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louiseds
February 21, 2011 - 4:22am
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vagifem
Hi Vbacmom2
Firstly, I am not medically qualified. Secondly, in your position I would visit http://www.vagifem.com and read all I could about it. There are patient info sheets and all sorts of info there.
Oestrogen helps to mature the cells that make up the surface of the vaginal walls (epithelial cells). Vagifem is clearly a treatment for vaginal dryness and irritation around menopause, not for healing the wounded vulva or vagina in postpartum Mums. However there are clear warnings that oestrodiol can get into breast milk. So they admit that younger women could use it. A lot of the warnings I would read as saving them from litigation. If you took the warnings seriously there wouldn't be a lot of women who could take it without worry. This is what I call "It's harmless but here's what it can do to you or to your baby - yuk!"
Check out the blood levels of oestrodiol you could get from the mini-Pill and compare it with the blood levels you could expect from Vagifem. Which is worse? I would rather not risk my baby getting any extra oestrogen.
When you are breastfeeding your blood oestrogen levels are very low, which gives you a foretaste of what your vagina will feel like after menopause. These levels are kept low by prolactin, I think. When baby takes less milk or feeds less often your oestrogen levels will increase and your vagina will become more comfortable. Oh yeah, many of our members have discussed weaning as a way of healing prolapse, but the literature says it makes no clinical difference, even though the vagina will feel more plumped up and resilient and I think our members would concur with that. Search 'weaning' in the search box and check out the posts for yourself.
A wetter vagina will allow its surfaces to glide over each other more easily, and so allow your vagina freer movement, and so allow your pelvic organs to move to better positions, which may allow surfaces to line up better for healing. The oestrogen might make your vagina feel better, but I don't think it will make you heal faster. It will take about 2 years for full reversion after pregnancy, regardless of breastfeeding or oestrogen use (even vaginally). The body has its own timeline and no matter how much we mess with it, it still seems to take a long time. Just be patient.
You could try any number of vaginal moisturisers like Replens (hormone free), or lubricants, to help your vagina and vulva heal and be more comfortable while it heals. And when you get interested in sex again, make sure you get lottttttssssss of slow foreplay, to get your juices running!
Good luck.
Louise
Vbacmom2
February 21, 2011 - 5:17am
Permalink
thank you
Louise,
so are you saying that its a possibility that the prolapse will go away if I'm patient and let my body heal? will my organs return to my pre-pregnancy state and will not have to be afraid to pick up my children? My doctor said I would fully recover but what does this mean? will I have watch what I do for the rest of my life or will I be able to live normally?
louiseds
February 21, 2011 - 7:47am
Permalink
Patience and posture
Hi VbacMom2
Yes, patience really is needed after having a baby. I wouldn't say your body will go back to pre-first pregnancy, not on the inside anyway. This is what happens when you have a pregnancy and birth.
From the ages of your children your first would have been still a baby when you became pregnant with the second, so your body would have been nowhere near reverted after the first pregnancy. I would think your POPs will be much better in 18 months time than when you became pregnant the second time.
I think my body would be feeling distinctly ragged after two babies as close together as yours. Your pre-pregnant body would seem so far in the past. But it will all go back pretty well, as long as you respect its natural design. Two littlies is very intense, and it will be like this for a couple of years yet, before it becomes easier.
I have no idea what your doctor meant. Probably much the same as the above, for good reason. Perhaps you could ask him exactly what he meant?
You will always have to be careful how you pick up your children, but there is no reason why you should not lift them. Just figure out how to do it with your lumbar curve intact. When we have POPs we always do have to be thoughtful and purposeful about lifting. You will learn so much over the next few months about how you can conserve your pelvic structures and still live a full life.
POP is not a death sentence, and it is not a ball and chain either. You will eventually learn that for every task that needs doing there is an optimum way of doing it. Sometimes that optimum way is to delegate really heavy jobs to somebody else. Having your organs tucked away inside you is a wonderful reward and incentive to keep using your brains to find the best path through the day.
BTW, children learn to climb earlier than you would think! It is usually a bit of a worry, but for a Mum with POP it is a godsend! Because you no longer *have* to lift them. Just learn to utilise their natural talents! ;-)
Louise