Vaginal prolapse - help and advice please :'-(

[SilverSpooooons]

I'm only 42. This week I felt like I had a thrush flair up. Went to the chemist to purchase a pessary and some cream. Went to put cream down there yesterday and I felt a really weird hard rigidy part poking out of my vagina. Thought - hmm that's strange. But I was in a rush, put the cream on and went about my day. Same thing this morning, but I've had more of a thorough feel and a look with the mirror. I've got a ball like piece of tissue poking out from the top and bottom of my vaginal opening. I've googled and am almost certain it's a vaginal prolapse. I'm devastated and crying. What's caused this and how can I get rid of it? Will it require surgery or is there hope with one of those pelvic floor trainer things? Do they even work?

I'm beside myself and worried now. Will my partner be able to feel this during foreplay and sex? I suspect so 😔

In the past few years I've started leaking urine and struggle to get to the loo without leaking if I really have to go. Orgasms also seem much less intense. I'm feeling so low about this. Like I'm an old hag and life is coming to an end.

Does anyone have any experience with a prolapse and advice they can offer? 🙏🏻

Also are the kegal training devices covered in the NHS? Or private? I don't currently have private medical, but could take it out in the new year if it would be covered - but will I even be covered for any conditions relating to a prolapse if I've already been diagnosed with one on the NHS (so would then be a pre-existing condition?)

I feel for you. What you're describing, the ridged part you can feel may be your cervix. Sorry, but prolapses only get worse. I needed a hysterectomy. Pelvic exercises won't do anything at your advanced stage. But once I had the op, I felt fantastic. I was about your age. Childbirth was brutal for me. This is far more common than you'd believe. Lots of women have pelvic floor damage from forcep deliveries. Please see your GP, I was in misery too. My partner never felt mine during sex, but I did get recurrent thrush. Believe me, you will be a different person once you've had an op.

I’m 42 too and I’ve got a prolapse. Once I told my friends I realised lots of them had one too. Best thing to do is to ask the gp for a urogynae referral or a pelvic physio referral (you may need to be referred for physio by the urogynaecologist. There maybe a bit of a wait. My referral was speeded up after I spoke to the woman’s health’ advocate at my local hospital.

My physio was amazing, she prescribed a pessary which is like a plastic ring which holds my cervix up. She also taught me how to do pelvic floor exercises properly. I think they can actually really help but you have to be committed and they are a bit boring so sometimes I forget. I asked about surgery but the type of surgery depends on the type of prolapse and you have to commit to a long period of rest afterwards - I was advised better to wait but obviously it’s different for everyone.

DH says he can’t really tell about the prolapse (but I think everything was already sadly irretrievably altered post DC anyway.

I had one. Was given a kegel strengthener on the NHS and later referred for surgery. I had the surgery under local and had no issues whatsoever.

It definitely was a vaginal prolapse and not my cervix.

Prolapses absolutely do not only get worse, depending on the severity. Mine was entirely reversed through exercise and lifestyle modifications. I saw a brilliant women's health physio who gave me a series of holistic exercises (not just kegels!), plus advice on how to lift safely etc, and within less than six months I could no longer feel it, and neither my physio nor the nurse who did a smear could see any evidence of it.

There are also some excellent online resources. Hab-it is very good.

It is incredibly upsetting, and gave me a huge crisis of confidence. But 5 years on I feel completely normal, and keep up all the things I need to minimise re-occurrence in the future.

Good luck x

Hello! What was the name of your physio, please? And what area was she/he in?

Hello.
a week ago I had a ring pessary fitted for stage one anterior wall (cystocelle) prolapse. Four days in and all was good but now I’m getting reoccurring burning (it’s not a UTI; BV; Thrush etc) . My gynaecologist said to wait and see and so did my dr. It’s like my entire vagina burns for a while then stops. It’s not really specific. No one seems to have a clue what I’m talking about and it’s scaring me. I’d rather have prolapse symptoms that this burning. Any advice anyone?

I have similar with the burning, no one has ever been able to say what Is causing it, it can be really painful.
I think it’s hormones as it’s not all the time.

That was to @Josephine1564