A story, and a thank you

Submitted by Kazatti on November 25, 2012 - 12:53am
Body: 

I wanted to tell you my story, I am a 27 year old woman, usually fit and well but about 6 months ago developed a rather sudden prolapse of my uterus and bowel.

I had been ill with a chest infection for over three months of serious coughing , which contributed to my prolapse. I had a severe coughing fit one night which ended in a tearing feeling and suddenly a bulge (which turned out to be my cervix at my vaginal entrance)
There was also a lot of blood coming from my rectum, and so went to A & E, where after a very rough vaginal and rectal exam, the doctor told me "everything is normal but you have a prolapse."
He offered no more information, just told me that it wasn't an 'acute' problem and needed to see my GP on Monday morning.
It was an awful and terrifying experience.
Since then I have also developed a cystocele.
The hardest thing for me was that all the prolapse support groups I found all encouraged me to not focus on the prolapse, but on the new baby. Of course this didn't work for me at all.

Another problem is that all the information I read said that they are usually not painful, whereas mine has been excruciating.
My rectocele has meant it was painful to lie down or stand up, at times I've not been able to walk, and the later cystocele has made urinating extremely uncomfortable and at times almost impossible.

Having also suffered with lichen sclerosis since I was a child (but only diagnosed about 4 years ago) I seriously felt that my body had turned against me and was deterimined that my organs would end up on the outside.

As I work in the hospital, I was able to see a specialist quickly, and he fitted me with a pessery. He assured me I would not need surgery, which I was pleasantly surprised about. I tried several sizes of pessery with varying results, the last one I had for two months, which made me feel like things were being held in place, but left me with a constant feeling of needing to poo which became unbearable.

I discovered this forum and can't thank everyone enough on here. Although I have never posted before I relished the wealth of information here, it was the first place that really gave me hope that I might be able to have a normal life.

Before I found this site I was in a very dark place, and was at the end of my tether. I had been urged to do yoga or pilates by my specialist, and so had some one on one pilates lessons, thinking that I was taking a step in the right direction. How wrong was I! I quit after the second lesson, my symptoms tripled after the pilates, and all the postures she put me into (tucking the tailbone under and pulling the stomach in) felt so unnatural and my body fought back!

Then I stumbled across this website! I was amazed to read all the postures and exercises I had been told to do were the opposite of what I should be doing!

I ordered the book and the DVD and eagerly awaited their arrival.

Well, thank you, thank you, thank you Christine!

From the very first time I did the work out, I felt better in myself, and found that from the day I started using the posture everything down there became Less! Less sore, less bulgy, less noticeable!

I had the pessery removed and the specialist was pleased with the progress I had made.

I have been doing the posture and workout for about four months now, and I am a completely different person. I have almost no symptoms at all! On the rare occasions that I do become symptomatic I am able to manage much better knowing that I can and will be symptom free again soon.
I have also read the article on lichen sclerosus and have started the honey treatment, I am excited to see how it goes!

The posture has worked like a miracle for me. I cannot thank the women on this forum enough, all of your posts and support for each other really helped me through the worst time and I thank you! I am like a new woman, living the life I want to, I have even recently returned to the rock climbing I so love and thought I would never enjoy again.

Onwards and upwards! I am feeling so very positive at the moment and it is so nice after all these months.

Forum:

Artemis

November 25, 2012 - 7:42am

Kazatti,

Thank you so much for sharing this! I am sorry the road has been so rough, but you sound like an incredible fighter and your story is such a testament to women taking charge of our health and seeing results. So glad you navigated through all of the bad information and found what you needed.. I am new here and still reeling from discovering about my prolapse(s? Still not sure exactly what's going on down there). Your story gives me comfort and hope that I can turn things around with discipline and self-care.
Best of luck to you, that your symptoms remain at bay and you remain strong and healthy for many decades to come!
Artemis

chickaboom

November 25, 2012 - 8:09am

Yes, thanks for sharing, truly an uplifting story. I'm getting over an annoying -sometimes violent -cough now and the positions that I get into when coughing are hilarious sometimes. Anything to protect our organs. A big thank you indeed to Christine for this information.

