new uk member

Submitted by pollyanna_inuk on October 6, 2010 - 3:58pm
Body: 

Hi everyone - been following the forum discussions with interest over the past few days. I've had what I think is a rectocele for about 4 weeks. I am going for a Protogram next week to confirm. It was very frightening and depressing when I firs felt it especially as I have had increasing problems with my bowels for about 10 months and was diagnosed with diverticular disease just before the prolapse. I'm sure the bowel problems I have had are the cause of the rectocele. I have yet to see a gynecologist to see what they will suggest. I have been told by my GP that I will probably be referred to a specialist nurse and gynae physiotherapist for exercise. I don't want to have surgery which is why I have been trying to find out as much as I can about the alternatives. it has helped hearing how others have managed their prolapses without surgery. It has also helped to read about the anatomy down there and inform myself - I am a lot less scared now I understand more. The complication for me is going to be managing the bowel problems I am having while I try to sort the prolapse out

Christine

October 6, 2010 - 4:21pm

Hi and welcome, Pollyana,

It sounds like "garden variety" prolapse - welcome to a very large club! :)

The entire bowel is supposed to be carried predominantly forward, which our culture basically does not allow. When the bowels and uterus are squished backwards by posture or tight clothing, the vaginal walls lose their natural support. Some will develop cystocele first and others rectocele. In time, most will have some level of both.

The Whole Woman work is all about lifting the "whole nine yards" forward again through posture and breath. Diet will be extremely important in your recovery, as will discontinuing all straining against the toilet seat.

Many women, including Louise, have struggled with significant rectocele and have greatly improved - you will too.

Welcome to Whole Woman!

Christine

pollyanna_inuk

October 6, 2010 - 4:48pm

Thanks Christine,

It is so good to know that others understand what you are going thru. Friends and family can be sympathetic, but unless you have experienced this it is hard to understand all the emotions you experience.

The advice about not straining against the toilet seat is helpful and I know that has probably contibuted to this - over the last 10 months I have had some bouts of constipation and times when I am not constipated but my bowel is not working properly because of spasm. I am currently on an anti-spasm medication, daily fibogel sachet and have just finished a stong course of antibiotics which then gave me thrush (as if the rest wasn't enough!). I am now taking a good pro-biotic.

I know diet is important but I don't kow which advice to follow. My diverticular disease is giving me a lot of atypical sympotms that have been getting much worse over the last 6 months and I can't work out diet-wise what helps and what doesn't. For the last week the bowel probs have been pretty good - but I don't know for how long and whether it is the medication that is doing it. We usually have a very healthy high fibre diet already but I am trying not to eat too much insoluble fibre at the mo as that seems to make me worse, but still having good amounts of soluble fibre. I have read that for DD you are supposed to have a very high fibre diet. We have a family history of DD and other bowel probs.

I do suffer a lot from stress/anxiety which I have read can make DD worse. Very hard to change that when it has become habitual for so long (we also have a family history there!) but I am trying to be positive and hopeful about the POP at least!

alemama

October 6, 2010 - 9:02pm

'The complication for me is going to be managing the bowel problems I am having while I try to sort the prolapse out'

with a rectocele these two go hand in hand. Pollyanna, have you ever considered doing drastic things to your diet? I ask because my son suffered with a parasite for almost 6 months before we figured out how to feed him. It was a very drastic change. He still tests positive for the parasite and still has pain daily- but he is growing and sleeping most nights so we are considering ourselves blessed for now.
If you are not informed about dietary changes you can look at the paleo diet to start. Maybe try it for 60 days and see if your bowel trouble clears up.

pollyanna_inuk

October 7, 2010 - 11:54am

Hi alemama,

Thanks for suggestion. I have had to make dietry changes over years already but willing to consider others. I have had a lot of food intollerences for several years, long before the DD symptoms. Mildly intollerant to wheat or gluten (not sure which), eggs, anything in the onion family, peppers, coffee, alcohol and some pulses I can't digest. We eat a lot of fruit and vegetables, fish and small amounts of white meat. All food home cooked, organic where possible etc. Have also had bouts of IBS since mid 20's (Now 47yrs), though had been through a long 'good' period before things started to go badly wrong last Nov onwards.

I will have a look at the diet you suggest and any other suggestions anyone has.

karrymae

October 8, 2010 - 5:25am

HI pollyanna,

I too have prolapse complicated by diverticular disease. I am by no means an expert, but I have had three intestinal infections over the past five years. I know what it is like to try to figure out what to eat. I am sure you have been told to eat high fiber and not to eat seeds and nuts. (including strawberries, raspberries, sesame seeds, popcorn, pine nuts, fennel, flax, etc.)

I have increased the amount of soluble fiber and reduced the amount of insoluble, which has helped. (ALthough you need both types.)
And I have also eliminated dairy... which has made me feel so much better.

