Just diagnosed with a Rectocele - anyone with good news about alternative treatments? Desperate for info!!!

Hi

this is a tough one to answer becuase the answers to results we found progress we made nad ideas about alternative methods are spread through-out the forum and (for me) anyway to synopsise all that is difficult. Tho i am not one for the short post in the first place.

But here goes. Christine's book and video and her answers to my frantic questions enabled me. They allowed me to move forward from a position of knowledge and therefore power when i had been feeling extraordinarily lost and vulnerable.

I was told i had a third degree uterine prolapse when in fact three years later i was told my uterus was perfect and i had a mild bladder or urethra prolpase. (two subsequent different doc's).

I think things have stablilised for me re the prolapses and my approach is broad. I've made changes to my diet, i try to stay in posture, i do christines DVD excercises and take herbs and aculpuncture.

I also do a lot of research to see what chinese medicine can offer us with prolapse, (i'm studying acupuncture) and have some news on this i'll be posting soon.....

I do know that my overall health has improved mentally and physically, and this makes me pretty happy most of the time and most of all i'm very relieved not to have taken the surgical route.

There are of course times when everythhing gets me a little down and somehow then i am prone to throwing concerns about my prolpase into that mix.

A post recently had a lot of resonance for me.. i'm sorry i don't know who wrote it but it was regarding how this issue can bring out a lot of feeelings re; fears about aging and that perhaps if it weren't a prolapse going on it would be most likely to be something else, becuase we just can't halt that progress of physical change. So essentially it calls upun us to face up to aging and that's hard.

(The origional poster put it more beautifully than me so sorry for the rough interpreted rehash.)

Best wishes Reliv

Anne-helen

I too have a newly diagnosed mild rectocele as well as a cycstocele and uterine prolapse.
I had an unfortunate experience this AM with being unable to have a BM with a folding ring pessary with support which was inserted yesterday. It necessitated my going to the health care provider and having it removed. (I am to learn how to do it myself at tomorrow's appointment. The ring was very comfortable and my backache and heaviness in my legs was relieved and i would like to use a pessary for support while I work on the whole body program of movement/exercises.
Is there a "friendlier" pessary that does not push on the rectal area or do i need to remove the pessary 1st no matter which one "fits" before moving my bowels?

Dear Reliv,

I’m so hoping you can find a way to manage your rectocele. For certain I would stop all straining on the toilet and it may be that a deep squat is the best strategy for elimination for the post-hysterectomy woman (see naturesplatform.com).

When the uterus is removed, so too are the broad connective supports that hold up the interior of the pelvis. If you hold your two thumbs together, side by side, and fan your fingers out, that is precisely the configuration of the uterus (thumbs) and their broad ligamentous attachments (hands and fingers) to the pelvic side walls. You can see how it would be impossible for much of the bowel to fall past such a barrier.

When the uterus is removed, however, so too are the broad pelvic supports, leaving the large bowel to fall in to fill the open space. This sounds innocuous enough, but problems arise when the bowel drops so low that it can no longer be overcome by the forces of intraabdominal pressure. Increasing intraabdominal pressure by pushing to have a bowel movement becomes ineffective and women must rely on other strategies, such as daily laxatives, to move things through.

No exercise or posture will resolve such a condition. The rectopexy operation strives to resuspend the bowel, but not without significant risk, such as permanent constipation due to surgically-induced nerve damage.

Severe rectocele and inability to empty the bowel without lots of contortion are some of the most common outcomes of hysterectomy. Yet, they remain hidden maladies because no one wants to speak of such widespread suffering.

I hope you find a way to manage your condition non-surgically, Reliv, and also to help spread the word that hysterectomy is an operation with far-reaching effects often not fully experienced until several years post-op.

Hugs,

Christine

I can't imagine how women have bm's with the pessary in, though they do, given that some wear them week in and week out. This is a trial and error process that each woman must work out for herself. Many of us find enough change with the posture that the hassle of pessary use becomes unnecessary.

