Incomplete emptying of bladder

If you get your organs well forward, you should be able to empty fully. Try a half-squat with strong lumbar curve while on the toilet. Lift your bum in the air to encourage your bladder to fall forward. Or, pee on all fours either over a basin or in the shower. I think you will find relief doing this.

Hi Harmonics

BadMirror has described the techniques well. It is important to leave your belly relaxed at all times so there is a little spot just above your pubic bone for your bladder and uterus to move into, and stay. In standing position, when you tuck your butt under and/or pull your tummy in, that little spot disappears and the lower abdominal wall tips your bladder backwards, and kinks and squashes your urethra so the urine cannot flow out unimpeded. Half squatting with your torso forward allows your bladder into a more natural position for emptying fully.

When there is cystocele the outside opening of the urethra can rub on your knickers or be contaminated by tiny bits of faecal matter on your knickers. This can also lead to urinary tract infections (e coli or other bacteria), which will also make you want to urinate frequently. In this case frequent urination is often accompanied by pain and severe burning. Urine never gets the chance to build up but there is an almost constant need to empty. Off to the doctor if this happens. Make sure they culture it to confirm that you are getting the right antibiotic.

Louise

to harmonics
- if Benadryl is similar to Benylin, a cough medicine, then indeed it would probably help you sleep. But there may well be some more natural products out there that others can advise. I think it must be pretty tough having to wee all the time: this happened to me years ago when I was very anxious about life. Also perhaps a tendency to think I needed to pee came from my Mum. Ever since I read on these forums that it is important to have a bowel motion when the urge is upon you, but to wait for a full bladder before emptying, I have mentally 'held on' for much longer, with no ill effect except that I'm not forever looking out for the next public loo when I'm out!

If you try to wee very frequently, unless you have been drinking loads, then surely you wouldn't expect much to be released??

I have a rectocele and cytocele, and urine flow is often slow, except first thing in the morning when i guess the POPs have reverted to proper position.

Just sharing my experiences, I hope you find relief soon.

marigold

Yes, benadryl does have a sedative effect (same ingredients are in Nytol and Tylenol PM). But it is also very drying to your mucous membranes and can cause urinary retention, so I'm not sure it's a super choice. If you take any other medications or drink alcohol, consult a doctor before you self medicate with benadryl. I am curious -- have you had medical evaluation of your frequent urination? Every 1/2 hour at night is quite excessive, and not really attributable to POP.

I have a cystocele, and I do not have to urinate at night because of it. In pregnancy, yes, or if I'm up anyway to change a diaper. Otherwise, nocturia has not been my personal experience. As for holding your urine, no one here is advocating hanging on for 8-10 hours (that would be bad!). It's more about bladder retraining -- slightly extending the time between peeing and expanding bladder capacity. Google bladder training and you'll come up with very specific directions. I'm very surprised that none of your many doctors discussed this concept with you in regards to your frequency issues.

As for finding replies, look at the "recent comments" column on the left of the page. Best wishes.

Hi Harmonics, Im a nightime goer but not to your degree except when I was pregnant with my 3.I also have trouble sleeping and have tried different things. Im post menopause (similar to Louise).
Here are my thoughts ....I do try to not overdo going to the toilet as I too heard and also think that many of us were brought up to have ..one last go, before going out. I was very aware of this with my children, so did not say that to them.Toilet training was an easy and gentle affair and they were out of nappies much earlier than some of my friends.I had to tell my hubby not to keep telling the kids 'to go' when they had no need to-he learnt that from his mother, who still does that one last one wee, just in case.I found myself at one point going to the loo too often,and once aware of this started to wait that little bit longer between sessions. I reduced my nightime trips down to one , from 3 and sometimes not at all, but not very often.I also do what Bad_mirror said ...leaning very forwaard when on the loo, to mkae sure I empty out completely to avoid infections with retained urine.And I think using my bliss balm x2-3 daily helps.Or any natural ingredients internal moisturiser. I read about one here this last week or so, Emeritis, I think or something like that,Im thinking abour ordering that online to try.
I think for bedtime- a restful cooling down period helps,easy watching tv etc ie no horrors or angst stuff, or a realxing book plus a nice bath with Epsom salts and a few drops of your favourite aroma oil. And then a herbal remedy, I have one called sleep balm, but recently found a tea called Sweet Dreams Tea by Red Seal, to be helpful. It has Chamomile, Peppermint leaf, Lemon verbena, Passion flower,Valerian root and Stevia leaf in it.
NB:But not to be taken if one is pregnant,breastfeeding , have hypothyroidism or taking any other sedative type meds.
Hope this helps :-) all the best in reducing your nightime trips.

