scared!!

Hello,

I just wanted to let you know that I can relate to your fear. I have a cystocele and a rectocele, and I'm only 28, with no kids!!! I'm so sorry you are going through this. I do have a question - what exactly is a perineocele? I'm not familiar with that.

good luck,
nicole

Hi,
Take a deep breath and try to relax as much as possible. Your baby is only 4 months old and so your body is still healing from the birth. Some women on this forum have noticed an improvement as their body heals. It takes at least a year for the body to heal after a pregnancy. When you cough bend over at the waist, it will help relieve the pressure on the pelvic area.
Go to the main page under FAQ and learn the posture
Peruse this forum and I am sure you will find many answers to some of your questions. Use the search box on the left. Also keep coming back and ask all the questions you want. The women on this forum are very knowledgable and willing to answers any questions they can.
Take good care of yourself and relax as much as you can.
Regards.
Flora

Hi Ana

Yes, the other ladies are right. Your body will be still recovering following labour and birth.

Your doctor is right too. You can tone your pelvic floor muscles.
This will be slow, specially if you are still coughing. Can you get any movement out of them at all, or are they really asleep? If really asleep there is electrical stimulation therapy which I have had in the past from a physiotherapist, which just wakes up the nerves and muscles and kind of re-establishes the nerve pathways again. I only needed a couple of sessions then I could make them contract and relax myself, which allowed me to do Kegals (properly taught) and increase the tone of them. You may however have sustained some damage to your perineum during childbirth, which has only become apparent since your bronchitis coughing.

At some time in the future you might want to investigate perineal damage and possible repair with your wonderful sounding urogynaecologist, who seems to be very realistic in his approach. That is not to say that you should allow him to make your decisions, simply that he has probably seen a lot of perineums and will be able to spell out your options. Do your own research too, and hang about here to learn from women who have had similar experiences. Then in twelve months time you will be able to understand all the technical talk and be able to question your UG in an informed manner and be confident that you will be able to make the right decision for your body at that time. It will also give you plenty of time to get that pelvic floor of yours working properly and see what benefits you can get from other Wholewoman techniques that may negate the need for any surgery at all. Just keep your feet firmly planted on the ground.

One of the ladies suggested bending from the waist when coughing. I would take it further and say to bend from the hips when coughing, and leave your belly as loose as possible to allow for your bladder to move forward over your pubic bone where it will not be pressing on your pelvic floor at all. Gravity will help to keep it in its place as you cough. It is very hard to 'blow out' your pelvic floor if there is nothing resting against it. I had asthma for several years which I think either damaged my pelvic floor or just allowed the existing damage from a 1982 episiotomy to manifest itself. My perineum seemed to be very loose for years in spite of having good pelvic floor tone. I eventually got rid of my asthma by doing a Buteyko Breathpower course (which taught me to breathe differently and stopped me hyperventilating) and my perineum bulges no more. I have been doing Wholewoman techniques for nearly 3(?) years now and my prolapses are basically unnoticable 90% of the time. Part of it may be that I am now used to having a little bit of a lump in my vagina, but now I am looking after it I am no longer scared of it worsening, which it isn't! I have also probably adapted the way I go about everyday tasks so the prolapses are not challenged on an everyday basis. However the main factors for me have been amending my posture, changing my diet and altering my clothing style so that my lower belly is never compressed. So I can honestly say that my prolapses are no longer a problem.

Keep calling. It gets less scary when you start doing things yourself to improve it, and the improvements keep happening for a long time.

Re the pessary, you might find it helpful. Some women find seasponges better than hard plastic pessaries. I would rather not use a pessary, just because I have only had negative experiences with them and can manage without. I am sure others more experienced than I am will post about it.

Cheers

Louise

Remember not to over-do the Kegels, and getinto Posture and all will be SO SO much better in a month or so :)

Sue

Look into the eyes - They hold the key!
http://www.bringmadeleinehome.com/img/maddy544x150Banner.jpg

about 18 months ago. I was scared out of my mind. Discovered it 7 months post partum with child number 3. I was freaked out. totally. Also, mine is also primary bladder, and about the same stage. It IS scary. It is.

18 months later, I'm in a totally different place. It's way different and better. There is a grief process involved, I think. There was for me. There is healing out there. There is.
My life is now as active and better than it was pre prolapse discovery. Really.

I walk, run, dance, play soccer, play tag with my kids, etc. etc. I am not limited. But, I wouldn't necessarily have done those things 18 months ago. I felt limited.

Follow your heart. Get Christine's new version of her book. Read the forum posts. Start your healing program. I'd get the book and cd and start in on the exercises (ballet workout) as much as you can do. Start slow. You are still healing from your birth.

