Pt 8 (Oct13) Any old prolapse! Uterus/womb prolapse, rectocele, cystocele, enterocele, urethrocele, incontinence, pelvic floor, anterior and posterior repair, TVT etc

[Bladderama]

Welcome to thread 8 (again - see below) 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.

With apologies for confusion in thread numbers - an earlier thread was called part 7 but it was actually the 6th thread.

Here are the previous threads:

Thread 1
Thread 2
Thread 3
Thread 4
Thread 5
Thread 6
Thread 7

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.

Sorry my phone kept saying it couldn't connect!

Hello me again... Have you Experienced such a pain that you couldnt sleep bécause of the rectocele ? Heaviness down there ... Big pressure ? I am in agony ... Gaz wouldnt come out . Bulge is huge . Is the pain un my head ?

Noordinarygirl - too true it (vacuum) is! I just give it ebvil looks as I pass by! lol I feel a bit better today, but stuff hoovering for now!

I've arranged for reduced hours, to begin with, but would feel so guilty if I took any more time. I'm sure my boss will be understanding, as she had something similar years ago.

I was just looking at some of the new posters, and wondered if we (women) will ever get over our repressed attitude to the mechanics of our bodies? A man thinks nothing of having a hernia looked into, and it's very similar to what we suffer. They just don't have a cavity for it to bulge into.

XX

Aveiro how are you today? Please keep in touch with us even if it's just to have a moan. We're all in this together so please don't suffer in silence.

Nanna I'd give my hoover (it's actually a miele not a hoover!) a big kick if I could but that might damage my insides at the moment! I'll have to save that for later.

What sort of suppositories are people using when you feel you need 'a good clear out'? Can you buy them over the counter or are they prescription ones? I do start getting nervous if I haven't 'been' for a while and have taken to putting notes in my diary......hardly Bridget Jones is it!

I am an active 69 yr old and had a part posterior repair eight weeks ago. (Bowel protruding into vagina)The 2nd part to be completed in August/sept after the graft has thickened & become strong enough to stretch and cover remaining area.. I have abided by the do's & dont's, however, how should I be feeling now???
I had a week away in the sun & walked comfortably but unfortunately have the following symptoms. Having had time to reflect, I have now sent an email to the consultant and also my GP.. No response from either so should I be worried? I think the next step will be to speak to the consultant in person, failing that my GP

1. lower back & leg ache like constant toothache
2. abdomen distends, at will, & is uncomfortable
3. waterworks is often a trickle & not a normal flow as you would expect. Bowel movement ok
4. rarely hungry & eating is not good, weight loss none, thankfully. Stomach often feels churning & unsettled
5. shortness of breath??? Is that connected??
6. on times the bulge returns & is becoming more constant. I live in hope that the final operation will stop this My checkup is in 6wks & then the wait for 2nd operation, which is terrifying me at the moment Is this all normal & has anyone else gone through the experienced of two operations for the one problem?? I just have a dreadful feeling this has not worked, oh! I do hope I'm wrong

Day 21 post op and BMs still going OK now. Never thought I'd have a diary just for my poohs! I managed to walk round the block on Tuesday which is only about 450 metres but it's a start. Went round twice yesterday and I think it was too much. Felt quite achy down below after I got back and had to lie down for a bit. Didn't sleep too well last night either.

I REALLY do miss being able to walk for miles every day and hate seeing my legs turn from nicely toned into flabby messes. I put a lot of hard work into losing weight and walking (only exercise I could do with all my bits threatening to fall out!) to be in the best condition possible for surgery and now it's all being undone way too quickly for my liking! Oh well, if I've done it once I can do it again, right?

I'm still lounging around in my PJs as I know that as soon as I get dressed I will want to do too much. I am usually quite anal (no pun intended!) about keeping the house clean and tidy so I'm slowly learning to give up control in that area. I'm one of those people who has to be doing something normally and can't just sit around watching TV.

I'm still pretty tired and find myself falling asleep in the middle of the day drinking a cup of tea if I'm not careful. I've done a bit of washing up and put a few dishes away and watered my plants but apart from that I just lie on the sofa with my duvet and surf the net or do sudokus or read.

