Sad About Prolapse

Hello, dearest Ann...

Oh, I can so relate to you, being a young mommy and having gone through that 'mourning' phase of my previous relationship with my body when I first discovered prolapse. Hugs to you, and congratulations on the birth of your son.

I also am a walker and a yogi (as well as a swimmer and surfer), and am just now returning to the gym and beginning to get back to my previously active lifestyle. This is 5 months postpartum, 4 months post prolapse and 1 1/2 months post fistula repair surgery (I had a tear in my vaginal wall thus a hole in my bladder from our terribly violent birth).

I also was told that I would need surgical intervention for the prolapses and this was devastating news to me. However, after researching and reading and corresponding to the wise and very supportive women on this board, I have come to realize that this is not true, that we can live very full, rich, active lives post prolapse. I've come to the point of also realizing that all of the things I do to stabilize the prolapse (I have a cystocele like you) are all things that, in the grand scheme of things, are positive lifestyle changes that would benefit me anyway...prolapse or not. I mean, it really isn't good for anyone to strain on the toilet, or sit slumped on a sofa, good posture is important, eating well has always been on my agenda, and exercising without compromising my pelvic floor is just plain a good thing to do regardless of whether I have a cystocele.

It has taken me a while to reach this point but the ladies here have been so helpful and inspirational...you have certainly come to the right place and while I am sorry that you are going through this, I welcome you and hope that you find as much help, love and support as I have.

You will be able to return to your full yoga practice minus a few poses. There is a thread on here someplace, I think Christine wrote out a list and I will go try to find it when I have a few more moments...baby is beckoning right now, but I'll be back.

Again, welcome and hugs to you.

Peace.
Michele

Hi AnnWilson,

Your story sounds so much like mine did in the beginning. My doctor told me the same thing, well worse. He said I would need a hysterectomy eventually. My uterus hadn't even prolapsed??? Mine is in the front and back. I also had the same "fullness" in the vulva that you describe while standing. After changing my posture the fullness in that area is pretty much gone. I am continuing to have problems with pressure further back but I am now turning to a diet change to see if that works. I like you used to be very active, walking, jogging and yoga a lot. I was devestated. I still feel uncomfortable walking because of the pressure so I know how you feel. I have continued to go to my yoga class though and as long as I avoid the postures where you tuck the tailbone under it helps me feel better after. I do powerpacing twice a week also. In the summer I hope to start walking everyday. I would recommend getting the video and book to expain the posture and exercises. I thought you weren't supposed to take Estrogen cream while nursing?? This site is great for support during this healing. Christine is great at supporting you as well.

Hi AnnWilson
I too have a cystocele, diagnosed just a week ago or so. I'm still waiting for an appointment with the supposed guru of these types of conditions. I've seen this urogyn before and he has no bedside manner so I'm not looking forward to seeing him again but will keep my appointment. When I went to my GP after discovering the prolapse she gave me no information, just told me I had a prolapse. No information as to what type. I had to read her referral letter to the urogyn to find that out for myself. I then did my research and came across this site. I have borrowed the book from teh local library and have started with some of the exercises. Already my pelvic area feels different. I've never been active with sport but I do walk every day and run around after my family so there's little time for rest but I've tried to take it as easy as I can. I'm glad to hear from all these women that there is life after prolapse and that surgery is not always the answer.

I too use estrogen cream and find this helps somewhat but not significantly.

I felt terribly sad when I first discovered I had a prolapse and wanted surgery straight away to have it "fixed". Then I started doing my research and found that the surgery can sometimes lead to much more serious complications so that's not really an option for me right now. If other women can live with it I'm sure I can too.
Good luck and I hope you find some peace.

I had irritation also but I don't think it is related to prolapse. I heard so many people say how "dry" they were when breastfeeding and I'm sure that is what caused all the discomfort down there because once I got my period back at 9 months post-partum that went away. While I had it, I used vitemin E.

I got the diet information from Christine under the food forum. I just recently started a thread. Also Christine is going to put her diet book out.

There is a link on this site to order the book and video.

My symptoms gradually got better also but then they got worse and that is when I searched for something to help and found this site. Christine explains how the spine changes late in pregnancy to compensate for the growing belly and after delivery it is important to work on your posture again. I had everything wrong! My tailbone was tucked way under, feet pointing out, knees locked, slumped over, laying back in the recliner...etc. etc. etc. it is no wonder things got worse again.

