sea sponges info: where to get them from, how to clean them

Submitted by Judith on December 6, 2009 - 7:11am
Body: 

V annoying - a short while ago I saw a post asking about how to clean sea sponges, I couldn't reply immediately and now I can't find it. It mentioned boiling them.

The care instructions do say not to boil as they disintegrate easily, and recommend the following cleaning agents: tea tree oil or sea salt or colloidal silver, in a cup of warm water, then rinse well. I've used the first two and haven't had any problems. If you've used a lubricant eg olive oil or Jade and Pearl Shea Nut Butter, use a mild, natural, pH balanced soap first to remove it(J&P sell one of their own).

I've not needed lubricant - I just soak until saturated in warm water, which means that you lose a lot of it as you squeeze it to insert ie a bit messy. If I'm dry after remocal I use WW Bliss Balm.

Obtaining them: Jade and Pearl in the USA, Pink Robin in the UK.

Sizes: mini, regular, large and prolapse (enormous!) Judith

Christine

December 6, 2009 - 10:31am

Hi Judith,

I encourage everyone to look up posts by aprile. She was our resident sea sponge advocate until she began to develop horrendous urinary tract infections. She was cleaning them in lemon essential oil and did not make the connection until several rounds of infection/antibiotics. I do not know if the tea tree and salt will be safer. I have always suggested hydrogen peroxide - but maybe that is too harsh for the long term.

Just a little caution.

Christine

kiki

December 7, 2009 - 12:42am

I worry about harbouring thrush as i still verge on monthly yeast infections and get one every few...
any ideas what would kill that? how would you do the peroxide christine? i worry about putting anything on them as then it might trigger a reaction, maybe sea salt is safest but don't think it would kill yeast

thoughts?

Judith

December 7, 2009 - 3:52am

I can understand the wariness and thanks for that info Christine.

The cleaning instructions do not suggest any essential oils other than tea tree so maybe lemon oil isn't appropriate. Tea tree oil is particularly known to be strongly antiseptic and anti-fungal, often used for thrush anyway. I don't claim to be an expert here, I'm only passing on what's in the care leaflet and my own experience. I haven't had any problems but I don't have thrush. I can understand the desire to boil, but I think the risk is that the structure of the sponge loses it's integrity and bits may come off inside the vagina and therefore be another infection hazard. Kiki, maybe it's worth reading up a bit about tea tree oil and how good it is as an antiseptic and anti-fungal, it may reassure you. I have heard that colloidal silver (the other recommended cleaning agent) kills absolutely everything, but again, no expert and don't know how true this is. Maybe it's also worth contacting Jade and Pearl directly as they seem to be genuinely helpful. All the best, I hope you can get it to work for you. Judith xx

Judith

May 9, 2010 - 7:39am

I've been away for ages, rather long story. To be brief, I had an accident in December which affected my pelvis and since then I have had a fairly severe cystocele, something new, only had rectocele before. For a while now I have also been in the throes of an enormous family crisis, so may not be able to post much. But would like to say congratulations on the new site, it's v impressive and has obviously required a lot of thinking and hard work.

So some quick stuff about sponges. I don't clean mine with tea tree oil any more because it may antidote homoeopathic remedies. I have used sea salt or hydrogen peroxide. I have also used palmerosa essential oil which is anti-bacterial, antifungal and quite soothing. Also smells lovely. I haven't had any infection problems. This was on the advice of the specialist herbal/aromatherapy shop when I told them what I wanted it for.

It seems that that women who have problems using the sponge find it scratchy and/or drying. I've been pondering for ages whether the sponge could be encased in something more comfortable eg silk, but I think that that might also tend to soak up moisture, not sure. Was wondering about whether encasing the sponge in a lambskin condom might help. I wouldn't suggest latex or polythene because I don't know whether these are suitable for day-long internal use ie may leach chemicals. And I don't know whether lambskin might also be just as risky for the same reason, just putting the idea out there, wondering what people think.

I was also thinking about women whose POPs are severe enough to make it impossible to retain a pessary and wondering whether a V2 supporter or V-brace might provide enough support to keep it in.

Another thought - the prolapse sponge (as opposed to the menstrual ones) is very large and also has a different texture, much more dense. It is therefore more supportive but also feels more scratchy. It can be cut to size and I think that, where there are only -celes, not UP, it's worth cutting it much smaller, more like the size of the menstrual ones, and rely on the density rather than the volume to give support, if that makes sense.

