Hello....

Welcome to the site. I hope you find something of what you are looking for here.

Let’s start with the odd bowel habits. Lots of people have them. With a rectocele it sounds like you have been straining to defecate. Again, a lot of people do this. Why you should get a rectocele in your early twenties and other people don’t probably has more to do with your genetic inheritance and life experience than anything you can put your figure on specifically unless of course you suffered some trauma which could have contributed directly towards it.

The good part is that you are young and you can take steps to help your condition. Look to your diet so that you: do not need to strain, and so that you prevent diarrhea and excess wind, and so that your intestines do not become inflamed because of foods you may be allergic to. This requires a bit of diligence and does not necessarily imply a specific diet. Rather, a modification of what you are presently eating. Track backwards when you suffer certain symptoms and try to isolate the culprit food and then limit them in amount and frequency.

As for your back ache, the WWposture should help you with that. If you currently suck in your tummy and tuck your derriere then the improvement in posture which wholewoman recommends by maintaining your lumbar curve should give you improvement of back ache and often leg ache as well.

best wishes, Fab

Oh yes, the IBS would not be helping your rectocele any and you can probably blame it too for your tummy pain. The doctors saying that it was part of your reaction of your emotional upset with losing two family members makes sense. There is usually an inciting incident to cause your intestine to become sensitised. The intestine including the rectum is now more easily roused into activity than it should be. The muscles now contract so strongly as to produce cramping and diarrhea, during or shortly after a meal. Another form alternates with constipation. This, needless to say, is hard to ignore. Sometimes an itch is better ignored than scratched, but IBS is sure some itch.

You probably know that the treatment for IBS involves avoiding stress as well as adjustment to diet. This varies from person to person. If you have intestinal distension then you should avoid beans and cabbage and sorbitol, eat limited amounts of fruit (2 pieces a day), if you have lactase deficiency then you should not eat dairy products. Some people seem to improve their condition by eating fibre, but for others this can aggravate the flatulence and bloating. Apparently oil of peppermint can help with this. I have a peppermint plant and chewing on a few leaves has helped me with flatulence as has also a couple of teaspoons of apple cider vinegar in half a glass of water.

A good first move would be to introduce a good probiotic (good = many floras) into your diet. These restore intestinal microflora which will have been lost with the progress of IBS. My own belief is that protein and fats (good saturated ones) are necessary to eliminate chronic inflammation. I suspect too that stool softeners may be irritating your intestines. I find magnesium, although a stool softener, does not irritate.

The problem is however in part that IBS differs from person to person. What works for one may not work for another. There are some ladies her who have mentioned having IBS. They may be able to give you some pointers from their own experience. It all helps.

As to your sensitive tum and its lack of muscle strength, yes you do need to be careful here or else exercise here can trigger the IBS, however WWposture is gentle.

Cheers, Fab

I stand all day at work as a hairdresser and I have trouble voiding during the day,so I'm worrying that I might be causing future problems for myself. I can maybe void just a little twice during the day. And when I get home and off my feet I'm in the bathroom every two hours. I was told the urogynocologist that I saw that I was strangling off my urethra, whatever that means. I'm drinking water all day, so I don't know if it can cause me problems down the road. I'm determined to do what I can to avoid surgery. I was scheduled for it and cancelled it. Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated very much.

such a cool name.

I am not really familiar with the idea of a strangled urethra. I take it that it is caused by the prolapse of a pelvic organ and that is what is contributing to your difficulty in urination while you are standing up all day.

I would guess that your doctor would be concerned that you are not flushing your bladder out enough (emptying fully) during the day. This could possibly cause a number of things: UTIs, pain in the flank (the area between your hips and your ribs), or a distended kidney and pain if you develop kidney stones.

If it is a prolapsed organ which is causing this, then WWposture and exercises can help as their whole purpose is to lift the pelvic organs back up and forward over the pubic bone. But having forgone surgery you would need to be ultra vigilant that these other symptoms do not develop assuming that was what doc was concerned for.

