MN Can we please support/highlight this? Pelvic Organ Prolapse

Adding support to this too! I've got two friends suffering from prolapses at the moment and before I spoke to them I knew nothing about it. It's such an important issue, the help they've had has been patchy at best (one basically got told to go away and lose weight) and I don't understand how with everything else you get told post-birth it doesn't get a look in!

This seems like it would be a very worthwhile webchat and campaign to support.

I FULLY support this

It’s only because I used to read the ‘any old prolapse’ threads on MN and scare myself silly when I was pregnant with my first that I guessed I had some form of prolapse just after my second.

It was only because of the AOP threads on here that I made an appointment & got diagnosed quickly. So I knew to not get constipated and avoid high impact exercise.

It was a major factor in choosing to have my third privately under consultant care (I know I am very lucky to have had that as an option) so we could keep an eye on my prolapse and include managing it in my birth plan I wanted to avoid a c-section if I could but trusted my consultant to make a call on how the labour was progressing and what sort of further damage might be done by another vaginal delivery.

I have had physio every week since my 6 week check with my second.

Luckily, so far, my POP is mild and ONLY because I’d come across the issue on MN I feel I’ve been able to look after it well.

Thank God for the AOP threads. This issue is not discussed at all elsewhere and I fully support MN doing more to increase awareness.

Thank you OP for starting this thread.

Definitely needs to be brought more to the attention of all women in general. I sUffered a prolapse 8 months after having my son shifting a large wardrobe I then endured two surgeries to correct it, not great results unfortunately, and was retired on ill health grounds as a result as couldn't carry out my job! The physical and emotional symptoms horrendous as totally misunderstood by many!

Absolutely! A webchat and anything we can do to raise awareness is great.

I would totally support this!

Yes, mumsnet is an obvious place for this and I'd like to see it supported here and lots of info available here please!

I think side effects of pregnancy like prolapse need to be taught as part of sex Ed. It can't have a negative effect on teen pregnancy rates, as a side benefit!!

Ks I had the surgery last year, I was convinced I wouldn't wake up but it was fine. Mesh is generally saved for later issues, an initial repair will (usually, I can't promise always) be tissue only :)
(Incidentally I have the mesh for a inguinal hernia repair - not had an issue with it for nearly 30 years)

It is both wonderful and sad to read all of the responses. Wonderful that each of us knows we are not alone, sad that most of us have never heard of this. I hope MN will look into having Sherrie Palm participate in the podcast(s). She has presented/participated in the American Urological Association (AUA) Conference 2017 & 2016
Mediterranean Incontinence and Pelvic Floor Society (MIPS) Conference 2016; Society for Pelvic Research 2017;
American Urogynecologic Society (AUGS) Prolapse Consensus 2016; and hosted 2016 Women's Pelvic Health Congress in 2016. She is so well versed on the subject and because she has pelvic organ prolapse herself she completely understands the difficulties we face. There are over 7000 on her facebook support forum. Her book was mentioned several times in earlier threads. I do not think you could find a better spokes person to help educate us and spread awareness.

There is such tremendous value in women supporting women, especially related to conditions that impact our quality of life in so many ways. Zero doubt, POP impacts our lives physically, emotionally, socially, sexually, out fitness regimens, our employment. For POP to remain shrouded in silence despite nearly 4000 years on medical record is absurd. Zero doubt POP awareness will generate the next significant shift in women's health.

To every woman in MN who has experienced urinary or fecal incontinence (I have experienced both at some point, wrote an article about the fecal incontinence episode), pain with intimacy, chronic constipation, or vaginal tissue bulge or pressure, I encourage you to do a self-test. At the end of the day (especially if you stand to work), go into the bathroom and lock the door, then take a hand held mirror and check to see if tissues are bulging at the outer edge or outside of your vagina. This is an indicator that you have some degree of prolapse.