Keep asking all your questions and keep us updated on your healing. We all need eachother's support here.

I can't find the links either. I thought it was just me. I was given advice on how to get to the downloads but can't find those for the life of me anywhere. I've been to the homepage and can't find any links there either. I'm quite computer and internet savvy and have searched all I can but they're not there.
Michelle

Go to this website:

http://www.wholewomancenter.com/store/

I used vitemin E from the capsule externally. It is all natural so I'm sure you could use it internally to sooth also since people swallow the capsules. Something else that works well is emu oil but it is costly.

Hi there AnnWilson,
I can REALLY relate like several other women here to all that you are going through. I have posted elsewhere that I had a uterine prolapse a week after the birth of my second child who is now 10 weeks old and although that seems to have resolved I have been left with a rectocele and cystocele. This was also devastating for me as an avid runner pre-children and a generally very active person. I think things are improving for me though I haven't had any real symptoms as such. I also experienced conflicting advice which has been very frustrating. It has been a HUGE adjustment for me but I have gone from crying every day to almost forgetting about it sometimes! :) It takes time to get used to something like this but I firmly believe that we are very adaptable and you are still only 8 months post partum so things can still get better. I fully intend to get back to running in the future if things stay as they are now! I don't personally believe that I will ever need surgery anywhere in my future if I practise all that I am learning here and that is a huge shift for me. Please know we are here to support you and do really care about each other through cyberspace! Read all of the good advice here, it truly does help! Hugs to you.
Michelle.

Dear Ann,
I just want to add that this has turned into rather a voyage of discovery in a wierd way for me! I am definitely looking after myself better than I have for a long time. As Christine says, we don't really know the true course prolapse takes especially in young women as so many surgeries have been performed in the past, many of them quite probably unneeded.
I had yet ANOTHER conflicting piece of advice just this past week! I have had a large cyst vaginally, nothing to do with the prolapse. I went to see a nurse practitioner who removed it. I was asking about the possibility of a future child and whether in her experience it would make anything worse than it is now. She answered it might or might not, (which of course I already know and need to get into my silly head), and then went on to say "if you are planning on having another child you need to wait to have repairs done until after that". I was SO amazed by this and asked why on earth I would need repairs NOW especially as my cystocele and rectocele are so very small and I get no symptoms? (My PT has said that things are improving all the time). This NP then conceded that things aren't "that bad". Needless to say I will not be going back there for ANYTHING regarding my health as I think I am looking at this thing from a different perspective. Mind you, this was a nurse practitioner working in the same OB practice as the Dr who told me it all looked OK and to go home and forget about it! I really think that often these "health professionals" simply don't know what to say or do and just churn out the old stuff they have been saying for years without really looking at the individual women involved. I was talking with my hubby about this who is also in the medical field and he thinks that we have to become a great deal more self reliant in relation to our health these days as often "health professionals" will simply say what they think we want to hear. As an RN I have to agree with him!
Anyway, sorry to go on and on but you will be OK, trust in yourself and your body and don't be frightened by all that you hear, especially when it is conflicting! We are ALL different and if there is one thing I have learnt from all of this it is that each of our experiences will reflect those differences.
Take care.
Michelle.

Hi, Ann...

I, too, am experiencing major frustration at the medical establishment. I had planned for a homebirth and ended up with a violent forceps delivery in hospital. I am a health care professional as well but am very holistic in my views and practice, and had carried that through into my very healthy, joyful pregnancy and plans for a serene home waterbirth. Now in the healing phase from the surgery that I had to have as a result of the incredibly interventive birth we ended up with, I was dealt a blow by my urogyn..."no more vaginal births for you, missy". I was shocked, floored, and devastated. I mean, I had just had surgery, had gone in for a follow up appointment to have one of two catheters removed, and she basically kicked me when I was down, without consideration of WHO I AM fundamentally as a person and how much I believe in and hope for a natural birth. And also without examining me and seeing how I was healing. Ugh, so frustrating and their condescending, holier-than-thou attitude is intolerable.

I'm so sorry that you're getting such conflicting advice, but perhaps in a way it was a blessing in disguise as it motivated you to dig deeper to find your own truth...and you found us here :)!

