Prolapse causing new vaginal irritation..suggestions please?

It must be so hard for you with the two young children. I know that I was always picking up my kids because I loved having them near me all the time. But with my 2nd degree uterine prolapse and my cystocele and rectocele I am afraid to pick anything heavy up. Even grocery bags. If I pack too much into one I can feel my uterus pushing down even more. I hate it but I am new to this forum and have just started the ww posture and regimen. I have been considering using a sea sponge like some of the women on here do but I don't know where to get one and what the heck to do with it. If your irritated olive oil is amazing. Put some on and use a liner that will help relieve the irritation. Some women dip a tampon in olive oil and put it in sideways to help support their prolapse. I haven't tried that yet but I am getting close to trying it for myself. So try the olive oil and see if that helps. Hugs.

Good comments, Angel. Irina, I think your doctor is just trying to scare you with the infection story. Your vaginal tissue *and* your vulval tissue are not an open wound so they is not going to get infected unless it develops an open wound. You just need to work out how to protect it from abrasion until you can keep them tucked away out of harm's way.

Which is the problem, vulva or vagina? They are quite different. We would prefer that you say vulva if it is vulva. There is no TMI here, and it means that you are being more specific.

Keeping your pubic hair longer to provide a buffer from your knickers often helps keep the prolapsed bit off your knickers, and away from cross-contamination of faecal traces on your knickers.

Change knickers a couple of times a day so they are always clean and contamination free. A liner will just keep your vulva moist and you might not change it often enough.

Going without knickers when you can, and wearing a slip instead, will enable you to keep your outer clothes clean and prevent that chafing.

A good lubricant will also help. Are you still nursing? Is your vagina and vulva dry? A product like Replens might be useful to help this, or as angel suggested, olive oil. Coconut oil is lighter, but possibly less persistent. Even a normal obstetric gel like KY. One made from kiwifruit (Sylk?), or aloe vera might also help, but might sting initially until the chafing is healed. Remember that oil lubricants will affect the integrity of condoms and other rubber-based things.

A month long course of oral probiotic may help your body to balance your vulva and vagina's microflora if there are organisms there which are causing inflammation.

Reducing the inflammatory foods in your diet should also help reduce inflammation. See the video on diet at Christine's Cottage.

Wash with water only daily, because sometimes bodily secretions and spilt drops of urine, concentrated on knickers will cause irritation.

Interestingly, you have not mentioned amending your posture as a way to carry your pelvic organs further forwards so they are over your pubic bones, rather than leaning back on top of your vagina. They will be less vulnerable to intraabdominal forces if they are tucked up front. What are you doing posturewise?

With two toddlers you are at a very demanding time of your life. As they become more able to do things for themselves you will be lifting and carrying them less, which will lessen the hard work that your body is doing. Any reduction in lifting and carrying loads will help lessen the pressure on your prolapses.

Think about getting down to them, rather than lifting them up. Put dangerous things out of reach in the playpen, so you can reach through with your long arms and get nappy equipment etc. Put yourself in the playpen on a low stool while ironing or doing dangerous kitchen stuff. That way, they can see what you are doing, and be a part of it. Play with them on the floor. Change nappies on the floor. Put them down for a nap on the floor, in the playpen, so the awake one doesn't disturb the sleeping one.

Teach them to climb up to you. Have a little stool out of reach that they can use when it is time to climb in the bath or up to the toilet. This shouldn't be too hard, as toddlers are naturally very keen to climb. Put that to good use. They will learn to climb eventually anyway. There are lots of tricks you can put in place.

Get used to carrying less shopping in one load. I know that getting shopping inside is hard logistically with multiple loads and two toddlers to get in as well.

While shopping, shop for fridge and freezer stuff first, perishables next, then non-perishables. Take a little box for the squashable fruit and veg so you can isolate them from damage in the trolley.

At the checkout, you will put through the non-perishables first because they are at the top of the trolley, then the perishables in the middle and the fridge and freezer stuff last. Pack the fridge stuff in one bag, the freezer stuff in one bag, and multiple, smaller bags of perishables. Pack them back in the trolley in the same order, this time with the non-perishables in the bottom cos they come off the checkout first.

When you pack the shopping in the car push the non-perishables to the back and on the bottom and the perishables nearest the door and on top.

When you unpack the car, just take in the fridge and freezer stuff initially, then the perishables. The rest can wait until you have a chance to bring it in later, or your partner can help you.

Asking for help is legitimate and to be encouraged, especially if you are normally an independent soul who doesn't want to ask for help. Get used to help. You will be able to repay the debt when your toddlers are more independent and your body is better organised. A laundry trolley the same height as the car trunk, kept in the carport, makes a good 'home shopping trolley' for loading bags out of the car trunk and wheeling inside, where you can unpack it at your leisure, or use your stroller.

