best postures for sleeping?

Hi WholewomanUK

I would just sleep however you can get comfortable. My guess is that there is some tension and anxiety there too.

Be assured that gravity is not acting down your vagina when you are horizontal. There is nothing awful going to happen overnight that a few firebreaths, some cat and cows, or some downward dog or some hamstring stretches won't fix in the morning.

Ideally I would try and sleep with hips and shoulders parallel, and maybe try and allow your organs to flop forwards into your lower belly by not sleeping on your back, but I really don't think it matters a great deal unless you are newly postpartum.

Louise

Hi, new here. I have a (recently) pronounced cystocele and maybe some smaller degree of other prolapse. About 1 1/2 years ago, I suddenly developed various daily symptoms of GERD, which is not being treated (I've seen doctors, can't take PPI's). Now, because of the constant coughing that came along with influenza, I have this bulge poking out of my vagina. I am so happy to have found this forum and method; it gives me much needed hope in this dark time.

I'm concerned about sleeping. We had elevated the head of our bed to allow gravity to help my reflux. For the last couple of days we tried putting it back to horizontal, and I have noticed a scratchier throat and more phlegm when I wake up - which makes me cough more. I'm sure that the remnants of flu are contributing to this post-nasal drip, too. I'm going to try the lowered bed for a week and see if it gets any better... but if it doesn't, I really need to know what sleeping position is best when gravity is still a factor. Sleeping on my back is pretty uncomfortable right now, especially if I have a full bladder. My normal position has always been curled up fetal-style on my side. I can train myself to sleep on my stomach if I have to.

I'm also concerned about how to rest. I'm trying to stay in the posture as much as I can, but it is fatiguing. Lying down within a few hours of any meal can aggravate my GERD, but it seems like any other sort of relaxing and reclining is bad for the prolapse. The only thing I can think of is maybe lay something like an ironing board against the wall at a 60 degree angle, and lean forward on it when I need to relax. Any suggestions?

Hi Fortitude

I have just googled GERD and found out a little about it. It sounds like a description for a set of chronic gastric reflux symptoms that doctors cannot find the cause of.

Are you accepting that you have GERD for the rest of your life, and just want to deal with the symptoms, or are you endeavoring to find ways of getting your body healthy again and getting rid of the GERD?

From your post I assume that you can no longer sleep in the foetal position, which would be fine for your POPs.

If you really do need to lie down during the day to relax your ironing board trick sounds just fine. I am wondering what it is about WW posture that is tiring you so much? What sensations are you feeling that tell you that you need to have a little lie down?

What is your level of physical fitness? And are you carrying any extra weight?

And are you taking any medications for other medical conditions?

I do hope we can help you to resolve at least your POP management.

Louise

Hello Louise,

Some GERD is due to anatomical problems... sphincters not closing up the way they should and allowing acid to back up into the esophagus. Other forms are more about hypersensitivity to the normal reflux we all have. I don't have gold star insurance, so I haven't had extensive testing to find out which kind of problem I really have. I know for certain that it's tied up with anxiety, because I had been under extreme stress and anxiety for about 6 months prior to my first symptoms, and I have been struggling with anxiety/panic disorder ever since. Not ready to medicate for anxiety, however. I had an unusual, serious reaction to the PPI that was first described to me for reflux, and I can't recall ever having any trouble taking a prescribed medication in the past (and I've taken some powerful ones). Also, when my GERD first appeared, I noticed that my heart was skipping beats, and eczema was flaring on my fingers when I ate certain foods. This was the first time I ever had eczema or was aware of any food sensitivity. After a few weeks, I also began to notice lactose intolerance. So now it seems that I am generally sensitive to drugs and some supplements (most I have tried lately will give me unpleasant side effects) and I have a delayed allergic response to certain foods. Not all those foods continue to give me eczema (beef, pork, eggs), because I was careful to avoid them for some months, carefully introduce them back into a rotation diet, and now I keep the servings small. The big problem foods I have left are oats and some ingredient in commercial breading. Do I think there's some hidden culprit behind all of these sudden health problems - yes!! Of course my doctor believes that everything that ails me is due to anxiety, and I should be on Paxil if I know what's good for me.

