Exercise and birth control with IUD - HELP!!!

Submitted by exercisejunkie on March 4, 2011 - 9:26am
Body: 

Hi,

I discovered a huge thing hanging at the mouth of my vagina and 3 weeks post partum. I was absolutely devastated to say the least when I worked out what it was. As a very active person who loves running, hiking, riding etc. etc. I thought my life as I knew it was at an end. I had just bought a jogging stroller to use with my new baby. Needless to say, I was depressed about it for a while. (I have three vaginal births with big baby's).

Anyway, I am now 2 months post partum and things have improved slightly. I have been diagnosed with a stage 2 (or level 2) cystocele and also the same degree of uterus prolapse. I am not quite sure about the relevance of the stages, however, the most important thing to me is that I don't have this huge bulge at the mouth of my vagina anymore.

I know things should continue to improve, but I am desperate to go for a run. So, here is the question; can I run now or is it best to hold out until I stop breast feeding (I am planning on doing it for at least a year). My logic suggests that I should hold off running until I have some more oestrogen in my body to help heal my 'bits'. But, the runner inside really wants some hard exercise!!

The other question I have is relating to birth control. My OB has suggested the Mirena, but I am wondering if that will fiddle with my hormones and potentially prevent my body from fixing things once my oestrogen increases again.....what do you think?

I would really appreciate any advice / wisdom on these issues. My friends don't understand as none of them are exercise junkies nor do they question their Doctors. I am a bit on my own here!

Please help!!

the wantobe runner!

granolamom

March 4, 2011 - 12:21pm

welcome to the site and congrats on the new baby
I dont have enough time right now to properly orient you to WW, but will start and hopefully get back to you after the weekend
first......read up on the posture. learn it. this will help reposition your pelvic organs so that they are well supported by your skeleton. once you learn how to hold your body so your uterus and bladder are safe and secure, you will be able to get back to running.
the pp body has much healing to do, lots of it will happen on its own, but there is so much you can do to support this process and maximize the potential. first, go easy on yourself. as I said, learn the posture. get the book and/or dvd if you can and learn the firebreathing exercise. when you get the hang of that, move on to nauli. those moves really pull everything up and in.
personally I would stay far away from the mirena, I never did well on hormones and I'm just not believing the line that the dose is so small and so locally absorbed that it doesnt affect the rest of the body.
I currently have a paragard and I will be very honest here, while its my best option right now, I am happy that I already had my prolapse under control before I got it. the iud complicates matters,
baby is attacking keyboard, will get back to you latre

HarmonyNeeded

March 4, 2011 - 2:25pm

I don't have the book or dvd and don't know when I'll be able to buy them. As far as I can find there aren't any exercise videos available on here right now though I know it has been mentioned before and all. So, I googled to try to find out what firebreathing is. Is this the same exercise?

http://www.ehow.com/video_6723552_breath-fire-breathing-exercises.html

Oceanblue

March 5, 2011 - 7:00am

Hi HarmonyNeeded,

Took a look at your found video, and no it is not at all like the WW Fire Breathing that Christine Kent has created.

You really need someone to show you, or try to get the DVD as time permits. Your local library may even have a copy.

Also, either Christine or Louise might best explain it to you.

It's a great daily exercise for sure!

Good Luck!

exercisejunkie

March 5, 2011 - 11:16am

Thanks for the words of wisdom.

I am going to stay clear of the Mirena - it just doesn't feel like the right thing to do at the moment.

I have also decided not to try and run until I stop breastfeeding and hopefully things down there get better. Fortunately I don't have any incontinence issues and I don't want to create more problems by trying to run before my body is ready. I will just stick to cycling and swimming to try and move the last few pounds of baby weight.

I am so relieved to have found this forum. I can't believe how wide spread POP is now that I have started to investigate and talk about it.

