Cystocele and urgency to urinate

Submitted by izzy79 on September 23, 2009 - 10:21pm
Body: 

Hello ladies,

First of all I want to say that I am so glad I found this forum!

I am 30 years old and self diagnosed myself with cystocele at 1 week pp, then at 2 weeks pp my suspicion was confirmed (moderate or grade 2 cystocele):(

Currently I am 4 weeks pp. I have no pressure or pulling sensation, I am pain free, however I have an urge to urinate when I stand and walk which alters my lifestyle. I have no problem voiding my bladder, I don't seem to have any stress incontinence problems. I also noticed that right after I urinate the bulge is smaller, I try to figure out why. Did any of you experience the same? I am also confused about the correlation between cystocele and urgency to urinate. From my understanding, urgency to urinate is caused by an over reactive bladder (bladder contracts more often than it should), which could be a result of a nerve damage during childbirth. Now the question is why they both co-exist, and why the bulge is bigger only when I have that urge to urinate while there are only few drops of urine coming out?

Are there any women that got better that used to display the same symptoms as me? How long did it take? I know there are lots of factors involved like age, breastfeeding, body mass index, but I need to hear success stories. I am so desperate :(

clavicula

September 24, 2009 - 1:22am

Hey, Izzy,

Congrats on your baby!
Your story is very similar to mine except my OB did not notice my cystocele (which I assume is also a grade 2). But I was in denial for months (!), and when I finally came here @5 months PP, I was very desperate and depressed. The WW posture and the additional lifestyle changes helped me a LOT! I do not have this constant urge to pee anymore, so that is great, right? It took months for me to start to feel changes though. I am 11 months PP and feel so much better these days.
I just want to encourage you, it will get better! Hang in there! These adorable ladies will come and give you tons of useful advices, I am sure!

Enjoy your little one, and try not to stress about your cystocele. Give your body time to heal!
Liv

mzimm

September 24, 2009 - 6:59pm

From the time I had my baby up to about 2 months pp, I also had that feeling like I needed to pee ALL the time! It was so annoying. It got better gradually and now I don't have that sensation at all (I'm 4 months pp now). Honestly, the point you are at was the hardest for me physically and emotionally. You WILL get better in so many ways.

mzimm

louiseds

September 24, 2009 - 9:23pm

Hi Izzy

Liv and Mzimm have given you very good perspective. It is a long journey to feeling confident about your body's ability to recover after birth, maybe 6 months or more before POP's start feeling better.

I suggest that you get onto the FAQ's on the main site and get your body pulled up into Wholewoman posture with prominent breasts, relaxed shoulders and relaxed belly. This will allow your bladder to move forwards over your pubic bones and rest on the lower abdominal wall where it is out of the way of intraabdominal pressure, which happens during normal movement and breathing, without even lifting and exertion. Even just standing up from sitting produces intraabdominal pressure.

You could probably benefit from Kegels to get the bladder sphincter muscle working more smoothly too. See Christine's blog for instructions on how to do Kegels for best effect. If you haven't been doing them up until now you might find Christine's method difficult for a start, or you might find it OK. Just do anything you have to to get some movement happening, and change to Christine's method when you feel able to.

Enjoy your baby nad keep us posted.

Louise

granolamom

September 24, 2009 - 10:06pm

hi there & welcome to the site

I only have a couple of min, its late and I've got to get to bed
but a quickie description for you...

when the bladder prolapses, the angle between the bladder and the urethra changes. this sometimes makes it difficult to completely empty the bladder, so maybe you're stuck with some residual urine which you feel as fullness when standing. some of us have better luck completely voiding when on 'all fours' in the shower.
also, a full bladder might very well mean a larger bulge, and after urinating you'd be less full with a smaller bulge.
you might very well have a bit of nerve damage from the birth too
another possibility, and I'm not sure I can say I'm basing this on hard fact, its just my impression, is that the urge to urinate that you feel is not 'really' an urge to urinate, but the pressure on the surrounding tissue due to the bulge. some of us have experienced that and learned to safely ignore it. but obviously I can't say that's whats going on with you, you'll have to play with this and figure out your exact situation and what works for you.