Hi Kiwigirl. Thanks for sharing. Now that I know you are post-menopausal, as I am (age 65), I will read your posts with even more interest. Where did you get your Bliss Balm? I watched Christine's preparation video. It seems to be a big project requiring equipment I don't have. And it seems to result in LOTS of Bliss Balm, more than I would use in a very long time. Did you purchase yours commercially or make it? --keh

Hi harmonics. Welcome. I'm pretty new to the forums myself. I share your age and condition. I do sense a frequent urge, but I try to hold it for a while. I have to urinate during the night once at most, sometimes not at all. So I don't thnk your night-time issue is universal for pop. I think the comments you've seen already will probably help. Best wishes for renewed health! --keh

I wake up 3-5 times a night to pee. I take one Unisom or Sominex(same ingredients, see side of box). It is over the counter and allows me to drift off to sleep quickly and allows me to go back to sleep immediately after first, second, third, etc pee session. What wakes me is pain that goes away as soon as i pee.
I also have been diagnosed with interstitial cystitis.
I haven't check on the effect of Unisom or Sominex on the body, but will now look into it.
I no longer work outside the home (I work online) due to the fatigue of these nightly wake up calls! I am 64.
I don't know what POP means as I am new to the forum. I also have rectocele, but don't know about stages of any of it. I went to womentowomen and was advised to see a surgeon.
So, is everyone saying that it is worth it to buy the book and yoga dvd?
Thanks,
daphne11

Pelvic Organ Prolapse.

Hi Daphne

Sorry. Jargon creeps up on all of us, but it does save a lot of keystrokes!

Stages of POP are useful for doctors to use, so they can describe it, and because it allows them to advise women differently, according to what stage of prolapse they have. However, every doctor you visit will give you a different assessment of the stage, and the same doctor will probably give you a different assessment in the morning to the afternoon, or two different days. You can make it less or more by the degree to which you bear down during examination, and whether you are standing or lying down during the examination, and your posture if standing. It means little to the woman in question. You have POP sometimes or always; mild or serious; symptomatic or asymptomatic. It is not like pregnancy, which you either have or don't have.

Many of us regard pelvic organ settling, or prolapse or looseness, to be a natural and almost inevitable result of having a full pregnancy, and a common thing that happens with ageing, ie the same as wrinkles and saggy skin. It is a sign of a mature female body. However, when it gets to the point of causing discomfort, pain, and distracting or inconvenient symptoms it becomes prolapse that needs attention, but not necessarily the attention of a surgeon.

The DVD's give you practical things you can do to minimise your symptoms with some of the theory. The book gives a much more comprehensive look at the theory behind Wholewoman techniques and lifestyle so you can understand your body better, and be able to interpret how you use your body. It also has a very comprehensive chapter on most of the surgical procedures, with their risks and success rates to help women understand what their surgeon is talking about. The information in this chapter is very well referenced from mainstream medical journals, so Christine is not making it up. You can find excerpts from the DVD's on YouTube via Christine's channel, Wholewomaninc.

I don't do a lot of workouts, but the video footage in the DVD's is very useful for understanding what happens during movement, pregnancy and labour and birth. I could not do without the book because I need to understand the theory behind it. The first edition of the book was the thing that initially saved me from a hysterectomy and other repair procedures. I am still in one piece seven years later, counter to what my doctor said would inevitably happen.

Louise

Dear Harmonics

The WW posture is the centrepiece to the wholewoman approach, as you have rightly stated. It is the driving force for repositioning the pelvic organs and rebuilding the strength in your back, stomach, pelvic and leg muscles which support your pelvic area. The prolapse itself can be helped, even corrected, with Christine’s posture and exercises.

Having three prolapses certainly makes your task somewhat complex.

