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.

Hi Jacks, I wonder if the reason no-one is sure what your procedures were is that they're named differently in the uk? I'm not sure about the lift but the wedge resection sounds like a perineal repair maybe? I'll have to google!

Whoknows - it sounds like your stitches are tightening a bit which is quite normal around two weeks post op. If they get too uncomfortable, ask someone to have a look (request a virgin size speculum!) as there may be some that could be snipped and give you some relief.... I'm certainly finding if I'm more active or even sit on the loo or on a chair wrong it makes me bleed more. Do try to keep resting though as your body needs the energy to heal. Sitting upright is certainly a challenge! I have a ring cushion which helps a lot as I have a mild scoliosis and find my ribs really hurt if I slump a bit....

I've had a very 'tired' day today which I think is all the adrenalin finally wearing off - I have my mum and dad coming tomorrow but will try to take to my bed on Monday or Tuesday to give myself a bit of a break. Hope you all have a good weekend.

Oh and Jacks, if you're in the Vanvouver or Kelowna/Big White area could you give my sister or brother (depending) a wave?

Thanks Fen - I was shattered but alert for the first week, starting to feel a lot more human now, hopefully you will feel less tired soon too.

I'm about 45 mins east of Vancouver :)

Fen - glad you are ok, but please don't do too much. You have had surgery and are supposed to be in bed for at least 2 weeks!!!! xxxx

WhoKnows - the advice I was given from the consultant was to listen to your body. If you feel like lying in bed all day, then do it! Equally, if you feel up to going for a little walk, then do that! But, above all, don't rush into doing things - it all takes time to heal and that can't be hurried.
Don't forget that it is at about the 2 week mark that the stitches start coming away, and that can make for more bright red bleeding (also, they pull a lot just before and can feel a bit itchy) xxxx

Jacks - Welcome! What's a lift? Is that the uterus or vagina?? (not the elevator kind, lol) xxx

Thanks Sure. While I've been comfy enough lying in bed I was going a bit stir crazy and finding it hard to get to sleep at night so I started spending more time down in the armchair. I've been in bed for all but about 2 hours today (and that was in two lots of 1 hour) and do feel better tonight.

Hi everyone, I'm new to mumsnet and stumbled across this thread whilst looking for some reassurance about my recent prolapse repair. I'll try to keep this short but I have been suffering with a lot of problems down below for 6 years now since the birth if my first. I'm now 34 and had my second little one 2 years ago by c section because of the issues. Anyway, I eventually paid to go private and got my prolapse diagnosis and decided to stick with this same consultant to have the repair done. I had a posterior & anterior repair and a perineum rebuild. My cervix was also almost on the outside too but I'm assuming that rectifying the posterior and anterior has also taken care of the cervix issue too. I am now 7 weeks post op and I am still experiencing pain inside my vagina (burning achey feeling much like I was experiencing before the op). It comes and goes but it is much worse when I'm up and walking about so as a result I sit on the couch most of the day so I don't get the pain. I had my last check up on Thursday night in which the consultant gave me a bit of a thorough internal exam and whilst I was reasonably ok on the Friday i was in a lot of discomfort yesterday with the vaginal pain and bladder pain. I have been on hundreds of websites and they all say that I should be pain free by now and getting back to normal. My consultant says I'm healing great, no infection and pain would settle in a week or so. Could this pain be as a result of the examination (the actual exam was not sore at all)? I get a milder form of this pain when I'm on my feet for a bit so I'm really not sure what to think, any thoughts or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys and sorry for rambling on. X

Hi Jacks - welcome to the thread and like the others am not familiar with the terminology but will google and see if we can work out the UK equivalents so you can compare notes!