Why do I keep banging on about the sponge? Only because I think that, if a pessary is required to give extra security and relief from symptoms (eg whilst waiting for WW exercises to produce change), the sponge is, at present, potentially the most versatile one available. It's soft, squidgy, cheap, fills the vaginal space, and doesn't require a medic.

Just thoughts, look forward to hearing other people's ideas. Judith xxx

louiseds

May 9, 2010 - 8:43am

Good to hear from you Judith. sorry to hear about your rough times. Sounds like you are bearing up well under the circumstances. Take care.

Louise

Judith

May 9, 2010 - 1:23pm

Louise, appreciated. Judith xx

alemama

May 9, 2010 - 9:11pm

hmm. I am one of the women who has the scratchy issue with seasponges.
Tell me something- how the heck do ya get the thing in there to start with? I read the directions and did what was suggested- kinda squeeze it and insert while holding it- but it really didn't work for me. It was so scratchy-
I wonder if a condom would help? Interesting. I am feeling like a refrain of tweedle dee and dum may be required. We need a lab rat.
I have seen the lambskin condoms- they smell funky to me and I got kinda weirded out by the whole 'lamb' part of it all.
but still it's gotta be worth a try right? volunteers? (not me)
Sorry about your family stuff. and the accident. did you fall or crash?
I'm sure you've already thought of this- but good news- you now have natures pessary.

Judith

May 10, 2010 - 9:28am

Hi Alemama, and thank you. The accident - got knocked clean off my feet by a couple of dogs chasing each other and landed full on my coccyx, agony. I already have probs with my spine so it was quite devastating, physically and emotionally. Loads better now. except for the cystocele. As you say, nature's pessary, but still rather a shock.

Sponges - I've never found the menstrual sponges scratchy myself. I give them a long soaking in water with hydrogen peroxide that starts off v hot (not boiling) and they seem to get soft quite quickly. The prolapse sponge is definitely scratchier because it's a totally different texture, much more dense and heavy. Another thing is to use lubrication - I use the Jade and Pearl Shea Nut butter, a pea sized lump, insert it about 10 mins or so before inserting the sponge, to give it time to soften and almost liquefy.

Lambskin condoms - these are actually made from intestine, tissue that's used internally for all sorts of medical things I think. My concern would be about whether it's processed with any kind of chemical additives; can it be washed, disinfected and re-used (expensive if not). I'm not sure that I would advocate anyone being a lab rat because the adverse effects, if there are any, may be insidious and slow rather than immediately apparent. I think that a bit of research is needed. It would be useful if there were anyone on the board who had this kind of knowledge.

In the meantime, I googled inflatable vaginal weights, thinking that whatever they are made of may be ok, and found the following: an inflatable pessary for use with POP, designed by Dr Arabin (I could paste the link but I think I'm not supposed to, is that right?). I thought that I had once seen a site selling vaginal weights that could be filled with water, so that the weight is adjustable, but I can't find it now so maybe it was a hallucination.

I'm sure that, with a bit of ingenuity, somebody or several people on here could come up with a comfortable, safe, easy-to-use form of pessary that's better than the mainstream ones on offer and doesn't tend to aggravate the POP in the long term by creating a space for other organs to fall into. Obviously they are not a substitute for exercise, posture, general good health etc, but they are wonderful to have as a backup and for women whose desperation and despair are pushing them towards surgery. Judith xx

louiseds

May 11, 2010 - 6:21am

Hi Judith

I think you have probably given us enough info for us to find Dr Arabin's condoms, but we have decided that it is OK to publish links we think are potentially useful. We just don't want links that are blatant self-promotion or advertising. This is taking consumer reviews to a whole new level!

It will be interesting to hear what women think of them. It sounds very much like they are the same as natural sausage skins, which you can buy by the kilo from good butchers, semi-dried and packed in salt, or else completely dried. I guess you would soak them to make them soft and tie a knot in one end, slip the sponge in and tie another knot in the other end. They would be semi-porous, I think, so they would still allow the pessary to squash down smaller and expand inside you. I wouldn't want to leave one in for too long. I don't think they are tanned at all, and they might go 'off', in the warm, damp environment. Ick. Sorry if it is TMI.

