Any old prolapse! Uterus/womb prolapse, rectocele, cystocele, enterocele, urethrocele, incontinence, pelvic floor, anterior and posterior repair, TVT etc part 5

[Piplysmelie]

This is thread 3 of a long-running series of posts from ladies suffering from pelvic prolapses to support each other through the process of diagnosis, repair and recovery.

Here are the previous threads:
Thread 1
Thread 2
Thread 3
Thread 5

Info from BBC Health

What is a pelvic prolapse?

As the muscles, ligaments and supporting tissues in the pelvis become weaker, they are less able to hold in the organs of the pelvis such as the womb (uterus) or bladder.

Gravity pulls these organs down and, in the more severe cases, may appear through the entrance to the vagina.

A variety of problems can occur, depending on where the weakness lies and which organs are able to descend, but in every case there is some degree of prolapse of the vaginal wall, which begins to invert (rather like a sock turning inside out).
Prolapse of the womb or uterus is the most common prolapse, affecting as many as one in eight older women to some degree
Prolapse of the bladder, known as a cystocele, is less common.
Prolapse of the urethra (the tube that carries urine out of the bladder) is known as a urethrocele.
Prolapse of the intestines is quite rare, and known as an enterocele or rectocele.

Symptoms

Symptoms depend on which tissues descend, and how severe the prolapse is.

They may include:
A sense of heaviness or pressure in the pelvis.
The appearance of a bulge of tissue in the genital area, which can be quite alarming, and is often red and sore.
Urinary problems, such as having to urinate more frequently, feeling the need urgently, being incontinent (losing control of the bladder) or, conversely, being unable to pass urine when you need to.
Pain in the pelvis or lower back.
Sexual problems, including pain and decreased libido.
Constipation.
Vaginal discharge or bleeding.

Treatment and recovery

Once a prolapse has developed, surgery to fix the affected organs is usually the only way to cure it effectively.

However, another option is to use a device known as a vaginal ring pessary. This is rather like a contraceptive diaphragm or cervical cap. It's made of silicone or latex, and placed in the vagina to push back the prolapsed organs and hold them in place. Many women happily manage their prolapse this way.

Welcome iCandy

Thank you for all of the answers - fengirl this is all still shocking stuff to me!
I feel like I have had to learn an entire new language with this and have never used the word vagina so much in my life but am quite proud that I can now say it without blushing.

All of the replies have really re-assured me that this will be okay and probably less dreadful than some of the births that I have had.

I have also not plucked up the courage to ask the real TMI question that I would like comments on yet

Bladder Thanks. :) And you asked all the questions I wanted to ask as well. :o

Ditto the comment about using the word vagina so much!

Thanks Bugsy. I have had a chat with DH tonight about the aftermath amd he says not to worry, between him and the two sets of GPs they will cope. I haven't really explained to the DCs yet, don't want to put DD off having children! I'm the other way round to you, I don't need to drive much in term time as school and nearly all activities are close to home, I only really drive for work. I'm going to be calling in lots of favours from the DCs friends parents.

Skinikki ? sorry to read about the possible rectocele - especially as your other op seems to have gone so well. It seems quite common for the other wall to go once one is repaired. I found it frustrating that I?d been discharged from the first op (in March) and have had to start the whole process again to get a (hopefully) proper diagnosis and advice on my front wall. I?m still using a SureTouch pelvic floor exerciser daily and have felt some benefit from this.

Fen ? oh if only they would do some study to track how many times the 2nd wall needs fixing after the 1st op. Somebody like me would just show up as separate referrals.

SchrodingersMewed ? I so hope something is sorted for you soon. The bladder issues sound so difficult to live with and you are sooooo young. I am just so sorry you are having to deal with these horrible conditions and I would have thought a C section was definitely a possibility in the future.

Bladderama ? I?m looking forward to you having a few glasses of wine and asking your TMI questions . I?m not sure you can shock us on here so ask away.

Whoknows ? from my experience my rectocele repair was nothing like giving birth (which for me was more of an ?all creatures great and small? scene with babies just dragged out, oh and manual removal of the placenta). I wish they had warned me about potential future problems - I would have been more careful lifting heavy weights! Not weightlifting ? just moving house.

Anyway, I?m a happy bunny because after days of trying I?ve managed to get some tickets to the Paraolympics. It?s taken my mind of my nether regions. It goes to show how well I am feeling ? I couldn?t have gone just prior to my op - way too dragging and exhausting.

Welcome icandy, and thanks for the heads up :), though I am sure her name was on my letter from Jimmy's. I stupidly gave it to the receptionist when I checked in and didn't get it back. I never had a choice where I was referred but I will ask my GP for a referral through DH's private healthcare. I might wait till after your op though

Oh, yes. Vagina has now entered my vocabulary a lot too!

MN is a fantastic place, I hope you enjoy other parts of the site :)

Skiiing Hopefully a C-section would be an option but I also had a problem with water retention the couple of weeks before DS was born and when I was in getting induced it got horrid and agonising, no one would take me seriously. Then when I eventually got taken to delivery and put on the drip 2 days later they put a catheter in and I filled the bag in seconds. I am actually wondering if this is where the problems came from and it kind of scares me that it might happen again if I get pregnant.

Can I just ask - has anyone here self catheterised for a cystocele? If I could be allowed to do this I think I could hold out a bit longer.

Have just been told my urine sample came back from the lab and has grown something, I have a UTI caused by a bug that apparently normally causes skin and chest infections. WTF?

Anyways, enough about me and sorry for rambling on, I hope you lovely ladies are okay today?

:)

Schrodinger, have you got some antibiotics? Hopefully, that may give you some relief when they kick in. Don't apologise for rambling. This is the right place to share your worries. Hopefully, some other MNers who have had bladder issues can advise you on self-catheterising.