Prolapse of the uterus can cause pain in the back or over the tailbone. It also causes a kink in the urethra which makes urinating difficult. (Total uterine prolapse can make having a bowel movement difficult, cause pain while walking; sores may develop and cause bleeding, discharge and infection.)
Cystocele can cause stress incontinence, overflow incontinence, and urge incontinence any of which can lead to UTIs.
A rectocele can make defecating difficult and create a sensation of constipation.

The problem you are asking about in this thread is incomplete emptying of the bladder. I can really only address this problem from the experience with total uterine prolapse and the much thoughtful advice of the women on this forum.

The first thing is to try and ensure that your uterus is as high as possible. You probably notice the uterine prolapse will be at different levels at different times of the day. When my prolapse is at its lowest, I find the subsequent increased pressure on my bladder/urethra makes the need for urination much more frequent and urgent. There is a dynamic or interplay between our pelvic organs once we develop a prolapse which responds adversely to pressures both external and internal.

In regard to external pressures; be mindful of how you move through your day:

I find it pays off to stop, whenever possible, lifting and carrying heavy loads, performing mundane tasks while not in wholewoman posture, persisting with recalcitrant carts while shopping, using shovels and spades (mattocks and hoes I find easier) to garden and so on. These are the things I find especially hard on the uterus. In other words, abandon those things that draw on the strength of your stomach muscles for they impact directly on your uterus and while it is not in its correct position unfortunately exaggerates the prolapse and pressures the urethra. Abandon also those activities which you cannot do in posture. So you need to be mindful and creatively learn to do most things in posture.

This ban also applies to straining for a bowel movement or forcing while urinating or farting.

If possible once your uterus reaches its lowest point, stop what you are doing and try to take immediate action to relieve the stresses both on you, your uterus and the other pelvic organs.

Internal pressures:

If you have some weight around your middle, it is helpful to lighten the load on your pelvic organs by taking this weight off. Weight around your middle can also mean a fatty liver; a very large organ that will be pressing on your lungs, intestines etc. A good way to rid your liver of fat is to stop eating sugar.

I found that the urge to urination was more frequent when stools were slow to pass, the stool was hard, or small and sticky, and conversely when having a bout of diarrhoea. This led me to work on bowel regularity and easy passage of stool. This is an area where there is much individuality, but can be helped along, by ensuring that each day vitamin c, magnesium, and potassium are included in the diet. Christine in another thread suggested Magnesium for incomplete faecal elimination and I find that a magnesium supplement works well, but I also do not eat between meals, as I suspected snacks were difficult to pass, possibly being of insufficient bulk for the intestines to pass comfortably. Then again a small rectocele prolapse is particularly troublesome as it sits in the anal canal; it can make you feel like a stool is still there. At other times there will in fact be a stool still there.

I also adopted a diet that eliminated anything that irritated my gut, again this will vary with the individual; but for me this included legumes, bran, wholegrain breads, fennel, prunes, cabbage, pasta, coffee and caffeinated tea and chocolate and various food additives in supermarket foods. The irritation manifested itself as a more than usual amount of gas and also IBS type symptoms where my intestines seemed swollen and inflamed which would worsen my prolapse and the pressure on my bladder. This was when I decided to allow my body to hold sway over my mind. I no longer eat foods purely on the basis that ‘they are good for me’ which is when the mind is in control. I eat foods that my body needs and can tolerate. Foods it can’t tolerate, no matter how good for me they are reputed to be, or how tempting, I don’t eat them.

Finally, I cut the amount of liquid I drink. The recommended 8 glasses of 8 ounces really proved too much. I now drink 3- 4 glasses a day.

I hope I haven’t forgotten anything. So we are talking four major areas Posture and exercise, suitable work habits, gentler toilet practices and diet. The other thing is relaxation and easing of soreness in the vaginal area otherwise you can become a bit like the bear and his proverbial sore bum. But your bathing is a good start on that.

Of course it all sounds so simple when put down in a few sentences like this, but it does require due diligence and constant vigilance, but then the reward is gold.

Best wishes

Fab, thanks for that info-filled post.

BTW, I have a series of solutions for shovels and spades.