L

Judith

May 11, 2010 - 11:21am

Thanks Louise. I was googling for information and came to the conclusion that lambskins probably aren't processed beyond the drying and salting but you've made a good point re going off, seems too risky for me. Oh well, back to the drawing board - it's a potentially risky business to leave something in the vagina all day.

I do wonder why other women find them scratchy though, as I haven't at all and I'm in the menopause.

Is it ok to introduce another subject while I'm here? It's about breathing. I've had lots of discussions with various kinds of therapist (2 different cranial osteos, PT, people who do or teach yoga/Pilates/Alexander Technique etc) and there is a lot of disagreement about the best way to breathe to minimise POP. The disgreement revolves mainly around whether to breathe into the belly or out into the sides of the ribcage, or to aim to do both (make every breath a "whole body experience") and about which parts of the torso should move with the breath, where and how much. As you're another Buteyko person with POP (don't know any others) I'm interested in how you would describe what you do, bearing in mind not wanting to over-breathe. Thanks, Judith

louiseds

May 13, 2010 - 2:17am

Hi Judith

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply. I wrote a really long reply yesterday, and fell for the old trick of not Saving it. Poof, gone! So here goes again.

I use my diaphragm, and breathe out and down, allowing my abdomen to expand when inhaling. My chest above nipple height hardly moves at all. I find that with a raised chest and a slightly tucked chin, keeping some CO2 in the lungs is easy. If you let your chest drop your lungs will not have the capacity to fill, and will empty too easily, and too much, ie it is hard to breathe in and the need to exhale seems to overtake the urge to breathe in, which goes against Buteyko principles. With your chest up it spreads the ribs out, while dropping the chest and jutting or raising the chin closes the the ribs together. I just tried it with my model skeleton. It is very difficult to empty your lungs completely with a raised chest, so WW posture and Buteyko breathing are like a hand in a glove, all very whole body.

The diaphragm is the main apparatus for breathing. It is fastened to the spine and the bottom of the rib cage (360 degrees). When you inhale (contract the diaphragm) it expands downwards, flattening its domed shape; and out under the front of the ribcage because it is fastened lower at the front than at the back (spine). If the chest is lowered the diaphragm is trying to contract against the stomach and liver, which is was not designed for, being thin and fibrous, like the pelvic floor muscles. So you have to engage the intercostal muscles more to get enough air into your lungs. These intercostals are the secondary muscles of breathing, the externals during inhalation, and the internals during exhalation. They operate at right angles to each other, so aid also in lifting or lowering the chest during breathing.

I see the intercostals as being mostly for exertion, when you need to get extra lung capacity, eg to run away from the bear that is chasing you, and afterward, when you are recharging your oxygen after a bout of anaerobic exercise like that sprint you just did.

There is a reason why sprinters intuitively lean over with hands on their knees like firebreathing, immediately after a race. It allows the chest to hang loose, so the ribcage is not resting on the lungs. It is opening the ribcage by maximising the volume of the abdomen so the diaphragm is not trying to push down against abdominal organs when you are trying to get oxygen in again. It is creating a vacuum in the chest cavity, just like firebreathing does, for easy inhalation. It also retains CO2 in the lungs cos you cannot fully exhale in that position. The ribs will separate and create more space in the chest with the spine is in extension. I think this position will stretch both external and internal intercostals. That paragraph is all my opinion only, but it makes great sense to me.

Sorry it is so technical. I now have a good atlas of skeletal muscles and a model skeleton. Without these two aids I was never able to make sense of the intercostal muscles and their relationship to breathing. I will probably discover that there are other muscles that are involved in breathing as well, but I can only learn one thing at a time with my tiny brain. Every time I learn something new about how the body works it fills me with awe again about our natural design, and how the body can compensate when one bit fails.

Hope that answers your question, or at least explains some of the mechanics of breathing, so you can figure out yourself whether a particular model of breathing makes sense or not.

Louise

Judith

May 13, 2010 - 3:19am

Thank you so much Louise for taking the time to write it all out again, I've done the same thing myself several times, v frustrating.

Great, clear, detailed explanation. I'm a bit pushed for time right now, I'm going to go away and ponder, I'll probably have more questions. If you get the time, I'd be interested to know what you think about this info about breathing on an Alexander Technique site, called The Smiling Back. If you google "smiling back breathing" you'll find a series of short articles.