Christine

Hi Reliv,

I was very impressed by your insight and focus on venturing into the possibilities of unexplored ways of healing even the most common accepted conditions such as asthma. It is so true that we can get trapped by a diagnoses and look no further than just following the same protocol each time. My toddler sons seem to have asthma or reactive airway disease. I also had childhood asthma. I would really like to know what alternative I can to decrease their medication too. They have been sick every month since Dec and it ends up to be a terrible respiratory cold. I have been so stressed dealing with their recoveries each time. I think they have attended school 2/3 of the time b/c of this. If you have any suggestions that you could share, I would sincerely appreciate it.

Btw, welcome to the board. Many hugs to you.

I'm looking forward to your news that you will be posting soon!

Mariie

Many years ago my daughter(she's 17 now, was 4 or 5 at the time) had a chronic cough for many months. I took her to the doctor and he wanted to put her on some strong asthma medicine. I wasn't ready for that and took her to a homeopathic doctor. Didn't work at first, I went back and he changed the remedy and after a few weeks, no more cough and she has been fine ever since (knock on wood). Just thinking homeopathy may be helpful with full blown asthma also.

good luck

Hi Mommi2three

Please take some time to investigate Buteyko breathing to alleviate asthma. There is a fair bit on the Net about its principles. It is about breathing less, which sounds really dumb, but it works when you learn it properly. It turns conventional thinking about the roles of oxygen and carbon dioxide in respiration upside down.

It has been a successful technique for many adults and children, myself included, to reduce or eliminate the need for asthma preventers and relievers. I am sure that the amount of coughing I used to do made my prolapses worse.

Ironically, I initially did the Buteyko course to try and get rid of asthma that my specialist couldn't get under control, so I would be in good enough condition to have prolapse surgery. Now, five months later, I don't have asthma at all, and prolapse is a minor problem so there won't be any surgery either.

Cheers

Louise

Reliv, you need to make sure you click the "post comment" button. Many of us have had the experience of writing a post, clicking back to the home page and losing what we wrote. It can be frustrating, but that's how the program works.

Thanks for ur reply (sorry Reliv...don't see ur comment :( maybe u can send it again?). I will look into that breathing method. I hope that I can teach my toddlers. We have gotten sick all thru winter and it always came to a full blown repsiratory chest cold. It was so tough taking care of them and it made my POP that much more worse. So anything is worth a try! The long acting inhalers/steroids and breathing treatments are really not workng that well. Besides it would be great to be less dependent on meds.

Thanks ladies!

usaukaus
I would like to refer you to the following website. www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info Sue Dengate has written a book called Fed Up with Asthma. By eliminating about 50 additives from children's diets many have managed to give up their asthma medication.

You probably have found other information on the internet for this (http://www.wikipedia.org)... etc..

But a rectocele gets worse when you strain to have a bowel movement. So increasing the fiber content in your diet and getting 64 oz of fluids every day will decrease constipation (even if mild).. which does help.

The other part that does help.. but is hard to explain...
A rectocele is a defect in the wall of the rectum and vagina.. which sit right next to each other. When it occurs.. and you want to have a bowel movement.. it instead pouches out inwards towards your vagina. So you are pushing, but instead of going out.. it just goes towards your vagina. Some women find certain positions aid them in decreaseing this. Some women find pessaries that keep their vagina in shape, don't allow for so much pushing. And lastly.. some women find if they put their fingers in their vagina and push backwards toward their rectum when they try to have a bowel movement, it comes out easier.

I hope that helped. I'm not sure if it made complete sense.

I did also wish to mention that it's any woman that has had a trial of labor (even those who eventually got a hysterectomy), had a higher insidence of rectoceles (bowel toward the vagina) or cystoceles (bladder hangind down toward the vagina) (there are also enteroceles.. where bowel hangs down). I've heards a lot of other things on here. There are even folks who have their uterus hang down.. just about anything that has a space.. has a potential to have something try and fill that space.

- krys