She has left Tromoprim for me. :) I've to take it for 5 days, she said that we need to find out if it has been caused because of fluid retention because of the bladder issues.

Glad I have somewhere to vent a bit, I hadn't noticed this thread before and tbh up until not long ago didn't have a clue what was going on.

Thanks to everyone who has replied, I think you're keeping me from crying tbh, just knowing there is other people out there with the same issues.

Schrodingers - it sounds as though you need a urodynamic assessment, where they measure the capacity/performance of your bladder, whether it is emptying or not etc, perhaps you could check whether that is part of your referral? Maybe ring the number on your appt letter and find out? I had it done at the same time as my gynae appt. It all sounds horrendous and I feel very sorry for you having to put up with all this and at such a young age too.

Bladderama go on, ask.

On the letter they have given me a chart to measure intake and out for 3 days, would that be this?

That's part of it, yes, I had to do that. The other part is that they do assessments by making you drink a lot of water, wee into a commode that is connected to a computer, to measure how much comes out, catheterise you to get the rest out, then refill the bladder via the catheter and do the same again, or something like that. A computer measures it all. It sounds worse than it is, I found it to be mildly uncomfortable/embarrassing but worth it to get to the bottom of things so to speak. If it's not clear from your letter whether you are having this I would def give them a ring.

HIya... HELP

TMI WORNING

Ok, girls I have what I am silently praying is a recotocyte. I have large bulg on what I think is the back way, and a protusion (SP) which is about half an inch out and 2 to 3 inches across. I THINK it is from the backwall of the vigina but I a not sure as it is so bloodly large and try as I might I can't physcally check. IE i have tried to check but I can't figure out where it comes from! its there all the time with the exception of laying flat on my back.

It is not really sore and painfull and definately seems to the wall of the vigina covering it, but I have had a HUGE increase in discharge of late and at the same time things often feel dry/ WEIRD. I have also for the first time had to take to bed with period cramps they are really really really sever. As in I'm on painkilling patches which are used for cancer and are not touching the bloody cramping (on the patches for a spinal injury incase it is relevent).

I happed to notice the other day that there "APPEARS" to be a large 10 to 15cm lump to the right hand side of the vagina extending into my leg. Under the skin, I can feel it if I lay down

I am now frightened. help.

Mummy That sounds awful. :( Unfortunately I am just learning about these things myself so don't really have any advice to give.

The patches you are on - are they Buprenorphine? I do know that you are not meant to take these if you have been constipated or have an inflammatory bowel condition, so if this is relevent I would speak to your GP about changing painkiller.

I would definitely go and speak to the GP about the lump ASAP.

(Un)-Mumnetty hugs. x

The patches are butrans, but I have been on them for an age and the GP / consultant is happy with everything. The problem is I have not seen a GP or Consultant for about 12months. I´m not in the UK and over here we have standing prescriptions for these sorts of things. Even though they are controlled drugs and very effective. They tried them as a last resort after trying everything possible in the last 9 years, I had to be hospitilised to be put on them as I have sever asthama umong other things and they are not supposed to be prescribed to anyone with breathing problems! SO they were incredabily thorough in their prescription and testing etc. NO bowl issues, no constipation nothing there is nothing unusal or differnt just this blinking lump!

I am going to have to go back to the doctor I think, but the problem is at the moment I have no health care provision, (there is a time limit here for the NHS and I have only just found out I was eligible) so have been going private (which I simply can´t afford) so it is going to be about 3months befor all the paper work is sort for the nation health service and I can see a GP.

I don't really know what to suggest Mummy but didn't want to ignore you. Can you maybe see a pharmacist and see if there is anything you could take for the cramps that is safe with your patches? That does all sound very tricky with the healthcare system. Is there any sort of provision you could go to, emergency clinic or something?

Yeah, "BuTrans" are Buprenorphine patches.

You really have to see a Doctor about that lump. :(

Btw, for the cramps you can take anti-inflammatories with the patches. Feminax that you can buy in the chemist are Naproxen and really quite effective, you could try this?

I can go private to see a gynocologist about the lump, but my issue is what then?

There is emergency care provision but it not what you would expect. ie they will treat a heart attach and then either transfer to private or repatronate to the UK. But i have been here so long I have no access to the UK health system!! ARH.

Thanks all!

mummy - you really need to get a diagnosis and make a decision from there.

Got my next op date this morning - eeeek!

When is it Fen?

Mummy - I also think you need to see a doc. It does sound as though you have got a rectocele, the one at the vagina, which it would be possible to live with for a few months till you get your healthcare sorted, but the other one, at the top of the leg is more of a puzzle, I really wouldn't hesitate to get that one checked out.

Hiya

Thanks again all.

Sorry I should have made it all a bit clearer, there not 2 lumps, but one!

It feels like the bit that is protuding is like the tip of an iceberg.

Oh, sh*t really kind of hoped for, stop being silly thats tiny and nothing to worry about.

Ok, will have to make an appointment come septmeber can´t at the mo as everywhere is closed for the summer holidays. You can´t get sick in August in here!!!

Good lcuk fen

Mummy I think you should definitely get that appointment as soon as you can and good luck. Because it's a large lump like that I would actually be tempted to go to A+E.

Fen Good luck!

I have a fever and am now hallucinating and I have agonising pain in both side of my back and lower abdomen. Now can't get my anti-biotics as DP got the wrong bus (have just moved). Shite.

Mummy, clearly it needs a rapid consultation with a GP but it reminds me of some types of hernia ... Please do get seen asap.

Mew,

You need antibitics and paracetomal, can your friends help out?