As someone who has long taken a holistic appraoch to everything, I know, both intuitively and rationally, that all systems/therapies/techniques that genuinely work for one thing have to work across the board ie if Buteyko is right about breathing, it has to work for POP etc. Similarly with correctly-interpreted Alexander Technique (I think that it's sometimes misinterpreted). I haven't yet met an Alexander teacher who knows anything about POP, but I've always felt better after a lesson.

As WW states, correct breathing technique is fundamantal to POP management, and it's not only from a structural/pressue point of view. An insufficiency of CO2 is bound to increase systemic acidity and therefore inflammation.

Must dash now, horribly late, look forward to hearing from you if you have time and find the articles interesting. Judith xx

Christine

May 13, 2010 - 1:24pm

Hello Judith,

I’ve been waiting to see where you were taking us before jumping in (hope it’s okay to jump in - private Village chat is coming!)

First of all, welcome back and I was sorry to hear of your mishap. I try to be as mindful as can be (with some serious lapses once in a while, which I always scold myself for), but you can’t avoid “fate” or whatever you want to call it. This is why I so love the wisdom traditions, which teach that you can “work” with whatever comes up in your life, however difficult. Anyway...glad to hear that you are much improved.

Breath and posture are (almost) everything when managing prolapse symptoms, and that is why I must continue to clarify when confusion arises. I say almost because developing the female core is also extremely important.

Alexander wrote at great lengths about his work - tantalizing people with the extraordinary mysteries of human posture and somatic psychology. Yet, he never said a word about what his technique actually was. You had to go to Alexander - and it was most hip to be “going to Alexander” in the 1920s - to get his training. The Alexander schools have carried on that tradition. Still, no matter how intricately the anatomy is described, the postural solution is extraordinarily simple, natural, easy to explain and very understandable. I find the Smiling Back pages rather convoluted, don’t you?

Here is what I’m hearing regarding your confusion about breathing. You think when we are standing in WW posture that we are breathing into our lower belly.

Natural breathing cannot take place unless the lower belly is relaxed and the chest pulled up. When this happens, it is the upper abdomen - and to a lesser degree the sides and back - that inflates. I have described this over and over - in all my work and in thread after thread on the forums. Scroll down this thread to my post “sticking it out” for another short and simple explanation.

Isn’t it really the Upper transverse abdominis that allow us to hold ourselves upright in this way? The Smiling pages directly dispute this.

Something I believe to be far more useful is to conceptualize how your psoas muscles are positioned when you breathe. These are the deepest and largest of the abdominals, arising from the fronts of the last thoracic and all the lumbar vertebrae, flowing through the pelvis, and connecting onto your thigh bones. The psoas are the only muscles that connect your spine to your legs.

Your diaphragm must be not only over, but in Front of, your psoas muscles to fully inflate your thorax, which includes the upper abdominal and back muscles. In any reclining position, or even sitting cross-legged (unless you can completely flatten your thighs to the floor) you naturally breathe into your lower belly because you are not sitting in front of your psoas.

It is all so simple: relaxed belly, chest lifted, upper back flat and broad, shoulders down and not back, pulled up through the back of the neck and crown of the head. This eventually results in an expanded lumbar curve, which is being pulled forward with every breath. If you are “directing your tailbone down” - which is an Alexander instruction, no? - you disrupt the anatomic posture that is responsible not only for natural breathing, but for pelvic organ support as well.

Hope your cystocele improves!

Christine

Judith

May 14, 2010 - 8:35am

Hi Christine

Thank you for the detailed reply and sympathy.

Maybe a bit of confusion here. I’ve never assumed that WW breathing is about lower-abdominal breathing, either in standing or otherwise, and I don’t know how you got that impression from my post, as that isn’t what I wrote. After having had discussions with various kinds of practitioner, who naturally and confusingly all have different views on the subject, I’m interested in Louise’s perspective on breathing as somebody who does both WW and also Buteyko, which entails practising shallow (or reduced volume breathing) and controlled breath pausing. Sometimes Buteyko patients end up (wrongly) doing lower-abdominal breathing.

The smiling back stuff is just something I came across the other day when I was reading about AT, and I found his articles on breathing. As far as I know there isn’t a comprehensive AT “line” on breathing although I know several AT teachers who have learnt Buteyko and it was a revelation to them. It’s just his understanding of it and I wasn’t taking anyone anywhere, just interested in opinions.