Surviving60

November 25, 2012 - 8:22am

Hi Kazatti and thanks so much for coming on to the forum at this time to share your story. One of the things that stands out to me, when I read it, is that it emphasizes how important it is to get your mind around these posture concepts, to immerse yourself to the point where at an almost subconscious level you can feel the truth of this approach. This is how it was for me. Reading, reading, reading, until the concepts became almost a part of me and the only thing left was to apply every bit of it to my life! It is a solitary pursuit in so many ways, because no one else can do this for us. I have been here 2-1/2 years and I cannot even visualize my life without WW in it. I'm so happy that you are seeing good results and thank you so much for sharing them with all of us, veterans and newbies alike! - S60

petrified52

November 25, 2012 - 11:25am

What an amazing story from a very brave person. Whenever I start being gloomy about my circumstance, I think of you younger ladies experiencing this while having children, etc. and I am humbled and amazed. Thank you for posting your story. I am new here and am still trying to get my mind around the realities of this condition. You are an inspiration for everyone and a testament to the fact that this condition does not have to end life as we know it. And many thanks to Christine, without whom there would be much more gloom and unnecessary surgeries.

MsNightingale

November 25, 2012 - 12:39pm

Thank you ever so much for telling us your story. I second our dear Petrified in that you are brave and strong. Yes, you are an inspiration. Best wishes and much love to you!

NFP

November 25, 2012 - 1:23pm

Thank you Kazatti for sharing. You have confirmed for me that Christine's work needs to reach more young women, especially women of childbearing age. Too often female organ prolapse is connected with the aging process and no prevention attention is given to young women. There is so much to be done in this field. For example, I would love to see Christine's paper on Lichen Sclerosis published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Lots of best wishes, Kazatti. You are a special lady.

Aussie Soul Sister

November 25, 2012 - 2:23pm

Dear Kazatti,
Thankyou for sharing your inspiring story.
I echo everything that our wonderful forum members have said above.
(((hugs))) & Best wishes to you,
Aussie Soul Sister

louiseds

November 26, 2012 - 12:31am

Hi Kazatti

How excited you are, and we share your excitement because sometimes progress is this fast! Sometimes it takes much longer.

I would really like to see you calling back regularly, but if this is not possible please post again every few months and let us know how you are going with it. Many of us experience temporary setbacks after success. This can be very frustrating, but you can usually get back to your base level once you intuit what has caused the setback, change your technique, and keep improving further for years.

I too had dramatic improvement quickly. I had asthma at the time, was quite constipated from stress and figured I was a surgery candidate, prior to finding this site. I fixed the asthma within 6 months with Buteyko breathing techniques, and have not looked back (except for occasional temp setbacks). That was nearly nine years ago.

Louise

Kazatti

December 2, 2012 - 5:17pm

Thanks all of you lovely ladies for such kind comments! I definitely have been on a bit of a high lately which is so nice. As a newbie to the posture of course I am not able to do it all the time, and am finding certain things difficult. The hardest things for me is the physical aspect of lifting and moving patients for work, I find this causes me the most problems out of everything I do.
Also we have these heavy lead lined doors at work, and I find that pulling them open really taxes my organs! I don't seem to be able to pull open the doors in the WW posture, would anybody have some tips that could help?
I think the most important thing is being aware of the posture that you are in at all times, (hard!) and I am certainly not there all the time!
I've just had a fairly big set back this weekend, had an awesome girls night on the town to see my favourite band, spent the night dancing and jumping about in a mosh pit. Couldn't walk the next day my symptoms were all back full force! I admit I did have a little cry but do feel empowered that it is just a temporary set back!
There are definitely certain things that set my symptoms off, and I have almost completely given up trying to walk my nine month old puppy. She is a lab/shepherd mix and pulls on the lead, so at the moment my fiancee is doing all the work with her, I have tried to walk her in posture, and using a halti that decreases her pulling, but it hasn't been enough to help.
I plan to stick around on here and soak up as much of your wonderful knowledge and advice as I can! I have also ordered the first yoga dvd, so am pretty excited about that!

louiseds

December 3, 2012 - 2:25am

Hi Kazatti

If the lead-lined doors are causing you a problem they will be causing other women a problem too. This means they are an OHS risk. You might be able to get something done about that. In the meantime I suggest that you try not to hurry when opening them. See if you can push them open instead of pulling. Put your butt against the door and use your thigh muscles. This is also a very useful technique for shifting furniture.

You might be able to pull it far enough to get your foot in the door, you can then lean against the door frame and push it open a bit further with your arm muscles, and eventually get through to the other side, so you can open it the rest of the way with your butt.

The other tip I have for you with the dog is *Puppy School*, where you will learn how to get your pup to obey your every command. There is no need for the pup to be pulling you along. He needs to learn how to walk at heel. The younger they are when they learn, the quicker they will learn. This is even more important when the dog will grow to be quite large. No amount of brute force can stop a big dog that decides to take off suddenly, and drag you with it. You need to be in mental and physical control at all times. Start now.

