Trying to avoid surgery, but is it inevitable one day?

Body: 

I am 73 and have the most severe bladder prolapse. Also, now the vagina is going the same way. I have had shelf pessaries inserted for the past 18 months, the rigid plastic ones, as the si!icone Popy isn't big enough. I have a wide pelvis. The pessary interferes with my bowel vacating ability. Also, I need to urinate every 3 hours, including during the night. I am increasingly housebound as I need to be near a toilet just in case. I was offered a vaginal repair operation using my own tissue but I declined as my vaginal tissue can't be that great now! I wonder how much longer I can tolerate a pessary. I somehow feel the doctors are not sympathetic to my decision and are not supportive of my wish not to have surgery. Please can you advise? Is there anything I can do to help myself?

Hi Helen of Troy - you're in the right place if you want to avoid surgery! and of course your dr wouldn't be supportive of that decision.... it's their job to do surgery.
There is a lot you can do to live comfortably with your prolapse - you're going to want to get immersed in Christine's methods - namely, controlling your prolapse with posture.
Is your bladder still inside your body if you take out the pessary? the bladder needs to be inside for the posture alone to help keep it there. so if your bladder prolapse is so severe that it's outside, you will have to keep that pessary in place for the time being. but what we learn here is to use posture and breathing to keep all of our pelvic organs in place, and keep them from slipping back and down the vagina. once you get this process to become second nature, there's no reason you couldn't ditch the pessary entirely. You want to get to a point where you won't need it any longer...

do you still have your uterus? you mention your vagina is going the same way... i've learned here that vaginal vault prolapse is extremely rare in a woman who still has her uterus.

there's a wealth of information on this site - Christine has great materials available - start reading, start learning, come back with questions... there are some awesome ladies on here who can help with any questions you have about Christine's work. It's all about changing your lifestyle, changing your posture, changing how you sit, walk and stand... many many women(thousands) have had great results and live comfortably with all kinds of prolapse.
use the search bar on the left here and search for any topic you are wondering about... get on your hands and knees throughout the day to pull everything into your lower belly.... try peeing during your shower on all 4s to fully empty that bladder at least once a day...

you're on the right track by refusing the surgery - you now need some tools to learn how to manage this on your own... the tools are here fortunately!

welcome!

Thank you for your positive and helpful response. You asked if my bladder was 'outside'. Yes it is, so I will heed your advice there, thanks. I still have my uterus. I quoted the registrar at the hospital, when she said my vagina was dropping, so your comment is encouraging. I shall now start to explore the site, so I am very pleased to join you.

I am 88 years old and I am so glad I found this place. The posture is the best thing for me. I did the exs so hard that I kind of hurt myself. Then I went on vacation and didn't do them but just paid attention to the posture and was so much better. It is difficult at first but keep doing the posture because it does get easier. Getting up from a chair in the right way was hard to remember. Makes such a difference when I get up the right way. And bending over to pick up something from the floor was hard to do the right way. Hard to form new good habits. As I sit here I sometimes slouch into the old way of sitting so bring myself to be mindful. It does work. I hate to think where I was headed before I found this place.

Helen of Troy, love the name you have chosen for yourself. I was at the place that my uterus dropped outside and I would push it back in. Sounds awful.. Once in a while it stills does. I saw to help with that on a post here. It is called V-2 belt. I hope I can write that on this site. I first saw it here. I wear that every day that I am home. I also wear the belt from this site's store. It is wonderful. I do the video with the Pee/on and Pee/off from this site. You'll be find many answers on this site. Good luck. Just keep on keeping on.

Hi Helenoftroy - I do agree that you have been misled by an imprecise comment on the part of a hospital staffer. Vagina is dropping.....a pretty meaningless and unhelpful remark. A true vaginal vault prolapse is serious and may reach a point of requiring surgery.....but as Typicalme states, it is extremely rare in a woman with her uterus, and it's the reason why hysterectomies now routinely include tethering the top of the vagina to the spine.

For women who have not already started down the surgical path, I do not believe surgery is inevitable. It is a choice often made by women who seek out the advice of surgeons and have no other knowledge or tools with which to evaluate the unfortunate advice they are getting. Once you undergo hyst and/or other "repairs" you are putting yourself in the path of failed surgeries that often just lead to more surgeries, each one having a shorter lifespan because the vaginal tissues available to make the "repair" are in shorter and shorter supply. - Surviving