retocele irritation

Well sure am hearing ya with the rectocele thing!!!What were you doing when your rec was doing good? What changed? I know, easy to slack off when things get a little better, then those darn hemmroides kick in. They are worse or the same as the Rec. I am so tired of going around with witch hazel on them to shrink them.The witch hazel does cool them down.LOL When will it ever end. Consistancy is my problem. Just can't stay focused. Need to get to New Mexico for a class or two when I can and can ask some questions. Sometimes you need the one on one a few times. Thank goodness for this site, Christine and everyone. Thinking of you.
Heavenly

Haven't see you here for a while or have just missed you. I keep looking for you. Are you ok? You are not forgotten!
Heavenly

Hi Chattylady,

Maybe when things are going well you need to make a checklist of all the things you do to help. Then you can review it when you are low......."OH, I forgot that I can do this......" and your problems might be solved.

I wrote about collinsonia just earlier today. Type it into search. It has totally shrunk but not eliminated my hemmroids. No pain whatsoever no matter how much I pinch and prod!

Don't forget epsom salts in a sitz bath or shallow tub. Very soothing.

To keep the sewage line clearing I chew on 5 prunes. Then I take a big dab of raw butter (supermarket butter will do nearly as well for this), cut in 2 heaping teaspoons of ground flax seed, mix in some honey (best is raw honey) and ta-da! I go on time with a bit of splinting every a.m. in less than 5 minutes.

Thanks for the encouragement. The above is now my list. Maybe some will work for you.

Colehollow, what do you do with the butter, honey and flax seed? Eat it? As soon as you get up, or last thing at night, or some other time?

Chattylady, any time I have an unsuccessful treatment I get it cultured and find out exactly what is there, before re-treating with anything. No doubt about it, antibiotics really mess the old microflora around. If you treat pharmaceutically again, I suggest that you use a treatment with a different active. Some yeasts are resistant to some treatments. Cut down on all your simple carbs, eg simple sugars and white flour, and anything made from them. In fact, cut down carbs, full stop. That should starve it and keep your blood sugar stable. You don't have diabetes, do you? That's another aggravating factor, as if you need that too. A course of good quality probiotics will help your guts get themselves better balanced. Throw as many bombs at the thrush as you can. all at the same time.

Hi Chattylady,

It is nice to hear from you, but I’m sorry you are having discomfort. Perhaps your doctor will be able to sort it out, but if not I have a couple of thoughts on the matter.

I talk to women all the time who have the exact same symptoms I have struggled with since menopause: terrible inflammation of the vulva and anus. It is extremely common after menopause and you can read about my findings here.

I remember we discussed this a couple of years ago, but I didn’t have quite as much data then as now. Briefly, this is what is keeping my symptoms well under control:

1. A high-quality lactobacilli pro-biotic capsule placed vaginally every 24 hours. The vagina stops attracting beneficial lactobacillus bacteria from the environment after menopause because we no longer have the estradiol that causes glycogen to be made, upon which lactobacilli feed. This causes vaginal secretions to become alkaline, which effects the health of vulva tissues. It is comforting to once again have the small amount of whitish discharge and some of the healthy vaginal odor of my reproductive years. Wet the capsule briefly before inserting high in your vagina to help it dissolve.

2. A quart of red clover tea twice a day. The reason for this is outlined in the paper.

3. Being very mindful of my adrenal health. The disease called lichen sclerosis is, I believe, a disorder of the adrenal glands that expresses itself in the vulva due to an over abundance of cortisol>estrone>inflammatory estrone metabolites. Caffeine is an adrenal stimulant that sets us up for this imbalance. Early to bed, dark room, and lots of prayer and meditation.

4. Red clover salve as needed. This is truly a beneficial salve for vulva inflammation and very easy to make. Simply make a very strong tea of 2 parts red clover and 1 part alfalfa. Let it steep about 15 minutes. In a large kettle, add the tea to an equal amount of good oil - I use pumpkin seed for its anti-inflammatory qualities. Bring this to a slow boil and simmer until all the water has evaporated. Watch it carefully so the oil does not smoke. The isoflavones in the tea will now be infused into the oil. Let the mixture cool before adding beeswax. 1 1/2 ounces of wax to a pint of oil is a reasonable estimate. Test a drop on your hand to see if the consistency is right. Add more wax slowly if needed. Pour the salve into small containers and seal.

