My insides just fell out!

[ImBrian]

My son is 5 months old (baby number 5) and my pelvic floor has always been fine (no incontinence) though I'll admit to slacking on the pelvic floor exercises since I've had him.

I just went to the toilet and my insides came out my vagina!!! A fairly large bulge and I had to push it back up!!

I'm now lying on my back madly doing pelvic floor exercises and wondering what I'm supposed to do!

Any advice? I'm guessing weight lifting at crossfit tomorrow is a bad idea?

Oh god...
Prolapse, you say?
Nothing has fallen out yet
But why when I insert a tampon do I have the impression that my vagina has two sides to it, IYSWIM, sort of as though it is this shape ( in cross section, though the curve is towards my back, not to the left like that bracket is.

That's interesting piggychops. I presume i'm doing my exercises right but how do we know? I'm disinclined to stop my flow of urine because i know that's bad for us, but i just squeeze as if i'm doing that iykwim?

Pregnancy and childbirth really take their toll on us don't they? It's a good job babies are cute!

duck look at the website of either Gussie Grips or Michelle Kenway- women's physios.

You should:
tighten vagina ( in a squeeze)
tighten urethra
tighten anus

then pull all 3 up together and hold for a count of 10.
Release slowly.
wait 4 seconds then repeat- up to 10 times , 4 x a day.

Then do 10 quick squeezes 40 times a day- hold for 1 second.

I think there will be many more prolapses because of the increased use of slings.

I'm gutted, if it hadn't popped out I would have been non the wiser!

If you go for women's health physio they examine you as you clench. My physio was lovely but very definite about the effort that goes into it all.
She kept saying squeeze harder until finally she was happy with the amount of work I was putting into it. The idea is to tire the muscles enough to make them stronger.

I struggle to hold it for a count of 10 after the first couple. I guess i have some work to do! I also find it hard not to hold my breath which i know you're not supposed to do.

I remember just after the birth not being able to locate the muscles at all. I just couldn't feel them at all. It was horrible.

OP You are actually very lucky!
I needed a surgical repair after my 2nd child and would never have had a 3rd baby ( for various reasons) but further damage to my pelvic floor if I had, was a real consideration.
If you have only got problems after a 5th birth that's pretty good going!
See about some physio and hopefully that might help.

Also have a look at the Hab-It website. Effective pelvic floor exercise means doing a lot more than just lift and squeeze (think also strengthening glutes/lower back etc). The physio who created this site also has a much more positive attitude towards exercise than many - not much is out of bounds, and running is "allowed" (once you have sufficiently strengthened your PF).

footle if yours bothers you, it might be worth asking for another opinion.
When I had mine done ( front, back and uterus ) was told that a woman in her 60s was having it done (this was just chit-chat with the gynae at the time as I wasn't sure whether to wait- I was about 35 then.)
Many women use a vaginal oestrogen cream for a while before surgery to help make tissues more elastic.
I've never heard TBH of age being an issue except maybe in the very elderly- ie 80s.

Hi Footle, we meet again on the prolapse threads . Mine is just fine at the moment, as in no symptoms, but it is limiting, I feel frustrated at not being able to run and jump, but on the other hand it has meant I've worked on my core muscles in a way that I would never have done otherwise.

What has helped me is finding the confidence to talk to other people about it (in real life). Both my ballet and pilates instructors (women in the 40+ age group like myself) have been sympathetic, interested and taken my need to exercise safely seriously, I worried that people would think I was just wimping out of the hard stuff but it's not like that. Likewise with running, I have lots of friends who run, I used to but don't any more, but I talk to them about why and it makes it all seem more normal and less of a worry somehow.

Success rate for ops is about 70% and that's only for 3-4 year follow-up, it would be interesting to find out how long a repair REALLY lasts. Success rate second time round is likely to be lower.
I had my repair 10 years ago and some parts remain good, others have failed. The risk of complications outweighs the benefits for me currently.

piggy It is almost 25 years since my repair and so far (everything crossed) it's almost as good as when it was done. I understand that a lot can depend on who does it and their experience. I can tell there has been a slight descent of my uterus but everything is still better than before the op.
I do use HRT and will continue to do so as long as possible to help my pelvic floor. I've had to take great care- tried to jog a few years back and found it was making it worse (after 1 run!) so gave that up.

It's funny how we are all so different- I get jealous when I see women with 3+ kids out running and evidently they are fine- but I guess it's just how we are made.

I've had 3 DCs naturally (8, 6 &4) & try to run quite a bit to keep fit but thus thread has frightened the life out of me. Is there anyway to know if a prolapse is likely?

Hope you're ok Op!

I had huge babies, and eventually had a prolapse, which was almost certainly due to hard exercise including running. I had never been advised not to do this. I went on to opt to have a vaginal hysterectomy and repair. Just wondering why hysterectomy hasn't been mentioned by anyone. No more periods was great. No scars, and quick recovery. I am still running.

Hysterectomy can sometimes cause more problems in some women. The uterus actually gives support to some surrounding tissues. Some women after a hysterectomy develop vaginal vault prolapse- this is a well known risk of the op. What happens is that the top section of the vagina where the cervix was, drops and the vagina can actually almost run inside out. This can be fixed by pinning the top of the vagina to the pubic bone - I think a lot depends on the skill of the surgeon and what they can do for each woman.

run = turn!

I was also told it was important not to have a hysterectomy by my consultant. He was very experienced but did make the comment that the tissues around my bladder were pretty shot and that's the bit that has failed though thankfully I have no incontinence. I wasn't offered a mesh repair and I'm so glad about that after reading about some of the complications. There is a review on the use of mesh going through Scottish Parliament at the moment.
It's so hard weighing up the risks and benefits of a procedure...
(I also saw one awful consultant who told me that women who don't consent to hysterectomy have an emotional attachment to their uterus)

A prolapse is more likely if you had difficult vaginal births, with tearing or episiotomy, forceps etc. Also if your lifestyle involves a lot of heavy lifting, if you are overweight or do a lot of high impact exercise, like running. The risk increases at menopause too, because of lower oestrogen levels in the tissues. So you can decrease risk by losing weight, doing proper PF/core exercises, trying to avoid heavy lifting but if you do have to do it always use good manual handling techniques and engage the PF muscles before lifting.

Thanks WhoKnows! Makes me feel a bit better!

Footle - the main thing to avoid in pilates is double straight leg lifts, I've been back at weekly class for 2 years now and am considerably stronger than I was, but I can't see me ever going back to those. It's really easy to modify though, either by keeping one leg down, bending legs or both. Start very gently and build up over weeks and months, stop immediately if you feel uncomfortable, that's so important.