I'm not taking as many painkillers as last week but find by about 9 or 10pm I'm quite achy inside and have one before I go to sleep. I can get on and off the sofa easily now without having to rise very gingerly and am fine going up and down stairs OK as long as they are not too steep. We do have 3 floors in our house and I tried going up to the top floor the other day but I could feel it pulling inside quite badly as the second flight of stairs are pretty steep. I won't be doing that again for a while.

I have been taking arnica tablets too which I think cleared up the beautiful huge bruises I had on both hands and across my stomach.

Prunes and pears are still top the menu and I'm interspersing any teas and coffees I drink with big mugs of hot water which is keeping my BMs nice and soft too.

I still can't believe how well I feel when I think about what's been done. Pelvic floor exercises being done religiously which I'm sure is helping as I am getting more muscle control back in my rectum and I am very happy with my bladder control too.

So today I am a happy girlie and am still glad I've had it done.

Edgie I'm afraid I don't know how you should be feeling at 8 weeks post op.

I can tell you, however, that my stomach often feels as if its churning and unsettled and I do get sudden pains in my back sometimes and a slightly numb sensation down the back of my right thigh. I have had different surgery from you so I would expect back pains to be quite normal as part of my recovery. I don't know if the numb feeling is from lying on the sofa so much! I shall monitor it more closely when I'm up and about more. I am not concerned about this at the moment.

I would be slightly concerned about shortness of breath and would advise you to see your GP about that if not everything else.

I still have 'swelly belly' but it's still relatively early days for me. I think there are other ladies on here who have had a distended belly for a few months post op so you are not alone with that.

I've not heard of a 2-part fix before but there must be a very good reason for that. Bearing that in mind I would be surprised if everything felt perfect after just part 1 so maybe it has worked and part 2 will sort the rest of it out. Sorry I can't be of any more help.

Good luck and take care.

Very interesting (and a little scary) reading all the posts here - for someone who didn't know what a prolapse was a few weeks ago!

I've been very squeamish about feeling inside up to now, wasn't sure what it felt like before, what it should feel like. However I've now been brave and had a feel (partly due to inserting tampons during my period) I am now fairly sure that I can feel my bowel from inside my vagina, when I press the bulge it feels strange in my bum (sorry tmi!).

I'm trying to keep doing PFE twice a day, using an app to remind me and time me.

I've been very careful about my diet for over a year, as I easily get constipation and have had problems with fissures and piles, which have been very painful. I've been avoiding gluten and most carbs, which seemed to help and also definitely helped with my IBS. However, in my current stressed and unhappy state I've been turning to chocolate and today am slightly constipated I'm wondering if it's the chocolate that causes constipation, as I've always been a fan of chocolate and choccie biscuits. Going to avoid chocolate again, but substitute with something else sweet and see if matters improve.

Anyone else found that chocolate makes them constipated?

Yes I definitely find chocolate makes me constipated in solid form, I have things like kit Kat's or twix bars but never a big bar of galaxy or cadburys. After my 1st op my friend bought me a big cadbury bar and of course I didn't say anything but she couldn't really have bought me a more inappropriate present!
At my sons pre school today one of the mums said there is a sickness bug going round. I phoned my mum and said I'm going to keep my son off pre school next week but she said I'm just panicking. My op is on the 15th, I can't stand the waiting!

kazza It sounds to me as if you have a rectocele (bowel prolapse) as I was the same initially and it took a while for me to be brave enough to have a feel inside. It felt especially bulgey on the rear wall just before I needed a pooh so I kind of guessed that's what it was too. I pressed it one time and it felt as if I could've almost pushed some pooh out (OMG this is all way TMI isn't it?!)

I too love chocolate but one thing I've found that is really nice and sweet, but also good for BMs, is the Golden Crunch All Bran (you'll find it in the cereal isle). It's pretty darned expensive but it's great to have as a snack without milk (as dairy doesn't help with constipation either). Have you tried adding Benefibre to your food too. A friend of mine gave me some last week and it seems to be working nicely. Mind you I'm having pears, prunes and lactulose too so it's probably a combination of all of the above. I also drink loads of plain, hot water too which definitely does help if you're having problems.

Thanks Mrsclairet and Noordinarygirl,

I have to be careful with fibre, I think it might aggravate my IBS. I will have a look at the golden crunch bran though. I've been eating low carb for nearly 2 years now most of the time. Every time I eat carbs again I suffer mainly with constipation and I think I need to find out what is causing it. I presumed it was wheat or just carbs, but who knows?