Fen - feel for you re the trolley hopping..not fun. Terrible to be left like that with no communication too - the apprehension is bad enough without being left abandoned on a trolley! Glad you're doing ok though x

Normal - I only had the posterior repair, and had similar pain and discomfort until about 11 weeks or so out. At my 6 wk check the consultant said that you need at least 8 wks to get through the initial period of stitches healing etc, so was very early days. I think some of the pain - especially that burning, achy kind of pain can be down to the fact that the nerves are healing and coupled with someone having a good rummage about in there its probably not surprising you are feeling a bit sore. Remember, everyone is different and heals at different rates, so don't lose hope that it'll get better x

Whoknows, I found it most comfortable lying on the sofa but kind of on my side which took a lot of the pressure off the wound, but let me feel part of things (translation -keep an eye on things/ make sure the housework was getting done lol ) in the early stages if recovery. I practically took up residence there for about 6 weeks! Helped physically and psychologically though - think you just need to do whatever makes you feel best and listen to your body x

Thanks Roseanna. Unfortunately our sofa is a tiny two seater (we've got a tiny lounge) so you can't lie on it, the armchair slouched back with feet on a beanbag is the only option downstairs, I am just not sure if that is too much pressure so I've decided to stay in bed more again. Just as well I've got my phone to MN on!

Welcome Jack - I've only had posterior repair so far.

Whoknows - I was like Roseanna and found the sofa the most comfortable. I could lay there all day long inbetween a bit of pottering around. Any chance you could try laying on the beanbag with additional pillows perhaps to extend the size of it. Just a thought. Also I found it a great distraction to ring friends or have the odd visitor. The recovery really is frustrating but so important you give yourself time. I lost track of the amount of times I said "I think I've turned a corner" and then felt pain and exhaustion, or just low mood. It is a few steps forward and hopefully slightly less back ... You are so nearly there.

WillIeverfeelnormal - I feel for you. I am quite a bit older than you withgrown up children and always feel sad when I read about young mum's having these problems. It is rubbish (polite term!). You have had major, multiple procedures. I have only had a posterior repair earlier in the year I think what you are describing is quite normal considering the surgery you've undergone. A rummage around would have upset things too. Many on here have reported a lot of pain around a period. I thought I'd finished with all that and the had a random one. It was terrible - very painful and a lot of blood loss. It all settled though. Be mindful not to overdo things. Take care and hope there'll be real improvement soon. Take lots of care and keep us posted.

Thanks Roseanna, I am real worrier about everything and I guess I have lost faith in what the so called experts have to say given that it was pretty obvious to me from day 1 that I'd had some kind of prolapse but it took 6 years to get a diagnosis I now just feel everytime I complain about something they just say "oh that's normal" or don't really give you a real explanation. It helps to know that what I'm feeling is normal from women who have been through it all. My consultant actually looked confused when I told him I was still having vaginal pain . Better go my husband has just brought me my lunch (coke and a bag of cinema popcorn ).

Normal I am also nearly 7 weeks post anterior, posterior and perineal repair and still have alot of pain and aching especially when I do too much and my consultant told me that it would take up to three months to be unaware of it so I have assumed that it is normal at this stage.
I also have a uterine prolapse which he decided not to repair so am also hoping that the anterior/ posterior repairs have corrected it.
Dreadful that you feel the way you do and do not feel re-assured from your 6 week check, can you contact the cons with your concerns?

Whoknows I though of you this morning when I sneezed and squealed ouch!
But it is such early days for you so stay as comfortable as you wherever that is and get plenty of rest x

Wouldrather so re-assuring to hear that someone else has had that turned a corner feeling then realised that they were exhausted when doing more x

Wouldrather - I had my first period post op 2 weeks ago and i couldn't believe the discomfort. Thanks for the support and yeah I do feel robbed of my youth as I've not been able to do the things I want to do with my kids. I have 2 beautiful boys and I have to be honest and say that I do have the odd emotional breakdown at what I've missed out on with them. Luckily I have an amazing husband who understands (well as much as a man possibly could) what I'm going through and is very supportive. My eldest knows mummy isn't too well but he keeps saying he can't wait till I'm all better so I can play basketball with him and roll around n the carpet . Luckily he's one of those little boys who constantly wants mummy cuddles (now that I can do) and tells me he loves me 10 times a day which is really what I need. I'm just living in hope that the day will come when i can plan things with the boys and know that I'll feel we'll enough to be able to enjoy it. Unlike our trip to Florida in June when I was in pain for 2 weeks solid

