A few rectocele questions...

Hi sea turtle - I would say my bulge doesn't go away either, but it certainly changes all day long, depending on just about everything - not just how full or empty is the rectum, but everything else that I do or don't do throughout the day. Diet, attention to posture, stress, you name it. I might feel different now from how I felt 10 minutes ago. The bulge itself only bothers me if I let it, which at this stage of the game, I never do.

I don't splint, and to be honest, while on the toilet I don't have a perfect lumbar curvature all the while. I'm careful not to strain though. Whatever doesn't make it out this time, will just have to be for another time. This doesn't always leave me in a state of total comfort, but I do the best I can.

My 'celes are "nature's pessary" helping keep my cervix away from the opening. I have no animosity towards them! But yes, like many of us, I spend my share of time in the bathroom dealing with number two issues. - Surviving

sea turtle/ rectocele Q
Dear sea turtle,
Q1 - my understanding of the continual presence of rectocele is : the ligaments in the upper pelvic area supporting the vagina become stretched, perhaps by downward pressure, or I believe in my case by forceps delivery, & straining & wrong posture in the past. The vagina becomes lower or longer & the bowel wall follows its contours, sitting into it, hence the continual presence near the vaginal opening.

Q2 /3- To make things easier, I sometimes insert a lubricant into the anus, well before I need to go.

Whole Woman Posture & exercise will help all your pelvic organs including the bowel to sit in their natural positions, enabling them to function more naturally.

I have found lately by consistently using Whole Woman Posture & leaning forward on the loo while in WWP, that my tailbone seems to lift up, & then the only pressure seems to be concentrated in the anal area while going successfully...sort of feel like a cow!!! lol ( very happy one)

Hoping this helps,
(((Hugs)))
Aussie Soul Sister

Hi Aus Soul Sis and Sea Turtle

I would add that the rectum, vagina, and uterus are all loosely but firmly attached to each other and to the pubic bones at the front and to the coccyx at the back. But they are all like bags of jello, and they can flop around all over the place. Each organ can also distend considerably, and when they do, they shift each other out of the way to use the available space. They are not tightly held in place.

Think about a front loading washing machine. Put a piece of wood in the drum a bit below the centre, and turn the drum 45 degree anticlockwise, sloping up on the right. This represents the pelvic inlet. Now in your head, put three big bags of jello, side by side, on top of it, attached in a line to the centre of the wood. Bladder on the left, vagina/uterus in the middle, rectum and general intestines on the right. Now turn the drum through another 45 degrees anticlockwise, and watch the right hand bag, fall forwards progressively as you tip the wood towards vertical. You will notice that the guts have moved right away from the pelvic inlet and their attachment to the wood is stretched out tight. The lefthand bag of jello is at the bottom, firmly held by the uterus against the (now) bottom of the drum, the lower abdominal wall. The uterus too is moved away from the wood. Its vagina has been stretched out tight as well. If the piece of wood was made out of a very very strong sheet of very wide elastic the bit where the three bags are joined onto it in the middle would be pulled upwards instead of bulging downwards. This is analogous to what happens to the perineum in WW posture.

Take this exercise further in your head (not in your washing machine) and think about what happens if you add a downward load of intraabdominal pressure from breathing onto the top of the uterus and guts. It will try and rotate further forward again. It is now wound up. This is analogous to Christine talking about winding up the pelvis by allowing the pelvic inlet to change from 45 degree angle to almost vertical. By changing your posture you allow your pelvis to do the forward tilting that it needs to do, so that it can maintain healthy positioning of guts, uterus and bladder, and keep their channels positioned so that they can open and close on demand.

I know this is just an imperfect model. What Whole Woman is trying to teach you as a woman is a new dynamic way to look at your body, rather than the static way that we are used to looking at it. Figure out what happens to your pelvic organs when you move in certain ways. You can actually feel what is 'right' or 'wrong' as you begin a movement, a manoeuvre or a task. Pull back and rethink the movement if you feel symptoms. Like learning to dance it will feel clunky and uncomfortable and tiring at first, but eventually it becomes like falling off a log, and you will wonder how you ever managed to stay in one piece previously.

Louise

HI sea turtle, you might try to re-assess your splinting. Splinting has been my absolute life saver with a rectocele. Sometimes the stool consistency compromises the effectiveness of splinting, but it normally works. Maybe try looking at a diagram of a rectocele/pelvic organs and see if you are doing it correctly. I use two fingers and push down on the bottom wall of the vagina. Sorry you have been having a hard time with it, hope it gets better!

Yes, it can be a very useful tool for getting the poo to move, until you normalise the positions of your organs. I used to do it every time, then gradually less and less often. I haven't needed to do it for probably over twelve months now.

Louise

Bracing for the stool to evacuate can be done by holding the labia tight together in an upward, closed position and at the same time allowing the external anal sphincter a soft gentle pressure. The cross action of the muscles in this way; the labia pressing up and together and the anal sphincter pressing downwards gives me better support for the uterus which normally drops when sitting on the toilet seat and at the same time creates a degree of balanced tension which encourages the release of the stool without straining. If the stool is high in the rectum and taking its time to descend often there is little point in trying to defecate at this stage unless one uses an enema or suppository. I find then that deep diaphragm breathing with exaggerated expanding of the stomach out with the in-breath and exaggerated pulling in of the stomach muscles with the out-breath encourages the stool to descend (especially effective if done lying on the floor or bed so that all muscles are relaxed).