Sliding from grade 1-2 and back again weekly, horomones and menopause

Body: 

Hi

I have not posted on here in awhile. Just letting things settle or so I thought. I am now 9 months postpartum and to be honest, have dealt with my POP issue for the most part. Almost always it is a non issue, but sometimes (usually due to lack of sleep, or eating bad food too many days in a row etc) it can slip again into a grade 2. I use the grades as that is what my PT says of my POPs.

As I am now in pilates (her-PT's class) and am working daily to strengthen my core area and constantly trying to engage my core before I pick up my heavy bundle of joy at already 27 pounds (ouch)....I have to question this to you older moms. I am 42. Once I stop breastfeeding, and really begin to heal as am told, then I have to worry about horomone levels as I am peri-menopausal???

So I guess my question is this....once I stabilize these POPs of mine, can they infact get worse once the hormone levels change for pre-menopause? I am so confused now I am not sure even if my question makes sense??? Should I be seeing someone for hormone replacement before I suffer the further migration of my bladder and rectum? Does anyone have experience with this?

Sheppie, I wouldn't really worry about it until it happens. I am waiting for the periods to stop (I am 55 in a couple of weeks) and just hope that it is OK, which it is so far (as long as I recognise some of the odd things that are happening as menopause, and know that they will eventually settle down). I reckon I have been perimenopausal for about 6 years so far. I may yet crack the Guinness Book of Records for the latest menopause in history!

I don't think falling hormone levels are necessarily a problem in themselves. After all menopause is a normal part of being a human female. If the symptoms become unmanagable I guess I might investigate HRT, but would rather not mess around my natural processes if possible.

There is no research evidence at all that prolapses get worse at menopause and beyond. I had this conversation with Christine some time ago. I think it must just be one of those gynaecological urban myths that gynos pass on from generation to generation.

What I know from my own experience is that my prolapses are less trouble now my uterus has descended and re-centralised, to the point where the cervix is just inside the introitus almost all the time. It has just made a bigger plug, so I feel it is less likely to escape! My doctor told me at my last visit that my uterus is quite small, even the day before menstruation, so I figure it may not get any smaller. Plenty of sexual arousal keeps the vagina plumped up regularly. What more could a girl want?

Ask me again in a few years, when I am a real crone, not just an apprentice!

Cheers

Louise

BTW I have had herniated discs in the past and had to learn to engage my core as you describe, for lifting. Have a play with this idea. I can now 'engage the core' with my tummy tucked in or with an expanded belly. I do it the expanded way, which still keeps my pelvic organs well forward of the abyss, and still provides a corset of support, but my organs don't descend the same way as if I tuck my tummy in first, because my pelvis still has that forward tilt and it all seems to be locked down by the sacrum. What do you think?