Mayday. S.O.S. Advice, please?

Submitted by csf on April 16, 2011 - 10:17am
Body: 

Good morning! I need some advice!

I am about to go tampon shopping as a desperate measure because I feel so bad today. I'll right away put in the widest, lubricated Texas-sized Tampon I can find for some relief. Wait, does that sound like I'll put the tampon in right there at the store counter?! LOL... Can you see me say to the cashier, "Mind if I put my leg up on the candy counter for a sec? Sorry, Miss, I can't stand this prolapse a minute longer, just GOTTA get this gigantic tampon in!"

Yesterday I was feeling so terrific and convinced that I merely had to get my Uterus, who prefers to be called Nicki Smith, back to her upstairs apartment, where I felt she was going to heal just fine from the time last week I yanked her out accidentally of place with an abrupt, strong, yanking jerky tampon removal. But guess what I did? I slept for twelve, long wonderful hours without even moving!! IN THE WRONG position! I laid on my back (but my Uterus was low, it didn't feel right or comfortable. I thought wow this feels terrible I need to prop my butt up a bit - but I fell asleep feeling the awkwardness (I was a little tilted to my right and had a blanket accidentally bunched under my back ....woke up 12 hours later horrified! And with a tingling like right half of me asleep. Felt like I was sleeping on top of my colon somehow. haha. And Nicki doesn't like that. Sure enough, two soft, but FLAT bowel movements later, now I have an ache on my LEFT side. lol

Since I started writing this, about two hours have passed with this or that happening. And my elderly, grumpy dad asking me about cleaning up. Um, no. I'm getting the courage to say no to things (he's OCD so has to have this and that done. But I really can't now. So this really adds to what I am going through - the whole having to give up cleaning and putting everything back EXACTLY where I found it, but him having to have things done a certain way. Very challenging).

Back to the topic of innards: I really have the sensation everything is moving around inside me now that my Uterus, dear Nicki has descended. I want to get her back in place! I feel its no good to have her way down there. I mean I love her but she's gotta stop neglecting her duties, ya know?

All right, I think I can face going to the store. I will go in about an hour from now. Hopefully someone happens to see this and can give some advice. I am not so much asking about what to get as I am asking HOW do I do this? Lay down to insert? Stand up? How do I angle this? I am TERRIFIED of putting a tampon in now. Terrified. I always just put a tampon in based on what felt right. Never thought about angle. And speaking of what felt right, well maybe it wasn't so right, because look at me, I am the person who dislodged her own Uterus. (Sorry Nicki!).

As I write I am on my back, flat, with my laptop on a little bed-breakfast table, while looking up at the trees in the yard out my window and watching the trees wave at me in the breeze. Wait, maybe they are cheering me. hahah Cheering me on, "You can do it."

It's a gray day so the trees look black and the entire sky serves as one big ol' gray backdrop to it. The only bright color is the tiny green buds of promising new growth on the very tippy toppy parts of the trees.

I keep looking up at the branches and thinking to myself, ok, grow branches(ligaments, tendons, cartiledge, fascia, muscle) like that, that anchor my Uterus again. Grow, heal, get buds of new growth like those trees are doing. Come on, body, heal!

marigold2

April 16, 2011 - 3:50pm

Hi csf

i have just added a comment to your thread replying to garden boss, so you might be reading that first. I haven't tried a tampon, but i can't say I want to try it. I do feel movement in the vagina - but this is where the whole woman posture comes in . Nothing will happen quickly, but many ladies out there have written in to say how it has changed things for the better. the problem with tampon or pessary is that they stretch the already stretched vaginal lining. Better to start trying to work with breathing and gravity to keep the prolapse in. But sometimes you have to try things out. In the early days I spent one night figuring that really tight knickers would keep the prolapse in. Spent more than the usual on two pairs, wore them for a day and realised it was counte rproductive. Loose clothing and defo no jeans so you can stand proudly in WW posture.

