Activities that you do

This is the best lesson I have learned all year. I have learned to set my alarm for the same time every morning. Seven, not six for me. Maybe six will come later? If I stay up late, my punishment is feeling like an overworked dog all the next day. Then it is early to bed the following night, so I get quality sleep time and am able to have a fresh start the following day. I don't like getting up early but experience tells me that my body likes it better.

I really don't like it when I get yawny at 8pm, when I want to do stuff. I just have to give in to it, and sleep, because that is what my melatonin is telling me to do. If I work through it the yawniness goes, and I get a second wind, but I don't think my body really wants me to do that.

So try to get up at the same time every day, instead of trying to go to bed early every night. It has self-fulfilling results!

I have even discovered a mobile app which has customisable alarm sounds, so I can be woken by gentle sounds that start off really softly and slowly get louder. So I get coaxed gently out of sleep instead of jarred out of it. I usually wake up before the alarm anyway, so my body must be adjusting. I am definitely feeling better, overall.

Surviving60, this is my real problem now, I just cannot get up by 8am! I promise myself, and then next day I procrastinate and then get up really depressed...It has been like this for at least one month. Every day it is more and more difficult to get up...
Ikam

Only you can decide to get up earlier, Ikam. Nobody else. Of course, if you feel you are sliding back into depression it will take more than making yourself get up early to bring you out of it. Perhaps you need some professional help to lean on for a bit? It is easy to let yourself slide too far. Get it while it is manageable.

Get back to walking daily. Look after your diet. Give yourself little treats. Try and stick to a routine. Baby steps. All that stuff.

I went into a sort of depression, grief over two late miscarriages at 15 and 17 weeks. I did seek out some alternative help, and found that the supplement L-tyrosine really helped for me. It is the amino acid that our body uses to deal with stress, and stressful situations. I stared taking 2 in the morning and 2 in the evening, and found no relief so I doubled it. I took 4 and 4. It was like a miracle for me, I got out of my rut, out of bed on time, my work done. I felt like a functioning woman again. Before I would lay in my bed or on the couch crying about my poor misfortune instead of looking to better it, and realizing I am actually pretty fortunate. It took me from 'what, this isn't fair, why me' to 'what can I do about this.' Not that I know your situation, but I do know how getting in a rut can be, even if those feelings are over legitimate feelings and life events. I am not a doctor, just sharing a natural remedy that worked for me!

I feel as if I am sliding into depression, but it is always in the morning...in evening I feel a bit better...
Yeah, baby steps...I think, I need to have Christmas over...it overwhelms me in times with sad feelings...
I think, after surgery I have started feeling much worse...

There have been also many, many changes in my life. Nothing is the same anymore...

So, I have decided to tidy my kitchen (corner of my studio flat)...there are too many things in my little flat. since I have started working from home I have no personal space here anymore...

I free-falled!

I've given myself permission to mope and whine even though it is the holidays. I'll put on my happy face when needed, but I also cry.

The luxury of grieving what has been lost is necessary for me. I just couldn't hold it all in and go on with life without missing a beat. I still take care of my kids (11-16yrs)but I've asked my husband to pick up some of the slack for a bit. I've finished my Christmas shopping and will be hosting Christmas at my house this year for 25 people. And sometimes I cry.

So, don't feel guilty about feeling sad. Do be aware if it moves on to a depression that needs intervention, but allow yourself some sadness. This is tough on some of us! Probably all of us.

Sorry you are feeling blue.

I am in a different place than some of you, but I love my mornings after the kids go to school. I get up at 5:45 with my youngest (middle school bus comes at 6:30AM!!!) and by 7:15 the other two are on the high school bus.

I have a quiet house by 7:15 am and I enjoy my coffee and my computer. I don't feel guilty if I waste and hour screwing around before I take a shower because it is only 8:15am!

I don't go back to bed. Ever.

