What does this turn into in the long term?

Submitted by Crunchy Christi... on January 23, 2016 - 11:37pm
Body: 

Greetings all! Over the past two months, I've been working on my posture and other healthy habits advocated for by Christine in the WW book and some of her DVD's and I've seen really good results for my cystocele.

However, I'm 32 and Lord willing, I'll live another 50 years and hopefully have at least one more child. So I'm looking at traversing one or two more pregnancies, menopause, and everything else women go through as we change through life...

My paternal grandmother had some of these same issues starting many years ago and went the surgical route and wore a pessary for many years. She ended up with a hysterectomy and has suffered from severe incontinence. At age 86, she finally had to have everything sewn up because one surgery just led to another and her body lost all ability to maintain continence.

My sister's MIL has such strange bladder issues that at age 65, she has her bladder electro-shocked once a month and they are talking with her about putting in some kind of pace maker for the bladder. She has more issues than just POP, clearly...

but I hear these stories and they make me terrified for the future of my body.

Can I expect my POP to just slowly get worse over the years? It's relatively minor right now and as long as I take care of myself, it's completely manageable. But I'm afraid of what the future looks like. My midwife said it will probably never completely resolve and will probably just get worse over time, but she also admits that she has no experience with POP, so that was just her best guess.

Is there something in any of Christine's materials that discusses what happens to our POPs over many, many years?

Forum:

Surviving60

January 24, 2016 - 6:43am

Hi CC - Once a woman goes under the knife, it is anybody's guess where she will be, down the road a decade or so. But even those women can usually learn to manage things well enough to avoid major progression of their condition, if they swear off further surgeries and pledge to learn correct posture and tools for safe prolapse management.

These conditions are indeed often considered to be progressive, but with proper understanding of the real causes and management of prolapse, I don't believe this is a given, by any means. And the best thing about the WW work in my opinion, is that it eventually gets you over that fear that you are feeling now.

So just keep on your path. We have so many members who have gone on to have multiple babies, have successfully negotiated menopause, all of it. There is so much bad information out there. The stories you are hearing should convince you that medical interventions are not the way to go. For most of us, it can only get so bad and no worse, if we avoid irreversible surgical procedures. But that is the trick - to get panicked women to say "no".

I started this work at 60, and in going on 6 years since then, have seen complete stabilization and some reversal. It's hard to judge exactly because the organs are always moving around in response to everything we do all day. My experience tells me that my prolapse is not progressive. At your age, while still having babies, you can expect great results if you commit. I wish I had known all this at your age.

I don't know what happens with a prolapse that is completely ignored. Long term, that would be preferable to surgery, but no comparison to learning to manage it the WW way. - Surviving

Crunchy Christi...

January 29, 2016 - 4:28pm

Thanks for the response, and for all your support. I always see your responses for us newbies and it is really appreciated. There is nowhere else I know of to talk about this stuff. Thanks for the encouragement and the hope!