Question?

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Here is a question for anyone. I think this has been covered before somewhere but I can't find it.

If a woman has incontinence, either stress or urge, does this mean that she most likely has a degree of prolapse as well? I think there is a link, but does one more often than not indicate the other?

Thank you to anyone who can help me with this!

I have now given the self exam article to 6 people- 4 I have heard back from- all four have a prolapse-
I think this is so much more common than even half of women- I think any woman who has had children has some degree of prolapse-
and I have another theory- and it doesn't apply to those women who have chronic constipation or heavy lifting as a job.
the older the children get- the better the prolapse gets until it is gone- only to return in 50 years or so. any thoughts on that? I think obgyns and midwives miss prolapse because they #1 are not looking for them and #2 they don't see a woman after the initial 6 week check up for an entire year- and by then most pregnancy and delivery related prolapses are not significant when the woman is on her back
I also think they dismiss symptoms- all the time-
you say I leek urine when I sneeze and they say- oh that's normal
or you say I feel a heavy feeling in my vagina and they say- well you just had a baby a year ago- you are not going to feel the same as pre baby- and then we get used to the feeling and taadaah- no diagnosis.
Not that I think it is a bad thing- the current ways of treating prolapse with surgery and kegals wouldn't be much help to women anyway but imagine if your drs. office had a pamphlet in it from Christine's book- what prolapse is and how to manage it- and this website as a reference. Now that would be amazing.
Sorry
I didn't really answer your question - I think you are right though- there must be a link.

apparently urge incontinence often has nothing to do with prolapse. i now know this because there are an increasing number of tv commercials for urge incontinence medications and i visited one of their websites. it can come from taking other meds or from certain diseases or conditions (such as prostrate problems in men) or from aging. i believe it is often more a malfunction of nerves either in brain or bladder that tell the bladder to go and it GOES. i once told my dr. i thought i had urge incontinence because i often had (much less since discovering this website & book!!!) frequent & incredibly strong urges to pee. dr. asked if i couldn't make it to toilet in time & when i said no, he explained, of course, that that is just urge, not incontinence!!

I SO agree with you Alemama! I too am sure that most women who have delivered vaginally, (and of course a very small minority who have had c- sections or no babies at all), have a certain degree of prolapse. I really don't notice mine much now, and unless I bear down not even a Dr could probably spot anything much.

I still wonder though if we were encouraged to birth more naturally, whether so many of us would have such significent degrees of prolapse or whether it would be nearly as common. If we were told this stuff would so many women blithely enter into the whole induction/ epidural deal? Perhaps the thought is that if we were told about the strong probability of prolapse we would all be demanding C- sections? That whole birthing flat on the back idea seems so very dumb to me, and so out of tune with all that is normal.

I ask because I had stress incontinence after the birth of my first baby for several months while running. I also developed incontinence right at the end of a half marathon I ran in between my two babies. I had forgotten about that until recently. I am sure I had some prolapse already by then. Interestingly I have not had any SI this time though I haven't run any distance to speak of.

I would be interested to hear what others have to say as well! :)

I think mary ann was right, urge incontinence is a problem with the nerves communicating with the bladder.

I remember reading in Christine's book about the link between stress incontinence and prolapse. can't swear to it and don't have time to look it up right now, but I think it had to do with the bladder and urethra being out of position so when there's extra forces applied to the bladder, the urethra can't provide enough resistance to leaking a bit. or something like that. which may be why kegels help, tightening the pelvic muscles before you sneeze for example, increases the pressure from below to counteract the increased pressure on the bladder.

You are right Granolamom, that is in the book. Thanks.

By the way how far along are you now with your pregnancy, and how are you doing?

just started the eighth month and feeling good, thanks for asking : )