I am so happy to hear that you have been managing your rectocele well. You will get over this bump in the road, I have no doubt.

:) Christine

If you do have yeast, i found a great thing in the state of natural pessaries at the health shop, with Boric Acid and herbs that kill the yeast. I have chronic yeast, so i'm using one every night and at Christine's suggestion, an acidophilis tablet pessary every day. in addition, i'm taking a vulval health probiotic daily.

and for the first month in ages, i don't have a yeast infection! so definitely get it checked out...i find i don't always test positive but respond to treatment, so who knows...

the salve christine talks about is heavenly, really helped. i need to make some.

and, don't worry about this set back. you'll get back on track. annoying, but fixable. i find a good bit of firebreathing and nauli also help get things back on track as well as cleaning up my eating if i got off track...

Kiki

Christine--how much red clover do you use?
also would the salve i tried have had alfalfa as well, or just the red clover?

also how much red clover to how much water do you think?

thanks!
Kiki

Hi Chattylady

Yes, the threat of major damage if you don't have surgery is the oldest trick in the book. I don't know whether they say it because they really think it is so, or whether that is what they have been taught by their heroic lecturers in medical school or whether it is just a 'sales pitch' to make us feel dependent on them, but it is gross generalisation at the best, and possibly lying, if the experiences of many of us are worth anything.

My rectocele is better than it ever has been, after 6 years of WW.

Your hemmaroids could confound that somewhat. I suspect the hemmaroids are the real problem, and that constipation is a major factor in both, or perhaps the rectocele is aggravating the hemmaroids.

I would be asking about having the hemmaroids dealt with, as this is often not a major procedure, but leave the rectocele alone. This is what I call the "Replace the pane of glass in the broken kitchen window. Don't renovate the whole kitchen" principle.'

How dare she tell you what you 'need'! How dare she scare the pants off you! She may have had a long day. No doubt you have long days too, but it is no excuse for inappropriately responding to a patient in need (with her knickers around her ankles).

I suggest you find a new doctor, at least for a second opinion. You are in charge of your body, not the doctor.

BTW, none of us really knows if refusing surgery will land us in big trouble later, but I cannot really see how we are going to be any worse off at the age of ninety than our sisters who submit to surgery after surgery after surgery in search of a fix that does not exist, because the more surgery they do the less able the body is to use its own natural support.

Thinking of you as you tremble in fear. It will pass once you understand the principles of what we are doing.

Louise

ps Hemmaroids suck.

I am so sorry you are experiencing this! I will hold back my disgust for the attitude and behavior of this doctor and just add to what Louise said "I suggest you find a new doctor, at least for a second opinion. You are in charge of your body, not the doctor."
And you - and only you - will always live with the implications of decisions you make along the way. If this doc is so directive, how about you get together a list of the complications from surgery and ask her if she is willing to direct you through all those too and sit with you while you recover.
You seem to have a very good sense of what is going on with your body. This trumps the inaccurate, non-evidence based opinion of a grumpy doctor.

I am soooo sorry to hear you had this experience. Too many women do.
Few thoughts...
First, how do they know it is going to get worse? Where is the evidence? There are studies that show proplapses improve as well as get worse with nothing being done. You are doing something. This is a set back, not a slippery slide.

Where is the evidence that your anus will fall out? That is a completely diff't kind of prolapse. Christine once speculated that a rectocele protects against anal prolapses...just a theory, but find out. Where are the studies?

