My first week after uterus prolapse

Submitted by Scaredy cat on January 30, 2014 - 10:18am
Body: 

I just want to tell of my first week after my prolapse: hopefully it will help others:
My uterus prolapsed a week ago. I am not sure how i thought it may be prolapse but i had felt something going on in my lower part of my lower belly. Also i had been bleeding for about two months before that and thought it was because of my stopping the contraceptive injection a year before and my hormones being confused. Never ever go for the contraceptive injection. Yeah it is great at first, no more periods. I dint have any for two years while on the injection and then one more year after that almost. But it messes with our hormones and natural cycles and our body in such a bad way.
Anyway. I googled it before anything to see what a uterus prolapse should be like and the options. All i could see was the word surgery, and i was devastated. I thought i am never going to be able to live my life anymore. I wont be able to go out and walk, to dance, to work. I have just advertised greatly for my holistic therapy clinic and that means i would not be able to work but we don't have enough money to be able to afford that. My husband is already working so hard as it is.
So i was really down and came across this site and all of a sudden there was hope again. I am now every morning pushing my uterus back up. Sorry, forward. I am also doing an upside down jiggle a few times a day, but for less than even a minute right now because of my bleeding. I am so scared for it to get worse, as i am really lucky because it is quite mild right now, that i stay seated or lying down most of the time. There are times where it goes to its lowest it has been but mainly it stays put or even goes back up quite a bit.
I try my level best to do every thing in the correct posture. I haven't dared to go on my first walk yet but hopefully tomorrow i will.
And i am still aiming to work at my clinic.
I am almost 36 and cant imagine spending the rest of my life without moving. I have since last week worked out what happened to me. You see i have never given birth. I am very overweight. But generally active and tonic. But i have done an awful lot of fascia unwinding on myself. It was kinda like an addiction because it relieved of so much pain and tensions that sometimes i even did it in my sleep or not realising i was doing it, it had become such a habit. And so what has happened is i overstretched my body and fascia like that. And in researching i have found on google a lady who did it to herself through yoga. And i am talking about this because it goes to understanding what can happen to a womans body and to sharing about a silly way but still oh so real to mess ourselves up without even knowing. So she did yoga for decades and stretched herself beyond the limit all the time, until her body was so overstretched that she was in pain all the time, and her bones cracked all the time, which is happening to me. But the good thing is that as she explains fascia and other tissues like muscles, they are alive and can repair themselves. The way to do it when overstretched is then to tone the body with muscle building exercises. So in other words to do dumbbell exercises and other exercises like in the wjholewoman program. Because it can repair and therefore become tonic again. So i am going to start walking in the woman posture everyday as well as doing the whole woman exercises and adding some of my own when i will be ready. But to be careful not to over do it either.
I am doing acupuncture on myself as well and this, i feel has helped with reducing the bleeding, as well as toning the pelvis.
At the moment i am not sleeping enough and holding the woman posture is very tiring so i lye down quite a bit, also because i still have the fear of it getting worse. But i need to ask you all something? When maintaining the woman posture, doing the exercises... Is it safe to go out there and live a normal life? Should i think i can go and do my massages on my clients and be safe or should i stay in bed until i have lost all the weight and muscled up enough?
I must say that generally it is getting better. It only got worse yesterday because i had to force a bit more through a bit of constipation. But a bit of upside down jiggle and it was better than it had ever been.
I am now looking at this this way: this is the chance i have to make my life whole again. I am now eating healthy, and started loosing weight, i have to loose at least 50 kilos. I have lost a couple so far, mostly water retention but still. I am going to exercise daily, and once i get the wholewoman yoga dvds i will do yoga daily, as well as some meditation that i might start tomorrow.
I suppose visualising everything holding up nicely will help also when meditating.
This is super important, gravity takes up down so strongly that when i walk i am now trying to become conscious of each step so as not to bring myself down too hard. It is about thinking light.
And so with doing all this i am hoping to see myself fully recovered hopefully by next year. It wont be before that because so many aspects of my recovery are going to be slow, like loosing weight and toning up. But it will only work if i really start to take care of myself.
I just wanted to let everyone know about how over stretching your body so profoundly can be really dangerous to our health and so for everyone to be aware. And also to say a massive big thank you to wholewoman because it has saved my life. I may have ended up getting surgery and a whole host of other problems, and i would have lost complete faith in life if i hadn't read about all the exercises and all the witnessing accounts from all these wonderful women who were strong enough to write about their experiences and to do something about their prolapse.
I am sorry that this sounds rather confusing maybe, but i am finding it a bit difficult at the moment to keep my strains of thoughts clear and to the point. I wish everyone to whom this may happen to find this site and to start working on gaining their life back. But also i hope to be able to make as many women aware of the risks as possible. So as to prevent it from happening to them at all.
One last question, if anyone actually managed to read this post all the way to the end :) if tour uterus is tilted backwards, do you have more of a risk of a prolapse or less or same?
Thank you.

