Lots of questions

Surgery and hysterectomy are the tools of trade of our western medicine when it comes to our pelvic organs, things which we may have to turn to if our condition is ever shown to be life threatening e.g. cancer.

The women on this forum and others have decided against surgery for prolapse and manage their condition for themselves. We have acknowledged Christine Kent’s wisdom on this subject and find it works for us.

Don’t be put off by your doctor at this stage. See what diagnosis she comes up with. Then investigate your condition and find out as much as you can about it. This way you can make your own best decisions.

I suggest you type colonoscopy in the search box at the top of the page, forum members vary in their view of it as regards prolapse. If you are worried about it discuss it with your doctor. There may be other diagnostic tools she can use.

Your chicken and egg question about which can lead to what is probably best looked into with your doc, but I can say there usually is not pain with prolapse, more discomfort really, and yes if you have a prolapsed pelvic organ it can impact on your other organs and make elimination more difficult. Also, it is usual to find the prolapse more bothersome later in the day. Ideally, that would be a good time to rest, if possible, and get up later to finish off your home chores.

Your discomfort in your tummy is worth checking out further. I guess bloating and swollen tummies now a days are becoming somewhat passé what with advertisements for yoghurt being the simple cure according to them, but it really is important to check out that it isn’t something more serious first, and then if not, you can go onto a course of probiotics and magnesium or whatever, but until you know what you are dealing with caution is probably best.

Work does require us to make do with certain inconvenient toilet conditions and is counted amongst what medics term decompensating factors for prolapse along with ageing, disease, medications etc.

So all your instincts are right, but carry through with your investigations and then if all is otherwise well get stuck into Wholewoman posture and beat the bugger.

Cheers, Fab

Hi Poptarts and welcome to Whole Woman. Since you've found your way here, please take some time to read around the website and forums. Your GP is completely wrong in suggesting surgery, but sadly, most doctors do not have much to offer women in this area, and their advice can be quite harmful.

Go the the Blog and look for Christine's article called "Just Do Yer Kegels". If you're doing these, you'll probably stop after reading what she has to say.

Our approach here is postural. Pelvic organ support comes from restoring lumbar curvature and giving the organs a place to go, forward in the relaxed lower belly, supported over the pubic bones. It is not a quick fix but with time and effort, you can stabilize and reduce your symptoms. I have cystocele and rectocele and have been doing this work for 3 years.

Go to the Resources tab and then look for Videos. The first video on the page will give you a great overview of what this is all about. I'd watch it before talking to any more of your knife-happy doctors. When it comes to prolapse, the only thing they can do to help you is to rule out other problems that you may be worried about, and free your mind and body to pursue your own healing. Gas and bloating could merely signal the need for changes in the diet.

I hope you'll avail yourself of the knowledge and wisdom here. It has been rather life-changing for me. - Surviving

Ho poptarts,
Welcome to this site and the WW community. I'm so please you've found your way here. You'll find loads of helpful information, advice and support here.
Sounds to me like you've got pelvic organ prolapse, possibly cystocele (bulge at the front of the vaginal wall), rectocele, (bulge at the back of the vaginal wall) and uterine prolapse (cervix dipping down the vaginal passage). It's very common for women to have more than 1 type of pelvic organ prolapse (pop) and it's not surprising given that they lie so close to one another and are connected by connective tissue. So the pelvic organs are independent but also connected to each other. They can move and slide alongside each other, but one organ can also affect another organ.

I think you're saying in the post above that your lower back has flattened over the last few years. If that is the case, then is quite possibly one factor that has contributed to the onset of pop. I think for many women symptoms of pop are the accumulation of a variety of factors and very often over the course of a number of years, sometimes most of their lives. I do also wonder whether straightening the spine out of natural shape is good for your back? Doesn't seem logical, but your experience has been that is the case. Sometimes life is a mystery! The WW posture has been tried and tested by the many many women who have accessed this site - and the vast majority have found improvement of pop as well as overall health via this approach. Christine has found the WW posture also improves hip joint problems, which is her next big project!

The whole woman posture is at the core of improvement of pop symptoms. Check this posture out on one of the resource utubes, images and articles. A key element of wwposture is allowing the natural curvature of the lower lumbar spine as well as a lovely open upright posture and realxing the belly.

I always recommend women with prolapse to try the WW approach first. In your case your pop and sypmtoms are relatively mild - and there's a lot you can do to improve things. As you get more familiar with the WW work, you'll begin to understand what helps and what makes things worse. For many women it's a life changing process, as it involves improving you health and happiness overall. After all, our health is not just seperate entities but a wonderfully interactive interconnected system.

Surgery often leads to further surgery or adverse affects - and there's no turning back once you've had surgery. It makes sense to me to at least try the WW approach which is safe, natural and generally effective. Women still have their options with this approach.

The medical system generally do not know about the WW approach - so at the moment it's not an available treatement option for them.

Re your bloating and bowel problems. I advise you identify anything that might be contributing to this and if you can make positive changes, eg good diet (organic fresh food, reduce caffiene, alcohol..), good elimination (avoid constipation and straining), reduce stress, rest 0work balance etc..

Also there are WW resources for anyone wanting detailed info, advice and support re pop, as well as dvd's for WW exercises. If you're lucky enough to be able to access a consultation with Christine or a WW teacher, then I think that would also be very helpful.

Good luck!
xwholewomanuk

Hi poptarts - Are we to understand that you used to have a pronounced lower lumbar curvature, which has now been flattened by going to a chiropractor? I'm wondering how exactly that was accomplished.