Bladderama - thanks for the reassurance, keep me posted on your progress. Did you have the same burning pain in your vagina pre op too? I did and this is also why I'm paranoid that things haven't been fixed by the op. I could make an appt and go back and see the consultant but it'll cost me £185 cause I went private seeing as my NHS consultant didn't notice any problems when I saw him a few months prior

Normal so sorry about your situation

No I did not have any burning pre-op and am still uncomfortable post op which I am not concerned about at this stage of recovery, sorry that this is not much use to you.

I would go and see you GP to get checked out x

Normal - have you been to the gp and had a swab taken to see if you have an infection? I had a burning feeling at 3 weeks and asked to be tested and it turned out I did have an infection that a course of anti-b's fixed in no time. I would guess that you can go via the gp even though your op was private?

I am 3+ months post anterior, posterior, perineal and tvt repair and can say that only recently I have started not to notice it all anymore. So much so that I am about to embark on Zumba classes!!! . By the end of the week I am achey and sore though and find I need an early night on Friday. Not working on Saturday and Sunday does me the world of good and by Monday I am fine again. The consultants always underestimate the time it takes for this area to heal I think, then again, they are men!! Lol! xxx

When my consultant looked at me on Thursday he said there was no infection and that i was healing well. Pre op I was constantly getting swabs done for infection (the gp even gave me my own supply so I could do them myself and hand them in lol) cause of the burning sensation and discharge but these were always negative, it was only when I mentioned to a different gp that I don't see often about my cervix hanging out as well as the burning pain that he thought the prolapse was the problem and so gave me the name of a private consultant. Perhaps I'm just expecting too much too soon. I know that a lot of women experience different symptoms from their prolapse so maybe you guys were just lucky enough to not have the burning pain. I'm hoping that the burning pain I'm experiencing now is something that will get better in time as you guys have said (early days and all that eh). It is a little annoying though when all you read from the so called "post op factsheets" is that by 6 weeks you should be fine and that within a week or 2 from having the op you should have no pain whatsoever just mild discomfort. They should get one of us to rewrite these shouldn't they!

What completely baffles me normal is how much that the information that we are given varies from Dr to Dr

Bladderama - it baffles me too - it's a constant theme on this forum that information is so varied. It starts with diagnosis - WillIeverfeelnormal's experience of having to wait 6 years is not unusual and is totally unacceptable. I count myself lucky having a friend with the same condition a year earlier than me and the information I've gathered on this forum from all you lovely women has helped me to be more assertive in asking questions and working my way through the system to get repaired.

There needs to be more research and post-op information on outcomes. Where's our questionnaires?

Whilst at the hospital I picked up a magazine and read an article by the female GP who is often on the BBC breakfast - she was talking about her posterior repair - made it sound an easy op - if only!

I suppose one of the problems with consistent information is that it varies so much from person to person and there are a lot of different factors involved. It may be the case that this thread is a bit skewed towards the worst cases as those are the people most likely to come on here looking for help. Also once your 6 weeks is up you are out of the system again and back to your GP, no long term follow up unless you are having such extreme problems you have to be referred again. Doesn't really help though does it?

Whoknows I agree that the thread is probably skewed I lurked for months before I plucked up the courage to post.
It is the more general things like to PFE or not PFE in the first weeks post op and what PFEs to do in that time. I am still confused

oh no.... I think I've got an infection... Can't face telling anyone in RL atm and hoping against hope I haven't - but feeling a bit woozy, have a nasty stingy feeling at times and can detect a distinct 'whiff' . I really don't want to go down this road again.

Oh no Fen - how easy will it be for you to get to the Drs tomorrow if you need to? Fingers crossed that you feel better in the morning.

Not easy Whoknows.... Taxi either way in the region of £10 a go - if I can get one! Will see how I am in the morning. Feeling thoroughly fed up and going to bed to sulk!