Whole Woman Village Forum

Help! I am (or was) a healthy 73 yr old enjoying an energetic healthy lifestyle, a believer in exercise & good diet. My stage 3 uterine prolapse was a complete shock; how could this happen!! Even before reading "the book," surgery was not something I wanted to consider. It was, of course, the solution offered. Instead, a visit to my ND brought me hope in the form of an herbal tincture. It does help to some degree but I feel it is not enough (by evening it really drops uncomfortably low) & I wonder what else I could be doing. Does acupuncture get results? Is spinal correction with a chiropractor helpful and/or safe? Strangely, some of the exercises in the book are exercises I have been doing long before this problem developed. Also, sitting cross-legged was always an easy favorite position, it is now uncomfortable. At this point I'm not sure what exercises I should be doing & what not, so have just about given up my workouts at the club except for walking. I wonder, too, what affect the prolapse has on hormones or does it? I ask because I have been unusually tired requiring much more sleep than I ever have & basically my body simply feels out of balance. My slender body lacks muscle tone; I can build muscle but I don't lose the flab and my tummy protrudes so much I actually look pregnant. It's more than a little rounded! Has anyone else experienced this? Is the tummy the result of the prolapse; my doctor says it is just fat but I have never looked like this (my whole body sags!)& it's very perplexing. Any insight & helpfultips will be appreciated.

I do no take the useage of herbs lightly. I am not a herbalist. I am just a girl who has decided to take her body's health and well being into her own hands. Please use an herbs listed here AT YOUR OWN RISK.

I put a lot of thought, time and research into the herbal ointment I have decieded to use on myself. These herbs may or may not be irght fo ryou. I have had some request for the ointments I use and I am very hestitant to tell everyone the informaiton because I want everyone to be as informed and educated as I was/am before using them. However, I will share my information because I hope everyone will have wonderufl benefits the way I have from this information.

If you remember me I am the 21 year old gal with vulvodynia/VVS and a high rectocele. I am always very honest with my boyfriend, about everything and he is very supportive. I had absolutely no problem telling him about the vulvodynia and VVS. When it was at the worst point, the vaginal burning so intense I really couldn't handle it anymore, I w ould just cry and cry. I was in so much pain and my boyfriend would come over and hold me and rock me. So I have no doubt about how supportive he is. however, for some reason I cannot bring myself to tell him about the rectocele. For some reason, I would feel very uncomfortible telling him, so yeah my rectum is pushing into vagina and causing quite some problems for my phsycially and emotionally. I have definitly stabalized my prolapse to the point where I no longer have any problems on the toilet and I can hardly feel it but it still bothers me. I remember visited the doctor about this problem she said to me, "Oh my god, what's wrong with you? This isn't supposed to happened to young girls. It only happens to older women." I'm a very confidant young woman but that comment bothered me. I don't appreciate being judged that way and I guess maybe I'm afraid my boyfriend will judge me? I'm not sure. I guess I'm not really sure if this is somehting I should share with him, he's not my husband, it's my body but I feel like it's wrong to keep it a secret. This normally doesn't bother me that much but it's been weighing on my mind more and more lately as he's been discussing the possibility of getting married and moving in together. Please tell me your thoughts about this.

I thought the uterine prolapse had vanished for some reason but now I understand it takes a lot of devotion to this matter. My question is how does one lift herself from the seat I simply cannot get this? Elbows on knees and lift up from seat how do you do this and do your bowel movements at the same time. Working on constipation problem, it's getting better but hard not to strain. Thanks.

Hi all

I have just discovered how to get on top of 'asthma', so I am no longer coughing a lot, and aggravating my prolapses. I have been able to stop using Ventolin completely, and have weaned off my preventative medication as well.

My Repiratory Physician was unable to figure out how to control my asthma after over two years of trying. Before Christmas I was using Seretide 250/50 twice a day and Ventolin, 4 puffs, usually twice a day every day. I was still continually wheezing and had a couple of major coughing episodes a day to get rid of mucous buildup. I had never been hospitalised, and never felt that I really couldn't breathe, so he is not sure that it was actually asthma, but that's another story. I decided to wean off the Seretide over a period of several weeks and play it by ear. The asthma did not get worse, but it did not get better either until I learned the Buteyko method. The rest is history.

Well, after some questioning around family and friends re- prolpase I guess it is not as uncommon as it first seemed to me. My sister who has four children admitted to me that she has had stress incontintnce since her first child and that things feel "different" down there. She does not think this is strange, simply that it is a part of having babies. She was told after her second child that she has a mild UP. She also knows two friends who have the same, one of whom had a severe UP post partum rather like me. It mystifies me why there is not any info' about this in the pregnancy books and why on earth OB'GYN's and midwives do not mention this pre pregnancy!!?? It seems that many many women have prolpase issues albeit benign, and I wish I had at least the awareness of this before it happened. I for one will spread the word as it were, not to scare people but simply to inform them if they so wish.

Hi all,

How's everyone going with the DVD exercises? I'm guilty. I've had my DVD for several weeks now, and only just started doing them seriously. Christine, you *do* make them look easy.

I think I find them hard because I have quite strong glutes, abdominals and back muscles, from physio for disk problems, and taking up ballroom dancing. Trouble is I have fallen for the old core strength myth. All those deep pelvic muscles on the inside of the pelvis are like marshmallow! My inside triangles are not working with the outside triangles to give stability to the whole pelvic area, which probably contributed to the disk problems in the first place. (Oh no, not the triangle lady again!)And the prolapses too?

It is funny cos in my last pregnancy - Although I tore at the last second (After 2 episiotomies I expected this as it is not so 'stretchy' down there methinks

Anyways - I only remember giving one or two pushes - I kept saying to the midwife - next time next time... Then my belly went like concrete and I knew I HAD to push...

I found this

http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/pushnot.html

I was wondering Christine - Would this lessened pushing make our prolapses less damaging - If we listened to our bodies?

Hi Christine,

I'm not really sure where (forum) to post this question. But, I just finished a weeks worth antibiotics for a bladder infection. I tried for two weeks in vain using the Clear Tract UTI (D-Mannose) without success and then HAD to resort to using an antibiotic to rid myself of the bladder or UTI (not sure which it was!). Anyway, now that I am off the antibiotics I am feeling really crappy. My body has been a little off -- a little constipated and now I have stomach pains and bloating. So.... of course, my prolapse has worsened. I just started using a good product to balance my intestinal flora (probiotic), but I'm feeling kind of bummed today.

Okay I have the video and book and have seen pictures of the posture but is there a way (like a little trick) to see if I have the posture right. When I look in the mirror it looks like my stomach is sticking out a lot. Should I be holding it in somewhat? I don't know if it is because I had a baby and still haven't lost my tummy. Is it okay if it sticks out? Thanks.