I have tried some different lifestyle/natural things to treat my GERD, but my first concern had been the food/eczema. It took me months to figure out that food was the culprit, and more months to figure out which foods. I thought that if I could avoid those foods, my GERD might go away... but it didn't. I tried a basic elimination diet (least allergenic foods) for about 3 weeks, and didn't notice a big improvement in the GERD. I tried experimenting with diet doctors recommend (low fat, low acid...) but again it wasn't much different. Some supplements help my symptoms temporarily, but not the underlying problem. I do have to say that as time passes, I'm either getting used to it or my symptoms are lessening slightly, but they are still there.

The point is that I'm not giving up on the GERD, but I'm weary and we don't have tons of cash. I would consider a naturopath or other options if I had the resources... as it is, the detective work is all up to me.

Back to sleep... I can sleep in the fetal position, but I don't understand how it won't worsen my POP. Tucking up my legs towards my chest curves my back into a C. Maybe that doesn't matter when I'm lying on my side. I think I can manage any sleeping position except flat on my back. Do you think position won't matter even if the bed is on an incline?

I've only been practicing the WW posture for a few days. I spend most of that time sitting, and it's fatiguing to keep holding my chest high. When I do it right (I think) I feel a tight-band sort of sensation between the lower part of my shoulder blades around to the sternum... from muscles working which aren't used to working? When I get tired I lose the chest, curve my spine out too much and get lower back pain, particularly on the left side. Then I want to go back to my old slumping posture! Now that I've read the forum a bit more, I see that it's not a cardinal sin to revert back to the old ways, so long as most of the day is spent in posture.

I'm 32, average weight, and I used to be physically fit, before the advent of everything I wrote about above. I never got back into exercising the way I used to. My concern over what was going on with my heart (the skipped beats and chest pain from GERD) had a lot to do with that. Now it's finally spring and I'd love to start bicycling again, and now I have a POP! At least I received the video today, and I can start those exercises. The advanced ballet ones look wonderful... I used to take ballet classes and always found them to be so much fun.

- Fortitude

Hi Fortitude

I can see a picture of you, clad in heavy chain mail, sword in one hand, shield in the other, sweating and trembling with stress, as these different words describing medical conditions and emotions fall from the sky like bombs. (It is an extreme picture, I know, but it is what I see.) You slash away at them with your sword, but they just get caught like tissue paper on the sword and fall off and fall to the ground, leaving you with nowhere to walk, except through them, to get away.

I can relate to this from a time when I was experiencing a marriage breakdown, my asthma was getting worse, I was constipated with the constant adrenalin arousal, and my rectocele appeared. I was hunched over, protecting myself, and felt as if my health was deteriorating so badly that cancer was just around the corner, waiting to kill me. I wasn't prepared to die, so I decided to fix myself up.

First on the list was to fix the asthma so I could have the POP repair and not aggravate my prolapses more. Ditched the respiratory specialist with the designer glasses and a diamond in his earlobe who knew f*** all about why I was wheezing and had filled me with so much cortisone that my skin was like tissue paper. I then did a Buteyko breathing course which healed my asthma over a period of several months. Tick. Found this website and realised I did not need pelvic repair surgery. Tick. Left my husband. Tick. Got the relationship back on track and came back. Tick. (Still here, seven years later. Tick.) Health never been better. Tick.

Prior to all this I was diagnosed with ADD. Starting medication for this solved a heap of other health problems, eg stress headaches, dermatitis, achey joints, apart from discovering that I could actually do jobs that normal people could do, rather than living in a confused, directionless haze.

Along the way to being relatively recovered and now very healthy I also did a Cognitive Behaviour Therapy course, which enabled me to defuse the power of some of the monsters that came from my past and had a habit of stirring me into a constant state of arousal over one thing or another. I was able to tame my arousal and calm my whole system. I now deal with difficult people and difficult situations a lot more calmly and all those arousal cues from past experiences have been vaporised personally, one by one.

