Is anyone out their happily managing a mild prolapse?

[abigboydidit]

Have been on the other prolapse thread and found it really helpful but am aware that the people there are at a very different stage from me.

Following birth of DC2, I have been attending physio for what they describe as a very mild prolapse. Physio say my main issue is lax vaginal walls and possible nerve damage from DC2 being stuck in for so long at the pushing phase. I have no continence issues and my only symptoms are occasional bulging of bladder &/or cervix and a heavy feeling (like a tampon falling out) if I try to jog/run/bounce/lift anything heavy.

I'm doing exercises and have bought an electric stimulator. Having made no progress for 5 months, I have made a slight improvement after using it for a month.

At the moment I am very down, as the only way I can manage my symptoms from worsening is to avoid any heavy lifting or exercise which requires bounce (so to speak). This is very hard as I already have a toddler who I can't even play catch with and I used to enjoy going to exercise classes.

I have been told that I will not be a candidate for surgery as my problems are not severe enough. I am therefore in a no mans land of lifestyle limiting precautions which are really making me unhappy. Or just doing the things I enjoy and getting bad enough for something to be done. Has anyone been in a similar situation? Any experiences would be welcomed.

I guess that would be me.....though I wasn't even aware of having one until at least 3 years after my last DC

I do exercises (I used to do more exercises, but I guess things improved to the point where I slacked off..). The main symptom I have is occasionally feeling as though it's hard to completely empty my bladder, and that heavy feeling you mention when I run, though (oddly) not always.

I suppose my take on it, when I was told I had a very mild prolapse, was that either it would get worse and I could then have surgery, or it wouldn't and I could live with it.

The avoiding things that you enjoy sounds awful, really - avoiding heavy lifting is probably sensible for all of us regardless of prolapse, as we get older, but exercise involving bounce? Well, that would include dancing, running with your kids....I would go for it. Then shout for surgery if it gets worse (but it might not).

Sympathies xx

Me! Mine was diagnosed about two years ago. Agreed not to do anything as I was still deciding about a third baby or not. It only really bothers me just before my period and I feel tampons don't go "in" as far. My consultant said running was ok and might help. No trampolines though!

Thanks so much for the reply. I have been trying to tell myself to be patient and that I am at the start of a long journey but the cynic in me keeps worring that this is all just smoke and mirrors. Physio said that if my pelvic floor strength improves (big if) and I build my core strength (currently saving up for 1:1 pilates) that I should be able to try increasing my activity levels. But obviously no guarantees..

Did your symptoms get worse before they got better? Or have they always been as you described?

Mine went away. I did lots and lots of pelvic floor exercises, and now it's just about gone.

It was very horrid for about a year, embarrassing for another year, and since then it's been ok, he's seven now.

Oh - thanks WipsGlitter. Sorry - I am going to fire questions at you all! Did it take you a long time to get to that stage? Did you see a physio?

i have a mild-to-moderate prolapse which i am managing using this (apologies, i don't mean to be advertising, i imagine any similar thing would work as well). i was seeing a physio and exercising wasn't making any difference, so she suggested i use this for 25 mins every day on the stress2 setting - four months of this has improved things markedly and i am now using it 2-3 times a week to maintain. i do imagine that when i get older things will dis-improve, but avoiding surgery for as long as possible seems sensible to me.

Thanks colditz - you are my ray of hope. Afraid I have hit a real low in my mood this week so all your lovely posts are so good to hear.

No. I didn't see a physio. I didn't really do anything. My GP was asking about it the last time I saw her and was anything 'keeping it in' and I said "just willpower"!! I did tell the nurse before my smear and she used a fecking ginormous larger speculum.

NomNomDePlum I have the Neurotrac version! After 5 months or so with no improvement at physio, I used it for a month (using a programme they set up for me) and saw an improvement. Only allowed to use for 5 mins per day as yet..

My youngest is nearly 7 now and I honestly don't think about the prolapse stuff anymore either

I never saw a physio for it. The GP diagnosed it, and that was that. Both my mother and my sister had prolapses, but worse than mine - and both eventually had hysterectomies and, in my sister's case, a bladder 'lift'. They are both fine now.

I think avoiding trampolines is probably sensible (we have one, and even a mild bounce with the kids makes me need a wee...) but running should be fine, and exercising, and cuddling your toddler etc? You can build up a fair bit of core strength by doing the basic Pilates exercises regularly, so even if you have a couple of lessons just to teach you the right way to do them...I would second that as a good move.

Gah - just noticed a typo in my title! Blame the tears

Yes, I think I will just go for the Pilates and call it an early Christmas present. I went to a small class held locally but was aware that all except the most basic moves were too risky for me. It was a 6 week class and I really just needed 6 weeks of doing the same simple exercises to start to build up a core strength. I would practice them myself at home but I can't remember many. Another bonus of having had 2 DCs..

how old is dc2? i breastfed dc2 for 13 months, and things improved a bit on their own when my hormones rebalanced after i stopped. if dc2 is still pretty small, i imagine your body is still adjusting. i cycle to work now, which i think is a fairly low impact way of recovering core strength (at a very basic level). can't avoid a bit of heavy lifting with two small dc but it's much easier on my body then it was. keep at it, things will get mcuh better

Thanks. She's just turned 9 months. Interesting you say that re BFing as I stopped at 8 months this time and felt a difference really quickly. May have to dust off the bike. Reassuring to hear things still improve past 1 year as physic basically said they would give me till DD turned 1 and then discharge me

Blummin autocorrect keeps changing physio to physic

i would take it easy re for example pilates for a couple more months - bf means low oestrogen, and you retain relaxin in your system (so far as understand it), which loosens your joints slightly and also presumably impacts your muscle tone. i know that it was at least three months after i stopped bf that i stopped having slightly achey knee and wrist joints, and that was about when i noticed the prolapse seemed less pronounced.

so things may well improve on their own soon enough, but you can't speed the hormonal process up, really, and i think it's easy to hurt yourself and make things worse when you still have birth/bf hormones floating about.

