Pelvic Muscle Trainer is covered by medicare and other insurance so it must work

Do you mean medicare australia?

I had a quick look at your site, it talks about kegels. We don't concentrate on kegels, because it only concentrates on a few of our pelvic muscles. We are intent upon exercising the whole pelvic area that's what WW posture and walking and fire breathing does. Kegels is intended specifically for incontinence. If you are incontinent then surely strengthening of all the pelvic muscles is going to do you more good? Well, that's how we think.

Chickenfeet, the medical world has lots to offer to prolapsed women, and virtually none of it is good. So please get that thought out of your mind, that if it's covered by insurance, it must work. I would hope you've been around here long enough to develop a healthy mistrust of doctors in the pelvic health field. Please don't get distracted by everything like this that you come across. You have received so much good information here, and you have even been to a practitioner. You should have left those docs in a cloud of dust the minute they suggested sewing your mom's vagina shut. - Surviving

I looked at the video. It looks like another fly by night get rich quick scheme to me. And, if I were your mother, I wouldn't allow that thing anywhere near me. Sorry to be so blunt, but elderly people, and especially elderly people with dementia don't like to be fussed with.

Chickenfeet, please get you and your poor mom off this gynecology merry-go-round! You are wearing yourselves out and it's going nowhere. Encourage her not to strain, and to empty her bladder completely, and to wear some nice comfy low-profile Depends so that everyone can stop stressing over accidents. A cystocele, that's all this is. At her age and condition, there is no medical "treatment". - Surviving

When I got the SAVING THE WHOLE WOMAN book, I read it several times. There is so much meat to latch onto and my brain can take in just so much and then it literally shuts down and needs a rest. If you spend more time in rereading the principles of WW you will be rewarded with a new confidence and less anxiety. We all face life's challenges differently but finding this forum and Christine's work is a blessing to us. Please listen to S60 & Aging gracefully, they are giving you good advice based on WW PRINCIPLES. I AM 75, one of the group's elderly and my mom had prolapse for 18 years before she passed. It is not an easy challenge, I feel your frustration. My mom was also blind, had dementia as well as prolapse and bouts of depression. When I got overwhelmed I would take deep breaths from the abdomen and say "PEACE" 10 times. It is very calming and can be done wherever you are (hopefully in WW POSTURE)' cooking, standing in line at the grocery store, lying in bed, you name it.
Free2be

I had a pessary ring inserted 2 days ago by a very rushed and over worked doc (female) I was told to return in 3/4 months to be checked, or to return to them if I had any problems. I was waiting for this appointment for a year. I really didn't think I had a cystocele and was surprised when she said I was going to be fitted with a ring. I read that the ring has to be taken out and cleaned weekly then replaced. I waited 1hour to be seen and was out of the doctors room in 7 mins. I didn't get to ask any questions and was made to feel really stupid by the dr. I had a tropical moment during the procedure and she didn't know what was wrong with me. The nurse had to explain it to her. I don't even know how to take it out. When I asked the dr. Was it supposed to stay in she said yes it stays in. What do I do. I am 56.

Hi Shy,

It sounds like you have been treated pretty poorly by your medical professionals. Really, they should have laid out your options for you and given you some time to think them through.

What are the symptoms that caused you to make the appointment? And is the pessary helping with them?

If not, I would suggest that you return to them to say you have a problem (as they instructed) and have them take it out. And if you can, find a different doctor. Or just try and manage without (as many of us on here do). If you do return to them, can you take a support person with you? It might also help to write down what you want to say, and any questions you have.

Anyway welcome to the site, and I'm sorry you've had such a bad experience. Perhaps you can tell us a bit more about your situation, and we might be able to help you some more.

