Enterocele obstructing colon/rectum from emptying

Body: 

I have had a hysterectomy... rectocele repair in January of 2011, then cystocele repair (bladder suspension with 3 different meshes, uretheral suspension, vaginal vault suspension, in June of 2011.

I was functioning very well in every area since then until October of 2011. Pencil thin stool, bowel impaction. I felt there was an obstruction happening. Diagnostic Defocography showed an enterocele. I saw the small bowel backing into the rectum/colon. Previous exam should a sigmoidocele with the same test.

I have struggled with bowel impaction now for over 8 months. I can no longer go on like this. I have lost weight, am weak and often feel very sick inside like the flue and become nautious by the end of the week. I use Aloe Vera Leaf once a weak to gain some relief of backed up stool - enemas, suppositories only empty partially - sodium citrate was used once for a good cleaning out, but I hate to use it on a regular basis as it is hard on my system.

I have recently read about ww posture, etc. Will these ww practices help at all at this stage of condition?
I am 62 yrs old and have delivered 2 children naturally.

Hi and welcome Healthygirl. I’ll give you a sort of lay person’s response to your post. I hope that you will get some teacher response as well. Keeping in mind that we aren’t medical doctors here…..

Some women who have had ONLY hysterectomy, have reported some improvement with WW posture, which might help them to move the remaining organs forward even in the absence of the “hub of the wheel”. Others might not be helped, and might experience considerable back pain trying to regain the lost lumbar curvature.

Some women who still have a uterus, but have had other repairs, may or may not be helped by the posture. Christine herself had bladder suspension, which directly caused her uterine prolapse. She refused further surgeries, and the rest is history.

The bottom line, is that Whole Woman posture gives the best results when there have been no surgeries, and each time you alter the existing support structure, the less chance there is that you can reestablish any of it.

You have had so many procedures, that your best remaining option might be to live with what you have. Repeat surgeries require that you have sufficient remaining tissues to work with, and you might be running low in that department.

About your obstruction issue, I have no comment myself. What does your doc say? - Surviving

Healthygirl, I assume from your name that is what you aspire too. Your experience is certainly a tough one. My experience only involves a cystocele of nearly 3 years and am now 59. What I have found works for me is that :
1.Remain as positive about it as possible
2.Stay active
3. Posture, posture posture.
4. Eat only what nourishes your body with a focus on fibre

What you do to improve your prolapse will improve many aspects of health. You will have good days and not as good days. You will encounter medical professionals who haven't a clue about prolapse. Quite probably most women do not know much if anything about prolapse until it happens to them. You will probably be told to do Pelvic floor exercises.
Keep reading through the forum and report back on your experience
We have a responsibility to women of all ages and cultures to speak out about prolapse.
I wish you well.

Hi Healthygirl

Surviving60 has given you a pretty good summary of what you can try, and what may or may not work. Try moving your pelvic organs forward with WW posture, but don't put yourself through a lot of pain if your body doesn't want to cooperate. Many women who have had hysterectomy and other procedures find that there is no longer much movement of bladder and rectum possible. Their pelvic organs are held by scar tissue and permanent sutures in one position, and are not able to adapt to accommodate distension in one or the other, or to slide around and move forwards. Learning to manage what you have becomes the only way forward if you recognise that further surgery is increasingly unlikely to improve your condition, which is true.

Whether or not you are able to coax your pelvic organs into functional alignment using WW posture, seeking inside yourself, for peace with your body, may be the most pragmatic thing to do. I would be rather angry if this had been done to me unnecessarily. Coming to grips with my anger, and channelling it in more positive directions would be a way that I could move on from my difficulties, and get my mind onto matters other than myself. It could free up a lot of energy for other aspects of my life if I could forgive and move on.

Enterocele, left to its own devices, can be very dangerous, but there are other conditions as well, that can be very dangerous, that people learn to monitor themselves for signs that they need urgent medical attention, eg we had a woman on the Forums a couple of weeks ago who has been managing bowel intersussception since childhood.

You might like to speak to your doctor about this, and get another opinion or two before making up your mind. I would think that getting to know your body's behaviour, and using the best combination of constipation preventatives and treatments may be the way for you to go with managing your bowels.

I am sorry I cannot be more confident about the likelihood of succeeding in getting your bowels straightened out using just Wholewoman techniques, but you never know until you try.

Louise