Louise :-)

Kazatti

December 3, 2012 - 2:34am

Thanks Louise! Yes with entering the theatre I can push open the doors, and find I do this with my hip/bum anyway as it feels easire, but when exiting there is no way but to pull the handles. Some of them are ok and swing easily and don't cause trouble but there is one particular set that are super heavy, so great idea, I will flick an email to occ health about it!

Re the puppy, she has been to puppy school, and because she was a pound puppy dumped in a plastic bag in the park, she has had many many many issues in the six months we have had her! We have a one on one trainer who comes to the house weekly to help her and teach us how to sort all her myriad of problems, so the pullnig is the least at the moment! But we will continue to do the training with her, but meantime I don't walk her on days where I am sympomatic.

louiseds

December 3, 2012 - 2:43am

Yay!

Spamelah

December 3, 2012 - 7:23am

I foster dogs. I currently have a foster dog that is so attentive he does not need a leash. I am sad that I will probably have to give up on fostering the big huge ones for a bit until I master the WW posture. I need to be able to carry them or bend over and walk them by their collars in emergency situations. Plus the possible altercations with my own dog and cat.

I wanted to chime in and say BLESS YOU for adopting a dog tossed in a plastic bag. Wonderful thing to do, Kazatti.

Surviving60

December 3, 2012 - 4:58pm

Hi Kazatti - Setbacks are how you learn that you have control over this. You can have a bad day and then come back to have a better one. That's how you lose the fear of doing everyday things. Like walking your dogs....

No matter how good you get at WW posture, there will be moments when you can't maintain it. That's why you have to do it all the REST of the time, every moment that you can. I know those heavy doors and when I come to one, I just exaggerate my posture as much as possible, and go for it. When my organs protest, I just tell them I'm sorry and I'll try to do better next time!

You'll be facing the unexpected, and things over which you have no control, for the rest of your life. Lifting patients is a problem, but you'll no doubt find ways to compensate when you're more of a pro. Read some posts by bad_mirror. She's a nurse and lifts patients all the time. - Surviving

Kazatti

December 6, 2012 - 4:47pm

Thanks for all your supportive comments!
I guess I started with such a dramatic improvement that any setback seems huge! Just have to keep remembering to do the work!
My yoga dvd arrived last night! Am looking forward to finishing work tomorrow and trying it out!
Having lots of period type cramping pain from my bladder at the moment, it's driving me a bit crazy.
Spamelah, I take my hat off to you for fostering dogs, you are a gem and I am so thankful that there are people like you who can do it.
Maybe you will have to take some time out from the bigger dogs while you learn the posture and things but hopefully it is a goal you can aim towards! :)

alemama

December 11, 2012 - 9:17pm

Hey, I'm catching up on old threads I missed and found this lovely gem. How are you feeling now? You know where you are in your cycle makes a big difference in pop.
and with the dog, you can walk! you can. You just have to be a tree. suborn and make sure you don't want to go anywhere. But if you can do that, it won't take too long and then your dog won't pull you anymore. Just stand still and don't move while the dog pulls. When the dog looks at you, say sit. Then heal. and start walking. go to tree mode when the pulling starts again even if you only take two steps.

Kazatti

January 22, 2013 - 2:02am

Hi Alemama, just saw your message! I am doing well again after having some down times again. It's tiring doing the posture but the longer I do i the longer i find I can stay in it! I am having a good week again and feeling really positive, though my rectocele is enormous at the moment from some poor diet choices recently. You will be pleased to know our dog is getting better bit by bit, and on the days where I just don't feel up to it my fiance and I walk together which is good for us all!
We are planning our wedding which is in April so a pretty stressful time all round but I am doing the first wheel dvd everyday when I can! I love it. So on the whole pretty good! :)

Surviving60

January 22, 2013 - 5:01am

Hi Kazatti, interesting post. Glad things are going better. Why do you think that the posture is tiring for you? For me, it was a bit hard to remember at first, until it became a habit. And there was a little bit of initial soreness when my muscles were first getting used to it. But I can't remember a time when it was tiring. In fact, quite the opposite, I've found it to be quite invigorating.

It's good that you're managing to do the DVD regularly. But when you have days that are too busy, just keep this foremost in mind: The first priority is getting to the point where you stay in posture all day long and hardly even have to think about it. Maybe you can get there by your wedding day! Good luck to you. - Surviving