Prolapse caused(at least partially)by stroke affecting one ligament

Body: 

Is there any information in the whole woman forums on dealing with the issue of laxity of one of the uterine supportive ligaments? I have searched online and cant find any information on my condition.

I had a car accident several years ago when I was 9 months post partum. It casued severe trauma to various parts of my body including my spine and back.I was told that I had a "tilted" uterus before the accident but many additional symptoms began to present themselves immediately following the accident.

Recently I had a full work up, bloodwork and internal vaginal exam by a natural dr. who said it appears I had a stroke and my left uterine ligament is very tight and strong while my right ligament is, as he stated, "mush". He could barely feel where it connected at my hip. The left ligament appears to be compensating for the right. So, I have a retroflexed and retroverted uterus. Both bladder and cervix can be felt easily inside the vaginal canal. I am wondering if there is anything that can be done to strengthen the affected ligament or if this may be one of the rare cases where surgery is necessasary. I normally feel that most surgery is completely unnecessasary but I have not been able to locate any further information on my condition.

Any help or suggestions as to where I might find some answers is greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance for any assistance!!!
MMoreno

Hi Mmoreno

Sounds like you feel as if your body needs rearranging.

It is quite possible that your body is not symmetrical, and your accident and possible stroke may have exacerbated this.

It is hard for me to understand which ligament your natural doctor is talking about. None of the uterine ligaments join to the hip. There is a sheet of peritoneum that spans the pelvic inlet. It separates the abdominal cavity from the pelvic cavity. It has a large fold across it, more or less horizontal. The fold contains the body of the uterus, the fallopian tubes and the ovaries, all on the pelvic cavity side. This fold hangs out into the abdominal cavity. There is connective tissue (fascia) hjoined to the pelvic side. Parts of this fascia are thickened to carry blood vessels, nerves and lymph vessels and do provide some stabilisation. Two join from the cervix to the sides of the pelvis. Two join the cervix to the front of the sacrum. The only real ligaments are the round ligaments that come off the horns of the uterus, pass forward in the abdominal cavity, and out through the inguinal canal at the groin, over the pubic bones, under your pubic hair, and embed into the labia. The uterus and attached organs, as well as the bladder and rectum, are all supported by this 3D web of fascia, which surrounds each organ and tethers it loosely to the others and to the pelvic bones and sacrum. It is like a multi-pocketed shopping bag full of bags of jello. There are no 'strings' suspending any of these organs. They are more like a barge floating in a square mooring pen, loosely tethered in many places, which allows the barge to move a bit around the pen and rise and fall with the tide, but it never bangs into the jetties surrounding it.

Pelvic anatomy is not easy to understand and to visualise in your own body. I encourage you to look at any resources you can get your eyes around on the Web. Wikipedia can be helpful. There are many images from Gray's Anatomy on Wikipedia. I have just re-posted a series of images edited by me, from Gray's Anatomy, on Whole Woman Inc. on Facebook to attempt to show what happens to our organs when we change our posture.

You have an enormous amount of ability to improve the configuration of your pelvic organs simply by changing your posture. All the 'ligaments' that 'support' the uterus are very loose because they have to be to allow for distension of bladder, uterus and rectum over our lifetime. After a pregnancy they are always looser than when we were virginal. The real pelvic floor is the pubic bones. That is what holds our pelvic organs up, not the pelvic floor, which is misnamed. It is really a pelvic wall, that simply stabilises from the back, in the same way that the abdominal muscles stabilise at the front.

As an aside, my retroverted uterus flipped to normal anteverted several years after starting doing WW posture. Yes, I was near menopause at the time, but this posture has made a great difference for me with several musculoskeletal problems, as well as making the perimenopause process much more comfortable during menstruation. This too will come to you someday.

Check out the FAQ's tab and the videos and info behind the Resources Tab, for more info. Also you can search the Forums for keywords. Christine Kent's book, Saving the Whole Woman will give you the best theoretical background to this work. Christine's exercise and info DVD's are available from the Store tab. If you are in the Asia Pacific region postage will be cheaper to buy from me (Louise Draper-Sevenson) than from USA. If in UK/Europe, you can buy through Lindy Roy in London . See the Whole Woman Practitioners Tab for details.

Hope to hear more from you once you have familarised yourself with all the info on the site.

Louise

Hi Mmoreno,
In my experience 'weak ligaments' appears to be quite a common diagnosis and reason given for surgery, for women with prolapse issues. However it appears this is not the case, in accordance with the pelvic area anatomy as so well described by Louise.

Whatever the cause - the reality you're facing now is that you have a pelvic organ prolapse. The WW approach is very similar whatever type of prolapse women are experiencing. The main corner stones of pelvic organ suppport and recovery are: reduce or eliminate constipation and follow the WW advice for going to the loo (weight on feet, body raised slightly and backs of thighs near to/touching the loo seat), WW posture and exercise (to build up the musculature required for whole body health inc. pelvic organ support) and healthy diet and life-style.

I thoroughly recommend any/all of the WW dvd's and book. These will give you invaluable and detailed information about pelvic organ factors and the road to improvemnet of symptoms and recovery. I bought these when I first discovered my symptoms (primarily retroverted uterine prolapse). They've been an absolute life saver for me and I continue to use all of them regularly. These products as Louise said can easily be purchased from the WW store or Louise. (Lindy Roy no longer sells WW products in the UK, due to the high cost of importing from the US).

Wishing you all the best, xwholewomanuk