I sympathise with the demands of a dear dad.. Perhaps choose your moment when you are ready and tell him that you can't do all the sorting out/helping due to a ladies problem. i felt a bit squeamish about telling my mum about the prolapse, but she ended up finding it all quite interesting and no doubt relayed it all to my father.

good luck

csf

April 16, 2011 - 4:36pm

Thanks for your post. My mom died four years ago and I am in with my dad after that. He's up there in years and HAD to tell him. My mother had it so it's not like I had to say anything more than, "I have what Mom had." He just can't get past the unsightliness of blankets on the floor (the bed is soooo uncomfortable, saggy where I need it to be firm and vice vesa) and pillows here and there to prop this and that, and vitamins on the table. And if I drop something I'm like, ugh, dad I can't figure out how to pick that up right now! lol I can't sit, I can't stand, I am getting a lower back ache and my experience now is telling me that signals something will drop from there now. Eveything's moving, it feels like. I though putting my Uterus up would be a place holder so things would stop moving. I am not dry, so thought I'll just slide it on up. BUT seeing that pink thing made me think, wait, am I disturbing a monster if I try to put a tampon in while there's this other bulge?

So a tampon DOESN'T sound like a good idea? Dear Lord, I can't figure this out. I am feeling truly desperate right now.

doubtful

April 16, 2011 - 4:36pm

Hi Marigold/ CSF,

I hate to strike a discordant note but I really don't think tampons can do any damage, either intitially or as an interim measure to give some support during the early, panicked days. Many women blame yanking on a tampon for 'causing' their prolapse - I blamed a bout of very heavy lifting moving jobs/ houses, but actually, although these activities might theoretically be the straw that breaks the camel's back, I am sure that POPs often take years to develop and we can certainly all be active/ use tampons again because they're not going to cause any new trauma.

A Jade and Pearl sea sponge, trimmed to the smallest size that's effective for you, definitely can't do any harm, as it provides some support but squashes almost flat and allows for closure. The stretching thing is a bit of a myth I think. Theoretically a pessary could do that, but not a little tampon or sponge.

My advice, for what it's worth, is that something small that gives a woman the chance and confidence to start practising the whole woman posture might well be the start of the healing process. I used a sea sponge for when I needed to be on my feet a lot for the first few months, then decided I was ready to move on becuase I'd kind of got the posture. I've improved a good bit in half a year and don't feel the need for any support now. I'm 100% certain that I have the posture to thank for my improvement, but early on, when I just wanted to lie down, I needed a confidence booster because sitting and walking in the posture is really the long term key to healing. I'd say, if a woman initially feels frightened of adopting the posture because she feels extremely insecure in the pelvic region, then a small support that gives her the confidence to start realigning her body can only be good. Some of us, with quite minor prolapses, might not need it, but every woman's situation is different when she starts out healing her POP.

My urethocele was good as gold with a small sponge or tampon, bit I think I have read that women with prolapsed uteruses sometimes do better with a sideways tampon. Not quite sure how that would work. Can any ladies with a uterine POP help out here?

DOubtful

melhop

April 16, 2011 - 5:01pm

I agree that a traumatic event can be the last straw for prolapse. I prolapsed two years ago next month. I was 54 years old. I had fallen down icy steps that winter and was involved in a deer/car accident in January. Both events, I'm sure, caused real internal pulling and stretching of muscles, tendons, and ligaments. However, there is indication that heredity and lifelong posture contribute to prolapse. I ,too, believe that there will be great healing for you and Nicki. Your outlook and changes are the perfect beginning. I tried many avenues to get help. I went to a chiro to have adjustments. I took supplements to balance deficiencies. I addressed food and environmental sensitivities to avoid inflammation. I rested, as that is when healing really happens. I got my head on straight, realizing I am just as important as everyone else in my world. But, most of all I changed my posture and exercise to fit the changes in my maturing body. Christine's exercise workouts are great. And the posture will provide immediate relief.
I use 20 - 30 minutes of the workout in the morning and try to complete the entire dvd on Saturday and Sunday. I am a teacher and stand for several hours each day without thinking about my prolapse. When I leave work it isn't to get home and sit down. I run errands, fix dinner, and clean until after 6:30pm. I used tampons for support in the first months. Put them in laying down. You may want to carefully push them sideways after inserting them, to get the most benefit. Be sure you have enough lubricant. By the way, I take 3600 mg of fish oil each day as prescribed by my doctor to combat some high cholesterol. Keep asking questions. The answers are here.
Melly

louiseds

April 17, 2011 - 9:03pm

I too cannot really see the problem with tampons (or pessaries, for that matter). I cannot, with a straight face, tell women that a sideways tampon or pessary will stretch the vaginal lining. Babies pass through the vagina, fa cryin' out loud! Our vaginas were designed to stretch. For sure, there is relaxin at birth, but think how big a penis can get! And we are worried about a sideways tampon????