Forum:

Arizona

January 30, 2014 - 11:24am

Live a normal life? Absolutely. As you begin staying more and more in posture and your organs start settling in, you will learn how to adjust your movements so as not to aggravate your prolapse. You will find new ways to do routine tasks and also identify which one's you should not do....and the one's your gonna do and maybe have a bad day tomorrow.

Stay in bed? Nah! The body is made to move. Our overly sedentary lives have come with great cost to our health (physical and mental). And you can't learn posture lying down ;-) Walk, walk, walk. Some of the women like to swing or flap their arms as they go along. Walking is great for losing weight. Christine's exercises have been designed with prolapse and posture in mind so you might want to keep that in mind when adding any other types of exercise.

Oh...jiggling and all-fours are great for making it all feel good, which you are noticing. I have been assured by another member that firebreathing "is the cats meow" and am still learning that. Keep us posted.

Aging gracefully

January 30, 2014 - 11:38am

Hi scaredy cat,
Having a tilted uterus is all part of the bad posture, practices, and sucking and tucking, sitting in soft furniture, the wrong kind of exercises(core strength training to name one) that some of us have been doing for decades. I had a tilted uterus from the young age of 20 on. The doctor noted it after one of my pregnancies, acting as if this was normal for some women. It is not.
I ended up having 3 big babies without any problems with my uterus. I then spent years of heaving lifting as a nurse's aid. It wasn't until I hit perimenopause that I noticed my cervix sticking out of my vagina.
The accumulative bad posture and practices finally caught up to me.
So, don't be too hard on yourself. Women have a variety of reasons for how this happened to them, but with whole woman, we can manage our prolapses and start to live again.
I was scared to move at first too, but practicing the posture and doing the exercises gave me the confidence to do more. Ya, my cervix would still pop out, and still does sometimes, but I have been able to do all the things I want to. You just have to know when to take breaks and take it easy on yourself.
Chin up scaredy cat, and get out there and live your life.

Aging gracefully

January 30, 2014 - 11:30am

Arizona!! Reading my mind again ! Lol!

Arizona

January 30, 2014 - 11:45am

Wow! Some sort of psychic link from Wisconsin to Arizona? Hey, I noted that you were a Nurse Assistant...which got my attention because I get a feeling that many of us on this forum are medical workers in one capacity or another: nurses, aides, physical therapists, etc. I worked for many years as a nurse assistant before crossing over to be a cardiology tech. I worked on an orthopedic floor lifting patients (I weighed 100 pounds at the time---have filled out since then. Hah!) so I'm betting that clinching those stomach muscles to move people did me no favors. Moving boxes of charts could not have been good either. Oh well...damage is done and would not have met you ladies otherwise. Stay warm Wisconsin...will not tell you that I have my windows open and have on capris....ooopppss!

Aging gracefully

January 30, 2014 - 11:52am

Thanks Arizona!! The hubby and I are actually heading out to your state in a couple of weeks to visit relatives, so then I can enjoy your weather just a little bit also.
Ya, heaving lifting did us no favors. No use crying over spilt milk! Just do lots of firebreathing instead! Lol! It really is the cat's meow!

Arizona

January 30, 2014 - 12:00pm

;-) You can reverse that taunt when summer comes and you have your windows open and I'm cloistered inside because it's 115 degrees out. Safe travels.

Scaredy cat

January 30, 2014 - 1:48pm

Well i am in uk and it sucks. At least for once we dont have such a dreadful and dangerous, albeit really beautiful snow, but in the last few days raining all day. Am really fed up. But the great news is i am finding myself wanting to get out and do things. I am so frustrated to stay in and do nothing. Tomorrow i am going to finish painting my clinic walls. And in the evening i am going to go for walk with my friend. Whether it rains or not. And using the posture. Tonight i have finally started tackling the mess in e sitting room. You see my prolapse happened after i started painting my clinic walls and also after i started to rearange furniture in my sitting room. So i have piles of books, and clothes and everything else everywhere. Now i am finally starting to sort it all out and it feels so good. I know i have to receive the book and read it but i cant help but ask: when you say that "clinching those stomach muscles" was wrong it confuses me. Are we not supposed to get them clinched to build up muscle through exercise? Again i havent read the book yet, but i would have thought that exercises like sit ups and other abs exercises would have been great...
And please carry on talking about how sunny your parts of the world are while we swim under water over hear ;) lol. Thank you for all this, the energy, and my goodness you both have some and a half, as well as the support,... Thank you

Aging gracefully

January 30, 2014 - 2:09pm

Noooo more clinching stomach muscles! Part of your new posture will be trying to relax your belly as much as you can. Relaxing the belly allows your pelvic organs to move into the lower belly where they have always supposed to have been. This is all part of the whole woman posture: relax belly, lift chest up, shoulders down, neck up with chin slightly tucked, upper back broad and flat. If you are tightening your belly or sucking it in, you are not doing whole woman posture. You will learn all this. It really takes time to get all the elements in line with each other, but it is so worth the effort.