Get her dvd, too. I would. Read about surgery in Christine's book. Get informed. It's a nice idea that it fixes everything, but unfortunately, it doesn't. Lots of women end up with repeat surgeries and more problems than they bargained for. With a stage two, you can stop the decline and reverse some of your symptoms.

It has taken me time, so don't expect results in a week. I've done lots of different things to help on my path of healing. Try things. There's a lot out there. Christine's program is a must in my book. I also use the kegelmaster. People have mixed reviews on it. It's helped me, but hasn't helped others. Use your inner wisdom.

Blessings on your path of healing. Feel free to email me for support or questions. It's a hard place to be, just discovering it. The women here are awesome. You're going to make it.

Marie

Go to the main page and click on whole woman store on the right hand side.

www.wholewoman.com

:-) Louise

When you Kegel you are using a muscle - A muscle that may be very lax...

When i started I was doing as many Kegels as i was able to fit into a day (300 or so)
My prolapse got sooooooooooooooo worse.

Christine told me to not do it but I did....

When one does this kinda thing - The muscle gets weaker and weaker from overuse in this manner and it is so 'tired' it hangs lower and is far more lax.
Thus - You feel ten gimes worse and your prolapse is lower and worse.

Now - after I learnt this harsh lesson - I went to my Physio who told me the same thing as Christine - dont over do it you madwoman (lol)

I cut it right down at that time and went to 50 a day (Now I am at like 10 a day or whatever)

Immediately - My prolapse lifted UP and went back inside - Yay

Finally it hit me - That I was tiring out my insides - And since then I have done less than 20 kegels a day and been happier for it!

I do a few cos it stopped the leaking - But I will never overdo them again cos I want that prolapse to remain as good as it is now :)

Pessaries can be good if fitted correctly and at the right size (Unlike my hellhole of a day with my GP who is an idiot)

Sleeping - I dunno - I am a side sleeper and used to sleep on belly till first child - Just cant now - lol
Hope that helps

Sue

Look into the eyes - They hold the key!
http://www.bringmadeleinehome.com/img/maddy544x150Banner.jpg

I get that sometimes like i wanna pee but dont - I always thought it might be my MS - Cos it goes after a while...

So - what was talking to Christine like? One thing Christine and I havent done is chat on the phone (I am so shyyyyyyyyyyyyy lol you wouldnt know it eh lmao)

I am glad things are improving - the only way is UP from here :)

Sue

Look into the eyes - They hold the key!
http://www.bringmadeleinehome.com/img/maddy544x150Banner.jpg

I get that too, from time to time, on 'prolapse-y' days. It **is*** distracting, but it always goes away

I'm also curious to hear about your phone call with Christine : )

When I first started using the WW approach to prolapse mine got worse. And all of the sudden (like over night) I felt like I had to pee all the time......Then I got busy with my life (baby #2 got mono) and forgot all about having to pee and realized I was just over analyzing every little feeling I had anywhere in my body. I recently thought my prolapse was getting way worse because I was feeling a stretchy burning feeling- I was so worried (thanks susan for noticing)- but it turns out it was my very first yeast infection. UGH.
So it may be the case that you are just more aware of any urine in your bladder. The trick is to see if you can go a half hour or more and not pee your pants on the way to the bathroom.
Hope this helps with some perspective.
otherwise consider a UTI, Diabetes, Your menstrual cycle, etc.....

i get that, and i agree--it is a bummer!
one thing is to be sure you empty your bladder all the way--liting up off the toilet so the bladder falls forward can empty more, than sitting back down and see if it empties any more.

it seems to go in waves with me, and my physio said that sometimes when you have a big improvement you do go through period of having to pee more, but then it will subside, which it always has so far.

I do have to watch what I drink if I'm going out so that I'm not peeing all the time--so I try to drink a lot at night to balance it out. Also I notice that if I'm sitting and stand up suddenly I feel like I have to go, but I'm playing around with the posture with that to try to reposition stuff and it seems to be working.

Hi

i was misdiagnosed with a uterine prolapse by my first doc. the second said it was a bladder and uterine prolapse and the urogynecolists (2) said it was just a bladder prolapse.

When i began to study anatomy and looked at my body i knew it wasn't my uterus and in retrospect I was amazed Doc's could get it so wrong.

So just a thought but For me if it feel's and looks as if it's the front wall of the upside down U shape towards the front of the pelvis its the bladder (higher) or urethra(bladder tube - lower) - and so it's a urethracele or cystocele.

if if's towrds the back, opposite side it's the retrocele

And if you put you'r fingers straight up and something is descending perpendicularily it's the uterus. a uterine prolapse... Some women have described this as feeling like a sort of sausage shape you can circle all the way around.

I hope this is correctly described.. Feel free to help out anyone who can clarify better or amend it. But i found i needed to have it broken down for me into a more basic explanation to make sense of it.

xx
Anne-helen