Perhaps a nulliparous woman who has no POP should not put a tampon in sideways and leave it in one place for a long period of time on an ongoing or frequent basis, but we women with POP have very stretched vaginas anyway!

The only thing I can see a problem with is that the object is left in one place, sometimes for weeks at a time. A baby passes though, usually in much less time than 24 hours, and only a few times in a lifetime. If labour is halted for any reason, vaginal tissue, perhaps pressed up against bone, can lose its blood supply and die, and the result is a fistula or worse.

Look what happens to the finger that wears a ring constantly, and it subtly grips the finger, and the finger gets a narrow bit that doesn't come back to normal if you leave the ring off for a day. These changes take time.

We do also hear periodic stories about the pessary eroding the vagina, but that may be bacterial or some other form of inflammation, rather than purely mechanical pressure.

And I wonder if it we have heard any true stories about it here.

I say use what works, within reason, and with appropriate hygiene, but remember that WW posture underpins anything else that you do or use. To not Wholewomanise your posture is simply tilting at windmills.

Can you drive a car without the keys?

Louise

louiseds

April 17, 2011 - 9:10pm

Hi CSF

Picking up heavy things can be a problem but there are often ways you can think your way around them, and use mechanical advantage, whether to lift them bit by bit, or move them along the ground where you have the space you need to lift them properly.

You have strong thigh muscles to give you vertical lift. Get your feet apart, your knees bent, your butt out the back, with your back horizontal and your belly expanded so your bladder and uterus fall away from your vagina when you lift with your arms and your thigh muscles. Put heavy lifting into the Search box for more options.

So get squatting and dancing, and strengthen your thigh muscles. They are wonderful machines.

Louise

Sammy

April 18, 2011 - 8:39am

Men typically wear undershorts that are very loose in the groin- our underwear is tite around our genital area. Think after years of wondering why our underwear are so different I now really understand. My prolapse because of stretchy vagina and bladder sag is very large BUT it is also true that the (I believe it is called) labia majoris DOES with the help of my tite panties, keep things moist. AT nite I push it all up past the pubic bone at frontish area of canal. I have to try really hard to recognize what part of a day I suffer unbearably from this condition and in reality except for perfection being my desired state- it is not the worst condition in the world. (tho it is often on my mind)

Yellow Daffodil

April 18, 2011 - 8:47am

is so uncommon...thank you for yours, Louise. This is why I like the sponge...it conforms to space allowed and holds everything in place...for me anyway. I use the smaller menstrual sponges, but larger ones are available and can be trimmed to fit. I alternate use between 2 so they can dry out completely and they last for at least a month @ $7/ea. Each day I put it in a little later...everything stays put a little longer...because of the sponge combined with the Posture and exercises. Y.D.

Daphne11

November 4, 2011 - 1:03pm

What a challenge!
And you write so eloquently and intuitively about what is going on around you. Very blog material! You sound exhausted; I'm sorry for that.
I don't have advice just wanted you to know that your words to cyber space did actually reach another pop challenged woman.
Avoiding constipation, actually anticipating and managing it ahead of time is the life saver for me... 1/2 wheat flakes in the am with 6 warm prunes and rice or soy milk...followed with metamucil around lunch along with some protein (couple bites of fish, chicken, or beef)... with a huge mug of chamomile tea which I drink warm at first then iced as the day goes on.
No coffee, chocolate, breads, muffins, donuts, caffeine tea. I do sneak a bit of chocolate if its a little Ghirardelli square or a single Lundt's peanut butter/choclate ball, but only once or twice a week. NO peanut butter by the spoonful...ahhh...it used to be soooo good by the spoonful with chocolate syrup drizzed over it.
Frankly, I do suffer until I am forced to make changes. Now, I pray "Please, spirit guide, help me to NOT eat that." I used to pray "Please let me get away with eating that!"
Dinner can be beans with steamed onions and rice or it can be fish, chicken and sometimes beef with vegetables raw or cooked.
Since I have begun taking a high cholesterol med (Welchol) I have to get even more disciplined (desperately so) about managing constipation ahead of time.
Take care, you are in my prayers.
Daphne11