I agree that the smiling back stuff is convoluted and also, as presented, theoretical rather than practical anyway. One of the main things about AT is that there is no doing, just directing, and to be able to direct you have to have hands-on experience from a teacher that is directing herself/himself. “Doing” anything is virtually the antithesis of AT, which is about inhibition of habits followed by directing without end-gaining. It’s also not about posture but about use and you certainly can’t learn it from a book, you can only get an idea of what it’s about. These days there seem to be many different ways of interpreting and teaching the Technique, as is always the way, and I expect that Alexander and the old school teachers, who learnt directly from him, are busy turning in their graves. I’ve had lessons from about 10 teachers over the last 30 years or so and they all taught it differently (although I’ve never been told to direct my tailbone down). Most of them, but not all, give the primary Alexander directions, regarding neck, head, back and legs and thereafter practice seems to diverge quite a bit. But I think it’s safe to assume that Alexander’s understanding of female anatomy, along with other people’s, was erroneous regarding the shape of the spine etc.

I found your comments about the psoas very interesting, though I don’t think I understand the thing about diaphragm being in front of the psoas – can it be anywhere else? Can’t quite visualise that one. And are you saying that lower-belly breathing is ok (as well as unavoidable) when sitting cross-legged? I assume so since you advocate this sitting posture. If so, is this because the internal organs are protected in this position anyway?

Sorry if I’m being a bit dense on that one. I seem to need to be able to visualise what’s going on, find it quite hard to translate descriptions directly into doing, even when I know rationally that the descriptions make sense. Thank you, Judith xx

heavenly

May 14, 2010 - 9:17am

Thought I had the breathing thing ok but now not so sure. Buetyko, what is that and all is making me very confused and stressed. What you explained to me, Louise, seemed understandable a couple weeks ago but now really screwed up. Help! What is all the questioning going on, not following. Maybe I am just dense. Love You

heavenly

May 14, 2010 - 9:27am

Hey may have to come to you and you watch me breath. Never knew it was so complicated to get it right. I am so concerned that I am doing it wrong it is causing me stress. I need fixing. I love you, you and Christine have been such special supporters. Many of you others too! I don't have much money but may have to travel and make an appointment in New Mexico a special training, then I would know for sure if I am doing things right. Not been very good about the excercises. Got to get my act together. My husband and daughter just laugh when they see me because I take hold of my upper pants pulling up against my female area when I walk. Holds me tight and feels great. It is kind of my pessary. LOL Little hard to go shopping like that. Feels good. I will not tell you the things they have suggested to me.LOL Love all of you, really! Praise the Lord!

louiseds

May 14, 2010 - 11:50am

Dear Heavenly

I am so sorry you are feeling confused. Christine, Judith and I have discussed all this stuff previously, some time ago, probably several times, in great depth. It gets pretty deep and full on sometimes when we get into anatomy stuff. Don't worry about us. It probably would be better if we could have these technical discussions in Private Chat, then just publish the conclusions we come to for everyone else to read. Otherwise, Members like you who have only been around for a little while will get really confused. Private chat will happen soon on WW Village. Keep reading and learning. You too will eventually understand what we are talking about, and will be able to chime in with new ideas.

The easiest way to become competent with a foreign language is to go to the country and learn it from scratch just by listening and assimilating it into your brain. It is the same with Wholewoman. Once day it is all gobbledigook. In six months you will be fluent in it.

We experienced Members still discuss and argue about different points. It is all about developing it further, and learning more ourselves and testing it against other theories. Don't worry about the complicated bits. Just stick to the basics for now, as Christine said, and read your STWW for bedtime reading. Oh yeah. Keep your pants pulled up, even if it does look weird!