Not being able to void much during the day, you could think in terms of pushing the prolapsed organ back up when you void and seeing whether this makes it any easier to fully empty. You could also try when you have your shower to get down on all fours and empty. Some women find this does the trick. Also to semi-squat over the toilet bowl may help the flow. Have you experimented around a bit. I assume you have, but have another try and see what you can come up with.

It really would be worth your while reading Christine's book and trying the exercises.

Cheers, Fab

Hi nanaw, so glad you have found us here. Prolapse is one of those things that is extremely prevalent and very well hidden. It isn't just a condition of old ladies or those who have had lots of kids. I have often thought that it must be quite common in IBS sufferers, even the young ones, because of the constant bowel issues.

Un-learning the old suck-and-tuck posture that so many of us have grown up with, is a huge undertaking but SO important not only for pelvic organ stabilization, but the health of our hips and spine as we get older. Since coming here almost 3 years ago, I've wished so many times that I had had this knowledge at a young age, or at least, coming off of childbearing. You have a good wake-up call at a nice early stage of the game. Good luck and continue to post any questions or issues that arise. - Surviving

Betterhairday, I see from your other post that you had intended to start WW work a year ago, but never did. Have you begun to work on posture? Standing on the job isn't the worst thing, if you are keeping in correct posture whenever you can. But of course this takes time and diligence to get to where you don't have to think about it all the time. This is Job #1. Over time, posture and other measures (firebreathing, good food choices, lack of straining, careful and complete voiding, as described by fab) will help those organs to settle forward over the pubic bone, and reposition that urethra, giving you more comfort all around. It is work! Open that book and jump in. - Surviving

hi.... i am new here. i have been diagnosed with a mild cervix prolapse about 3 weeks ago and it scares the hell out of me. i think this must have been caused by my chronic cough in january which lasted for 3 weeks and also due to 2 incidences of heavy lifting. i have been experiencing some kind of itchiness around my lower abdomen area somewhere above the public area and this cause me to scratch this area. the itchiness is only on the skin area and not internally. this disturb my sleep alot and in the morning when I wake up I feel some pain around my private area. this discomfort will eventually go away after a few minutes or so after I got out of bed. can any one here explain to me why I am experiencing this condition? thanks so much.

Welcome to the site. With a uterine prolapse still mild, it is a good time for you to be finding out about Wholewoman. You have probably looked around the site and realised that we recommend that you start with WWposture. This is what works at getting the prolapse back up and forward over the pelvic bone where it belongs. Please continue to read as much as you can on the general site and forum as the more knowledge you have the better you can apply it to suit your particular situation.

About your itch I guess you are wondering whether it is connected to prolapse, and the answer is no, not usually. It might be eczema or psoriasis. I think you probably could try some over the counter remedies but probably need to see a doc for a diagnosis unless you have already researched these things.

Christine has brought out a DVD on Lichen Sclerosis.

Best wishes, Fab

Thank you for your suggestions...I will experiment with them. I have Christine's book and am reading for the 2nd time. I so appreciate this forum! I'm trying the exercises for the first time. i didn't really try until i decided that surgery wasn't for me. Thank you so much, Abetterhairday

You all are so encouraging with all the helpful things you share. I have been concentrating on my posture at work because it is easy to get in some crazy positions doing hair, but I can tell that is helping, and I have been concentrating on the firebreathing, better food choices, etc. I also have to push everything back inside a few times a day, but I really think it is staying in position a little longer as I have been concentrating on my posture. I believe that my prolapse may have started from my long hours of standing over the almost fifty years I've been doing hair. I'm not sure that is true, but I have been living with it for about six years and this last year was just starting to cause the problem of voiding completely during my work day. And I just started having the low abdomen pain by the end of my workday. I've been trying to space my appt. farther apart and to shorten my workday as much as I can. But it literally is my livlihood, I don't have a retirement to look forward to. Lucky for me, I love what I do. So I will do it as long as I can. Going back to the book. :)) Thanks, Abetterhairday

IBS, leg pain, tummy pain, rectocele- these are the things you have going on? And by IBS you mean constipation alternating with loose stool?
What kind of leg pain?
This sounds way more serious than rectocele. Please persist with the doctors, you may actually have something like Ulcerative Colitis or some other IBD. The leg pain is what makes me think so....