And, rain or shine, I would love to visit the UK. Always looks so lovely, ancient, and mysterious with all that history!

Scaredy cat

January 30, 2014 - 2:30pm

It is funny because when looking at women who hold themselves in posture naturally i thought they looked so much better, and also so much more womanly. Excellent. Thanks for the tips. I will try my best. Already most times i remember to maintain the posture even if not the best yet. Doing the upper back back and as soon as i do that my upper body feels relief and breathing gets easier. Amazing. And britain can be great, especially london where i am but you should look at Ardeche on youtube. It is the part of France i am from. Heavenly.

Aging gracefully

January 30, 2014 - 2:33pm

You are getting it, scaredy cat. That is what we all say too! That we feel sexier and more womanly in posture!

Arizona

January 30, 2014 - 2:39pm

Aw! Sorry about the weather report...though my time is coming: dust storms, triple digit temps, and monsoon rains that bring all sorts of stinging and biting creatures backstroking by my door and sometimes in.

Clinching stomach muscles: Bad. Relaxed belly (not floppy): Good. The whole point of this work (and someone correct me if I get this wrong) is to remodel the lower belly so the prolapsing organs have a place to move into (over the pelvic bone - pinned in place with every breath). If you are clinching your stomach muscles it is counter-productive to this.

There are not many options when dealing with prolapse. There is surgery (high failure rate), pessaries (only a few ever benefit from them), or accepting this is your new-normal and learning how to manage symptoms when present, learn exercises that give relief, modifying your lifestyle, etc. i elect not to have surgery at this point. This is working for me. It takes time and effort but I look at it this way: I have to eat, so why not learn how to eat healthy. I have to exercise, so why not exercise in such a way that makes me feel stronger, more graceful and agrees with my prolapses. I am no longer in the flat-belly stage and my flat belly (when I had it) did not keep me from prolapsing, this was a cumulative effect of many aspects of living.

Please explore this site better and be sure (if you haven't already) to click on the tabs above and read the information there as well. The book is also very informative and the ladies that do yoga have nothing but positive things to say about the DVD's. You might catch me attempting to firebreathe but you won't find me doing crunches...not anymore! Best Wishes! Sorry again about the weather ;-)

Arizona

January 30, 2014 - 2:43pm

Sorry Aging, was busy typing...ever so slowly, while you were posting. Oh, the redundant post. Got to get a keyboard if I'm gonna keep up. I also tend to overthink my answers cuz I don't want to get in trouble so it takes me a wee bit longer. Ha!

Aging gracefully

January 30, 2014 - 2:55pm

Always good to be on the same page, Arizona! In this case, redundancy is a really good thing, my friend!!

Scaredy cat

January 30, 2014 - 4:38pm

Yeah. I will definitely look at everything. I have already looked at a lot of the things but i actually think i am going to make myself a folder where i will gather all the info on being a whole woman. It is so weird to now be aware of this whole new concept, new to me, and i have been to martial art classes and yoga classes and even looked at and tried to implement chi walking, if any of you have heard of this, where for all these activities you need to tilt the pelvis back to what they call neutral. This is what everyone says is healthy. And for the first time since i dont know when i am looking at my body and trying to hold it upright, as if i didnt have my belly, and see how normal it would look, except i still have the belly, and now i wonder how crazy forward i was holding my body before and how ridiculous it must have looked.
Dont worry Arizona, i was just kidding about the weather. It was quite funny to see you both argue over it. And yeah at least we dont have many mosquitos here lol. Is it summer all year round in Arizona then?

Scaredy cat

January 30, 2014 - 4:38pm

Yeah. I will definitely look at everything. I have already looked at a lot of the things but i actually think i am going to make myself a folder where i will gather all the info on being a whole woman. It is so weird to now be aware of this whole new concept, new to me, and i have been to martial art classes and yoga classes and even looked at and tried to implement chi walking, if any of you have heard of this, where for all these activities you need to tilt the pelvis back to what they call neutral. This is what everyone says is healthy. And for the first time since i dont know when i am looking at my body and trying to hold it upright, as if i didnt have my belly, and see how normal it would look, except i still have the belly, and now i wonder how crazy forward i was holding my body before and how ridiculous it must have looked.
Dont worry Arizona, i was just kidding about the weather. It was quite funny to see you both argue over it. And yeah at least we dont have many mosquitos here lol. Is it summer all year round in Arizona then?