Spamelah,
Hmmm...I still try to fight this feeling...As you said in times when I allow myself to feel sad, I feel MUCH BETTER...when I fight with it, I feel depressed, defeated, etc...
The time of grieving is usually sad and full of tears...
I don't think I need a medical help for this. So often the medical world turns sadness into depression and treats it with medication...

Right. I'm not a fan of medication. I've been there. They are horribly constipating for me, too. I consider them part of my risk factors that put me in this place I am today.

BUT, there is always talk therapy. Someone to unload upon. I am doing that...

You can take Vitamin D3 and Omega 3 fatty acids (fish oil) to try to help the sadness if it feels like more than just a pity party after a while. I've had great success with 2g fish oil/day in the past. I have a history of depression, though. Situational depression (getting sad or depressed due to a bad event)is a whole other story and, in my opinion, quite normal.

Hey Ikam, how about an update on your posture and prolapse? We are still posting in a thread that was started to give members an opportunity to tell newbies what activities they can do. We've followed your ups and downs over the last year and we do continue to wish you the best with all the things you've been dealing with. Time for you to check in with us on your progress. If your WW routine has fallen by the wayside in the long days leading up to surgery and during the recovery, time for you to get back on your horse! If you're working from home, then lots of the prolapse-related problems that you had when you first came here would be solved by getting rid of all that daily train travel. Let us know how that's going. Life goes on, and you're now entering menopause, so now's not the time to let up on this work. Actually, the time to let up on this work is never. It's time to focus on yourself in a good and positive way, no one else but you can do it.

So Ikam - next post is your prolapse update and game plan. - Surviving

I am new to the forum. My prolapse has become uncomfortable and more noticeable in the last month. I have experienced lower and mid back plus knee pain for years. My work of 38 years involved lifting and standing, add in car accidents and falls. However last January after another car rear ended my car I experienced extreme back pain and stenosis. Rejecting the conventional medical treatments, I went on a 5 month journey for help that brought me to structural integration and an strengthening, exercising program that is on the floor or a flat padded table. This program also includes natritional counseling. My body is too weak to do all but basic exercises in Christine's video. Not coinsidentally, he has diagnosed my right hip as the main culprit. Very little flexibility, the muscles are clued to it. The exercise program is teaching me to breath through my belly and working on a natural lumbar curve, strong buttock and leg muscles. It is lengthening and stretching my muscles, ligaments, tendons.
I showed the practitioner Christine's video. He was very impressed and agreed with exercises. However, I told me only to do the ones on the floor for now until I become stronger. Does or has anyone dealt with the back, hip, knee issues which limited them on the exercies on the dvd which are not easy for such as us?

Also, I am having a difficult time feeling confident I am doing the posture correctly. Any in put on that, please.

Lastly, due to the neccessity to be standing quite often, I was considering a pessary. I do not have medical insurance and my primary doctor tells me the process to evaluate and place one is serveral thousand dollars. Has anyone been in this situation and found a less costly alternative? I realize a pessary is just a stop gap but would it not be helpful in some situations?
I deeply appreciate your input and advice. This forum is a God send. Do not feel like an alien now!!
I apologize for my long long intro!! Thank you for your patience.