Get the evidence. Get a second opinion. And give yourself time to get back to your baseline. you were doing so well, why think you won't do so well again? What made it so much better before? can you do that again? setbacks are scary, but they are just that--setbacks. bring in studies about the problems of surgery. talk them through with the surgeon (who will probably say "i never have those problems." where is the evidence?)

re hemmaroids, again surgery is there--not so major, less major implicaitons but still can cause other problems (internal or external?--some people i know with external hem surgery ended up with annoying scar tissue...). there are lots of ideas online for naturally healing them, in the way of herbs and the like. some solutions were given here. i'd personally try anything before i go for surgery if not life threatening. is it worth trying something else?

yes, rectoceles and constipation is annoying. it is the one thing i really hate. as you say, sometimes it is easy, sometimes absolute pain! but will surgery fix it? my physio said unfortunately, probably not... but i know for me that if i am insanely careful, i can stay on top of it. problem is, i'm not always careful...or i just want to eat some cheese. but i know the price...but i also know that eating really well, walking a lot, and drinking lots keeps me fairly on top of it, enough that i can live with this.

ultimately it's about you, not the doctor....so give yourself time to decide...

hugs to you!

You at least owe it to yourself to reach your own clearness. If their proposed solutions are not totally clear to you, both intellectually and emotionally, then allow yourself three months to find absolute clearness. Surely you have that much time!

If this doctor, and perhaps others, push you on this with threats of your anus turning inside out, then it is a sales job. They have a swimming pool to build or a Volvo to buy. You have been forewarned that it might happen, but they have not given you a percentage or a timetable. You already know to go to the emergency room if it does.

I have been given these kind of threats, and I stewed and suffered with it. I researched every corner of the net that I could find and finally decided to do nothing, that I had my warning, in my case of possible colon cancer. I decided to do nothing, and now I am very at peace with it.

I wish you the best at finding peace for yourself.

You're doing fine on the Forums Chattylady. Good luck with the doctors. Call back.

What do you mean by dangerous, Chattylady? No pelvic organ prolapses are life-threatening, if that's what you mean. The rectum cannot comeout through the vagina, because it is firmly encaged behind the back vaginal wall. The worst it can do is that the back vaginal wall can sag out of your vagina, which it will only do if there is some other intestines or uterus or bladder pushing it downwards.

If you do Wholewoman posture, and learn firebreathing you can learn to reposition your pelvic organs.

Seriously do whatever you have to to keep your bowel motions soft and keep your bowel contents moving and there will be no reason why you will have a logjam, and there will be no straining to worsen your hemmaroids. Straining should be avoided at all costs. Hemmaroids are simply a symptom of constipation and bowel function abnormality. While they can be painful and itchy they are not a disease in themselves. I think if you solve the constipation they will go away by themselves, or at least shrink to a point where they are not a problem, or the doctor can tie a little string around them so they will fall off by themselves, as they are not internal.

If you find that you cannot empty without straining, then an occasional enema might become your best friend. You will bit by bit reposition your pelvic organs where they were meant to be. It sounds like the foods you have been using this week are doing just that. Well done.

I don't know anything about your laxative, other than that it is senna based, which is a herb that has been used for centuries. If you stop taking it suddenly you might get constipated quite quickly. I suggest that if you are taking it as a tablet, you should talk to your doctor about getting it in a form that you can reduce the dosage very slowly over a number of weeks, perhaps drops or a liquid. Then you can adjust your diet accordingly, as you go.

Put "constipation foods" into the search box. Every constipation solving food under the sun has been talked about on these Forums. Pack your lunch and a clean pair of knickers and toothbrush for the journey though. There is a lot of stuff to read. We specialise in constipation! ;-)

BTW, worrying and fear of any sort will make you constipated. It is because stopping or slowing down digestion is your body's way of dealing with danger. The blood supply is moved away from basic metabolism to your limbs, for fighting or running away. It makes your legs and arms more responsive and stronger, and conserves fluids in case you lose a lot of blood in the battle. Once you become more comfortable about thinking out your own solutions instead of going to the doctor for another hit of adrenalin and another "danger, danger!" session, your fear will evaporate and you will worry less. Informing yourself and becoming more familiar with your body will liberate you from worry and fear. We have all done this on the way to being comfortable with our prolapses. You have strength within yourself that you have not tapped yet. Keep going. You will be fine.

Louise