Hi there - i agree with Curiosity and I'm confused on how you even ended up with a pessary. If you have a mild cystocele (I am presuming mild since you didn't even seem to be aware of it) there are certainly less invasive ways of dealing. Pessaries are typically used for relief of symptoms but they don't "fix" prolapse and could eventually cause it to worsen. You are right that they should not be left in for weeks/months at a time. I agree you should go back and get it removed; if you want to keep it, then at least you need to be shown how to remove and clean it, and you should keep it out when you can so that the tissues can breathe. Before you go back, read up on this forum and website and learn how we manage our prolapse naturally at Whole Woman. Go to the Resources tab, find the Video page, and watch the first video - it's only 20 minutes long so please watch it before you make your next move. - Surviving

I do hope the doctor's office doesn't put you off about getting back in to either have the pessary removed and/or to be taught how to remove, clean, and reinsert it yourself if you decide you want to use it. I have been a pessary user and still do use it at times, a ring pessary which I insert and remove and clean myself. I've commented on the forum before about why I would rather use Whole Woman methods than depend on a pessary. Others have also commented on pessaries besides the website's wealth of information on all things relative, so it certainly will be useful as Surviving says to read around.

May I suggest if you call to request to see the doctor again that you ask to speak to or leave a message to have a nurse in the office call you. She should be able to relate to you what the doctor's notes say about your exam and details of what specific type of pessary was inserted and answer other questions you may have. The doctors' offices in which I've worked expected to allow time for the nurses to handle questions this way. I hope it's the same with your doctor's office.

I agree with Curiousity's plainly spoken suggestion that you find another doctor. From what you said about the experience, it sounds like such an arrogant violation that I really wouldn't expect to find better treatment there at another time.

I was about your age when I began to research pessaries and found that a doctor's prescription was required to obtain one and that they are expensive. If you or your insurance provider has paid for the pessary that you now have, I suggest you keep it if you have the doctor remove it until you come to a decision about what course you'll follow.

And, sweetie, you'll have to speak up....being firm and insistent without rudeness or a show of emotion that will ultimately make you a victim (whether it's anger or tears). Think about what you want to say and try to stick with it. Have confidence and don't let them dog you down and make you feel stupid. It's okay not to know something .... yet. It's not okay for someone else to decide for you what you need to know and what you don't.

Best wishes.

I think it is important to always always remember a physician cannot make you do anything you don't want. When you were told they were going to fit you for a ring you, as a patient, have an obligation to ask questions, to be your own advocate. You indicate that she said she was going to fit you with a ring but you could have stopped it and asked questions or you could have told her that you were surprised and didn't think your condition warranted this treatment and you could have/should have asked about other options and told them you would think about it and left the office. This is not to make you feel bad, but rather to emphasize that you are in charge of your body and you should never feel intimidated into getting treatment you do not understand or do not want.

Many years ago I went to a very large and well respected institution. I was supposed to have sinus surgery under general anesthesia. I was having severe asthma and coughing my head off. This was in the days when they kept you in the hospital for a few days. In any event I went through all of the preop stuff and finally I was in a room ready to meet with the anesthesiologist. So this lady walks into my room and tells me she is the certified nurse anesthetist. I ask, where's the anesthesiologist. She says he is not there but she will call him and tell him about my symptoms. I told her that was not good enough and I insisted on meeting with the anesthesiologist. To make a long story short, I walked out of the hospital with my boyfriend, in a raging snowstorm. I found another doctor ( ENT) who put me on a short course of prednisone, got my asthma under control and a month later he performed outpatient surgery under light sedation and I did very well. At any point in contact with a physician or hospital you have the right to decide what treatment is right for you.

Hi Shy pessary user, gosh to be shy about these things is totally normal, why do you think we are all anonymous here? Totally acceptable to be shy. Shyness means being open to the world and all its possibilities and so when things occur we are slow to react because we are too busy registering the data as it is happening. After the fact of course we know what we could have, should have, might have said and done, but at the time too much is going on and then you got dismissed because the doctor thought her job was done satisfactorily. It's all rational stuff and don't dismiss yourself because you are fifty and should know everything. Well if we are going to know everything at fifty there is no sense living to 80 or 90. Thing is I know when I was fifty I was tired of taking the BS and wanted to speak out. In fact many people I know became uncharacteristically more aggressive in their fifties because of this. It's a faze and one you don't really have to give into, but if you do make sure you don't do it in your home town and lock yourself from any chance of ever returning to your only local supermarket or doctor or whatever as some people I know did, lol.