Welcome to this site! I sent you a long reply earlier and then my computer went down and I see that it didnt post. So here I go again.... You are in the right place here. The confidence that you will gain in this posture is so multi-faceted and it will take time. It is good that you are questioning it. It helped me a lot to have a mental check-list. I started at the feet....facing forward when walking. Soft relaxed tummy, chest uplifted, crown of the head lifting upward (which slightly tucks the chin). Then the all-important aspect of breathing into the tummy with belly all relaxed. I would repeat this over and over to myself throughout my daily walk and throughout my day. I still do repeat this but with much less correction needed now since much of it is now natural. I still dream of a posture consultation in person with a WW teacher or Christine....but until then, my checklist goes on like the words of a good friend. You mention that you have back and hip issues as well. This posture is the core of what this site is about and it is now somewhat proven that this wonderful posture will help back issues and hip issues. We cannot know if it will help your specific issues but i cannot see how it could hurt. For now, when you are up and about, concentrate on these aspects of the posture. Post thoughts and questions here or maybe you want to start a new post since you have posted here on a long long thread that is not specifically yours. I think since you are weak, you might want to study over and over the standing moves in the Prolapse dvd. You do not need to do that all at once. Start with the beginning level. Start with only one move. Then later in the day when you are up and ready, try another move or two. Since you are weak now, you could think of this as introducing your body to a new routine. If you can introduce one or two moves one day and then go on to one more the next, you will little by little be adding a strengthening routine to your day that will help you in so many ways. While you are resting, read Christine's book. The more we can educate ourselves, the more we learn and can face the issues that we face. That is great that your practitioner was impressed by the dvd.....great that you shared it with him. Be sure that you are not sucking your tummy in or tucking your tailbone under. Those things are not good for us with POP or for any woman for that matter. Do not apologize for writing here....that is how we learn. These lovely ladies will feel like friends in no time. As for the pessary question, I do not use one but my instinct tells me that no way should you be paying thousands of dollars for some little device (that may not help you anyway). Put pessary into the search box and much will come up there. Other women may comment to you on that one. Much love and best wishes to you!

Hi Jayvon, nothing much to add to Ms. N's great advice. You seem to have a set of issues that WW work is perfect for. Take it slow and steady. I agree that a pessary right now would be an investment of time and money that is probably not going to pay off. Women who use these have very mixed results and they do not really address the problem. As you become more mobile, you can revisit that issue. The farther along you get in WW work, the less inclined you will be to seek symptom relief by that means. Symptoms act as clues and reminders of how we are doing, and aren't necessarily something that you want to cover up in order to get on with your life. Rather, you learn to interpret them and use them to keep your prolapse management on track. Good luck and keep posting. - Surviving

Surviving60,
unfortunately (you so right), my WW routine has fallen by the wayside...hmmm...I have no routine any-more...I need to get back to it...I only do my evening meditation...I think I will be now able to get back to my First Wheel Yoga, as I am able to bend my leg with no pain...

I don't have that horrible rectal pain any-more. But I have some rectal and vaginal discomfort everyday. It is a type of strange itching, soreness...It usually relates to my BMs...I don't splint as often as I used to. I have never gotten back to the supossitories (!).
Since the hospital and lots of drugs I have been struggling with BMs. And I feel so tired and discouraged by this...I have changed my diet, but I still get this type of "ibsy" stools and cramps...This itching in my vagina and rectum wears me out as well...

Moreover, I seem to have a general problem with feeling relaxed. My heart beat hardly ever gets below 100. I was wondering if this could be related to the menopause? i added black cokosh and restarted Red Clover...I haven't had my period for around 4 months now...as I mentioned in my other mail, I have had lots of problems with night sweats, therefore my sleep is compromised...

Yes, it is time to re-start my First Wheel Yoga, I really liked it...
I think I saw somewhere a different way to do fire-breathing, I still cannot have my leg bend for long time, also cannot stay on my knees for long...

Hi Ikam - I guess what I really want to know is, how is your posture? Getting back into an exercise routine would be great for you, especially with all that you've had going on in your life. But even if you can't make time for exercise, you can be in WW posture all the time. That's really the main thing. Are you maintaining posture? - Surviving

I must admit after the surgery it was difficult to keep my posture. It was difficult to walk and I had to use crutches. I am now able to walk without them and maintain the posture...Also I am able to sit upright...
I see that after this (at least one month) time, I have been a bit worse with my prolapse (feeling it again!)...Not as bad as I used to be...but still this is a reminder that I need to get back to pro-healthy habits that include being mindful of my body posture....

I am a newbie. I've been reading all over this website and am just now reading through this thread. I wish I had read it sooner! I hadn't because the description said it was for those experienced in WW. Until reading through these posts, I was feeling devastated about what to do regarding exercise. Thanks!