Buteyko breathing is a set of techniques designed by a Russian gentleman, Professor Buteyko. It was designed to cure asthma, or at least improve asthma so people could lower the amount of medication they use. My asthma has now gone completely, which is why I think it is wonderful. It is very difficult to design a double blind trial to test it scientifically, so it is not generally recognised by mainstream medicine. My cynical mind tells me that doctors have too much to lose if they get people off medication. The approx. $600 it cost me to do the Buteyko course has been easily recouped by me over the last 6 years because I no longer have to go to the City for specialist appointments on a regular basis, and pay the Gap fee for them, and I no longer have to get prescriptions for medication filled at about $35 each. In addition the medication is not eating away at my bones and making my skin brittle, and I no longer have the fear of the asthma getting more out of control and possibly killing me before my time. The big plus has been that my pelvic floor is no longer challenged by chronic coughing. So it is powerful stuff. The Buteyko techniques are largely congruent with Wholewoman posture and breathing. Judith also does Buteyko breathing, which is why we were having the conversation. You can google Buteyko and find out a bit more about what we were discussing, but it really is a side conversation, rather than WW stuff.

Heavenly, I am so glad that you have a sense of humour. It really is essential, both as an aid to coping with a condition that is not very sexy, and to be able to laugh in the face of it. Laughing is so good for us.

You have had a steep learning curve. You are not dumb. All this anatomy stuff is very technical. It is a whole new language that I have been studying for years, and I am still learning the basics.

Christine, I too am a bit confused about the psoas/diaphragm thing. I am going to have to think a bit more about the psoas. I never considered it before as an abdominal muscle that has a role in breathing. I will have to get my head around that, and what happens with breathing when the hips are in flexion. Just when I got my head around the diaphragm and the intercostals ... sigh.

Heavenly, now I have my model skeleton with articulated SI joints and my anatomical atlas of skeletal muscles I am understanding anatomy much better, because I can see it in 3 dimensions. Saving the Whole Woman is a good place to start, but I think a model is much more useful than the sort of diagrams you find on the Net, because they are not accurate representatives of a standing woman. To me, there is no sense in trying to explain a condition which is mainlyl related to being vertical by illustrating it with horizontal diagrams. Nikelle does a great job with her illustrations. I hope we see more of them as we go on.

Heavenly, a trip to New Mexico to have a consultation with Christine would be great if you can afford it. You are going to have POPs for ever. I think it would be a good investment. I want to get there myself. I am actually in Western Australia.

Re the exercises, I don't consider the exercises to be absolutely critical to living with POP, but I can see how and why Christine designed them. I do bits of them sometimes, but not on a regular basis, and not intensely. Some people relate well to exercises, and they do give you a sense of purpose. Also, many women think they have to give up exercise altogether once they have POP. Nothing could be further than the truth! These exercises are perfectly safe when done properly. They reinforce your body's ability to deal with POP itself.

I can just see you walking around tugging your pants upwards! It reminds me of Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and our friends Blue and Mae.

Cheers

Louise

Christine

May 14, 2010 - 12:23pm

:)

What this discussion brings up for me, again, is that what once was unconscious must now be brought into conscious awareness. This is not easy until the body is trained and then posture, breathing and movement can become natural and effortless once again. Amazing, but true.

A caved-in chest and rounded shoulders will be on top, but not necessarily in front of the psoas. Perhaps I should’ve said, well out in front of. Hopefully you get the picture.

I do advocate sitting cross-legged because it stretches the iliopsoas, which I believe is paramount to enabling women their natural posture. However, if you can’t set your upright (not forward-leaning) thorax in front of your psoas, then your pelvis is in counternutation and your pelvic organs malpositioned. The breath moves from diaphragmatic to belly breathing, which is okay but not as protective as getting your whole upright chest over your crossed legs. Short periods of sitting in this way will help stretch these muscles.

Christine

heavenly

May 14, 2010 - 3:40pm

Hi Louise,
I am a researcher at heart. I study everything from trigger point therapy, I have done acupuncture, aromatherapy, yoga and almost stripped the tendons in my legs from karate and these are just a taste of what I research. So when I see different things on here I do go and check it out. Gotta tell ya, this stuff is all new to me. Somedays Louise I do great and others just want to die and give it all up. Never had so many ups and downs. I live in Maine, western Maine in the m ountains. I hear Australia is beautiful!!I am sure it would be interesting to know how you and Christine came together, on this site?Wish we could meet in New Mexico at the same time. What do ya think? Tea anyone??xxxxxxx
I have operated a cleaning service for 27 years and I am also a mental health rehabilitation tech. Funny, hard to deal with my own issues right now. Talk to ya soon

louiseds

May 15, 2010 - 6:46am

I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I realised that this could really work. It was so logical. Yes, it is relatively new. Christine found it all out herself, with the help of her nursing and anthropology background.

