New here and happy to share

Hi there and welcome to this new "chapter" in your life! So glad that you are here. You definitely have what it takes to manage this 'cele and congrats to you for avoiding surgical repair. This posture is the best, healthiest posture for any women, with or without a uterus. You can still concentrate on keeping the remaining organs forward in the lower belly and take the pressure off the vaginal space.....while at the same time you'll be doing right by your hips and spine. It's maintenance for all of us......you may have a bit of an added challenge to overcome, but I'd venture to say that you make up for that in your knowledge and understanding of healthy living and how to take the best care of yourself. I envy your self-discipline and devotion to healthy food, and I can't imagine anyone who works that hard could possibly not succeed at this. We are glad you're here and hope you'll continue to share your experiences on this journey. - Surviving

Hi another chapter, I'm forty and haven't actually been diagnosed yet. However since I have seen my cervex and have to splint everytime I try to void my bowels I kinda got the hint something has fallen and can't get back up. I don't have any of your meditation or movement training but I too am my new client. I'm crusing for ideas and information since my doctor is so.......absent. Its interesting, I have learned that my first symptoms presented way back in my mid teens. Some of the questions my doc has asked throughout the years now make more sense. I could have answered them more efectively if I had understood the question. Looking back I think the docs knew but never took the time to explain or clarify anything. "Are you sure everythings been ok?? Be sure to do your kegels" seems less than forthcoming to me. Ok, yeah, I guess I'm mad. After 6 years of symptoms that were affecing my quality of life I finally found out through here whats been going on with me. My docs response had been upgraded to "thats to be expected, do your kegels and hope for the best. you'll probably need surgery but until you get insurance we won't even worry about that." Wait! surgery for what?? doctor?? [she had left the room] and after about another 3 months for processing my own feelings I finally told my husband whats been going on. So here I am, saving my pennies for a book and learning what I didn't know I never knew.

Hi thirteenrocks and welcome. I too can remember one or two passing comments made to me by my doctor during a Pap test, which only made sense in retrospect. They must teach in med school not to ask the patient about anything prolapse-related unless she brings it up first!! Anyway, for my money I'm glad things worked out as they did, and I was able to "discover" my own prolapse and find my own solution through WW. I have been here 3-1/2 years and during this time have not desired to get a diagnosis. I have no interest in hearing what my doc has to say. I like and respect her and don't want to mess that up. She and I might agree on what I have, but certainly won't agree on what to do about it.

So please use all the resources of this site to learn and practice posture. Get the book as soon as you can. I started with that and went from there over an extended period of time. You have lots of company and plenty of support here. What we have is so common and widespread, and we are the lucky ones who have found the safest, most effective and downright joyful way to get on with our lives. If you're feeling a big overwhelmed at the moment, i guarantee you'll begin to feel better the minute you start to immerse yourself in these concepts and put them to work in your life. - Surviving

Hi, I just found this site last weekend and was so relieved to find some answers and not feel so alone. I was diagnosed with rectocele a year ago in Dec. I knew something wasn't right for a number of years before that and after reading some of the posts here I believe mine started after giving birth to my son. I don't know what stage or how bad mine is. The gynecologist did not recommend surgery or anything but kegels :) - which I'd been diligently doing until last weekend.... I had actually diagnosed myself before I saw the doctor and she was not all that pleased about that. I have just received my saving the whole woman book & videos but haven't delved in yet - it is on my list for this weekend. When I was initially diagnosed I purchased an inversion table thinking that using gravity to push things back into place might help. Any thoughts on this? Like I said, I haven't read the book or learned the posture & exercises yet and maybe that is covered....? I don't have any problems with having b.m.'s, of course I try to keep them soft via my diet. The main thing that bothers me is that I like to walk/hike a lot and that is when it can be very annoying, not really painful but bothersome. My husband died nearly a year and a half ago and I lost a lot of weight at that time. That is when it seemed to become much worse. I didn't know if it was stress or weight loss related. I live way out in the country and heat with wood so there is a fair amount of weight lifting involved in my daily routine. I am also left running our forest products business (trying to sell ASAP) and that also involves a lot of lifting of heavy things, I have lifted up to 80+ lbs. I have a feeling this is not that great with rectocele. I am still not really ready for a relationship but I am concerned about sex with rectocele and whether that will be a turn off for a potential new partner. I apologize for rambling and jumping to so many issues. Thanks for "listening"

Hi Shining and thanks for your post. Welcome to WW, hope you are now busily delving into the materials. It is a lot, I know. For me, every word resonated and doing this work was a no-brainer. Rectocele is quite manageable with this work. I have 'celes and they are not bad.....they have a tendency to keep the cervix fairly well into position. Adopting this posture changes everything.....especially if you have been taught, like so many of us, that "good" posture meant holding your belly in. Now, you are about to embark on restoring lumbar curvature and keeping a soft relaxed belly and strongly uplifted chest. When this new shape takes hold, you will know what I'm talking about.

When you learn these principles you might see that inversion doesn't really address the loss of support, as the organs have not so much fallen DOWN, as they have fallen BACK from their correct positions behind the lower abdominal wall. So you might get some symptom relief from being upside down, but you'd be better off just getting down on elbows and knees and letting everything fall into your belly.

You can lift and carry stuff safely once you have learned the posture and a few tips about body angle, weight distribution, holding things close to your body, and honoring lumbar curvature. Meanwhile you will want to find some ways around the 80-pound problem!....avoid that for now if you can.

Walking is actually the perfect exercise once you learn posture and do your walking very mindfully in excellent WW posture. I had my posture breakthrough from doing tons of walking. Now, a very long walk actually makes my 'celes feel better.

You sound like you are already doing a lot of things right and going into this with a can-do attitude. That is so important. This work is not a quick fix or cure; it is a permanent change you will make that does not happen overnight, but eventually will allow you to see that prolapse is manageable and is nothing to fear. I promise you that you will achieve that much if you put forth the effort and commitment it requires.

Sex is fine and often partners are not even aware. If there is any discomfort for you, plenty of lube and good communication will solve that. Good luck and glad to see you here! Lots of wonderful folks in this community, there is support galore. - Surviving

Thank you for your response Surviving60. I have watched the first aid CD and read a lot of the book. It doesn't seem all that different from my normal posture but maybe I just need to work on it more. It has really given me comfort to find this blog and be able to read "real" stories from women dealing with similar issues. As I said before, I'm not having any problems with bowel movements but keep seeing the term "splinting" and haven't been able to figure out what that is.

Hi Shining - splinting just means putting one or two fingers into the vagina to push back the rectocele bulge if it is hampering elimination. If you aren't having problems in that area, good for you! Also great that WW posture is not a huge adjustment for you. I know for a fact that there are women who were never "taught" bad posture, but they seem few and far between, as so many of us took it to heart that we were supposed to be holding our stomachs in tightly. You'll do great - keep us posted. - Surviving