Gotta run or I will be late for work... just one more thing... it takes a while for your gut to heal..(I am thinking close to a year.. I am now just beginning to eat "raw" veggies again, and my last infection was just about a year ago.)

pollyanna_inuk

October 8, 2010 - 5:24pm

Hi Karrymae,

Thanks for comment. I haven't been given any dietry advice, except from an assistant in the health food shop I use, but have read a lot about the do's and don'ts. I haven't considered trying to do without dairy as there are already so many things I can't eat. I'm worried about trying too many things at once - it gets so complicated. I don't know if I have had a true diverticular flare up as I have not had typical symptoms of that. The Gastroenterologist only tried antibiotics as a safeguard incase there was any infection but I had no fever or pain.

Feeling really fed up today as last night and today bowel problems back with a vengence, especially in the evenings. Not sure why as usual, so don't know what to do to help. Forgot my fibogel drink last night for the first time ever, but took it this morning. Can't work out if it is diet related. As soon as the bowel problem is back of course the rectocele is worse and the combination of the two makes me feel so awful.

I had read on some sites that some women have found that by pressing inside the vagina against the back wall this can help when passeing a BM. I tried that about a week ago for a few days and it helped, then the bowel problem was ok for a few days and I was able to stop, now back to having to do that manipulation again to help thinghs move. Has anyone else had to resort to this?

louiseds

October 10, 2010 - 3:32am

Hi Pollyanna

Yes, many of us have done this manipulation, or something similar. It is called splinting. Use the search box to find posts mentioning it. Also search LOPO, which is a way of emptying your bowels by imitating how an animal does it, thinking about what different muscles and different posture we can use to straighten out the rectum so the poo can go in a straight line.

Louise

pollyanna_inuk

October 10, 2010 - 4:13am

Hi Louise,

thanks for that:) I had read about splinting on the forum but didn't know what it meant. It makes sense and generally feels good though as I am quite stiff in the lower back I can find the position I end up in a bit uncomfortable. I read another member (forget name) used a low stool for her feet so am going to try this. Its so good to be able to talk to other woman about this kind of thing who have been living with POP
for longer - not the kind of thing you can easily talk about even to close friends who haven't experienced this.

Pollyanna

pollyanna_inuk

October 10, 2010 - 5:38am

Hi Louise,

Thanks SO much for directing me to LOPO link - have just read all the posts under that search - thanks to all the other posties too. SO good to be able to share the graphic details of what those of us with rectocele live with day in day out (and nights too sometimes). It feels so much bettwr to know you are not alone in this and all the suggestions make so much sense. You do become a complete poo obsessive when you have this - trying to understand what your body is doing and what it should be doing, what you should and should not eat, trying desperately not to do anything that might make it worse. Its great to be able to laugh about it too - some of your observations and comments are just so funny I laugh out loud - and that doesn't happen that often at the mo!
Can't wait to try the LOPO - in fact going to put a stool (excuse the pun) in the bathroom right now ready for the forward lean!

Thank you wonderful wonderful women :)

Pollyanna

pollyanna_inuk

October 11, 2010 - 2:59am

Had a bad bowel day yesterday but wanted to go for a Sunday walk with Hubby and son - beautiful sunny autmn day. I thought I had paced it ok but by bedtime the rectocele was pokng out of the vagina - never had that before. I tried not to panic and thought through what I could do. I did some WW kegels and I slept on my back with my legs and just under my bottom propped up with pillows to see if gravity would help a little during the night. Got up this morning and managed to pass good BM in LOPO and with minimal splinting (just to be on the safe side) and hey presto the rectocele is back where it usually is! I'm going to work hard on the WW kegels today and go easy for a few days.

I wouldn't have had the confidence to think things through and try things the way I am without all the advice and support from this site - thanks to you all :)

Pollyanna

louiseds

October 11, 2010 - 6:37pm

Hi Pollyanna

You really need to be patient with your rectocele. It seems to be the hardest to shift. What you are doing is reorienting all your pelvic organs. That includes getting your rectum to be long and thin again by hitching it up and forwards. That's what the sigmoid colon does. Going upwards from the rectum there is a right angle bend at the top of your rectum, where the intestines change direction and go in a big, long curve, right up to the top of the abdominal cavity. The rectum is like the plughole in the bath, straight downwards. These rightangle bends in the vagina, and colon are no coincidence. They are part of the mechanism for redirecting intraabdominal pressure away from the outside openings of the body. They are the kinks in the garden hose.

So you are trying to rotate not only your pelvic bones forwards, but the contents of your pelvic cavity, your bladder, uterus and intestines forwards too (rolling forwards like a wave breaking on the beach), and get your vagina to move to the back. Repositioning happens slowly, by the 'two steps forwards, one step backwards' method. You won't notice it day to day, except that your rectocele may become relatively worse for a while, because your bladder and uterus have moved forward and ceased to have the pessary-like role that they have had until now. Nauli, firebreathing and inversion-type exercises are what will help you to suck your rectum up. Trying to put some of those into your day. One day, a few months from now you will realise that you haven't splinted for a whole week. That's when you realise that it is working!

Louise

pollyanna_inuk

October 12, 2010 - 12:30pm

Thanks Louise. I think I will feel a lot more in control when I get my WW pack (still hasn't arrived) and I can work on the exercises. I do still find it hard to visualise the anatomy of all of this and link it to how I move my body - again I hope that will become easier when I see the DVD and start working on things.

Pollyanna