Any kind of Gyn surgery

Why don't gastro's tell their constipated patients about the potential of prolapse. They just label us with IBS and tell us to have a nice day. THIS SO COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED!

- Lilly Anne

this is so interesting.

once i was diagnosed and i started reading about this, i thought of a good friend of mine who had her uterus out this past summer. i called her and told her what was going on and her greater risk for prolapse. she had had no idea -- her only thought was that if a prolapse was going to happen, it would happen right after surgery. i told her this wasn't the case and to explore it more to see what she can do now.

totally and completely not informed about any of this. makes me crazy.

xxsusan

hey therese:

what an interesting question you asked.

i prolapsed 6 weeks after i had a d&c and endometrial polyps removed. the possibility of it happening was never uttered even once by my gyn. and when i went in to get the diagnosis -- though i had already diagnosed myself, mostly via this site -- she never made mention of the fact that i just had had the surgery. it was actually kind of surreal because she asked me what i had been doing differently since the 4 weeks she had seen me (i saw her 2 weeks after surgery for a check up -- and for her to check stitches because SHE COULDN'T GET MY CERVIX OPENED DURING SURGERY AND ENDED UP PUTTING A CUT IN THE VAGINAL WALL THE REQUIRED TWO STITCHES) and i was just so speechless that she wasn't saying the obvious, well, i didn't either and just stuttered something idiotic about using different stuff at the gym and she agreed that THAT was probably the cause. what can i say? i was so shocked and well, appalled at the conversation i couldn't gather my thoughts in the least. and, again, this was considered very "minor" surgery.

i get all angry about it all over again just writing this out.

so, whew, therese, that was a LONG winded response to your question which is NO, at least, i, for one, was not given any possible whiff of a possibility that this "minor" procedure would lead to this. in fact, my gyn kept talking about how happy women are getting this done, how great the whole experience would be. god damn crazy.

i really want women to know what they might be getting into even with these so-called minor procedures. we always have a choice though i know it's easy to forget. i did.

hugs to all.

susan

I am SO with you Therese!

As a nurse I was taught in school that this only happens to "little old ladies", not something one pays much attention to as a 20 something nurse. I had NO idea it could happen to younger women, and as for all the rest I have learned, well, it just amazes me.

It seems to be such a "dirty little secret" around the medical establishment and is so very preventable.

What about educating women that a tipped uterus could be a factor in developing prolapse? Is there even any research on that? What about chronic constipation and modern birthing methods?

How sad that so many have to suffer in this way through lack of education and knowledge! Grrrrrr! :)

I sometimes wonder if the producers of Oprah started reading some of the message boards, whether they would start to think of prolapse as a worthy subject.

They did a fantastic program about the young girls in Africa with fistulas, and the surgeon who was repairing them a few years ago. I am not questioning the huge need for help in every way for these women. They were being ostracised from their villages and living truly wretched lives because of the fistulas and the problems they caused.

Sorry, I will get off my soap box now. Since I have accepted this thing personally I seem to be even more angry about it all generally! What's that all about?

since you have accepted this thing personally you are ready to make the world a better place and anger is where it starts. You are tuning into that place where great healers come from. Move with it.
The "gate keeper" mentality about prolapse has got to end. B

Hi Therese

You are so right. There are things we talk about and things we don't. I think the whole concept of body organs appearing through a pleasure zone is a bit like a scene from a horror film - except that it is a reality for some women. I suspect that conversations between children about the reality or not of Father Xmas are filled with the same shock of a changed reality. Eventually they know that there really isn't a fat man in red who comes down the chimney and brings presents, and yet they maintain the myth because reality isn't quite as nice. After they find out, they are likely to hope that somebody will still bring them presents, and they hide the reality from little kids so they can keep up the fantasy that Christmas is perfect, and magic, and not all done by humans. The parallel is not exact but the changed reality is.

Nobody wants to experience it.

