Rectocele

Submitted by usaukaus on June 26, 2006 - 10:57am
Body: 

Michelle, Thanks for guiding me through the process of accessing old posts. I have spent several hours reading through lots of E mails. I now have a better understanding of grades of prolapse. Initially most of us experience shock and grief when we discover that we have a prolapse, then we seek information about treatment options. Have any readers found other useful sites? I am still trying to understand various terms used in relation to prolapse and apologise to readers who are familiar with terms such as Kegel. Are Kegels a specific set of pelvic floor exercises or is this a generic term used to describe any form of pelvic floor exercise? Has anyone else listened to the CD From Prolapse to Pelvic Power by Barbara Bell and Dr Judy Pippen? see www.pelvicfloorexercise.com.au Are these good exercises or could they be more harmful? I am trying to build up a useful body of knowledge and want to avoid things that others have found useless or harmful. Thanks.

UKmummy

June 26, 2006 - 12:29pm

No problem Usaukaus,

I am glad you are getting some help reading through the posts here. It is so true that this thing can be extremely anxiety provoking for us all, but I promise you that it does get better. I came here 5 months ago extremely depressed and anxious, and now I can honestly say that I don't think of my prolapse much at all throughout the day and feel at peace with it. I never though I would get to this point but feel blessed to have received so much support and education here.

Yes, "kegels" are the same as "pelvic floor exercises". I think it would be fair to say that Christine's work focuses much more on the structural elements of prolapse in relation to postural work and other lifestyle changes described here. Other conservative treatment of prolapse has been amost entirely focused on exercising the pelvic floor through kegels. Read "Why kegels don't work" in Christine's blog posts which you will find at the left hand side of the forum.

It is also fair to say that some of us do feel that kegels have helped us to regain strength in the pelvic floor, especially after childbirth. I feel personally that they have helped my rectocele particularly. I also no longer have a uterine prolapse to speak of. It is difficult to say with certainty what has helped me to heal as I have been doing so many things. It is very possible that my progress is related more to postural work and the natural healing of the post partum period than to the kegels I have been doing. Others here seem to have found that kegels have made things worse for them. I think we have to be a little careful though, and not simply link a correlation of anecdotal results, whether they are positive or negative, with a definitive cause. My own experience is entirely anecdotal and not based on any scientific methods. I have however definitely seen a reversal of my uterine prolapse, and great improvement with my cystocele and rectocele during the post partum period.

I think it is important to follow your heart with this and do what you feel is helpful for you, while reading and acquiring as much information as possible.

I personally do not regularly go to any other forums or web sites in relation to prolapse at this time. This forum has been a wonderful source of support and education for me.

Take care.

Michelle.

Christine

June 26, 2006 - 2:33pm

Just want to reiterate that working those muscles is very important, yet ever so much more effective when all the accessory muscles are leveraging the organs toward their natural positions at the same time! :-)