slipping gelhorn pessary :( uuugh

Hi DW and welcome. I think that your issues might be somewhat beyond the scope of this forum. Can you tell us more? What were the injuries suffered in the attack, and what was done to treat those injuries? In normal anatomy, though all three organs can be prolapsed, generally speaking either your uterine prolapse will be primary, or your bladder/bowel will be primary, since not all these organs can occupy the same space. Not that things don't move around all the time.....but we don't really know what else might be playing into your situation. What happens without the pessary, exactly? I assure you that we discuss it all on this forum, nothing you can come up with is too graphic for us.

Pessaries are notoriously tricky to fit. We don't have a lot of users here, unless you count the ex-users who have gone on to manage their prolapse through the WW body work. Sponges....might be worth a try, but again, I can't think of any members here who are using them successfully.

Consult with Christine maybe....... - Surviving

You all are the first forum I've been tempted to join and I'm jumping right in.

Disfiguredwoman, is the gellhorn the first pessary you've tried? If so, maybe the 3-3/4 inch gellhorn would work, or perhaps one of the other pessaries would be what you need. When it comes to pessaries, I've been told you just have to keep trying different styles and sizes until you hopefully find one that fits and stays in place. I wore a gellhorn for over five years with no problem except the stem tended to rotate to the left and sometimes the disk portion felt like it was pushing against my spine or into my abdominal wall.

By the way, when my GYN said I couldn't get in for four months, I finally took the recommendation for a urogynocologist. I actually ended up seeing two urogyns because I didn't care for the first one. But I got in to see both of them between 2-4 weeks of calling. I begged a lot and told the receptionist that my bladder was falling totally out, had minor bleeding, which was probably from stretched and broken capillaries, and could hardly walk because of the back pain. Both of those offices found a spot in a full schedule to slide me in. Maybe you need to find a different doctor whose front office understands what you are going through, if you haven't run the pessary gamut yet. Just because you can put the Gellhorn back in when it comes out doesn't mean you can wait several months for another consultation with the doctor.

Here's my background and why I can identify with the pessary issue. I'm currently a post-menopausal 69 year old who has one child and have had no abdominal surgeries. When I went to a doctor 8 years ago because I didn't know what was going on when I felt tissue from the inside on the outside of my vagina, the diagnosis was "Stage 3 Procedentia . . . Go see this surgeon right away to get it repaired." The surgeon specialized in cancer patient repairs and barely wanted to talk to me. He did at least say if I wanted to keep everything from falling out he guaranteed a Gellhorn would keep things in place, and it did for seven years once we got the right size. Now the urogynecologists have said I have (1) Stage 4 uterine and bladder prolapse with cystocele and a Stage 2 rectocele; or, (2) Midline cystocele and female proctocele without uterine prolapse.

About a year ago my sex drive came back and I asked the doctor if there was a pessary that would allow coitus and could we fit me with one. We took the Gellhorn out and from then until now I have beeen trying different types and sizes, all of which have fallen out and left me hanging. I've tried the Ring with support, Spring Ring with support, the Donut, a larger Soft Gellhorn, and the Cube with support. None of them stop the intermitttant bladder leakage, keep my bladder from slipping down between the vaginal wall and the pessary and out, or have been strong or large enough to not fall out when I strain on a bowel movement or just sit on the toilet for half an hour. If anyone knows of another pessary size 8 or above that might work I'd love to hear it.

Last week my urogynocologist told me we've tried every pessary he thought would work and if the 3.5 inch #8 Shaatz he just put in didn't work we were out of options. Eight hours later half my bladder was hanging out, having slipped past the side of the pessary which had been pushed two-thirds of the way down to where I could reach it and pull it out. Maybe a 4" would work, but they don't make it in that size. I wasn't looking forward to talking with my doctor next week about slim to none for options. Guess I'm lucky, my doctor refuses to perform any surgery, but if I was out of options what was my future to be?

That finally got me to start googling and I found Whole Woman. After reading Christine's free e-mail booklet and watching the video, I can now see some light shining into the emotional hole I dropped into. I know her technique doesn't promise a cure, and I don't expect one. If following Christine's program will help to pull my "innards" into place enough to improve my condition so it can be lived with, what a blessing that will be. Having this helpful forum to talk with others who understand, and be able to sound off, is the icing on the cake. Thanks to those of you who have such positive things to say about the program. I can hardly wait for the book and DVDs to get here so I can get started.

Hi Lamp's Jeanne,
Welcome - This is the first forum I joined also!
The consensus on here is that pessaries are not all that useful as it can keep the vagina open.
Our organs have fallen back from the front lower belly and with Whole Woman posture, the vagina is a closed airless space helping to keep the organs nestled forward in front of the pubic bone in the relaxed lower belly.
I came here 2yrs ago and have not looked back, starting with the posture and a few months ago learning and doing the DVDs - I am stronger, have more muscle than ever before and I still look like a woman...I am more balanced & physically even, & my hip has healed to the point where I can now sleep on either side as well as on my back without any pain or discomfort in either hip.
This is my latest benefit, and have had so many that I now observe things that I believe could improve and so far they have in time and quite suddenly at times.
Start with the posture which is most beneficial and the foundation of this way of living, which is so empowering and healthy!
Best wishes,
Aussie Soul Sister

Hi Lamp's Jeanne and thanks for a very informative post. You are very wise to have avoided surgeries, and I find it interesting that your urogyn refuses to do surgery, considering that surgery is what urogyns do! Dare we hope that the medical world is beginning to admit what a horrendous track record these procedures have?

Anyway I'm glad you have realized that you've come to the end of the line with the pessary. Masking the bulge of prolapse really does nothing to stabilize or reverse it, and only damages the delicate tissues and holds the vagina open which, as Soul Sis has pointed out, is the very last thing a prolapsed woman needs, as we are trying to close the vagina against the invasion of those organs. Pessaries have been known to cause new-onset rectocele as well.

I have been doing this work for over 4 years and have been on this forum following the journeys of many women. The truth of Christine's teachings is so obvious through these stories, and the most obvious of all when you begin to throw your efforts behind the work itself. There just is no other way to deal with prolapse. WW has been around for over a decade and it amazes me how many women are still going under the knife because their docs tell them to. Most of us can live just fine with our bulges once we learn how to manage them, and the benefits go way way beyond prolapse management, into every aspect of our lives. - Surviving

I am sitting here on my pity pot and just read your post, Surviving60. Maybe I need to be thankful the I am continent and stop feeling sorry for myself that I am on my third cystocele. I have the initial yoga DVD and I have ordered the senior DVD. I am willing to do what it takes, but I am feeling hopeless. The internet says that a Colpocleisis is rarely not successful. Why me? It was hard enough to accept the Colpocleisis, and not this? I am sorry to be whining, but I have to person to talk with except you guys. Thanks for listening.