Question for you experienced ones

Hi Patty,

It seems that so much about prolapse is entirely individual to every woman. Some women have bulges, some don't, others bulge when bearing down, and some have bulges which come and go around the days/ weeks of their cycle. It is important I think to find where we each are within that extremely wide continuum, though that can be really frustrating at the start of all this when all we want is for someone to tell us definitively what is going on!!

I am guessing here that you have some "softening" of your posterior wall which only presents when there is pressure in the rectum, such as with a BM. At other times I would think that it is supported enough to not bulge so that you don't notice it.

I totally understand your confusion! I really have no bulges generally unless I bear down. My rectocele presents as "baggy skin" at the back, low down, and really only bulges very occasionally. I have noticed that for me it actually disappears completely when I need to have a BM, pass urine, or after these things.

The same is true for my cystocele. I simply have a little more of that fleshy pad at the entrance of the vagina, but not a classic "bulge". The front wall of my vagina is really quite flat, and yet I do have a cystocele. It took me ages to get that!

I think it is so important to be familiar with what is normal for you. Goodness me, the Drs can't even seem to agree about what constitutes "prolapse", or "normal" softening of the vaginal area which is so very common among us women.

I really recommend doing the vaginal self exam which Christine has posted here, and in the book. This gives one a great place to start getting familiar with things.

A nurse practitioner I saw for whom I have a great deal of respect, said that generally if the vaginal walls bulge when bearing down that is prolapse, but if one does not have any issues is it even important?

I am guessing that as Alemama found, if we passed the vaginal self exam around to all the women we know, that the vast majority would have bulging when bearing down, and therefore technically prolapse which they wouldn't have even known about.

I don't know if all this helps. You sound so worried right now and I am sorry. I understand where you are, truly, I have been there too.

Hugs,

Michelle.

I personally have not experienced tail bone pain, but I remember it having been mentioned by several people here. Why don't you put it in the search engine and see what comes up.

Patty, if you need more help here please feel free to e mail me. I am more than happy to chat, each day if it would help you. No pressure but I am here OK! xx

patty, no dumb questions here. Its really hard to visualize what's going on, at least it was for me. I think Michelle's description is right on.
if the vaginal walls get stretched out over time they provide less resistance to the pressures from the other side (ie bowels or bladder) and that's when a bulge happens. so could be when your bowels are empty, the pressure is not great enough to create a bulge into the vagina. my hope is that with posture and exercise the vaginal walls will go back to their original shape and better resist the pressure from the bowels - even when they are full.

the good news is that you don't have this bulge all the time. so I am optimistic.

Patty, I am also new to this but my rectocele 'happened' a month ago already and I can tell you how it went.

After starting the postural work it felt that my whole backside had to rearrange itself. I had to splint a few times, I had the tailbone pain/pressure and I thought I could not bear it any longer. It happened just when I thought 'OK, I can live with the cystocele'. I called my dh and mum several times a day just to cry. I broke down crying in front of the kids, which was horrible because they were very frightened.

Then I researched a bit more the surgery bit and realised that surgery cannot do anything with the rectal symptoms, evacuation is not easier after it only the bulges disappear (and then come back somewhere else). So I realised that it was up to me to solve it. I dropped sweets from my diet and increased raw vegetables. I had quite a good diet before so that was not very difficult for me. I also eat less dairy. And 90% of our food used to be organic anyway.

I also realised that if I try to have a bm when sitting on the loo a lot of it gets stuck... Although Christine suggests half-squatting for me squatting is easier and this way I have a natural pressure on the rectum and thus splinting is not necessary any more.

And I have to tell you that my symptoms pretty much disappeared by now. I had a hellish month but now it seems that my body is getting used to the new posture and my intestines are finding their way within the new configuration. I have one annoying little thing left: wind seems to get lost in me a lot and then that causes some pressure until I can get it out (sorry if TMI) with shifting my position (e.g. I cannot pass wind lying on my back). But this has been improving, too. (Now it is my cystocele that worries me again, arrrgh.)

Unfortunately, when I eat sweets things get worse. On the positive side I have shed the last pounds of my pregnancy fat...

Really, I am sure that you will get better, too.

When I was very down I got help from a homeopath. I don't know what he gave me (can look it up if you want me to) but a single dose pulled me back into reality. I was really losing it before. Of course, I am still very sad - but normal sad. After all we have reason to be sad...

Love,
Reka xxx