Christine, I bet you never thought these two fields would combine to produce your life's work!

Heavenly, you will eventually get to a point where you can accept the days when you feel low. We build up our own case book as we go. You will learn to trust your body to recover. Also, you might pick up what is causing these low days. Often it is a combination of several factors, so it is hard to pin down. You will also learn to do certain things automatically. The low days will become further apart eventually, and you will trust your body once again to regain its own composure.

L

Judith

May 19, 2010 - 4:57am

Sorry about delay in replying and apologies to Heavenly. I totally sympathise about how confusing it can be to think you've understood something and then have somebody get you all muddled up about it, I didn't mean to. And I'm grateful to Louise for her eloquent answer. One of the many things I like about this site is the level of discussion about the technical stuff, that, for most of us, is quite challenging. As Christine so succinctly puts it, it is a learning process to bring into conscious awareness and change something that we've taken for granted as second nature. I hope that you're back to feeling comfortable about your own understanding of WW and thanks again Louise. Judith xxx

Sagemom

April 15, 2011 - 4:21pm

I am still a newbie here but I have read several posts on dealing with a prolapse. I am divorced for a year and with the husband went health insurance. I found my prolapse in September '10 when I was taking a shower and realized there was something out of place. I went immediately went to the internet to see what the heck this was!! After realizing it wasn't cancer, which was my first thought, I found out it was a prolapse. I did go to our county health department and the young female doctor sort of peeked up there and said it was a prolapse and there was nothing that could be done. She probably had not ever seen one before. I knew I was going to have to take control of this myself and proceeded to see what I could do about it. I tried the tampons, too dry and they fell out, sea sponges also were too dry and fell out also. I have been very creative in my search. I tried the Instead cups and although they did protect my cervix from coming down and getting irritated, it also rotated down and was uncomfortable. I looked in the baby section figuring if it was ok for a baby to put into its mouth, it probably would be ok for me to put into my vagina. I have tried a teether I found at Walmart that was soft enough to fold and insert. It also rotated and was uncomfortable. A pacifier that resembles a gelhorn pessary was next. By now my cervix is protruding outside of my vagina and is getting irritated by my walking so nothing is staying in. I was getting to where I could not do much because I was so sore and irritated I could not be on my feet long. I also looked at the V supporter and really would like to try one of those but the cost is prohibative. So... what is similar to that supporter that I can afford? An mans athletic supporter is what. It is not pretty, in fact this is the most unfemminine thing I have ever worn but it seems to be working. I cut the elastic leg parts and resewed them to the back and have sewn a piece of fabric over the elastic to add some width to it and now I think I can deal with this for now and if I want to make something more feminine, I already have the extrawide piece of elastic. Since I wear elastic waist jeans and long tshirts most of the time, nobody will see it unless I am in an accident and they have to take off my pants. Heaven forbid!!! I hope this helps someone else to think out of the box and maybe try this also if they were wondering if a V supporter would work but could not justify the cost right now. I bought my supporter at walmart for under $5.oo so it was worth it to see if it would work and in any case, I would have the elastic if I wanted to try something else.

Christine

April 15, 2011 - 10:17pm

Way to go, Sagemom! We’ve had at least a couple of women wearing jock straps over the years. I bet it's 100% cotton, unlike the V2, which is totally synthetic. Posture and focused breathing will pull your uterus forward, which imho is preferable to any sort of internal or external support over the long run. Hopefully you will try the two together and report back. Hooray for creativity!

louiseds

April 16, 2011 - 5:48am

Hi Sagemom

Good improvisation, Sagemom.

Have a think about this. When we feel like all our pelvic organs are going to fall out the tendency seems to be to tuck your butt down and clench your buttocks tight to make a barrier.

The real answer is exactly the opposite. Stretch out, make room at the front of your lower abdomen for your bladder and uterus, and tip your whole pelvis forward by raising your chest, then relaxing your shoulders, which changes the overall line of the body. This allows your bladder and uterus to roll forwards, and away from the vagina, and your pelvic floor muscles (and your abdominal muscles) will all be stretched tighter.

Louise

Yellow Daffodil

April 16, 2011 - 8:19am

I'm a little slow on this...need a diagram....maybe I'll Google V2? So happy the sea sponge is still working for me, but the Posture is the real solution. Am still so grateful and thankful for the day I discovered this website. YD