menopause?

We really don't know yet, Kiki, but it's my hunch that each individual woman's prolapse stabilizes to some level after beginning this work and stays that way for the long term with little fluctuations up and down depending on a myriad of factors. I work with a number of sixty-something women here at the Center and find their prolapse stories very similar to those of women half their age. I don't really think it's going to change much until we get to an age when we are all bent over and saggy. The pelvic structures shrink and as a result it's possible even very old women will have less prolapse that younger women after forty and fifty years of the postural work. At this point, all we can do is hope.

Hi Kiki

I am very much in your position, and have done this work now for nearly three years. I am 54, three prolapses and still having regular periods. My Mum tells me her periods just stopped and that was it.

I am the result of her only pregnancy, and she is still continent at the age of 95, but I have experienced 3 labours and births with some complications so my body has had more opportunities to be damaged. I am hoping the whole process might be as simple as Mum's but can't help worrying about the prospect of suffering all the horrible things that some women suffer after menstruation stops. I guess it has to stop some time, and will do so sooner rather than later.

The reality of this is that there are now a lot of Wholewoman Members who have been using Wholewoman techniques for managing their prolapses for several years, who will also experience menopause over the next few years, and we will be able to relate our stories when it happens. Watch this space ...

There is an old wives' tale that prolapses worsen after menopause, but it may be another product of the gynaecology industry. As Christine says, the research has simply not been done. As the prevailing reality in the medical industry has been that surgery is the only workable solution for prolapsed pelvic organs, nobody seems to have challenged the wives' tale. Go figure.

I reckon I will just wait and see what happens, and deal with it at the time. It all seems to have been stable for the past three years since formal diagnosis and my declining the nice gynaecologist's offer of a hysterectomy and hitchup in favour of Wholewoman techniques. If I had taken my family doctor's word about how my body would deteriorate if I left surgery longer than 12 months I should be a right mess by now. Clearly I am not in a mess, simply much better physically, and better informed and confident than I was before.
Cheers

Louise

sounds like some research among members might be of benefit here too, and might help produce some data to challenge the old wives' tale. i do hope ww take the survey idea forward.

Kiki,

Having been through menopause at 54, I can attest that lots of changes occur. Perimenopause began for me at 48. It took eight years to complete. I stopped periods at 54 and never had another one. Some would say it was easy. I have a good friend who is still trying to bleed to death every month - same age.

What I experienced was an overwhelming sense of loss, fear, anxiety, sadness and sleeplessness until I was suicidal. I don't metabolize any medications well, so I poisoned myself on hormone replacement therapy not as a first thought, but as a last resort. All my usual counts were suddenly out of whack. My blood pressure soared, my blood sugar soared, my immune system was crazy and this idiot doctor told me I had Lupus, kidney cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. It only added to my depression.

I've always relied on having a very strong body and be able to put in a sixteen hour day every single day, but with the loss of the estrogen, I suddenly felt like I was dying. My energy dropped like a stone. My tendons let go as they do in pregnancy, and because I didn't have the estrogen to back me up, I strained everything until I couldn't walk for nine months. I gave up the exercise because I just couldn't.

When it all seemed to have passed about 56, when all my counts returned to normal and my blood pressure dropped 30 points, I found the prolapses. The walls of my vagina had thinned without the estrogen and are now paper thin and not able to hold everything in place. It feels like there is toilet paper inside the vagina 24/7. Everything seemed to be falling out of me and it was terrifying. The depression returned, and I started taking the HRT part time. I got sick for the first time in 40 years.

I knew that it was irreversible, so I started to exercise vigorously three times a week. It's better now. That's why I harp on the exercise. It's the only real solution. I do like the posture too.

For the young people: by staying in the best possible shape and being alert and aware, you can avoid a lot of this. Take advantage of your estrogen and your youth.

Judy

Change what you can change; be happy with what you cannot.