Surviving60

January 30, 2014 - 4:52pm

Scaredy cat, what you said way up in your first post about visualizing is very true and quite important. Really visualizing those organs being held forward, truly does help make it happen. It helps you stay in good posture and it really trains your brain and body at the same time. A can-do attitude, and reasonable expectations, will help get you there. This is truly a mind/body effort. You are definitely on the right track! - Surviving

Scaredy cat

January 30, 2014 - 4:55pm

I always wanted to eat healthy, to exercise right, and to do yoga and meditation. But somehow i always pushed it back to later, and so this is going to be the main motivation until i can actually do that for myself. Blessing in disguise. Maybe now i wont die of a heart attack when i am forty. Sounds crude but it is my reality. And your energy is helpg me even more to get going. Booked a walk with my best friend tomorrow. Will eat courgette pasta. No not wheat pasta with courgettes, but courgettes spiralized into pasta. Cant wait.

Scaredy cat

January 30, 2014 - 4:55pm

I always wanted to eat healthy, to exercise right, and to do yoga and meditation. But somehow i always pushed it back to later, and so this is going to be the main motivation until i can actually do that for myself. Blessing in disguise. Maybe now i wont die of a heart attack when i am forty. Sounds crude but it is my reality. And your energy is helpg me even more to get going. Booked a walk with my best friend tomorrow. Will eat courgette pasta. No not wheat pasta with courgettes, but courgettes spiralized into pasta. Cant wait.

Scaredy cat

January 30, 2014 - 4:56pm

Thank you :):):)

Aging gracefully

January 30, 2014 - 5:02pm

Courgettes is our zucchini, I believe. And yes, it is an excellent pasta substitute. I have even used it instead of lasagna noodles with great results.

Arizona

January 30, 2014 - 5:08pm

Arizona is a bit of a mixed bag. We have the high country (northern Arizona) which has beautiful mountains, pines and aspens. That part of the state has pretty much the full range of seasons. The Grand Canyon is also in northern Arizona. A little over one-third of the state is in the Sonoran desert range (I live in the desert part). We have mild winters, which we kiddingly say last about a month, about five months of hot, dry weather, and the the rest of the months are beautiful. We hike in winter and hibernate in summer ;-) If I need a snow fix I can drive two hours north or be in Mexico in just under three hours.

Keeping a folder? Excellent. I used the back pages of my STWW Book to write down threads that I found helpful or gave me that "aha" moment. I also put in one's that made me smile or laugh so on the "bad" days I could reread them and lift my spirits. The early pioneers of Whole Women have some great stories (experiments)...Christine, Louise, Mae and Blue, and many others. These women really have paved the way for us newcomers.

Your schedule looks busy...don't forget to rest. Glad you're here.

Scaredy cat

January 30, 2014 - 5:58pm

Tx for all the good tips. Definitely will need to keep track of happy posts for when i am down. It is funny because i had never put so much emphasis on myself being a woman. I always said how i liked that tamara de lempika, a painter, said that there are no man or woman but just people with a different percentage of man and woman both present in the same person. Of course she said it better than me. And so i had always thought that good because although i am incredibly sensitive like the princess and the pea, which is great for my job as a holistic therapist, i am also not normally very feminine. In the way i feel about myself, and dress... I had never really put much more thought in my uterus. I guess that is also why the shock at the time of the prolapse. Its almost like i didn't know it existed until it fell onto my lap :) but now it is all i think about, and how i have to take care of it, not just because of the situation but because i am actually empathising with it i guess. And you are gonna laugh but it is not just that i want to fix it but that i want to nurture it back to its right place and health.
Arizona sounds really good, actually. Dying to go and visit the great canyon. On facebook someone posted a glass floor sighting deck over the canyon, it looks like the sight must be so amazing.
And i love the red earth. And the sun.
The desert sounds good too. Just saw a film about tracking in the desert looking for a child the oher day. It sounds so interesting. Looking at nature. Getting used to the land, which involves a lot of walks. The one very thing i envy from the states is the space. Your country is so big, the roads are extra wide, the houses are big, here on our tiny island of uk, it is all small and compacted... And by the desert, the sense of space you must have...

Arizona

January 30, 2014 - 6:29pm

Prolapse can be a profound spiritual experience once you get past the physical shock of it. I expressed once that my prolapses brought me back to me. I think you are going to be pleasantly surprised at how much you reconnect with you. There is an awareness of self that happens with this work and in the company of these women. I think you are off to a very good start!

Scaredy cat

January 30, 2014 - 7:15pm

I am off to the best start.

Scaredy cat

January 30, 2014 - 7:41pm

Yeah, courgettes are zucchini. I just got a spiralizer and am gonna have loads of veggies like that. With a great sauce. I am going to gross you out but actually, he one i am going to make for lunch is spiralized zucchini with banana smoothie as dressing with grapes cut in small bits for a little treasure hidden in the meal. Never really eaten raw zucchini before but sounds real yum. Cant wait.