4 weeks pp is very very early. much can and will change. there's loads of success stories here. stay hopeful.

and congrats on the new baby : )

izzy79

September 25, 2009 - 2:01am

Mzimm, thanks for your reply! Was your urgency to urinate also due to cystocele? If yes, did your cystocele also got better? I know that if there was any nerve damage and if that causes the urgency than usually it resolves within 3 months. Right now I try to ignore this urgency to a point, but it is so difficult and eventually I give up and run to the bathroom. I am so glad that you got better, it gives me hope that maybe I will get better too. Thanks again for trying to encourage me :)

izzy79

September 25, 2009 - 2:10am

Granolamom, thanks for your reply! I tried to void on all fours and nothing comes out, that is why I assumed that there is no residual urine. Your explanation makes sense, however I don't see why the bulge would get smaller only after few drops of urine coming out. I wish I could see through my body and know exactly what is going on :) My other question is, when cystocele gets better is it because it corrects its position to some point, or is is because the vaginal walls are getting stronger and does not allow much protrusion? What is your thought on that?

izzy79

September 25, 2009 - 2:24am

Hi Liv, isn't that strange how lots of OBs don't tell the patients about their prolapses? I spoke with my OB the other day and he said that he sees so many uterine prolapses after birth that he won't even bother to tell women right away because he usually sees lots of improvement and uterine descending to some degree after childbirth is considered normal. My OB was really calm when taking about my cystocele and he said that lots of women improve over time, but how do I know I am one of them? How would you rate your cystocele now? Do you still notice it? Ugggrrr I guess I am obsessed with this topic now...I wish you continuous improvement and thanks for writing :)

izzy79

September 25, 2009 - 2:49am

Hi Louise, lovely name by the way :) I ordered the DVD and hopefully that will help me understand more about the posture. For Kegels I ordered Pelvexiser, I will see if that will help me. Louise, how am I supposed to take care of my daughter and son without creating any intraabdominal pressure? I used to love to work out. When I was pregnant I couldn't wait to give birth and resume my work out routine, now I am terrified, will I ever be able to run, pick up my children or have a normal lifestyle and not worry about the prolapse? How about menopause? If things don't improve now what am I going to do when I reach menopause? Oh these scary thoughts :) The surgical repair of prolapses is in its infancy stage, success rates are really low and the surgery itself is not a simple procedure as many doctors claim.

I will definitely check out the FAQs and Christine's Kegels method. Thanks for being here and caring for other people!

louiseds

September 25, 2009 - 5:17am

Yes, the DVD will help you understand your body better and give you a workout you can start in a few weeks. Best to just do the baby stuff for now and let your body do its healing, ie don't stress it unnecessarily. Just posture, loose clothing, good diet and babyloving for now. Looking after your two children is enough exertion for now.

Intraabdominal pressure is generated with our every movement, breathing, walking, singing, changing gears in the car, changing babie's nappies (just do it while sitting, or kneeling on the floor). IP is not bad. It is a fact of life, and the body is designed to deal with it by bouncing it around the abdomen and pelvic cavities, and absorbing it in the pelvic bones (and down to the earth via the legs, and in the loose abdominal walls, like a punching bag. It is when it is directed straight down the vagina that prolapse will be aggravated. Just bending from the hip joints with your butt out the back, and slightly bent knees and maintaining your lumbar curve is enough to keep IP acting across, as opposed to down the vagina. You will find out about this from the DVD and later the book, which describes it and illustrates it very clearly. There may even be something about it in the FAQ's.

Yes, you will probably be able to do all that again eventually. For now, just accept being terrified. It will pass as you begin to trust your body again. Exercise will now have to be appropriate for protecting your damaged endopelvic fascia, but I can tell you unequivocally that I can't think of anything short of lifting trailer hitches onto a towball or lifting a sheep into a trailer by itself. Kapiche? eg, today I have been out in the garden pulling weeds, removing brick paving and relaying it.

