Kegal Exercises

Submitted by elaineh on September 29, 2007 - 12:25pm
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I have a rectocele and cystocele. I have been using a Kegalmaster for the last few weeks which i feel has made some small improvement to my stress and urge incontinence. However, I feel overall things are getting rapidly worse in terms of the severity of my prolapse. My rectocele has increased in prominence and I have such difficulty emptying my bowels. Additionally on a number of occasions when I have gone to remove the kegalmaster, despite lots of lubrication and making sure it was fully closed it has become stuck behind the cystocele where my pubic bone is. This has quite frightened me on a couple of occasions as it has felt like I was pulling my insides out!! When I first started using the kegalmaster i'm sure the prolapse was not so visible and now I'm worried that I,m making things worse.

Has anyone else experienced problems like this? I am scheduled for surgery in december which I haven't decided whether I will have or not,as I thought I would see how I coild improve things naturally before I make my decision.
However, this is really causing me to think surgery will be the only option. Please help.

Elainh

Beejay

September 30, 2007 - 4:56am

Hi Elainh,

I used the Kegelmaster for just over a week and the bulge got a lot worse during that time. I'm too scared to use it now. It was getting it out that was the problem. It pulled the urethrocele down even more, so I was walking like John Wayne for about an hour afterwards! In the advertising it said it could reverse prolapse but that hasn't been the case with me. Also, I suddenly noticed a rectocele after using it. Had no problems with a rectocele before.

Have you tried the posture recommended on the Wholewoman site and in Christine's book? I'm trying it. It's early days yet, but I want to avoid surgery for as long as possible, as from what I've read, surgery is likely to cause more problems. There are ladies on this site who know more about this than me, and they've been able to avoid surgery by using the techniques recommended in the book. Hope this helps,

Beejay

louiseds

September 30, 2007 - 4:57am

Hi Elainh

Kegals (with or without Kegelmaster) have very limited use for improving the position of prolapsed organs. Many women find that their incontinence improves and they get better sensation and movement during sex but the prolapses stay where they are, or worsen, sometimes only temporarily.

Many women find that doing too many Kegals can be damaging in itself. You may be just overdoing it. In addition to that you do not say what position you are in while you are using the Kegalmaster, or when you are removing it. I suspect your bladder may be below the very muscles you are exercising with the Kegalmaster, so it may be pushed further down with each Kegel. Yikes!

You might like to try hands and knees with a loose belly to remove the Kegelmaster, as that position will drop all your pelvic organs deep into your belly where they cannot get in the way of the Kegelmaster being taken out. It would seem that, at the moment your bladder is acting like a kind of pessary preventing the Kegelmaster from coming out!

Hope this isn't too discouraging, but we have to be careful not to do further damage. Reducing the number of Kegels may help quite a bit.

What do other Kegelmaster users think? And how many Kegels are enough?

I have seen something Christine has written about the pros and cons of Kegels and an explanation of how to do Kegels for best benefit, but I cannot find it on the Forum. You might have better luck if you have the time to search for it with the search box.

Somebody else might remember it?

Cheers

Louise

elaineh

September 30, 2007 - 8:44am

Thanks for that. Sounds like we have similar problems. Everytime I try to access the Wholewoman site my computer says it has encountered a problem, so have been unable to purchase the book, but as soon as I can access the site I will, as I'm really interested in posture and exercise.

I think that I am pulling the urethrocele down as it has certainly more bulgy since using kegalmaster, but I have been doing loads of kegals, like 250 a day as thats what they recommend. Having searched this site last night I realise that may be the very last thing I should be doing.

I think I'll stop using the kegalmaster and just do a few straightforward kegals once I'v rested everything!

Thanks for your comment. I don't know of anyone who is experiencing these problems and it so helps not to feel alone in dealing with this.

Take it easy

elaineh

elaineh

September 30, 2007 - 8:58am

Hi Louise

Thanks for the advice. Its all a bit of a minefield having POP and I'm just starting the journey of learning. I read more last night and realised I am probably overdoing the kegals so have decided to stop using the kegalmaster and do straightforward kegals reducing the amount considerably.

I was using the kegalmaster on my back with my legs bent, as they advice. Therefore I was removing it in this position - possibly the worst huh. I think I have a erythrocele, more than a cystocele. I have been diagnosed with cystocele, or maybe its both. All a bit hard to work out, I just know things are bulging.

Anyway it so helps to know I'm not alone. Thanks for being there.

elainh x