Hi all :) I'm new...

Hi Bluemama

You are in the right place. Welcome, and glad you found us. I've been here for three years. This is not the end of the world. You are at the beginning of journey to healing of yourself, even if the pelvic organs are sliding down (which is all that prolapse is. It is not a disease. You are not deformed. You are no less of a women now you have a diagnosis of pelvic organ prolapse,POP.)

It really is a horrible shock to find out that your organs are slipping, and to hear medical professionals telling you all this bad news is just sickening. It does no good for the soul at all! It is a real grief you are feeling.

I was formally diagnosed three years ago and must have gone to the same gyno. Fortunately I had found this site by then, so had enough knowledge to keep what he said in perspective, and did not have any surgery. Looking back I can see that I have had prolapses since I was your age (I am now 54), and though they have worsened, and I do feel at times (like a week before a period) that my uterus is going to fall right out, it now gives me less trouble than ever, hardly noticable most of the time. This may be because I now have a deep understanding of what is happening in my pelvic cavity, have learned how to move, live and clothes myself differently, and I am now free of the fear of it all falling out. You will probably lose your fear too in time.

Go to www.wholewoman.com, read the FAQ's, buy the second edition of Christine Kent's book and probably the DVD (both availaable from the online shop, and stay in touch with us, ask questions and share your experiences. We all learn from each other, and this Forum really is an source of inspiration and information for me.

You have shared quite a bit about yourself, and I found myself thinking while reading your post of the different women on the Forum who will resonate with different aspects of your experience. None of what you have written surprised me. All our stories are so similar. You can be reassured that you are quite normal, and that life will get much better for you as you learn to manage this annoying condition.

Tell your neighbour to become a member of the forum too. We have many older women here who will be able to help her as well.

BTW, sex is usually no different (yay!)

Cheers

Louise

Welcome!

Glad you found us. There is a lot of support here.
Mine always feels worse during ovulation and during my period.
I love yoga too but I definitely had to stop certain poses or change them in some way. I still go to the class and on my own I just adjust it as we go. Avoid any where you tuck your tailbone under. I changed the standing pose to the WW standing posture. Some of the poses are really good for prolapse though and really made me feel good after like the downward dog. Don't give it up but just adjust. I would highly recommend you get the book and learn everything so then you know how to change the postures to fit the ww posture. It is not as isolating as you think. If you ease into the topic with people I think you will find that many women have some degree of prolapse but don't know.

oh ya there is one good symptom of prolapse, at least in my case. sex is better and more comfortable and good therapy for prolapse :)

welcome to the site
I'm horrified that your dr gave you such a grim prognosis. there is really no reason, at the stage you describe, to think that you will eventually be incontinent and needed a hysterectomy. what an irresponsible thing to tell someone. grrr.

I also get angry when I wonder why I wasn't told about prolapse, or shown how to prevent it. but the thing is, that pelvic floor exercises arent the answer (I WAS doing kegels since I found out I was pg with my first - 9 years ago! and still developed a prolapse). the travesty is that doctors, midwives, PT's really don't know enough. I think Christines work is the answer - getting back to original design, a posture which supports the pelvic organs over bone as opposed to the pelvic floor (which is not a floor, but an open hole!) and placing muscles in optimal positions to hold everything up and in place.
this is relatively new, I haven't seen talk about this anywhere else and I did sooooooooo much reading when I first found my prolapse, and the medical profession is slow to change, especially when the new ideas are not from other MD's. so we're a bunch of renegades, here. ahh, I'm blabbering....

back to your questions..

I don't do yoga so I don't know firsthand, but there are a number of women here who do, I think they figure out which poses work well and which don't and modify some of them too. I don't think you have to give it up

I definitely feel heaviness right before a period. ovulation too.

money spent on taking care of yourself is money well spent. its an investment that benefits your entire family, not just you. I'm sure you wouldn't begrudge your dh's spending that way on himself if he needed to. and you'd spend it on your kids in a heartbeat. your family needs you healthy, spend that money on your care. for them.
don't worry too much about 'breaking the rules'. you are still new at this, it took me a long time (like a year) to figure out how to get things done while keeping the prolapse happy. my dh doesn't realize how profoundly this has affected me either. that he thinks sex is no problem is wonderful- proof positive that it hasn't changed his feelings about you, that you are still sexy and desireable.

I'm glad you found us, this is much easier to deal with when you are not alone.

Hi Bluemama,

I too was recently diagnosed- the day of my 34th birthday and 5 months postpartum. My midwife told me that my back vaginal wall had collapsed- did not even mention the word rectocele. And I feel that I also have a cystocele that might have developed since my visit w/ the midwife. I've yet to go to a MD- hate it when people give me those funny looks for going against the grain.....

I wake up some days and think, "this is ok, I can manage" and then there are other days and many moments where I want to cry and scream and grieve because there have been so many deaths related to the prolapse. I too am so sad that I can't run around and go crazy with my 4 year old son. I have a 6 month old son as well and am trying to figure out how to give him my all without my all falling out now!

I also feel in some way that I have failed my body- and then I turn around and get mad that my body has failed me. And will I fail my children because of this? I know everyone will tell me no, but that feeling is there when suddenly something is not your choice anymore. I too could go on..... I think the hardest part at the beginning is that you always feel the prolapse so there is no moment of forgetting. But some of the women who have being doing the Whole Woman work for a while do talk about having days when they don't feel anything prolapse related- I look forward to those days : )

I have found a tremendous amount of support and caring from the other women on this forum. And you will find yourself in your bad days, not feeling so lonely anymore because you know that we are all here to offer whatever we can to help each other through this new journey in our lives. I find myself carrying around all of you in my mind as I try to navigate through my days dealing with the prolapse. Welcome to my mind Bluemama! : )

Kimo

I really feel they like to make you dependant on them like they are God or something giving you the worst of the worst prognosis to life and everything within it.

There is no rule saying you will become totally incontinent. He does NOT know what might happen in your future. He is a Dr and he PRACTICES He is not psychic and he cannot tell the future.

My mother has had a prolapse for years and years - and she is in her 60's and she is not totally in continent. My Grandmother HAD the operation to help her continence and this operation made her MORE incontinent (Actually I do nt remember her having continence problems before the Op - But after I definitely remember we all went into 'Furniture protect mode' When she turned up at the door, as the poor woman didnt mention to any of us that she had a problem. But we had to cover the furniture because she was left with a BAD problem urine-wise.

Very sad.

But your future is not set in stone and nobody can say what will be.

I alsways say 'Fat deals the cards and we just hafts pla em'
So what will be will be. And there is a very good chance especially now you are here and can get help from here. That none of his problems will become anywhere like what he says.

:)
Sue

Look into the eyes - They hold the key!
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