the prolapses when i talk to my people about it. Yes, i need to get my feelings sorted. I think we just talk mechanics when we see the clinicians and sometimes the mind hasn't caught up with the body's changes.

Thank you for the hugs. It feels good to just know that others understand. Seems like we are grieving for all women with this condition.

Dear Hazel,

You are in very good company – who knows how many women have cancelled their surgery since STWW first hit the shelves. I hope you are settled with your decision.

I’m in a very delicate position here vis-à-vis contradicting the method your PT gave you for elimination. I really can’t do that, but can only offer a couple of insights on the matter.

First of all, we are evolutionary beings with millions of years of adaptation behind us. It is a simple truth that a natural function or activity cannot be good for one part of our body and bad for another.

One of the greatest revelations made on the natural birthing scene came from a couple of English midwives who have made great strides in teaching the world how to prevent and treat the now very common condition of fetal malposition. Central to their instructions for pregnant women are to always sit with their knees lower than their hips. This helps to position the fetus in ways conducive to normal labor.

Likewise, all the beneficial seated positions that we are utilizing here place the abdominal weight well in front of the pubic bone and intraabdominal pressure off the pelvic diaphragm. Women experience for themselves the difference between sitting upright on a pillow or sinking down into a soft couch where all the pressure goes out the backside. It really makes a huge difference.

Nowhere is this same concept more important that on the toilet. The knees should always be lower than the hips during great increases in pressure so that:

1. Your bladder, uterus and intestines are forward and out of the line of pressure

2. Your pelvic floor is still at right angle to your abdominal wall so pressure is deflected away from it.

3. Your bowel has the freedom to move naturally because it is not under a great deal of weight from the other organs.

The easiest way we’ve found to do this is to simply raise up a little off the seat when necessary. I think it’s important to raise up for ANY increase in pressure. This little change has made a BIG difference in my condition and other women are saying the same thing. The contortion you were given to counteract rises in pressure does not address all the issues.

:-) Christine

its ok to grieve the loss of our perfect vaginas and more significantly, the life of not ever thinking about those vaginas! and its ok to talk about that grief too. thank G-d for Christine for giving us a forum to do so. and thank goodness that we are not all grieving at the same time, or this would get way too depressing.
I know how you feel about wanting to play around with the kids and the prolapses taking over. Yesterday I had dh take over and I layed around on the sofa all day (thinking of your strawberries, christine!). It made such a difference, I could tell when I woke up this AM that everything was higher up. But yes, I paid the price and missed out on a fun family day. Its hard sometimes, but it sure as hell beats side effects of surgery.

I am sorry but I am confused. So Christine, are you not recommending the stool like in your book? Because there the knees are definately higher than the hips.

Thanks,
Kathy

One of the reasons I can't wait to get the new book out is because of that picture. I took the concept from a book written in the 20's by a wonderful medical doctor who it appears was trying to guide women toward alternatives to the swiftly-growing surgical "cure." It's not correct and I didn't understand why at the time. The bladder-emptying idea is anatomically right-on, but not the other. :-(

That's ok Christine - I also can't wait to see the new book. Are you still thinking the end of this month?

Well my son will be glad about the no more stool - he's been asking why I keep taking his step stool and putting it next to the toilet. :-)

Hi everyone

I may as well put my twopence halfpenny in as well.I have a feeling that what works for one may not help another.

I find that if a bowel motion is slow in coming, sometimes going right forward as Christine says, works to a degree, but then sitting right back straight afterwards (pulling pubis towards belly button) moves things on a bit more. Then forwards again, then backwards, all without straining. It is as if this pelvic rocking moves the pelvic contents round a bit so the stool can move on a bit more each time, using the mobility of the organs that comes with prolapse for some benefit. I bet my daughter can't do that :-D !!

Cheers

Louise

Ha! Another prolapse-benefit! Yeah, moving around is okay…but hanging the entire weight of the torso and thighs from the toilet seat by raising the feet on a bench is REALLY going against nature.