Whole Woman Village Forum

Dear Ladies,

I am sorry for asking a question - and such a horrible one at that - again. I would ideally ask it from my OB-GYN but I only managed to get an appointment for the 5th of March.

I have found Christine's article on self-diagnosis, I did it for myself and FREAKED OUT. My question is this: how high is you bladder supposed to be and how high is your cervix supposed to be? Or put it bluntly: what could a hard bulge/heap approximately 2-2.5 inches from the entrance on the front wall of the vagina be? It has a kind of crater on it (cervix?) but is completely immobile, at least does not go up at all(bladder?). I am asking because if it is the bladder than it is good news, if it is the cervix then it is bad news (basically because it is kind of bound by scar tissue). But if it is the bladder up there, then what is the awful lot of skin at the vaginal entrance???

Hi all

A Member posted recently that she was worried that her vaginal walls might get so thin from menopause that she could end up with a hole in it. It sounds pretty horrible, but I wonder if was even possible.

Have any of our Members has ever had a vaginal wall break down during or after menopause? I don't mean irritated, or abraded, even to the point of bleeding. I mean a hole (and potential destruction of underlying tissue with consequent worsening of prolapse), simply caused by menopausal thinning of the vaginal walls?

After my comments about another Member's questions on menopause it may seem strange that I am now asking a menopause question. The good thing about asking on this site is that I have reasonable faith that women who post here have no cause to lie on this site, as it is not corporately sponsored or censored in any way.

Hi everyone,
I am sort of new here but I see many of you are talking about sepia. I am will to try anything that might help. Can you tell me about it. Is it a hormone because my mom had cancer from hormones so I have to be careful. Also if its not where do you buy it? Thanks for the info.
Patty

okay, people:

so i'm really interested in knowing how you all incorporate the specific prolapse exercise work into your life. i am feeling like i don't have a good balance of things down at the moment and i'm really struggling with it.

for example, i do work on thinking about the posture all the time. that seems critical. but i also have a series of exercises my pt gave me that i so first thing in the morning (and that i SHOULD do in the evening, though i frequently fall asleep before i do!) i go to the gym about 4 times a week, walk tons. BUT, i'm not doing the exercise program christine has created on ANY sort of a regular basis and, in turn, i suspect i'm not supporting myself as much as i could be. i have the dvd. i have the new edition of the book. now i need to DO them. regularly. so i'd love to hear about other people's routines. do you do the dvd every single day? a few times a week? if it was a few times a week, did you notice improvement or does it seem to take every day? how long does it take you?

With Christine's kind permission I would like to encourage everyone to visit:

www.thebirthproject.com

This is the web site for a "zine" published by a group of midwives in Michigan. It is a lovely collection of musings, poems, stories, and information pertaining to natural birth, and womens health.

I am 62 years old, had stage 3-4 cystocele 12 years ago. Refused surgery, lost weight, did yoga, and started estrogen therapy. Went to stage 2, and no urine problems anymore. Stopped estrogen when everyone said there were breast cancer issues. Now, 2 years later, lifted a box (2 weeks ago) and went back to a 3-4. Miserable. Doctor recommended surgery while I am still able. NO WAY (I had a mother and aunt who had terrible results--ended up in diapers). Doctor said low doses of estrogen may help again. I also have osteopena, and estrogen would help that too.

Anyone else having the same issues?

Sorry for asking many questions but finally I have some people to ask them too.. (I am still waiting for Christine's book to arrive.)

Does anyone have problems with trapped in their vagina? Apart from the feeling of fullness from the rectocele the only problem I am having is this. I actually discovered that something was wrong because of this. It is not vaginal farting because the air does not gush out by itself. Rather, it feels that air bubbles inside cause discomfort and I have to squeeze them out regularly.

This problem almost went away when I stopped going to PT but I bought a Kegelmaster a week ago, used it for three days and then it came back big time. I stopped using the Kegelmaster since...

Hi (again!)
when i first noticed a bladder prolapse a few weeks ago it was getting hard to pee. After accupuncture it got easier, but yesterday got much much worse. I go back Friday, but am worried!

I'm drinking tons, trying lots of positions, but still can't pee without a great deal of effort (does that count as straining?)--but if i don't, nothing happens...
and even then it just trickles, so i doubt i'll ever empty my bladder fully like this.

Should i be worried?
What should I do???

K

I have some generic process questions/suggestions about the website in general:
- is it possible to "save" posts? If I read a post that is of special interest to me, I copy and paste it into a text file. If I could save it to "my account", then I could go to "my account" and see the posts when I needed to reference them. Anybody else think this would be useful? I have no idea what that means in terms of programming, but just something I noticed would help me, so I wanted to throw it out there to see what others think...
- how do I go back to the wholewoman.com website once I click the Forum link? Back button does not work and I do not see a link. If I want to go back to "main page" after getting into the Forum, I always have to retype the address.

i wonder if the increasingly high number of women experiencing prolapse after pregnancy might be related at all to many hospitals' policy that new moms have a bowel movement before being discharged from the hospital. it's like they are encouraging you to strain right when your nether regions are at their most vulnerable! luckily they didn't demand that of me because i was backed-up for about a week after my 1st was born & feeling far too tender to try too hard! i just wondered if anyone else thinks there could be a connection.

--mary ann