Pessary problem: High but not dry!

Submitted by Mae on June 1, 2010 - 6:53pm
Body: 

Hello friends,

It is hard for me to believe my youngest grandson just turned one. What a glorious year. He is such a delight and keeps me very busy which is why I don't post as often as I used to.

As I mentioned in my last post my prolapse has gotten much worse as the baby has gotten bigger. I should know better than to pick him up but it's so very hard not to. I now have a uterine prolapse in addition to my bladder prolapse. It's gotten so bad I am desperate for some relief.

My doctor had fitted me with a pessary for my bladder prolapse a few years back. I didn't like it as it gave me cramps. I was in a much better place to manage my prolapse through other ways back then and I tucked the pessary away in a drawer.

I got it out yesterday wondering if things might be different with it now that I have two prolapses. It worked like a charm..not cramping and it is such a relief to have my organs back in place without me manually having to put them there several times a day like I have been doing. However, I find that when I cough I have a little leakage which does not happen without the pessary. Any thoughts about this? I am going to make an appointment with my gyno and see what, if anything, can be done to adjust what I am doing with this one, or perhaps trying a different pessary, which might possibly keep me high and dry!!

I am hoping to hear some thoughts about this from my WW friends and perhaps hear from others who may have experienced the same thing.

My best to you all! I think about you often and will be back as often as I can, although DD is already working on another one so who knows when my time will free up. lol!

Love,
~Mae

louiseds

June 2, 2010 - 2:10am

Hi Mae

That was good thinking to get out the old pessary and give it a fly. There is nothing like a little DIY experimentation. Our bodies do change, and yours has by the sounds of things, with your uterus now falling. Logic tells me that you will need refitting, and maybe a slightly different type. You will learn nothing unless you follow up on this.

However, now your uterus has joined your bladder! If you just get them to hold hands they can keep each other away from danger. Just kidding. ;-) But seriously, this will feel quite different to you, and it might be just the different sensation that is bothering you, rather than actual further descent.

This change may have something to do with picking up your grandboy, but it might just be the natural progression that many of us seem to experience.

Having them both there together will mean that they have to fight for right to get out first. Has your cervix come down? Where is your uterus sitting? The reason I ask this is that my uterus was seriously retroverted and hanging upside down with cervix pointing up towards my belly button. When it descended my uterus flipped over to normal presentation, which became a lot more comfortable period-wise. It was getting smaller at the time. Now I have been over a year without a period my uterus is tiny, and my cervix has moved right up, where I can hardly feel it with the tip of my finger. I seem to have gone back to just cystocele and rectocele, neither of which bother me unless I get constipated. I have had a nasty coughing wog for a couple of weeks, but now I have the coughing under control my pelvic floor is recovering again. I can only feel vulval pressure when I am lying on my side, coughing. And that is only a couple of coughs at night. Hopefully it will be gone soon.

So I think with some firebreathing and nauli, and getting that little fellow to put his emerging climbing abilities to good use will mean that you don't have to lift him as much. Encourage him to climb up onto your lap. Also, try getting down to his height instead and play with him on the floor. Just get yourself a nice, firm, Grannie cushion to sit or kneel on. Another useful piece of equipment might be one of those aluminium folding chairs with little stumpy legs. That would allow you to sit on a chair, but close to the floor.

He will grow, but it is going to take a while. Get used to it. I am so grateful to have all you experienced Grannies that hopefully I will be able to seek Grannie advice from. First my kids have to make babies! I will leave them to organise that.

love

Louise

Mae

June 2, 2010 - 10:21am

Hi Louise,

Thanks for responding. I am planning on seeing the doctor next week and let her tell me what is going on. Unfortunately, I don't understand my internal organs like you do, although I wish I did. I have no idea how high anything is, but I surely know how low my bladder and uterus can get and I never know which one will present itself on any given day! They seem to take turns. When I lie down and check myself all I really feel up there is what seems like an overwhelmingly large bladder.

Yesterday was a great relief for me with the pessary keeping things in place and today my prolapse is back, without the pessary in place, but is not quite so intense. Go figure, right?

I am glad you are feeling better. Hope you are completely better soon. Those coughs can really be tough on our POP's.

Love,
~Mae

granolamom

June 2, 2010 - 11:28am

hiya, mae!!
been missing you : )

I think the reason you had some leakage with the pessary, and not without, is because sometimes the slight bulge of the cystocele actually helps prevent urine from leaking out. applies pressure, kwim? the pessary pushes the bladder out of the way, making it easier for the urine to dribble out. nature is kind sometimes. and speaking of, I just love teh term 'nature's pessary'. forgot who coined it here, but it means that when you've got more than one prolapse, the bulges stabilize each other. something to think about.

ah, baby's up, got to run.
love to you mae!!!
and keep picking up your grandbaby, life is for living!

heavenly

June 2, 2010 - 2:13pm

This is your friend Heavenly. Well my friend just developed her pop and came to work with me a bit, because of her yoga she had a little more info. I told her about his site when I got the pop, she looked at it and then developed her own "sport's injury." She brought an 8 inch stepping stool, rubber maid for me to sit on because the floor was not working for the correct positioning with legs crossed. It was a miracle. What a relief. I went to buy one at Lowes but have not found one yet. It works great!!! Just an 8 inch one stepper. Felt like I was in Heaven.!! God love ya both!! This is good for posture and great for having little ones. I am a gram myself!

louiseds

June 2, 2010 - 10:28pm

Hi Mae and Heavenly

I actually have a little blue toddler seat that was originally part of a table and chairs set when my kids were little. Only one chair has survived the intervening 25 years, but it is invaluable to me when I do tasks that are low to the ground, like cleaning out low cupboards, scrubbing tiles, potting plants out on the patio, loading my front loading washing machine, and other low jobs. Come to think of it, my father also made several little wooden low stools for my Mum for the same purposes. I have a feeling that he used to use it for tying his shoe laces, as he had a crook back later in life. There was also a lime green elephant stool that our kids used to stand on in at the bathroom basin, and to help them sit on the toilet. I know you will be able to buy those stools in various shapes and colours at a babywear shop or department store. Mae, your little grandson will be needing one soon anyway, so get one for Granny and Mum too! You cannot have too many of these little stools and seats in a house or garden shed. I still have a picture of DS1 sitting on one of the little blue chairs and his diminutive Nan (DH's Mum) sitting on the other, under the clothes line, out in the sun, reading a book together when DS1 was about 18 months old.

Louise