I have just reached menopause (I think), which means that the medicos are all telling me my POPs will be worse than they have been. Wrong. They are almost inconsequential, now I have learned to adapt my activities. I first became acquainted with my developing POPs after my first or second baby in the 1980's, when I was in my late 20's. You can read my story in the Members' Stories Forum. Yes, they worsened in the intervening years, and were worst about 5 years ago, when I found this website and the wonderful, generous Christine and all our lovely fellow Members.

I don't know if surgical repairs are in their infancy or not, as they have been doing them for over 100 years, and still don't understand what is happening. I am not holding my breath for better procedures to be developed. I would rather trust my own body and not be damaged by the rearrangement of my structural system and the results of it, only to end up not much better off, if at all. Some success rates are high. Some procedures are minimally invasive (meaning 'leaves no big scar on your belly'), but often short duration with their success, and accompanied by risks, longer term problems like further prolapse and sexual problems, and the damage that any surgery does, in terms of scarring, and possible chronic pain.

Hang in there. See ya soon.

Louise

granolamom

September 25, 2009 - 3:17pm

I'm pretty sure that when a cystocele gets better (ie smaller, higher, less symptomatic) its largely due to the correction in position.
I have to admit that the whole 'strong vaginal wall' theory confuses me. maybe because my vaginal walls were pretty strong when I began to prolapse. while I can see why strong walls should, in theory, hold up a bladder which has begun to drop, I'm not sure I believe they could. wondering how heavy the bladder is and what capacity for holding weight the vaginal walls actually have.

mzimm

September 26, 2009 - 12:24am

Yes, I believe my urgency was due to a cystocele. And yes, it has improved quite a bit. In fact, I was first told I had cystocele, rectocele, and uterine prolapse (all mild), but last week my PT told me only my cystocele is still around. That was some exciting news! And at 4 months pp, I believe I still have quite a bit of healing to do. You have SO MUCH healing potential ahead of you. You will get there!

mzimm

clavicula

September 26, 2009 - 3:34am

No, I don't notice the bulge anymore, my front wall is almost concave, but I think it is due to my 110% perfect WW posture. If I spend a few days out of posture, my bladder would drop again. Been there done that. I believe my fascia is reshaping itself, but still needs lots of time. Fine by me! :)

Liv

alemama

September 26, 2009 - 3:53pm

Hey that is awesome!! We talked a while ago about how exactly the vagina feels when there is no prolapse- and I think that concave feeling is how it feels inside when the vagina is free of a cystocele totally. I was able to get there after my 3rd birth. Right now I have the half-pipe thing going on (which is much better than the bulge I was dealing with a few months ago) and can't wait for that to resolve totally. Though everything in it's own time- because the rectocele is still bulgier than it was pre-pregnancy and I need that half pipe there to support it- for now...

mzimm

September 26, 2009 - 4:32pm

That is awesome. I haven't checked for quite sometime because it just causes me to be more anxious. I have a question for you though--when did you notice the bulge starting to change? When you came here at 5 months, could you still feel the bulge? It's funny, because I am always telling other people to be patient and they will heal, but sometimes I have a hard time believing it will get much better since I've already come a long way.

Thanks!
mzimm

clavicula

September 27, 2009 - 1:29am

Things change slowly. For me, it is extra slow (like it was for Granolamom), but ya know, I did not start the WW work right after birth. It took me long months to get there. And I changed everything. The way I dress, move, sit stand, eat and so on. And the bulge comes back if I am not consistent with the posture or overdo things (and around period time). But I am sure that @ 11 months PP it is still normal.
But the urge to pee thing IS getting better. This was my biggest and most annoying symptom, and I am happy that this is improving, I have to tell you, I don't even care about the size of the bulge as long as I am symptom free.

Liv

moak771

September 7, 2012 - 5:22am

Hi, I know these were posted a while ago but I am 2
months postpartum am I am experiencing the same symptoms of constantly needing to urinate. Have any of you improved and if so do you have any suggestions? Thanks!!

Surviving60

September 7, 2012 - 6:51am

Hi moak771 and welcome. If you use the search box in the upper left area of this page, and put in some terms like "frequency" and anything else you think of that is relevant, you will find lots of threads you can read. Are you having any other symptoms? Do you have prolapse or is it just a peeing thing so far? Two months postpartum is pretty early, there are many changes and improvement ahead. - Surviving