Why live with it?

Hi CKINN – If you came here because you are researching your options, and you are having doubts about things being as simple as your doctor tells you they are, then your instincts are correct. Start by going to the FAQ tab above, then to the Theater tab to watch the video “Whole Woman 101”. Then, take some time to read threads and articles on this website and forum. Surgery is a path of no return, and the only true candidates for surgery are primarily those for whom previous surgeries have pretty much ruined what they have to work with. Don’t be misled. Do some research and then come back and tell us more about yourself, and ask your questions. - Surviving

I will answer the question for me: I am 41 and I've known about my prolapse (stage 2 bladder and rectocele and stage 1 uterus) for about a year. I didn't have any symptoms before my dr discovered this while doing a PAP smear. In that intervening year I have taken iron therapy for anemia and have had various symptoms throughout the year, including those of overactive bladder. I also saw a specialist and he talked to me briefly about surgery and gave me a pamphlet outlining the different options and their risks and potential complications. I have to say I wasn't enormously keen on surgery before this but after reading the pamphlet, I was terrified of it and decided to try all other avenues before having to resort to this. (Having said that my symptoms were definitely not as severe as some - had they been, I might have chosen a different path).

Now, a year into doing Whole Woman I am pretty much symptom free again. I notice symptoms really only if I get constipated, tired or stressed, so there is a huge motivation for me to avoid those things, which can only be good for my physical and mental health. I have also had a lower back issue ever since being pregnant (2 kids aged 6 & 4) and I feel this less now that I have adopted whole woman posture - especially when I stand in posture I feel that my whole back is being stretched out rather than compressed.

A quick note on the overactive bladder - I can't say for sure and it was probably a combination of things - but bladder retraining seemed to work for me. This is where you hold on for longer and longer before you go, working up to 3-4 hours during the day and trying not to go at night at all. And drinking plenty of water. It sounds a bit unintuitive but I found as soon as I reduced my fluids it was much worse. And also it might be useful to get checked for a UTI.

It's actually a really good question and perhaps other can chime in too.

Christine Kent, the founder of Whole Woman, had a supposedly minor incontinence procedure, probably not unlike what you are considering. The result of this procedure was an immediate and profound uterine prolapse (your doctor has probably neglected to mention that this can and does happen). The rest is history! No one can possibly read Christine's story and still have any desire to go under the knife. There are so many of us here who feel we own our quality of life to her work. I urge you to give it some consideration and I hope that some other personal stories will be posted here. Use the search bar above to find and read some of these stories for yourself, or click on "forums" to search for threads by category. - Surviving

researching on the net about organ prolapse I chose this WW site for further information and tools to teach me how to help myself. I go to the doctor in a week to find out my diagnosis. I can tell there is something definitely not right. Another interesting phase in my life as I am trying to learn how to grow old gracefully.

Because I live

Without symptoms

Without SUI

With the ability to have more babies

With the ability to improve my prolapse even working 12 hour days on my feet

Without restrictions on my activities -- I run, jump, dance

Without restrictions on lifting -- I lift my children and my patients

With a great sex life

With having paid only $160 for some DVDs and a book that give me all the tools I need to age in perfect pelvic health

With the ability to reduce my prolapse as needed with breathing (nauli) and walking

In the posture that maximizes pelvic organ support and reduces prolapse.

Look around this site. Read read and read some more. Invest in some materials and invest in yourself. I have been living with POP for 3.5 years. I live an amazing life unrestricted by prolapse. So could you.

Hi Mudpie Grandma! Yes, aren't we all, trying to navigate this aging thing with our sanity intact, and our bodies too, for as long as we can manage! Let us know what your doctor says. Glad you have found this site BEFORE the visit - so you will know to take any and all doctor recommendations with a healthy skepticism. Good luck and start working on the posture! - Surviving

This story just posted by Jewel, and I think it needs to be reiterated in this thread. I quote:

"I wish I had opted out of surgery. I considered doing so when my surgeon said she was doing the posterior colp... (however you spell it) vs. a site specific repair, but she was a HIGHLY respected surgeon and I went ahead. She ended up also tacking my cervix to my sacrum and 10 days later (after I had not been able to pee without catheratization, and hadn't been able to sit without excruciating pain) she undid the tack up and left the rest. I wish I had had the forethought to tell her to undo the posterior colp thing too.

"For the first few months after the 2nd surgery, elimination was fine, but over time it got harder and harder to have a BM. Even before discovering this website, I realized that clothes and position are key! This website has so completely confirmed what I already have discovered on my own. I'm praying that with firebreathing, the WW position, the exercises, the right clothes, etc. I can get back to some sense of normalcy, meaning that I can have a complete BM without need of an enema. Thank you so much, Christine and the WW community!" - Jewel

"why live with it"
I completely believe a woman with it will live with it regardless of whether she has the immensely painful abdominal surgery and the effort at tacking a sagging body part to a stable body part ( how reasonable is this to perform on a physically mobile person) or whether she accepts it as a non life threatening defect that she can structure her life a bit differently to cope effectively with.
The confidence of doctors in doing this surgery is I believe a shame.
The surgery I had has given me a greater concern with which to live and I was re-assured that I would die with everything corrected as per the surgery--not so
One of the doctors that encouraged me to have surgical fix said to me"Good God Girl Get it fixed! (I really hung out- now I still fall out but have some residual mesh which causes some bleeding(granulamatous tissue, I think) which is the only reason I am uncomfortable with the pessary which holds my bladder up to allow me functionality as before the prolapse.
Also, my bridesmaid of 39 yrs ago had her 2nd surgery by the same young Toronto doctor that removed my mesh, AND the girl who I was bridesmaid for about 43 years ago is now using a ring with support pessary and wondering WHY she ever had the surgery(bladder lift).... If you think you may have effective surgery... you may be WRONG
I do not find it such an intolerable thing to live with now.. think it will be a long time before things change and I do not seek to put the pessary in. All the money this cost our system- what a shame and I have a sensitive lower back now too - hurts to pick strawberries-

makes me laugh right out loud. As I just found my own first post, not sure where it was. I am 63 years old and have given birth to 8 children. The doctor told me Tuesday that is who I can blame for my prolapsed uterus.

Maybe so, but I also have had constipation problems since my twenties.
So I feel it was contributed by both experiences. I did not know until recently that the stomach has its own nervous system and I know without a doubt that my stomach is nervous and this relates to my constipation. To long of story to tell why, so I am trying to learn how to calm my anxiety and nerves from my stomach so I can be regular and not strain. I am actually working on not straining and ever ongoing work of love for myself here. Any one on here have similar experience with the stomach and constipation?

By the way before I found this site I did some Yoga with one of my daughter to a Sarah Ivanhoe, Candle Light Yoga . Been doing it for a month and it has helped me also, now working with the information here and video and with Sarah. Can tell my trunk area is getting smaller and I have not really changed anything other than the Yoga with Sarah. I am happy about it and finding this site has added upon what I already know.