I've never been to a chiropractor, but my impression from various Forum posts is that some of them, when confronted with WW principles, have acknowledged that this lower lumbar curvature is in fact the correct spinal shape for a female. Yours definitely wasn't one of those, it would appear.

So what is the answer? It sounds to me like you had the makings of good WW posture there for awhile, but now you are going to have to work to get it back again. Relax belly, pull up chest, keep shoulders down (not back). I don't know if this flattening of lumbar curvature caused your prolapse, but I would venture to say it could have been a contributing factor. - Surviving

Hi Poptarts. There are always a lot of factors operating. Sway back has been defined in many ways, and the term is usually used in a derogatory sense. We are designed to have a lumbar curve. Women have more of a lumbar curve than men, with L4 and L5 being wedged in men, but L3, L4 and L5 being wedge shaped in women, longer on the ventral surface than the dorsal surface, causing a wider radius curve. There is nothing wrong with a lumbar curve, as long as it is accompanied by a lifted chest, relaxed shoulders, a broad, flat back, a tall neck, slightly tucked/lowered chin and a relaxed belly, Also soft knees and weight evenly spread between the heel and the full width of the ball, stabilised by the toes, so the weight is carried just forward of the ankle.

Prior to your chiropractic treatment you may have had some other factors making your butt stick out. I wouldn't say that the chiropractic treatment fixed the back and caused the prolapse. I would say that having your butt sticking out the back previously may have inadvertently protected your pelvic organs from prolapse.

Having your butt sticking out is not in itself relevant for managing prolapse. In WW posture your butt might stick out, but it will be balanced by the relaxed belly at the front, and upper body and head being held further back, to maintain your balance. In WW posture the lumbar curve may be larger but it is also a greater radius arc so your pelvis may now not be tipped as far forward as it was previously.

I hope we can help you to fine tune other aspects of your posture to improve your prolapse symptoms.

Louise

The curves of the spine are very variable, and the balance between the different portions of the S shape changes according to where the problem is, and how the rest of the body is arranged around it.

You are not going to your doctor because she wants to do tests and find out what is really wrong?

You are asking questions on here because you have made your own diagnosis that your problems are all down to prolapse of your urethra?

You say you don’t want to do WWposture where the lumbar curve has its full natural bend because you have worked five years to straighten your back even after having had explained that full lumbar curve posture is what this site is about?

Your main problem is gas and pressure and it is not because you need to pass stool?
What have you done about your diet? Some foods stuffs cause wind and bloating and noisy passing for people. You would know of the most common ones like cabbage etc. Maybe keep a food diary and try to match foods to gas accumulation. If there is some obstruction to the bowel, a condition as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, haemorrhoids or even a tight sphincter, you need to know.

Hi poptarts,
I may not fully understand your health issues, but I do empathise with your lack of knowing and not knowing what to do. It 's not easy not being clear. I do hope you find some clarity in time.

Health is an integrated system incorporating all aspects of our being; mental, physical, spiritual, environmental, relational.. pretty much everything really! So it's often hard to dissect what exactly is happening; where, why or when...

What we do know is that you have prolapse, ie the pelvic organs have gone back and downwards, for whatever reason. Many of us can point to a few factors but may never know for sure. What is, is. From our approach - the only way to improve this is to effectively manage this long term is to re-attain natural pelvic organ support, as far as possible. For this to happen the pelvic organs need to go in the direction of up and forwards. For this to happen we need WW posture, as Louise described so well above. The WW posture, exercises and lots of other advice in the book, dvd's & forum, all support this. I can understand your anxiety re your back pain returning. However, I don't think there is any other system that can naturally improve your pelvic organ prolapse.

Re your back pain. 1 possibility is that you did have a lower lumbar curve but still had a poor posture. E.g if you hyper-extend your knees, then you get a v.g./possibly over-extended lumbar curve & buttocks & other misalignments, so it's not a good posture at all - although the lumbar curve is there.

I also wonder if there may be some kind of connection between your sciatica and prolapse. I had a uterine prolapse - with pains down my inner thighs, in usually q buttock and down one thigh. The GP's said there was no connection, but to me it felt like there was. Everything's so interconnected, I still think that's a possibility, but to some extent it doesn't really matter as all symptoms reduced almost immediatly once I started the WW posture and following the dvd's and now I rarely get the beginnings of those symptoms - and for me, they are a now quite a useful warning signal that I need to take care of my pop by doing WW posture, exercises etc. (So for me, there must be connection!)

The WW work is a holistic health system, so good diet, (organic, fresh, non processed, low caffeine, low alcohol...), goood elimination, (no/as little as poss constipation, no straining on the loo, following the guidelines in the 'Saving the WW' book), relaxation, (stress can be a factor in bowel disorders + prolapse), adequate rest, bringing joy and happiness into your life..., loose clothing, non toxic environment, levels of activity, (sitting for hours & hours in def not good for us).., etc... all contribute directly or indirectly to the picture of our health. It may be worth considering what your general health is like, eg inc the factors identified above. Any/combination of these factors can contribute to bowel probs. Are there any areas you cld improve upon?

Also, personally I'm also concerned about your bleeding for a few weeks or months. I don't think that's normal & in my opinion definately worth a check up. You sound confident it's not a problem, so you may well be right intuitively. I know colonoscopy's no fun! My mum's had one twice in her life, on the other hand, these days they're not that bad either. It may answer your queries re what's causing your bowel problems. At the very least it could rule out what you haven't got!

I think it would be worth your while gently trying the holistic WW approach. That way, you can try out whether it works - but you also keep all other options open to you if it doesn't.