K x

alemama

March 5, 2011 - 3:51pm

Hey K, Once you have your menstrual cycle back and regular, your estrogen is at normal levels. You may or may not have your cycle back at 1 year postpartum. Some breastfeeding mother's start back as soon as 6 weeks postpartum and others can go upwards of 3 and 4 years. It really all depends on you and your particular biology.
Biking and Swimming are great exercises and it's good you are willing to work with your body and wait a bit to begin high impact running.
I woke up early this morning and every cell in my body wanted to run. It was almost irresistible. But I'm too dang pregnant now to go trotting off down the street. I settled for making a gigantic breakfast instead. But the weather was perfect for it.
You might find in a few months after you have brought whole woman techniques into your life that you will be ready to start running again. Last year I experimented with running distance vs. running sprints and tested to see how my prolapse felt. I ran for at least an hour and at least 4 days a week for about 4 months when I was testing distance. In the beginning I felt like I needed to pee (and if I stopped I could pee a good amount) but it went away over time (a month or so- not totally sure right now- it's written here somewhere on the forums if you want a more accurate account). The bulge never really got bigger, though I did feel tired in my pelvic floor muscles after the runs- but hey, I felt tired everywhere really. Then I switched over to sprints. I worked on the 1 mile- tried to get it under 7 minutes and tried to do it at least 4 days a week. I didn't have any trouble with my rectocele when I was doing that either.
The best thing about living in your body is that running one day, even if you pee yourself and your bulge seems much bigger, is not going to change your prolapse for the long term. You will be able to recover from your experiment and get back to where you were before you tried the run. And you can actually check your bulges physically and you have the feedback from your body and how you feel too. So if you feel great after jogging a quarter mile (if you feel great the next day that is) you can go ahead and try another quarter mile a few days later- and slowly add back distance and speed and back off when you notice it's bugging your prolapse.
I'm not saying go run. I actually think it's much much smarter to wait a bit- get your feet under you- get to know your body and wholewoman better- and then try it out. What I'm saying is that it's possible. Don't write it off yet if you don't want to.
Now then, firebreathing is not on the internet that I can find- but nauli is! google nauli because I bet you will love it! I know I do.

exercisejunkie

March 5, 2011 - 7:26pm

Hi Alemama,

I am so relieved to hear that running is not definitely out for me. It sounds like we share a similar passion.

I did some on the jogging on the spot the other day and could feel things bouncing up and down a bit down there - is that normal? I can't remember what it felt like before I had these problems and don't know if I am now ultra conscious about my nether regions.

Thanks again

K

alemama

March 5, 2011 - 9:00pm

it takes me almost six months to a year or so for the sloshy feeling to go away. I know what you are talking about the ultra conscious feeling- when I first discovered my prolapse it was almost impossible to know what was *normal* I was so hyper focused! In fact the first time I even realized how focused I was, was when I went out dancing one night and had a few drinks and all of the sudden I was having fun and not thinking at all about my prolapse!
but yes, everything is so sloshy at first. As you get less postpartum that will go away.
When I was running back in high school I remember that I would sometimes have intense pain in my lower abdomen- at some point I realized it was ovulation pain- and I could feel the running sort of banging my ovaries around-
so things did move around in my lower pelvis even back then- but it wasn't sloshy and jiggly. More like how your big gluteal muscles bounce up and down....

exercisejunkie

March 6, 2011 - 10:25am

I am looking forward to the day when I stop thinking about my prolapse......hopefully that will happen sooner rather than later. At the moment I am very focused on it and trying to be active.

It sounds like I have a long while to go before I will know what the long term prognosis is. I will just have to find exercise that I enjoy and can manage in the meantime. I just got back from the gym where I did some time on the elipitcal thingo - a poor substitute for running, but a good workout nevertheless.

Have a wonderful Sunday and thank you so much for the support!

Lovehound

March 16, 2011 - 10:55am

Hi. I just discovered this community. Going to purchase the book and DVD pronto. I am also itching to run again. I'm eight weeks post-partum. The prolapse happened at four weeks, right after I'd exercised. Mine is stage 3. I am an avid exerciser and runner and was planning to train for a fall marathon, so I'm pretty devastated about this turn of events. I feel broken and good for nothing. Wondering if I'll ever run again. Happy to hear that you tried the elliptical without any problems. You're right--it's not the same as running, but it will pacify me for the meantime. I'm going to try swimming, too. Swimming is boring to me, but I have to do something, or else I'll go crazy.

louiseds

March 19, 2011 - 5:43am

Hi Lovehound

Just be very mindful of your posture on the Elliptical machine. Because of the forwards arm position it is very easy to get into an upper body hunch and butt tuck. Ours has long foot pads so I can stand as far forward as I need to. I guess it is really designed that way to accommodate different arm lengths. I doubt that POP sufferers came into the design equation!!

Louise

Lovehound

March 21, 2011 - 11:31am

Thanks for the advice on elliptical posture. I will be mindful when I go back to the gym, hopefully soon. Swam for 30 minutes last night and was nearly bored to death. (sigh)

hockeyMom

March 21, 2011 - 11:55am

I use a particular elliptical crosstrainer at the gym that doesn't have an arm component, and has an adjustable foot incline. Since POP I have been very conscious of my posture while using it. With good WW posture my POP is fine with it. You can always use an elliptical without the arms, which makes it a harder workout for your legs, if you find it difficult to keep the good upright chest-lifted posture while moving your arms.

But the boredom factor is harder to overcome. Sometimes I use the crosstrainer for a bit, then move to a treadmill and walk hills for awhile, or switch to a bike ... cardio circuit-training! Whatever works, I guess.

louiseds

March 21, 2011 - 7:17pm

Hmm, I am thinking waterproof iPod, or count the bandaids and hairties on the bottom of the pool. Yuk. There is a lot to be said for swimming without goggles. ;-)