Oh my gawd is THIS the one?!!

Ive been posting my arse off on thread 5 desperately asking for help!

Please can someone help me?

Ive had big babies and somethings gone a miss recently. I went to the doctors this morning and I have a mild prolapsed bladder and a moderately prolapsed uterus.

She said because Im 31 she has given me an urgent referral to the hospital and she said the likelyhood is, they would pin it all back up.

Has anyone had this done? Is it very painful? Or not to bad? Bad recovery? Or in Asda 2 days later? Can you drive afterwards

Ive got no family near by and im a single mum although the kids dad is helpful.

I have absolutely no info on this, and heard noones experiences. Ive been posting here there and everywhere and no ones answered.

So im hoping is the place to be finally!

TIA

Pleeeeease?

Sack, you are in the right place I'm new here myself, so can't offer advice, not had that done, but I'm sure someone will be along soon who knows more than me

Sack - sorry you are having problems down below. It will all depend on what problems the prolapses are actually causing for you, they may not go for surgical intervention straight away, some consultants are cautious when women are still young enough to have more babies as that can put more strain on everything. It is major surgery. If you do end up having surgery you are looking at 4 weeks off driving with 2 weeks of no exertion at all then building up gradually over the next 6 weeks or so to everyday light duties, 12 weeks for the properly heavy stuff (if you have a manual job for example). How old are your DCs?

Sack Yes, you have found the right place now and sorry you've had to wait for a response from 'us' on here.

We are all individual cases here. All different ages, had different but similar-ish problems etc etc. so we can only guess and advise accordingly.

I've just had a pretty big op that did involve having it all hoiked up and pinned to my spine along with another fix. I can PM you (or you can look back at my old posts) if you want some sort of idea of my history. I do know that there are differing degrees of these types of 'pinning up' operations and they depend upon how bad the prolapse(s) is, your age, whether you want more children etc etc. So one size does definitely not fit all.

It is scary and we have all 'been there, done that' so please do not suffer in silence. We are all very good at cyber hand-holding and all pretty friendly and very openly discuss some pretty personal stuff! Sorry you need to be here but 'Welcome' to our little (quite huge actually!) club.

Thank you for the replies.

Ok I understand. I thought that perhaps pinning up a bladder and uterus was pretty routine and standard. I didnt realise so many factors are involved.

Noordinary I was reading through your posts last night, did you have a rectal prolapse too? (Rectole or something?) I kept reading back to see if yours was the same as mine or different but I couldnt find my answer.

whoknows I have a 7 year old and 2 years 9 months.

Im doing pelvic floor exercises like my life depends on it.

Sack I had a rectocele and perineum repair. Again this took 6 weeks healing of doing very little then gradually building up to what is deemed normal activity by 12 weeks. Like Noordinary said lots of different prolapse and stages here. I'm 36 was 35 when had repair. As long as you are done with having children they would consider surgery and if it effecting your day to day life. I couldn't poo straight lol and had to aid things along by pushing on my back wall inside my lady bits just too poo. Now on a high fibre diet and on the whole so far my recovery has been easier than what I imagined.

Noordinary how are you feeling in yourself now?

Mrsclairet, you have my sympathies I found the waiting for op the hardest thing.

Thanks.

See this is the thing, I dont want more babies.

But Im single and I cannot know how life would turn out.

But the way I keep viewing it, is if someone was to predict my future and tell me Id have no more children then Id be totally ok with that. But if I had an operation which meant I couldnt have more kids I dont think Id deal with that very well.

At the same time, im quite uncomfortable as it is and I cant imagine what it would be like if it got worse. [confused

Is there anything they can do to ease it?

Depends on the prolapse, all the pelvic floors in the world wouldn't have helped me caused by childbirth and incorrect stitching after. What my consultant said he would only do it if I had decided no more children. I have a 8 year old ds and a almost 2 year old boy. That was the difficult part as he is a little world wind. Like you I have no family nearby so justme and hubby but friends really helped me through it.
I know you can have a pessary fitted to hold things up but don't know how successful this is. Noordinary is the one to speak to about that.
It is a big decision to make, so far I'm glad I had surgery. It has made a drastic improvement. I know for certain I was done with pregnancy so in that regard was an easier decision.
Think of all your questions, write them down and when you go to the consultant you will be armed with all your concerns.