1 Buy yourself a very small one, possibly a heavy duty children's model that is light, and won't hold much. The load you are lifting with each dig will be smaller. This is a bit like slowing down your eating by eating with a teaspoon.

2 Use the leverage effect that the long handled shovel was created for. Lever the load against the side of the hole

3 Do everything with a deep bend from the waist, with your butt sticking out and bent knees, using your thigh muscles to lift, so the shovelling exercise becomes an inversion exercise which stretches the spine, rather than compressing it. This is easy if the spade has a short handle with a D grip at the end.

4 Use the swinging effect. Don't lift the load further off the ground than you have to. Drag it along lthe ground if you can.

5 Hold the spade with one hand close to the blade and the other as far up the handle you can. This makes swinging easier and you have to use less tummy muscles.

Almost any heavy task you can think of is achievable with POP if you break it down far enough into small or light sub-tasks or loads. If you cannot do it that way, then get help, or decide that you didn't really need to do it in the first place. ;-)

Think smart, not Tarzan.

Louise

Dear Louise,

Me Jane, But, yes, the smaller shovel is a good idea and how you suggest it be wielded is clever and creative. And I can see how you are shifting the focus of weight and pull from stomach to shoulders.

Can I make an excuse here though that I have only worked with clayey soils, and dry or wet they are hard.

Thanks for your time and care.

Dear Harmonics

Yes giving up lifting weights, something you love and find energizing, is difficult. The piano sounds good, disciplined like the weights, cerebral and emotionally releasing, but the exercise and the walking and maybe a bit of hard slog like gardening (?) somewhere you can be a bit destructive as well as creative might prove beneficial as well. You might also consider renovating or de-cluttering the house, or rebuilding a 'vintage' car. I am in a bit of a groove here, but some activity that gives you satisfaction in destroying (weeds, mess) may provide the necessary energizing bit so that giving up the weights can be replaced with something satisfying. I know when I gave up the fags, I took to a broom and swept, left the vacuum cleaner in the cupboard and drank water when the craving came just for the interim till it stopped. The broom added to the dusting chore, from a rational point of view such a waste of time, but when you give up something you love who should be rational? Just want to ease the pain.

Hey can expect to hear of the Dallas babe WW dancers soon.

Sorry so late replying to your question about what I use..yes I do make my own. I have given an idea of my amounts in one of my posts, within the last year or less.When I make it , it lasts me awhile, and then I forget where my own instructions are...anyways this is avery busy time for me..well has been, but I wanted to get back to you.Yesterday I made a red clover balm , with some success but not completely. I had several looks at Christine's video.This red clover infused mix is the first time Ive used water (being the clover tea that is used strained) and mixed with oils and beeswax. I see now that the water hadn't completely evaporated as my pots have seepage/liquid coming out.Now Im not sure whether I have to remelt and let the water content evaporate more....I basically follow Christines suggestion of 1 1/2 oz beeswax to 1 pint of fluid.But a bit less than that.That filled the original bliss balm pot plus 2 avon face mosituriser jars I had and 2 tiny jam jars like one gets on breakfast trays at hotels.
Let me know how much more detail you want about either balms Ive made.Gosh Im no expert but its better than anything Ive been able to buy and try. Im sensitive to some of the bought ones.
Hope this helps :-)
One more thing you may be interested in, I bought some Maca and Red Clover capsules.The shop lady kindly printed off info for me, and a friends sister has had some success with the Maca. I have tried it in the past but was more unaware then ;-) so Im on careful watch now. This becomes expensive but then i tell myself and op is not cheap, and this is better for my body.

Hi kiwigirl,
Thanks for the balm update. You did post directions for me. I printed your post, but my symptoms have improved enough that I don't feel as much urgency to jump into the process of finding the ingredients and making the balm. I'm very grateful for that. I know I should still just make a batch, so that at least I will have it on hand when I need it. I still have your recipe and just printed the update so that I can adjust when I do take the plunge. I agree with you that it seems Christine's process makes such a huge amount, so I appreciate your sharing with me your experience of making an amount that's more manageable. Thanks. --keh

One of the best pieces of advice for me on this forum has been to get on all fours to pee. I do this every time I shower. I also drink 8 oz of cranberry juice every day "just in case". It works.