When I first “cracked the code” on stabilizing and reversing prolapse, and wrote and published Saving the Whole Woman, I set up this forum. While I had finally gotten my own severe uterine prolapse under control with the knowledge I had gained, I didn’t actually know if I could teach other women to do for themselves what I had done for my condition.
So I just started teaching women on this forum. Within weeks, the women started writing back, “It’s working! I can feel the difference!”
From that moment on, the forum became the hub of the Whole Woman Community. Unfortunately, spammers also discovered the forum, along with the thousands of women we had been helping. The level of spamming became so intolerable and time-consuming, we regretfully took the forum down.
Technology never sleeps, however, and we have better tools today for controlling spam than we did just a few years ago. So I am very excited and pleased to bring the forum back online.
If you are already a registered user you may now log in and post. If you have lost your password, just click the request new password tab and follow the directions.
Please review and agree to the disclaimer and the forum rules. Our moderators will remove any posts that are promotional or otherwise fail to meet our guidelines and will block repeat offenders.
Remember, the forum is here for two reasons. First, to get your questions answered by other women who have knowledge and experience to share. Second, it is the place to share your results and successes. Your stories will help other women learn that Whole Woman is what they need.
Whether you’re an old friend or a new acquaintance, welcome! The Whole Woman forum is a place where you can make a difference in your own life and the lives of thousands of women around the world!
Best wishes,
Christine Kent
Founder
Whole Woman
Christine
October 26, 2007 - 10:14am
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postpartum cystocele
Hi Snook,
From my point of view your present problems have nothing to do with your pelvic “floor”. There is a split down the entire length of these muscles – from pubic bone to anus – like a part in your hair down the middle of your scalp. The superficial muscles of the perineum, including the sphincters, fill in the split while providing opening and closing of the apertures. You can tighten those muscles all day long, but it’s not going to help the weakening of the central tendon of your pelvis, which exists at the lower level between vagina and anus. This weakening occurs from both structural and nerve damage of the episiotomy. The blowing out of your vaginal wall happened as a result of living and straining in unnatural positions rather than any defect in your pelvic diaphragm.
If you feel that your vagina is gaping, perhaps a superficial repair will be of some benefit, but understand that surgeons have long known that sewing together the deeper pelvic wall muscles down the midline can have disastrous effects, like pain with sex and difficulty emptying your bowels. Opening of these muscles is really more important than tightly closing.
Working to gain strength in closing them is beneficial too, but for reasons other than the goals you seem to have in mind. They are a significant part of your urinary continence system and also are what hold the penis during intercourse. Your vaginal opening can be as gaping as can be, yet your husband will not know the difference because it is the friction from the pelvic wall that counts. Kegels will do nothing to reduce the cystocele and anterior “repair” is fraught with failure and untoward side effects like urinary incontinence and loss of clitoral sensation.
Understand there is no viable surgery that “pulls back the uterine ligaments”. First of all, these are not true ligaments, but stretchy vessels that carry important nerves from our spine. There is great risk of chronic pain (lower back to legs) when these vessels are “shortened” and “strengthened” by wrapping them with permanent suture material.
Many of us have learned there is no easy fix for the disruption of the back vaginal opening caused by ill-conceived obstetric practice. However, when we begin to re-configure the pelvic contents as well as the entire surrounding support structure, our organs move back toward their natural positions.
To answer your last question, post-pelvic-reconstructive -surgery pregnancy is risky to both mother and child.
Wishing you well,
Christine
UKmummy
October 26, 2007 - 5:05pm
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Yet another question for Christine! :)
Dear Christine,
It has taken a long time for me to visualise all of this even after so long but I think I am getting there finally! However, I have a question for you if you don't mind? Why would someone like myself have seen such a quick and dramatic improvement in my original uterine prolapse unless it was something to do with softening of ligaments and "stuff" holding the uterus up post partum? I literally pushed it back up, kegeled myslef to death for weeks, (which I now know was a complete waste of time), and yet it never prolapsed again, and I hope never will! :) Also, I didn't start the postural weeks until several weeks after all of that. Can you shed some light on all this? I have asked Dr's the same question and they all make reference to those soft ligaments, and stretched pelvic floors etc etc! I would so appreciate your opinion on this! Thank you as always!
Michelle.xx
Christine
October 26, 2007 - 5:28pm
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pelvic organ support
Hi Michelle,
Well, first of all I think we have to consider just how strong and stable the natural design of the female body is. How amazing ALL of us don’t pop our uteri out with every birth and yes, even more astonishing is the post-partum uterine prolapse that recedes completely with no further problems. This includes women who “deliver” their uterus during birth and have it immediately replaced with no lasting ill effects. But is it really so amazing?
My explanation is that the young body corrects toward its natural anatomy. This is accomplished with every breath you take by the respiratory diaphragm pulling the lumbar spine forward and flattening the pelvic organs toward the front of your body where they are pinned into position. In a strong body trying to correct toward normal, manually replacing the uterus would sometimes be all that is necessary for the natural pelvic support system to once again take over and maintain it in that position.
How odd that “we” (medical science) focus on a couple of basically static structures – the uterine ligaments and pelvic diaphragm – as the mechanisms gone awry in prolapse instead of considering the whole, dynamic system from which pelvic organ support is truly derived.
Hope this helps!
Christine
UKmummy
October 26, 2007 - 6:38pm
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It does help! Thank you
It does help! Thank you Christine! :)