Hysterectomy, Rectocele

Dear anonymous,
I am so sorry to hear of your story. It makes me so sad to hear of the needless surgeries women face, and the consequences. This is why Christine started this work.
Others are best place to answer your question, but if you search in the search box under hysterectomy you will get some answers. The forum has been down so it may be a little slow to get people back on, but hang in there. You will get answers.
What i can say is that as i also have a rectocele, i know diet is crucial to avoiding constipation for me. Very common with rectoceles, and i've had to be very careful, avoiding dairy, chocolate, eating lots of raw veg, pulses. Also there have been several threads on anti inflammatory diet that you could search on that might help. The results for some have been subtle, others like myself dramatic--but i think every little bit makes a difference even if subtle. And, there is a thread on pooing in the animal kingdom, or LoPoo you may find useful.

Hope that is a start, but others will say regarding excercises and hysterectomy as I know it is a question that has come up befre.

Kiki

PS If anonymous is you true full name, you may want to consider changing it which a mod who knows how to do that can do--as otherwise your threads will come up if someone does a search on you, and some people prefer that not to happen for privacy reasons. just say if you do and I'll flag it to someone who is more technically proficient at this!

I have been asked to delete not only this persons user name (which was not her real name), but also all her posts because she feels they are overwhelmingly depressing. Of course I deleted her user name at her request, but by deleting her posts I must also delete the responses, which other members have gone to the trouble to write. In addition, her posts are of great value to other members. I hope making them even more anonymous is satisfactory.

Christine

I hope I didn't cause worry bringing up the name--i just know some people have put their real name in and later thought they should have had something a bit more anonymous, so we've starated flagging it... But by all means, whatever name suits you!

I didn't find your posts depressing--just very honest about where you are at. Over the years I have posted very depressing posts, ones full of anxiety, and happy ones as things improve. I sometimes worry that maybe i shouldn't say something in case it makes newbies worry, but then we are all working our way through this, and have good days and bad, and setbacks and leaps forward...so one of the things i value here is the ability to be honest, and the ability to say whatever i need including on days when i'm panicking or feeling really rotten.

I'd say share whatever you need to share, whereever you are at here. There is always lots of support as needed.

Kiki

so I just got to this post today and read Kiki's suggestion to change the name- and was so dumbfounded because how much more 'anonymous' can you get?
then I read a bit more and realized the original name had been changed to anonymous-
geez.

what do you think anonymous? should the whole thing be deleted? will Kiki mind?

and finally: I am so sorry to hear about the surgery and the removal of all the extra parts- We just had a resident operate on our baby and they didn't even tell me he would be doing it. They paraded the attending in and then just went right on about it-
fortunately I am wise to the fact that it's a teaching hospital and talked to the resident and let him know I knew he was going to be doing the surgery. Then we had a great talk about it. And he was so so so competent (simple surgery- I could have done it at home lol) and sweet (which isn't important but hey, I'm human right?). Ok that was a tangent- sorry-
What the heck are they thinking when they take all that stuff out- it gives me this ridiculous visual - mock horror film quality- guy in white coat- pulling organs out going "is zeis da one? NO, is zeis da one?"

I sure hope the exercises will help. If I was in your place I would probably be willing to try anything that wouldn't hurt me. So give it a shot- the posture can only help you. If something feels bad- stop doing it (as far as the exercises are concerned) and I figure you are an entire person- so even if they don't help the rectocele, as long as they don't bother it- the exercises are great for your entire mind, body and spirit.

But seriously Alemama, you are absolutely right about how easy it is for doctors to slip stuff past us. When we have a sick child or a body that is not working, and we are scared, we look to anything that will help, and all commensense goes out the window.

In a hospital it is not our body any more; it is not our condition; it is not our solution. Patients and families are regarded as childlike, and do not have a great deal of say in what happens. What the doctors decide in their wisdom may be right, and hopefully is right, but we are by no means equal to them in a hospital setting. They have the right to decide what to do in the interests of their patient, but somehow they often fail to empathise with the patient and their family, and what they are feeling. They take over the whole person, not just the sick bit, and sometimes in great haste, so nobody has the time to think quickly and clearly about the consequences. And we let them, because it is their territory and we have come for help.

It takes an enormous amount of presence of mind to stand up to a doctor and say, "no, that is not OK by me", or even to ask the questions that are thrown up by worst case scenarios.

Louise

Hi Anonymous,

My heart goes out to you!! Having known about hysterectomy rates and doctors, I have been able to avoid surgery, and will continue. However, I am in a present fight to save my career in the face of prolapse, and have been lurking around in the shadows of this website in order not to reveal myself or my professional life to anyone while I adjust to my new reality. Let's just say that I am in the arts, and what I do is physical. It could directly and negatively affect that threatened career!

Maybe it has already. Business has dropped off, probably because of the economy, maybe because of prolapse, but I am receiving it as a blessing. It gives me more time to concentrate on healing, which I am with the video and daily practice. Hopefully it will alter only slightly what I do, and I will return into full swing just a little wiser as to how my career has worn on my body and with ways of helping others not to do the same.

Anonymous, I have no idea how old you are, but please look at the ruins of your career to see whether it has given you knowledge that you can pass on to others through teaching. Or perhaps you can use your skills in a new way, maybe even for women with prolapse! A new and gorgeous clothing line? This could be the makings of a new career and the source of new hope! Christine has done this so successfully, and we can too! The hope is so infectious, and thank you, Christine, I have been basking in it since I discovered my prolapse. It gave me the strength I needed through my tears, mental and physical pain, and frustration.

From the past my grandmother keeps whispering: It's not what happens to you in life, it's what you make of it that counts. She had a hysterectomy and fistula, and I don't know what else, and she lived to be 86. I am still listening, grandma!

Thanks Colehollow, wisdom does indeed come out of the mouths of little old ladies, and babes too. Have either of you checked out the Wholebaby Workout video at the Wholewoman Studio in the Village? Take a peek! It is food for thought!

Thank you with all my heart, A, for working through the pain and sadness in order to avoid the abyss of denial. Thank you also for the beautiful email. I was so tired after a rugged day yesterday that I wasn't able to answer any email. Then woke up this morning to a completely frozen computer which dh is working on now.

My great hope is to fire up this hysterectomy forum and help those for whom additional surgery would just be more trouble.

Love to you, dear sister.

Christine

Actually Anonymous, some of what I do is to guide people in their career development. I would be glad to share ideas.

If prolapse and its "cures" are a societal thing (both our western customs at large and that strange little world called the medical profession), it is just not fair that women like ourselves should have our lives so thoroughly changed by it and then be marginalized.

We can do so much better than being put out to pasture.