Bladder discomfort

Submitted by happysheep on August 10, 2011 - 2:18pm
Body: 

I ended up with a bladder infection about 2 months ago and took some antibiotics (first time in a lot of years). The infection cleared up great but the medicine set me up for an unbelievable amount of inflammation in my gut and it has taken me about 4 weeks to "recover". I am still not back to normal but I am on my way. It left me totally exhausted. I have started cleaning at a friend's house in the mornings before my regular job and am having a terrible time keeping the WW posture. I think I got super tense in my stomach area (feeling protective of it) and the posture doesn't feel natural or easy for me right now--but I am still trying. The doctor said I only have a little laxness in the bladder/vaginal area, not a prolapse or cystocele. But what happened 2 months ago is happening again to me. It's EXTREMELY hot where I am and no matter how much water I drink, I think I'm still drying out. I can feel a swelling where my bladder/vaginal wall is kind of "schlumping" down in the vaginal area and when that happens, I can't empty my bladder completely. Then I am subject to an infection because of the retained urine. I want to prevent this at all costs because I cannot tolerate another round of antibiotics. I manage an herb shop so I am taking all that I know will help prevent an infection. This has been really hard for me. When I am sweeping, mopping, cleaning the bathrooms, etc. at my new 2nd job, it is very hard for me to stay in the WW posture. HELP

happysheep

louiseds

August 10, 2011 - 9:02pm

Hi Happysheep

Sorry to hear that you are feeling so down. There are probably a few different things happening.

Have you taken a course of probiotics to re populate your gut with good bacteria after the antibiotics? I have often found that this is a critical step. It is like pulling all the weeds out of your garden and replanting new plants. Then your body can start recovering. This may also cut down the gut inflammation, which will mean that your intestines will literally become less infammed and take up less space. This will in turn mean that you will be able to rearrange your pelvic organs more easily. Here's hoping.

I can see how the type of work you are doing could be exacerbating your saggy vagina. I think mopping is a particularly difficult movement because a wet mop head is very heavy, and it is on the end of a long stick.

I think you will need to find a way of wielding your mop and broom so that keeps your arms close to your body so you are sweeping/mopping in a small radius, with slightly flexed knees, using your leg muscles,and with your butt 'stuck out the back' to maintain your lumbar curve. Mopping creates a lot of twisting motion in your torso, which means a lot of extra intraabdominal pressure on top of breathing and locomotion. Bending your knees and using your leg muscles will help to spread that load over your whole height, rather than just your abdomen.

I hope these suggestions help. Baby steps.

Louise

happysheep

August 11, 2011 - 12:11pm

Thanks so much for your reply. Yes, I have started taking probiotics and intend to continue indefinitely. I have had a problem with Candida for most of my life and after those antibiotics I took, the Candida must have increased explosively--to the point that I was having anxiety attacks (never had before) and a hiatal hernia--along with the intestinal inflammation. I had been off of any anti-yeast products, which was not wise. Time for some more changes in my daily life.

I really appreciated your tips on the mopping and sweeping. I'm not sure why, but sometimes, I can't think through the proper way to do some things with the WW posture. So your detailed instructions really helped me.

Thanks,
happysheep

louiseds

August 12, 2011 - 12:58am

Re, "I'm not sure why, but sometimes, I can't think through the proper way to do some things with the WW posture"

Hi Happysheep

This is a distressing point to arrive at. However, I am not convinced that it is all bad. It might mean that you are now aware of avoiding your old posture an!d ways of doing things, but the new ways are still being embedded. It is a bit like throwing out all your old kitchen tools and having new ones in their boxes with instructions, but not being able to use them intuitively; using them is clunky, and you can't use them in anything but a rudimentary way yet, because the motor coordination, and familiarity required, are not yet fully embedded. You don't have a lifetime of history of using them to fall back on, when something unexpected happens. You don't yet know intuitively how to use them in combination to make 1 + 1 = 3.

I am learning guitar, and went through a stage a few weeks ago (when I had other stresses as well), of feeling like I was going backwards, and couldn't do things that I had previously almost mastered. It was so frustrating! It occurred to me that I might have been expecting too much of myself, and my brain was simply shutting off and refusing to cooperate. However, over the last couple of weeks I have mastered these things again, and once again feel like I am moving forwards. I think two steps forward and one step back is simply a part of normal learning. We expect so much of others, each other, and ourselves. Sometimes we have to simply sit back, let things be, and let the brain catch up. It is simply another Transition, like at the end of first stage of labour, the Gap year after finishing school, perimenopause, puberty (yikes!).

I suggest that you simply breathe in, breathe out, be kind to yourself, and just seek to understand how your body moves and behaves, and how it can adjust in different directions and different ways, and how these different ways feel (particularly in your vulva).

Perhaps you have to fall apart before you can pull yourself together again. The jigsaw pieces need to *all* be flat on the table, with the picture side up, before you can put the like pieces into sections and put the sections together in a purposeful way, to get a complete picture. Unless you are a complete masochist you have to be able to see the picture on the outside of the box lid to see how the green bits join up with the sky bits and the water bits. That's why laying the pieces out inside the lid doesn't work! You need to be able to see the pieces *and* the whole picture at the same time.

One day I hope to be a competent guitarist, even if I take my axe to the grave. Until then I will struggle with the missing pieces of the puzzle, and strive to collect them and build them into what I already have together. It is a process. With patience and persistence the completed puzzle will appear in its time, even if it does end up with a few missing pieces. The skill acquisition will never be finished, but it gets better and better as time goes on.

Sorry if this post is too airy fairy for you. I am not sure it is right, but it might give you some things to ponder, instead of getting cross with yourself, and with WW posture for not being achievable.

Louise

happysheep

August 12, 2011 - 9:45am

Thanks so much for the perspective check. This is very valuable information. TRANSITIONS are a lifetime experience and yet they are so uncomfortable. Thanks for your thoughts to ponder--and I will ponder them.

happysheep

Little Bit

August 12, 2011 - 1:29pm

Hi happysheep,
I'm rather new here myself but have you tried cranberries for the UTI? I have only had one UTI about 15 years ago and it was so painful that I hope to never have another one. Cranberry capsules was the main thing that saved me then and I still take one or two capsules a week to ward off another infection. It is my understanding that cranberries has the ability to keep the bacteria that causes UTI from attaching to the UT. I know some people swear by the juice but I have always taken the capsules because they are easier for me to keep on hand and I know they contain no sugar. There are other things that will help too like colloidal silver and vitamin C but cranberries are the number one thing that I know of to keep an UTI at bay.
Little Bit