It is underneath clothes in that forbidden region (so forbidden that many people still use colloquial terms for the body parts) that is totally private and delightful, and also the entry door into the world for lovely babies, or else it is the site of the worst kind of violation a woman can suffer; there is nothing in between those poles.

There is a definite stigma attached to it, in the same way that having a mental illness carries a stigma. You can't see it so somehow people can't relate to it without fear and TMI.

Thankyou for talking to your close friends about it. It may take them a while to realise that you are no different now you have outed yourself. I wouldn't mind guessing they have never really thought about the possibility before and may have been thinking about it a lot since then. Take your time with them. If they are real friends they will in time accept you as they always have. You have not done anything wrong. The worst you have done is to take a risk in telling your friends the truth. That is a brave and a good thing to do.

Bouquets to your Mum too. Unless Mums are open with their children, their children never see the example set by them, so when they grow up and have children they cannot be open with their own children. My Mum is 94 and she is currently teaching me by example how to survive living in a frail-aged hostel and keep her dignity. Mothering sure is for ever!

Cheers

Louise

therese:

as louise said, do keep talking to your friends. i think it's important for women to call themselves out with this. i do. i mean, personally, i suspect that there are women i know already who have this but just feel so caught up in embarassment about it that they keep it to themselves. which i totally understand. but i feel like for me, i think it helps not only myself but other women to give this information out there as much as possible. and, as i said before, this whole trip has ultimately gotten me to this place where i just feel powerful about myself, for lack of a better word. very strong and clear and steady. even on my bad days (but i come here for support with THAT so i am very very lucky.)

i see my gyn in april for an ultrasound to see if any more polyps are there (NOT that i would have them removed at this point, of course, but then we could moniter them) and i fully intend to discuss this situation with laura in full. i plan on buying her a copy of christine's new book, i will give her the site information and i will tell her how this has been for me and talk to her honestly. she is really quite pro-woman and choices so i think she just needs to hear there are OTHER WAYS. she told me she sees this commonly in her practice of women my age, so i plan on trying to help her with information. i'm actually quite looking forward to it. we'll see how it goes.

and i also have a daughter who, though only 7, has a very general sense of what's going on. we talk about the exercises i'm doing, she reminds me of the posture (no kidding) and knows that i'm not comfortable picking her up quite yet. oh, that girl of mine will know all about this and i trust she will be one of the future generation who will know the truth about how to avoid this all together.

i've said it before and i'll say it again. you're all an amazing bunch of women. all pioneers.

xxsusan

Hi Susan and Therese

Susan you are absolutely right when you say that many women are embarrassed about having prolapse. I would actually think it is all women to a greater or lesser degree, just because it is about something 'not right down there'. So most women won't discuss it with others at all, maybe other than a doctor who will probably tell them they 'need' surgery. However I wouldn't mind that there are plenty who know that they are 'not right down there', but choose to put up with it and do nothing about it. And there is probably nothing wrong with that as long as it doesn't start negatively affecting the way they live their lives.

It is 'well known'( ;-) though I doubt that research has been done to prove it statistically) that prolapse is a condition that older women get (I was told this in an email just the other day by a Professor running a large gynecological research programme at a large University hospital in the States). I haven't yet asked him about all the young women with prolapse who are members of this Forum. ;-)

Maybe a proportion of the sufferers who report end up reporting when they are older women a condition they have suffered since they were young. No doubt there are also women who develop it when they are older women.

However, I digress. That leaves those of us who are brave enough, or thick-skinned enough to wear the embarrassment, who need to be ambassadors for the rest. I can hardly blame a women for not feeling confident enough to tell others of her condition when the need arises, or openly discuss the reasons why she does not think a surgical path is a wise path.

So we just need to take a deep breath, soften our knees, lift our breastbones, tuck in our chins, relax our shoulders and SHOUT IT TO THE WORLD. I am still thinking about it and telling people in a very small way. I am trying to get braver, but it is hard.

Cheers

Louise