Oh that's interesting. Thanks. I know my impatience puts me at risk so I will hold off for a change

If you do start pilates you must tell the instructor about it, some pilates exercises place a lot of strain on the PF. Sounds as though you have realised this for yourself though at the class. I'm on the other threads, I had a rectocele repaired last year and am managing a mild cystocele through lifestyle, I go to a pilates class, but it is a small group with a specialised pilates instructor who tailors everything to all our individual injuries. I went back to it 4 or 5 months after my op and had virtually zero muscle tone in the PF area, I had to do all the exercises highly modified, the instructor was great helping me. 8 months on and there is a huge difference. Cycling - yes, that's fine, but standing on the pedals to go up hills also strains the PF.

I was aware I had the rectocele for about 6 years after DD was born, it was not a problem apart from not being able to get tampons in straight (I have a mirena coil now and don't need them any more). Then the rectocele dramatically worsened last year, after I had taken up running, done the 30 Day Shred and had a few goes on the DCs new trampoline and I ended up having surgery. I suspect the Shred may have been a big mistake.

Oh goodness, if your youngest is only 9 months...yes, I would certainly go easy and give it some time!

Sorry, I read the 'lifting a toddler' part and assumed that was your 'baby'!

I think things continued to improve for at least 2 years after dd2 was born, and BFing will certainly affect ligaments and muscle tone etc. There is hope

Oh you have no idea how much these posts are meaning to me! Maybe I picked the physio up wrong but I was left with a real sense that my time for improvement was as good as up. I guess she meant physio would only see me for so long? Anyway, have downloaded a kegels app to help remind/motivate me and will try to stay positive. Thanks again.

Oh you have no idea how much these posts are meaning to me! Maybe I picked the physio up wrong but I was left with a real sense that my time for improvement was as good as up. I guess she meant physio would only see me for so long? Anyway, have downloaded a kegels app to help remind/motivate me and will try to stay positive. Thanks again.

I am pretty sure I have a mild prolapse after a rather traumatic forceps with DS. I just wasn't managing it properly and it got worse after I had a really bad dose of violent D &V. GP only suggested pelvic floor exercises and gave me a sheet. I did them religiously but they were rubbish. Then I was on a thread here with the poster from Edinburgh who is a pelvic floor expert - is it gussiegrips or gussetgrips or something like that but her exercises were miles better and basically I seem to back to nearly normal.

Thankfully my physio has assessed me doing pelvic floor exercises regularly so I am now doing a heavily adapted programme. It seems that I tire very quickly so most of my reps were ineffective Now I do short squeezes (5 sec) with a 10 sec rest.

I have what has been described as a 'large rectocele which I refused surgery for.

To put it in context, I had a radical hysterectomy 8 years ago, then had a prolapse. I though I had a rectocele then but was diagnosed with a vault prolapse and I had surgery to hoick the top of my vagina up.

It didn't resolve my rectocele problems and they then said I had a large rectocele as well! I genuinely feel like surgery is the worst of two evils at the moment. I am used to the issues it causes, I often have to apply pressure to my vaginal wall to evacuate my bowels fully and I can have problems with not feeling I have fully emptied my bowels.

I am used to these problems though and in the big scheme of things, it is perfectly manageable for me. I don't want surgery, I'm worried it won't work and I hate hospitals. One day I'm sure i will feel differently but not now....

I felt very much like you OP after DC2 was born. I had a 'successful' vbac which left me with a 4th degree tear. This resulted in lax vaginal walls and a mild to moderate prolapse.
My symptoms were as you describe, heavy feeling, tampon falling out, pelvic pain, painful intercourse. I couldnt walk properly because it felt like something was rubbing 'down there'. Went to physio at hospital, she explained how utterly important it is to avoid constipation and straining. Gave me exercises to do, but they didnt help. Also I had to use dilators to stretch scar tissue in my vagina and then do pf exercises with them in. Gross, I felt so ashamed and disfunctional. I had been so strong and fit, squash, running windsurfing was all no longer possible. I got to the stage where I thought, even if I can live a normal every day life without the pain and weird feeling I'd be ok, never mind my sports!
Anyway, she prescribed estrogen suppositories which I used for as long as I was bfing. Low estrogen dries out the vagina, hence any rubbing is much much worse. Almost immediately after a stopped bf I didnt need the supps anymore for every day stuff.
Then I discovered a prolapse forum, and through that the hab-it dvd. Its from an american physio, who had a 3rd deg prolapse but does triathlons with it! I dont do the dvd often now, but at first I did every other day. It reeealllly helps! It strengthens pelvic floor but also core strength, which then enabled me to walk/run more and now I am back into windsurfing! (tried once before dvd use - awful, sobbing after cause I thought that was over).
DD is now 19 mths. I still get a heavy feeling before my period, cant really use a tampon, and have to do a bit of a wobble over the toilet to fully empty my bladder, but dont often think about it all anymore IYKWIM. Sex also fine now :-)

HTH - bit of a novel in the end...