That was whirlwind

Sack yes I had a fix for a rectocele as well as my cervix that totally fell out last year. I had the most 'industrial strength' fix as my consultant said I could need another 50 years out of it! I am 46 and had 'mobilisation of my rectum' done along with a sacrocolpopexy. The best website to go to for more information is www.iuga.org/?page=patientinfo. As far as I any aware this surgery is not very common. My consultant only does about 6 of this specific one each year. To date I have only found one other lady on here who has had the same thing done.

I am now on day 17 (don't know why I put day 21 on a previous post - must be all the drugs I'm on!) had my op on 18th Feb. I have been told no lifting more than 1.5kgs for 6 weeks then no more than 5kgs for 6 months. No driving for 6 weeks and no I haven't been to Asda yet and think it will be some time before I'll want to do that either! As you may be able to tell I have a LOT of time on my hands at the moment, hence all the posts on here!!

The 2 most painful things since the op have been trying to do my first pooh and the terrible pain from the trapped air from the op (keyhole surgery). Prune juice and peppermint tea should help greatly with both of these issues. The 4 'holes' don't hurt and never have, just ensure to keep them bathed with warm, salt water, especially the belly button to keep them from getting infected. I have also been bathing my ladybits with salty water just to doubly ensure that no infection occurs down there either. I did think I was getting some sort of problem down there, as it was getting a bit smelly, but after twice daily bathing, it has cleared up beautifully now! Lovely?!

If you do need this op I would strongly advise getting some help for at least 10 days after being discharged. I am 46 and have pretty much self-sufficient daughters (almost 19 and 16) so they have helped me massively. I couldn't even start to imagine trying to recover having no help and small children. Round up as much help as you can. It's not a time to be too proud to ask.

I am still not doing much of anything and will not be contemplating sitting upright on a chair for quite some time I think. I do feel pretty well when you think about what's going on inside and my BMs are now nice and regular and don't hurt. I did have some pretty bad pain in my back this morning but once I'd been up and around (only making a cup of coffee) it seemed to ease off. Immediately prior to poohing I do have quite bad crampy stomach ache but it goes once I've been to the loo.

My appetite hasn't really returned yet (not really expending much energy at the moment though) and my bowels do feel pretty 'churny' after eating anything at all.

Mrsclaire Hang on in there. It's maddening isn't it, these last few days. Be kind to yourself and try and have something the night before your op to keep you occupied. I went to the theatre to see 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert' which was a real tonic and I felt very relaxed. Something which I hadn't felt for weeks before. Tinkxx65 had her op yesterday so I'm waiting for her first post following surgery - hopefully over the weekend if she's feeling up to it. Can't stop thinking about her and praying that she's having not too tough a time of it. It'll be your turn next week! Is your op really on a Saturday? How did you manage that?

Happy I'm mainly good now. Learning how to do very little! Not yet bored with lounging around, which is good. But not getting dressed otherwise I might be tempted to do too much. Well, that's my excuse! It's all pretty new for me as I'm usually on the go constantly. How is the walking going for you? Any other exercise yet? Do you have a job with long hours sitting at a desk - if so, how do your ladybits feel at the end of the day? Thanks for caring too.

Sack I had a pessary for quite a few months. It's not the most comfortable thing in the world and I, personally wouldn't have wanted to have lived with it in forever. BUT I'm well and truly done with children, too old, had partial hysterectomy Nov 12 etc so there was no issues for me similar to those you find yourself with. I would suggest trying a pessary, if you are given that option as our insides will all be very different so it may be comfortable for you. You can still have sex with one in too. (They look like squid rings btw!)

Yes Noordinary back to normal now. Doing small steps regarding exercise. Can do crosstrainer etc. Tried running other day but had sharp pains round scar tissue so I won't be doing that again (shame, not) I have been up in the peaks again although just did monsal trail old disused railway line. It was flat I carried a small backpack but I struggled after 10minutes so hubby had to carry it. Very frustrating I guess there will be restrictions but hopefully with time this will improve.
Work is ok bar many people getting paid off. I can sit for long periods now with no discomfort. Have not tried the heavier side of my job yet as I have got consultant on Tuesday so hopefully he will give me more of an idea of does and don'ts.