There are a number of psychology tools which do the same thing.

I now have much better overall health. I still take my ADD medication. I still have some dermatitis, but I can calm it with red clover balm, and I now know that it too will go away in time.

Heart beat irregularities are often a symptom of stress, as is eczma and indigestion. One does not necessarily cause the other. They just exist together. I have a friend who believes her childhood onset diabetes was brought on after sexual assault. Food sensitivities often seem to appear after viruses which are biological stressors.

Taking on antidepressants as a temporary crutch could be very beneficial for you, just to give your whole system a little holiday from *feeling* all these stresses so acutely. Just let your body mind and soul settle a bit.

I would suggest that you pop down to the local library and request a book by Dr Christiane Northrup, called Women's Bodies Women's Wisdom. This big fat book will give you some different ideas to ponder. You don't have to read it end to end. The role of the adrenal gland and adrenal health pop up repeatedly. The adrenal gland is described by Northrup as "the body's initial shock absorber".

Good to read that you have found the ballet workout and are enthusiastic about it. Walking is also a wonderful treatment for anxiety and depression. Treating yourself to a daily walk and a daily ballerina fantasy session will be wonderful for your soul as well as your body. Both are very good whole body exercise. Walking will get your body back slowly into activity and off the treadmill of inactivity. Be kind to yourself. There is a healthy woman inside you, just itching to get out. Is there a dance school close by? Having a regular class to attend is great motivation to get moving and can provide great fellowship. I have just ditched my classical Egyptian bellydance classes for American Tribal Style bellydance. The whole ethos of ATS is a real breath of fresh air for me!

Enough from me.

Louise

Dear Louise,

That's really great stuff. A true celebration of the brave and a cheer on for the rest of us not so brave. You are a true inspiration.

Wholewoman uk
Not much I can add re the sleeping position. I change to different positions depending on where the aches are, and then other nights I sleep like a babe doesn't seem to matter what position. I agree with Louise the key is relaxation. If the muscles are relaxed then the prolapse goes home. When things are too taut I find a couple of panadol and/ or anti histamine help.

Dear Fortitude
As to your comment 'some ingredient in commercial bread'. I too went through an anxious time when I was 33-4. Accompanying this were allergic reactions to food. In my case, I had heart palpitations, high blood pressure, panic attacks and dizzy attacks. The dizzy attacks I clocked to twenty minutes, or thereabouts, after eating. I couldn't see any correlation amongst the foods I ate, except upon reading labels, I discovered a common ingredient amongst them namely emulsifier 471. 471 is in bread, ice cream and other dairy deserts, chocolate, peanut butters, sauces, packaged sauces, marinades etc and commercial cakes and biscuits. (You have to admire whoever the salesman was.) 471 is listed as not known to have any ill effects. Not eating anything with 471 was my magic bullet. Everything else subsided. But even now thirty years later, if I eat something unknowingly which contains 471, I have diarrhea and dizziness.

As for oats, well the Scots and horses eat those, the rest of us can manage along quite nicely without.

best wishes

Louise,
Thanks for your response. It is inspiring to hear success from someone who's "been there." A cognitive behavior therapy course sounds good; I'm just not sure whether we can afford it at the moment. I still don't feel that antidepressants are the right course. Do you know that placebo has been shown to be just as effective as antidepressants?? I'd much rather reap the benefits from a harmless placebo than a chemical that really alters my brain chemistry! "Hope and Help for your Nerves" by Dr. Claire Weekes has helped reduce my fear at any odd sensations or symptoms I sometimes get (like the skipped beats), know that they're most likely generated from anxiety, and accept them. My dad let me borrow his old copy, which he says was the biggest help when he had trouble decades ago, so you can see that anxiety runs in the family...

Our local library has the book you recommended, and I will check it out the next time I'm there.

