Hulloo out there

Body: 

I've been wandering the Internet in search of...I don't know what. I don't expect miraculous answers from yahoo, that's for sure. I've seen the best, most supportive and frank conversations going on here, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm 29 years old and had a partial (ovaries and cervix intact) hysterectomy 4 years ago for endometriosis. I have an 10 year old daughter, and I've had a mostly asymptomatic rectocele since she was born (aside from the, er, occasional need for digital bathroom "help").

Since the beginning of July, I've been unable to have sex without pain. It was precipitated by moving apartments and became noticeable while having sex. We laid off for two weeks, but the pain quickly returned. I went to the doc, had 3 urine cultures, did swabs and a visual exam, plus an ultrasound, and nothing comes up, aside from the fact that my bladder won't empty completely. Any kind of pressure on the anterior vaginal wall causes stabbing pain near my urethra, and increased urgency for days afterwards. If I go a week or so without sex, it improves, then quickly deteriorates with..er...activity. My doctor is a great lady and doesn't think I'm crazy, but I feel totally unprepared for this problem. I can't imagine life without sex, or asking my partner to wait some indefinite sum of months without knowing if this will ever go away. And medical practioners keep telling me to wait, and try again. Well I've done that now on and off for the last three months, and it's not any better.

Has anyone here had a similar experience? Any suggestions? The only thing I've found that slightly improves things is an on-fours position. I'm worried that my anxiety about pain is now causing muscle tension that makes things worse. I'm so sorry and so angry that I wasn't better guided or warned about the potential fallout from hysterectomy. I went through that ordeal because I was in immense pain, and now I feel like I was duped into an uncertain medical future with even more pain and few answers.

Geez, what an introduction. It's just not something I can talk about much and I'm so frustrated and depressed. I feel betrayed by my body. :(

Hi Inspector and welcome. This is a little bit complicated for me, so my comments will have to do until a teacher or more experienced member has her say.

Hysterectomy often does shorten the vagina, but since your discomfort with sex did not start until recently, I guess that points to your prolapse issues as being the immediate cause of that problem. But it is hard to say. When you have hyst and they don’t take everything, but leave the cervix, presumably you still have at least some of the surrounding supports that otherwise would have been removed completely.

Down on all fours is definitely where you need to be. Use this position to empty your bladder completely, if you possibly can. In the shower works great. Otherwise over a basin of some sort. Just relax and give yourself time….. incomplete emptying can be the source of so many woes.

Have you looked into WW posture on this site? Post-hyst results are generally not going to be as good as you might get if you had all your organs. But trying to keep everything forward in the lower belly is still worth trying. Some women get back pain from trying it, but you might be a better candidate than some, and it seems like there is nothing to lose here. We all had a period of adjustment with it. Good luck! Keep searching this forum for info, and I suspect you will get more replies. - Surviving

Hi Inspector

Sorry to hear that you are in this state. Life sometimes calls for difficult decisions. Yes, you are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea with endometriosis. What is done, is done. Hopefully the troubles you had with endometriosis are now over.

Do you know if you had any other procedures with the hysterectomy, ie what else did they do, apart from removing the uterus? Was any mesh or tape implanted? How is your vaginal vault and cervix now kept in place? You should be able to get access to the medical records that will give you these answers. The urogynaecologist might be able to give you an answer to where the pain is coming from.

Have a look at this image. http://www.hersfoundation.com/anatomy/Arteries_and_Veins.pdf . You can see that the ovarian arteries and veins are attached to the outside of the body of the uterus. To remove the uterus and maintain flow through these blood vessels can be a big challenge for a surgeon. Your ovarian function may be less than optimal now if blood flow has been lessened to the ovaries. A doctor could test your hormones and see if you are entering early menopause. This would mean that your vaginal tissues could be thinning and becoming more sensitive. Only hormone tests will reveal this.

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by using WW posture to keep your bladder forward on a relaxed lower abdomen. Whole Women workouts will help you to strengthen your body, particularly around your hip joints and pelvis, so that your musculature will support WW posture. Clothe your body in clothing that will not encourage you to pull your tummy in and push your bladder backwards.

If you are in a place where it is not clean enough to get on all fours to urinate you can use a similar technique by sitting on the very edge of the toilet seat with feet about 3 feet apart and 1 1/2 feet forward of the pan. Rest your elbows on your knees, relax your belly and lean forward so that your upper back is horizontal. Your arms will be 'folded tight like wings'. If the toilet seat is pressing on your belly, wriggle forward so that your belly can hang free.

Hope these suggestions help.

Louise