older women using pessaries permanently and natural lubricants and anti infective

Hi chickenfeet - I don't know what the best pessary routine is, so other opinions on this would be welcome. I think as long as you are avoiding Trimosan you are OK. Based on what we already know about your mom, do you think this nightly fussing with her vagina is something she will tolerate well? Is something required every single day when there is a pessary present? Not sure myself, just trying to keep the discussion going. - Surviving

I do not know loads about pessaries and older ladies - For I am not one and have no pessary - BUT - I do know in the Uk they put a pessary in and then you would go back 6mths later and get it changed for a new pessary. A family member does this and has done this for the past 6yrs or so with no problems bar her not liking the bother of being taken to the doctor. She doesn't do anything at all between visits to the doctors.

What kind of pessary thing does your Mother have? It does seem a lot of bother for someone who is78 to be dealing with on a daily basis.

I do hope you find a way to help your Mother

I have to interject that normally a pessary left in the body for months at a time is not something we would recommend at all. But Chickenfeet's mom has dementia and is no longer able to learn to manage her prolapse herself. Since she is still considering radical surgical "fixes" for her mom, I think the pessary is probably the way to go in this case, I hope they can settle on that for awhile. - Surviving

I know that in USA they take them out all the time- In UK they don't - It is very different. My family member would not in any way be able to remove the pessary herself, so I guess if it makes her feel better - That is ok for her. Personally - knowing what I know now I pray that as life goes on I will have the knowledge to live well with POPpy and for her to stay outta my face as she is now - A matter of years ago I could not have said that as POPpy was so in my face i was unable to see a POP-free life ahead of me - But now - I live with POPpy and we share this body pretty well :- )

She has had the pessary for maybe 6-7yr and does not use any lubricant or anything at all - It has always been the same sized pesary, never gone up in size (which surprised me) She just has to go back to the Dr every 6mths and get it changed for a new one. In between she just forgets she has one in at all. It is a ring pessary, looks like a tiny bracelet, just a circle of plastic looking stuff. She has never had any sores, and the Dr checks when the ring thing is changed, and she has always been OK. Being a pensioner I don't think she could cope if it became something she had to deal with every day.

Hope that helps

I have been using a pessary for 9 months. I am 77 yrs. using unfiltered honey inserted each morning along with diluted spray of natural vinegar. Comfortable and gym knows and does not disapprove. Right now I am experiencing external rash and swelling. I think I have a recto else. Suggestions?

Do you have Christine's book, "Saving the Whole Woman"? In it she notes that a pessary can aggravate a rectocele or even possibly contribute to a new rectocele. Many women with rectocele have trouble keeping a pessary or tampon inside. I would try to learn WW posture and firebreathing if I were you, to manage your prolapse by holding the organs forward in the belly and away from the outlet. Pessaries tend to hold the vagina open, which in the long run will make things worse.

I don't know about the rash, have you changed your soap or laundry products lately? - Surviving

Hi Chickenfeet,
I am so glad to see where someone else is concerned about what does an older woman do when she has a prolapse and cannot take care of herself.

When I was in the hospital after having a heart attack and having open heart surgery and having the people in the hospital not know how to care for you or even seen a patient that had a prolapse, one of the Nurses Aides who came to help me to the bathroom ran out of the room to get someone else to help me because he had never seen a prolapse and it literally scared the living beejeebers out of him, after he found out what I had wasn't uncommon for a woman to have he apologized to me.

Not even the doctors would listen to me when I asked them if it was okay for my daughter to bring me my coconut oil that I use at home to keep my Uterus from drying out, because as you know when the Uterus hangs out it gets dry and mine does bleed, as soon as I was able to use the coconut oil the bleeding stopped, one of the RN's was helping me in the bathroom right after I had the surgery almost fainted when she saw how much blood was in the toilet, after the surgery I couldn't reached my arms behind me for six weeks, so I was at the mercy of everyone on the hospital staff and then when I came home I had to depend on my darling daughter who never complained one time because she had to do everything for me.

So after that experience I wanted to know if before we get too old to take care of ourselves if maybe surgery would be something we should consider and even in considering surgery we have to do it before we get too old, a lot of the doctors won't do surgery if we get too old, I am 74 years old, so I wanted to get some feed back on the subject.

I am seriously considering having surgery.

Mahalo and Aloha,

Heavenlyflower

I would love to hear from Christine, and maybe some of the other practitioners, and really anyone who can give me some advise pro or con.

Heavenlyflower, I would agree that maybe you should schedule a consult with Christine; there is no easy answer to this question.

Some of these repair surgeries fail rather quickly. Others hold up for several years. Either way, there is going to be another repair in the future, and it will get worse each time. For the women who cannot care for themselves at all, no one can possibly predict whether getting surgery will help make things better for the immediate future, or for how long. And if we are talking about a very elderly and/or frail woman, can she even tolerate one surgery with its aftermath?

It would be different if prolapse repairs had consistent outcomes which one could use to weigh the pros and cons in any particular case. Unfortunately, it is a huge gamble always, with odds heavily stacked against you. - Surviving

Surviving, Thank you for your feed back, I am so glad I can get on the Forum and ask these questions it does get a bit frightening, when a worrier like me start thinking it can get pretty confusing, and dangerous.

I have another question when ever I have to urinate and I want to wait and I sit down it feels like I'm sitting on a ball, so by me wiggling I do get it back up inside of me, the urge to urinate does go away but when I do stand up again I usually don't make it to the bathroom and my urine is coming out, dumb I know but the bathroom has become my favorite room in the house (smile), what I was wondering is if I continue to do this is there a possibility that by doing what I do can it cause any damage to my Bladder like can it maybe burst?, I do have a fear of that.

My other question is there are time when I have to push on my uterus to start the flow and then it stops and I have to press on it again to empty my bladder, does anyone else beside me have this problem? please help me so I can make it easy on my self!!!

One last question it seems like every time I go to the emergency room at my hospital and they check to see if I have a Urinary Track infection I do have one, is there something I can do to prevent this or something I can take, I use to take a Cranberry supplement but my Cardiologist said I shouldn't take it any more so can anybody maybe suggest something, the weird thing is I don't feel any discomfort and then when they say I have an infection it really is shocking. Need Help!!!
Mahalo and Aloha,
Heavenly flower

I can tell you with certainty that you are not going to burst your bladder. It is behind the vaginal wall. As for what you have to do when urinating, I can't give you a good answer because my uterus isn't as prolapsed as yours. I have cystocele/rectocele. Perhaps others with a set of symptoms more like yours could be of more help. Again, perhaps a consult with Christine is in order. You say that you go to the Emergency Room on a regular basis, but you didn't say why. Incomplete emptying of the bladder is the biggest prolapse-related cause of UTIs, and I suggest you do it on all fours, as illustrated in Christine's book. That will get all the organs out of the way! - Surviving

Yes I have the book and have subscribed to the online programs. Her exercises are a great help. Today I have taken out the pessary. Right now I am getting plenty of rest so it is alright. I am wondering about soaps. I also wash underpants using bleach. Probably shouldn't. Wonder what would be recommended to disinfect?

I suppose you'll get different answers on this. I don't bleach or disinfect my underwear. I wear cotton underwear that I machine-wash in warm water with regular liquid detergent that is free of dyes and perfumes. I use unscented pantyliners all the time so my undies don't need extreme measures to get them clean. - Surviving