Daily walks will be wonderful after this (last?) cold snap moves off. I know that fresh air and sunlight will do wonders to make me feel healthier. I'm so grateful to Christine for taking away fear of walking due to the POP... when I first discovered it, I was so afraid that any physical activity might make it worse! I tried the beginner exercises in the video last night, and they feel great.

Fab,
I don't have problems with breads, but with breading, like the coating of chicken nuggets, onion rings, mozzarella sticks etc. Battered foods don't bother me. Yes, I know these are unhealthy foods, but we don't eat them often at all, and they are easy to avoid (so long as we don't go to certain restaurants!). I don't know what component of the breading makes me react, but it's probably something subtle like your 471.

- Fortitude

Hi Fortitude
I hardly eat any processed foods these days, and I am sure my body is better off for it. It is not just the possible nasties that are in them, but the way they take the place of healthier alternatives, that provide more positive nutrients.

It is just DH and me at home now so we are not scrambling through quite such a busy life these days, running around after kids. When I look at other people's shopping trolleys at the checkout I am filled with horror.

Time is the enemy when you are feeding a family, just at the time of their lives when they are building their bodies and need optimum nourishment and role modelling about how you feed humans well. Readily available processed food sabotages this aim. It is designed and marketed to buy people quality time with their kids and other loved ones. Don't get sucked in.

Louise

Louise,

You know it's funny, because I thought I had improved my diet to be pretty decent compared to the average American's... I had been getting in my 5 servings of fruits and veggies, trying to stick with whole grains, no caffeine (except sometimes chocolate), no soft drinks, few/no trans fats, no artificial sweeteners... Yes, processed foods are part of it, and about once a month we eat at a restaurant or fast food, but now I see that it's going to have to change radically (at least for me). I know that if I suddenly change my diet, go cold turkey, I'm going to have a lot of trouble sticking with it. So I'll start making baby steps and work myself up to where I should be.

- Kristin

Well, Kirsten

There is a line of thought that says grains (insoluble fiber) really are indigestible fodder and that we are much better off without them. I'm speaking specifically of Kostantin Monastyrsky. He claims that the typical consumption of fiber in America today leads to Indigestion (GERD) ulcers, IBS, hemorrhoidal disease, diverticulitis and chronic constipation.

According to his line of thought "consuming indigestible substances to improve digestion and remain healthy sounds as preposterous as the once popular practice of surgically removing the large intestine to treat constipation".

You can check it out on www. FiberMenace.com. You might not like his style, he comes across as a highly intelligent, but perhaps an impatient man. I think the two characteristics frequently go together. But look closely at what he says. Especially in his book. He actually gives you an explanation of why he thinks as he does, rather than just say you should do this, that and the other. (The main criticism against him is that he sells probiotics etc.)

His solution is to wean yourself off fiber. He allows that it is not easy, that like sugar, fiber is addictive and he doesn't suggest you give up your vegetables, but start by giving up bran and fiber supplements.

I have given up my breakfast cereal over the past month and are feeling better for it. It's a little early to judge, but as I have had fiber since I was a baby, intuitively I think he might be right.

best wishes

Hi Kristin

Yes, sometimes I have to eat differently from the rest of the family, but I am now OK with that because I know the benefit that it brings me. It is also giving them a positive role model.

I really don't think one main meal a week makes a lot of difference. There are two other meals in the day. It is when there is a deterioration in diet over two or three days that I notice constipation starting to happen.

It might just be because I can only find white bread where I am (eg staying with another family who eat a lot of white bread or white rice, and few veges) or because I forget my water bottle when I go somewhere for the day, and the only other alternative is Coke (which I just don't do!), so I get dehydrated, or my activities mean that I am in the car and on the road early, away from easy access to toilets, in a new or stressful environment, so I don't have my regular morning poo.

I try and keep a water bottle in the car at all times, frequently emptied and refilled, and a big jar of home dehydrated fruit, with nuts and seeds. I don't get into trouble a lot.

L