Anyways, I digress. I am cutting and pasting a post from Christine a few weeks ago regarding the yoga poses to avoid. At first I was in mourning over possibly losing my beloved yoga practice (I'm a yoga instructor as well)...but have come to learn that some of the poses are really not very respectful of a woman's anatomy thus I have become 100% fine with resuming my full practice without doing the following poses. I have yet to take a group class as I still need to get in better shape, strength wise and endurance wise, but I plan to just do my own poses if the teacher facilitates any of these poses.

I hope it's ok for me to cut and paste this here...

""From my perspective, here is a list of poses that present a problem for women due to extreme increases in pressures exerted against the pelvic diaphragm: all variations of the sitting boat pose; the camel; the fish; the locust; lumbar lifts and lumbar presses; the warrior; lateral angle lunges with or without twists; the bridge; the wheel and all passive supine backbending. As you know, even tadasana challenges us to conform to the male spine. ""

Peace.
Michele

Welcome Ann,

Thanks so much everyone for all the support of one another.

Here at the WWC we are working on both strengthening and increasing flexibility of the female core. In turn, this work is made possible by both strengthening and making more flexible the arches of the feet. The two work hand in hand.

From my perspective, backbends pose problems both general and specific for women. First of all, we should never bend our neck and upper spine straight back because there is little in the way of support for our cervical spine when we do. We have very large, strong tendons on either side of our neck that are perfectly capable of supporting the head/neck in a partial backbend, but we need to turn our head to one side or the other for them to be able to do so.

Secondly, the sacrum moves back to counternutation (tailbone tucked) in a full wheel, creating all the strains we’ve talked about that are in opposition to the natural, self-locking mechanisms of the pelvic system.

One variation of the bridge that would be very supportive of the pelvis and protective of the neck, yet helpful in increasing spinal flexibility, is to lay your hips and legs supine on a padded bench and lower your shoulders, neck and head onto cushions below. Make sure your head is in line with the rest of your upper spine and is relaxed and well supported on cushions, while relaxing your arms overhead. The bend should come from your waist.

I teach some backbending at the Center, but here is the key whether you are upright or supine: The pelvis should be very stationary and supported. In the variation I gave you above the pelvis is completely supported on a bench. In standing, the pelvis is completely supported by sacral nutation. In this way we can increase spinal flexibility while causing no derangement of intraabdominal pressure flow, thus providing our organs their natural support.

Christine

Just a note about the estrogen cream. It does improve many conditions of the urethra and vulva, but at what cost? We don’t have a thorough answer to that yet, even as our doctors still tell us that because so little is used externally, there are no systemic effects.

Meanwhile, women often develop all manner of systemic problems, which disappear once the cream is discontinued.

Given the nature of spam these days, I’m sure it comes as no surprise that one of the most prevalent disorders among the middle age male population today is erectile dysfunction. And all that’s needed to completely reverse it is a little dose of testosterone. So why do you suppose we don’t see testosterone patches, pills and creams doled out left and right to men? It’s because exogenous sex hormones are extremely disrupting and have far reaching effects on many organ systems of the body.

Furthermore, “xeno-estrogens”, or man made substances that mimic estrogens in the body, are now ubiquitous in our environment. We all are carrying substantial levels of these in our blood and tissues, and it’s really worth thinking about increasing that burden even more with these medications. You might want to take a look at the book, Our Stolen Future, by Theo Colborn et al.

I agree with everything you say about taking our health more into our own hands and doing our own research. With the advent of the internet and other such sources we now have options that were never open to us before. I find that Doctors just assume you either don't want to be burdened with the details of your health diagnoses or they just assume you don't need to know. With forums like this women are able to correspond with other women who are experiencing similar symptoms and in this way we know we're relatively "normal" and not the only ones going through such things. My GP gave me no information whatsoever about my prolapse and I had to dig deeper myself to find out what it was she was referring me to a specialist for. She talked about vaginal hysterectomy before I even knew what it was I was truly diagnosed with. If I hadn't sought information for myself I probably would have lined up for my turn on the operating table believing that was the only way to make me ok again. Now I am aware of the complications involved in any kind of pelvic related surgery and don't want to do anything unless it's life threatening.

Thanks again for providing such a wonderful forum for us all.

Take care
Michelle