There are 5 types of POP, 4 degrees of severity, and all women need to educate themselves because we are not routinely screened for POP during pelvic exams despite childbirth and menopause being the leading causes. So much needs to change regarding appropriate women's pelvic health screening. The voices of women around the world will generate change!

Another fervent supporter. I'm a healthcare professional and appalled by how ignorant I was about prolapse - and the risks I had inadvertently taken out of ignorance.
Women need to be able to access information relevant to them but you can't know what no-one tells you, and you can't make appropriate decisions without information.
I have learned more from online forums than any medical .professionals I have encountered on my prolapse journey

I'm a midwife - the more information about this the better. I've looked after women who are having their second babies and are fully incontinent due to POP but have been told to wait until they've completed their families before having any repair work done. It's sensible advice but the impact on their mental health, self esteem, sex lives, social lives, physical health - basically every aspect of health and wellbeing - is massive. But women simply don't hear about it until they're diagnosed.

Raises hand

I lack the energy to contribute my story, but yes yes yes with bells on.

It's one of the things that makes me angry about men who campaign against abortion, fervently insisting that it's just nine months of your life. There is such total ignorance on the true costs of vaginal deliveries for so many women. I'd have sections planned now in a heartbeat, if I could go back in time.

This is such an important topic for mums. I am really struggling even with a mild prolapse. Terrified of surgery after the mesh information/issues, but sad I can run/jump or lift my little girl. 3 years on its a bit better but a daily struggle not to get constipated or sneeze and wee myself. I wish I had known that by insisting on pushing so long I could cause such issues. Please let's get the message out there. It can't always be avoided but I'd never heard of it before having my little one.

Adding my support!

Currently huge " unspoken" area - more publicity and info the better.

It's also another classic example of the gender bias. Many women have been told by GPs that it's just what happens after a certain age, you have to get on with it.

In my mind the fictional male equivalent would be if a man walked into a GP and said that his penis is hanging by a thread -
Somehow I'd suspect he'd get urgent treatment.

Another supporter here, I feel woefully ignorant of the subject & awareness is very much needed in the general MN population.

I'd never heard of it, or how utterly awful it is until a friend spoke about it honestly and openly, and I felt woefully inadequate in my knowledge.

Another supporter. If it wasn't for mn I might never have known that my problems weren't "normal" following childbirth (as I was helpfully told by one gynae registrar - I got a second opinion and then a referral for a repair op).

I would also fully support a webchat and think that this cause is absolutely something that MN should get behind. It is so, so common but underdiagnosed and hard to get the right support.

I suffered for 4 years after a forceps delivery, despite seeing my GP and being examined after saying something wasn’t right. She reassured me that all was fine, and it’s only after having another baby that my fab new GP also examined me and referred me to a specialist physio.

My case is mild, and I dread to think what it must be like to live with a more severe case.

I’m a HV so in an ideal position to discuss this with women postnatally but have never (neither have my colleagues) had any training in it.

In support too as a young family member has suffered post childbirth.

In full support of a webchat.

I first started getting continence issues when I was 18, it was misdiagnosed as Crohn's disease and later IBS, but for ten years I went backwards and forwards to specialists, never really being take seriously ("Oh women's bodies can be a bit like this, especially when you are young", "Oh you're vegetarian, well that's the reason then!").

Eventually, I was taken seriously and investigated again, to find I had multi-compartment prolapses and had no other option but repair surgeries that I had performed earlier this year. I was told that they would eventually fail, that they'll need to be done again and will only have a finite amount of times that they can be repeated. I was told that I will never be discharged from my colorectal and uro-gynaecological surgeons.

Whilst of course the vast majority of women that suffer this way do so after traumatic deliveries, I have never been pregnant and now as a result of the extent of surgery I required, I never will. It's a misnomer that this doesn't happen to young, nulliparous women (I'm 28), but I am certainly not the only woman that has suffered like this.

I was blissfully unaware of POP until a friend was diagnosed. In my view, awareness and information can only be a good thing.

I think this a great idea!