Worried about the way things look

Hi Elaineh

Welcome to the best place in the world for women with prolapses.Yeah, it does look a bit offputting, doesn't it! Never fear.

There are only two ways you can really look at your own prolapse.

One is from the front with your pelvis tilted right back, so you are looking down from above. This is what happens to pelvic organs (or anything else in your pelvic cavity, like a baby, or a poo) when you tuck your tailbone under and pelvis back. The pelvic floor goes floppy and everything in there tries to get out! It will never look worse than this position, and is not a position we actually spend much time in. Guess why?

The other way is to back up to a mirror, bend right over from the hips and look around the side. You will see that it all looks much more normal. In fact you would be hard-pressed to tell you even had a prolapse in this position because your organs are all tipped up and forward, and supported over the pubic bone and abdominal wall where they should be. This is the position for keeping things in; pelvis tilted forwards, pelvic floor muscles stretched tight and organs well forward. The rectocele may still be a bit visible, but the pressure downwards is removed so everything can get back to where it belongs.

Never look the first way unless you want a fright!! LOL

Check out the FAQ's on www.wholewoman.com and come back and ask some more questions. No, of course you don't have to spend the rest of your life bent down waiting for a smack! We have ways ...

Look, this business of finding prolapsed organs is pretty scary. It can cut to the very heart of being a woman, lover, mother, citizen etc. We have all been through the grief of finding out, "Oh, that's what it is! Yuk!" and it really does take a while to come to grips with a thing that is not going to kill you, and probably will have no effect whatsoever on your sex life, but cannot be cured, not even by surgery, which tends to cause other problems instead within a few months/years. There is also a bit of a stigma attached to prolapse, and it takes a brave woman to talk about it, even to close friends. That's why we're here! And in no time at all you will be helping others too.

Cheers

Louise

My solution to the appearance problem is to not let my husband lie on the floor with me straddling him naked and him looking straight up at it. Honestly, that is when it is the worst. He only sees my "down theres" with me either on my back, or in the "doggie" position. Either way, things are flopped back to normal. When I'm "on top" during sex things are pushed out of the way by his organ. I understand you feeling ugly about its appearance, but in time, you will get used to it, and if you want, you can do like me and just never let your man happen to catch a glimpse of it when it is in the most puffed out presentation.

Hi Elaineh

First, you're not dumb. Most people know nothing about POP until they confront it with their own bodies. I certainly didn't. It's just not stuff that people want to gather information on, certainly not the sort of thing you discuss over a family lunch! And boy, is it hard to find out facts. There is so much heresay out there.

Second, I really can't comment on the success rates for surgery, other than to say that Saving the Wholewoman has a very impressive chapter, all referenced from mainstream, peer-reviewed scientific journals, that describes all the different procedures that are done, along with the risk factors, and failure rates after several years. These are all highly controlled trials. We don't know what happens officially after 5 years because the trials have not been done, and probably never will be because medical research just doesn't seem to go for that long.

Depending on the procedure being described the failure and complication rates are grossly variable, and the consequences of failure may be minor, but may be catastrophic, depending on whether or not you select the short straw, and a whole heap of medical factors which I don't fully understand.

The ballet exercise routine is great, particularly if you can work out how to time it with the accompanying CD. Just get the book, right? Oh yes, and have a look at the FAQ's on www.wholewoman.com

Cheers

Louise

As louiseds pointed out there seems a lack of information on how those who have surgery do after several years, and to me that is like not knowing anything. Who cares how well it lasts for five years when you have to live another forty, fifty, or sixty?

Even if the failure rate is very low, say one in a hundred (and I doubt seriously it is that low) I would find that unacceptable risk and here is why. The surgery is optional, because the problem is an inconvenience, not a threat to my health. Therefore it isn't worth risking an unknown and worse condition. Consider the lasik eye surgery. The complication rate is very low. But the result when there is complication can be permanent vision damage or even blindness. Wearing eyeglasses is inconvenient, but not dangerous. Therefore to me the risks of lasik surgery, no matter how low, are not worth taking.

That is how I view pelvic floor prolapse surgical correction. I don't NEED to know the rate of failure. ANY rate of failure is unacceptable, because I would rather tolerate the known inconvenience than risk an unknown nightmare.