You are already doing a lot of lifting and carrying with your toddlers. Don't carry anything heavier than they are. Get them to walk, and carry small bags of non-squashables so they get used to helping. That's what humans do. Your POPs will thank you for doing more trips with lighter loads.

These things are all simply adjustments that we need to do with our *brains* in order to compensate for changes in our bodies and changes in our lives. My Mum talks about the adjustments she has needed to do as she has aged. Having less sensitive fingertips makes it harder to pick up small things. Use tweezers. Deteriorating eyesight makes sewing hard. Get a good sewing light and a magnifier and a needle threader. Walking independently is harder over long distances with a load of stuff. Get an Easiwalker with wide wheels, a basket that converts to a seat, and good steering and brakes so it can be used as a steady support. All these things happen as a result of being at a different stage of life. We can moan about them, or compensate and be content with what we have.

I encourage you to use what you have, and think your way around these challenges as they present themselves, rather than resenting no longer being able to be superwoman. We all discover sooner or later that we are not Superwoman. It is a horrible, but inevitable discovery. We can break our bodies on the way to that discovery, or discover it first and conserve our bodies. I would rather end up being Unsuperwoman with my organs inside than Unsuperwoman with my organs poking out.

It is a choice. Hope Aunt Louise's pep talk is helpful.

Louise :-)

OK, I have a better picture now. The clean knickers thing might be the answer. I can see how self conscious you would be about the wetness.

You will find that it might take many months to remould your body so that the pulling up is happening the right way. I think the development of upper body strength in the shoulders and arms is quite important. That took a couple of years to develop. I think bellydance helped, as it has a lot of arm movement.

You are obviously having some improvement already. Keep it up. Try not to measure your progress on a daily or even weekly basis. Even monthly you might only see slight overall improvement, or not noticing your symptoms quite so many times a day, or realising one night that you are not feeling POPpy when you get into bed. Improvement can be slow, and 'two steps forward, one step back'. You are on the right path. Just keep doing what you need to do and your body will sooner or later get the message.

A visit to the Wholewoman Centre would be good if you can get there. Kiki benefitted enormously from this. She might comment.

Hey IrinaM

You may want to try some vaginal probiotic suppositories - they have worked wonders for me. Helps to restore normal vaginal flora. You can also get some probiotic cream (Candigen cream) for the vulva if the irritation is a bit on the outside. I had a nasty yeast infection. I treated with antifungals, then used a 10 day course of the vaginal suppositories. You don't even need to go with the antifungals, but mine was so bad I wanted something fast acting. It is worth a try, and it can't hurt!

Janice

I completely agree, Janice. Probiotics heal my post-meno vagina/vulva from the extreme alkalinity that (I believe) causes symptoms of LS. I buy a good quality oral lactobacilli, wet the capsule with water, and insert. It is very good medicine and what the vast majority of women with vaginal/vulva symptoms should be doing instead of estrogen pills and creams. It will not bring women back to the reproductive state, but helps immensely to resolve extreme irritation.

I was amazed to find how soothing cultured butter was to vulva tissues, and I think a daily dose of homemade yogurt would be great - but a quality capsule works well and is a whole lot less messy.

There is a purpose made product called 'ecoVag', which has proper vaginal lactobacilli bacteria in it, not the yoghurt lactobacilli. Here is a paper that mentions it. Bacterial vaginosis may be relevant. http://www.wholewoman.org.au/publications/Bacterial%20Vaginosis.pdf . (This is not our Wholewoman, but another unrelated organisation in Australia.) The ecoVag website is www.ecovag.com .

I have used it as part of thrush treatment which I am sure was not only thrush. As I was using it with other treatments I don't know if it worked or not.

I am new to this site, what does LS stand for? I do not have a yeast infection but agree with you that probioitics would help.

Christine
What does LS stand for? I do not have a yest infection but feel probiotics may help.

Hi 51anddiscovering

Christine is having some time off from the Forums until January. LS stands for lichen sclerosus (note the spelliing). Put it into the search box on the forums to find out about it.

I am pretty sure Christine's long article about it is in the Library. Have a look there, under Articles by Christine Kent.

Then come back with more questions.

Louise

I have tried various creams to help with the irritation...Vitamin E Oil, Zinc Oxide, Vagisil but having a pessary put in was the best suggestion..I no longer have any irritation since I have one..Best suggestion ever..

Hi Irina

Did you ever try the sea sponges that you were going to try? I don't know whether or not they could help, but for a few dollars it might be worth it. Have you tried a v2 Supporter belt?

You are right. Your toddlers are at a stage where every Mum is pushed hard just to get through each energetic day. It will get a bit easier in the not too distant future, when they will need less lifting and carrying, and will be a little more likely to stop when you yell, "Stop!"

I guess all you can really do, when your body has been altered by surgery, is try and keep your organs forward, and use your body in ways that keep your bladder and uterus away from the top of your vagina., ie relax tummy and stick your butt right out if lifting or exerting yourself.