Not Pregnant: Cervix dropped into rectum, feeling contractions

Submitted by Jenna2131 on September 10, 2016 - 8:07pm
Body: 

Hi there,
I don't know where to start. Up until a month ago, I was exercising daily, rollerblading 7-10 miles a day and hiking. I am 40 and gave birth to 3 children in my 20s and early 30s. Over a month ago, I became, what my doctor said was, constipated. To me it felt like something was preventing me from having a bowel movement. My mother is a nurse and suggested that perhaps I had some sort of prolapse. So, during a bowel movement, I put fingers into my vagina and felt my cervix falling back into my rectum, almost pressing towards my sacrum. I went to OB and she told me that she didn't think it was this and that while there was some prolapse, I was in really good shape and sent me to GI. A few weeks ago I was feeling contractions so I went to the ER and was diagnosed with bacterial vaginosis. I took an antibiotic. Still, I was having trouble passing stool so my doc said keep doing laxatives, which only let me pass water. I began taking bulk forming psyllium and occasional senna, which helped more than the MOM that my doc recommended. This week, again, feeling severe contractions, I went to the doc. Again, diagnosed with bacterial vaginosis. My question is, does BV contribute to pelvic pain and contractions and is it possible that my prolapse would be more severe if it was not resting in the rectal wall? I can feel my cervix so low that it is pushing my rectum out when I try to have a bowel movement. I am in so much pain and I cannot see an OB again for a month. I am hoping that this will go away after this round of antibiotic. I am also feeling scared and do not know what I should do for pain and prevention of further prolapse until I see the doctor again. I will do anything to alleviate this discomfort since I have to work a full time job and cannot take off for extended period of time, at this point.

Forum:

Aging gracefully

September 11, 2016 - 6:56am

Hi Jenna and welcome,
I am trying to figure out the orientation of your uterus by your description. It sounds like the uterus is in the right place as the cervix is poking the back wall into the rectum. Maybe it is prolapsing some and that is the start of your problems, but for many of us that have had problems with evacuation of stool, our uteruses have actually fallen back away from the lower belly onto the back wall of the vagina causing pressure on the rectum. This is called a retroverted uterus.
Either way, the whole woman work along with some serious dietary changes can help that as well as the constipation. I spent years with constipation and trouble getting the stool to go past a certain point which I later learned was in fact my uterus resting there.
The whole woman posture with all the tools Christine offers in her work are the answer to get those pelvic organs moving in the right direction out of the vaginal space where they can cause all kinds of discomfort.
With your diet, get all the processed foods and sugars out as you can, and put in plenty of fresh veg and fruit. Get some fermented foods in there also. They feed the good bacteria in your gut, so it works more smoothly. And, most of all ditch the laxatives; those only lead to a vicious cycle that is not good for your body.
Please do some reading around this site, starting at the tool bar above.

Jenna2131

September 11, 2016 - 10:22am

From what the doctors have told me, my body is in good shape for my age and the number of children I have. I should mention that I am a smaller woman and during this time of not being able to evacuate stool properly, I lost 10 pounds since I was not able to eat regular meals. Sometimes just one small meal a day. I want to gain the weight back since I am now 124 pounds and I felt more comfortable when I was with a little more curve. I eat very healthy, with the exception of occasional organic chocolate or organic corn chips (for nachos). I also have celiac disease so that eliminates a lot of food that might be troubling for some people. This has led me to making a lot of veggies, beans and rice dishes, oatmeal for breakfast and occasionally eggs. Mostly we use soy milk or coconut milk instead of dairy milk. I drink kombucha religiously. I take multivitamins, along with magnesium, potassium, krill oil, and occasionally curcumin. Again, I am also very active. I do not believe I was constipated but it was more like I could not pass the stool because it was obstructed by my cervix pressing into my rectum. I am not sure if the bacterial vaginosis contributed to any of this. I will check around on this site like you suggested. Thank you so much for replying.

Christine

September 11, 2016 - 1:03pm

Hi Jenna,

I agree with Aging Gracefully’s thoughts on the matter. No doubt you, like most of the rest of women in our culture have spent your lifetime holding your belly in. This causes the guts to be shoved to the back of the abdomen, and the rectal walls to lose their support. The natural forward curvature in the front rectal wall becomes accentuated, literally blowing a pocket into the back vaginal wall. This pocket traps stool, which causes the symptoms you are describing. Many women use their thumb to press on the back vaginal wall to fully evacuate the rectal pocket, which we call splinting. Your uterus is probably tipped up a bit, which will also slacken the vaginal walls. But I agree with AG that it doesn’t sound significantly malpositioned.

There is a long and fascinating story about bacterial vaginosis, which is explained in this inexpensive video:

http://www.wholewomanstore.com/The-Miraculous-Self-Healing-Vagina-Video_...

Antibiotics are a terrible response to the problem. If the vaginal ecosystem is not restored, women find themselves battling bladder infections as well. The contractions you describe are unusual, but who knows what sort of microbial pathogens may have cultured the walls of the uterus. As far as we are concerned there is only one medicine in all of nature that can restore the vagina/uterus to health, which is thoroughly described in the video.

I’m working on an important lecture on the bowel as well, which we hope to have up in the store toward the end of this week. There is so much misunderstanding about diet and the gut, which is resolved by looking deeply into the microenvironment of the gastrointestinal tract.

I also wouldn’t discount the possibility of something going on higher in your gut, perhaps the sigmoid colon. We’ve heard so many stories of intractable constipation, which seem to have their origins in the sigmoid.

Make sure never to strain against the toilet seat, but to lean forward and lift your weight off the seat when you need to increase pressure. This will also allow you to fully empty your bladder, a slight prolapse of which may be contributing to your symptoms.

Wishing you well,

Christine