anterior prolapse & incontinence

[blumpblump]

(cowardly namechange for this, sorry)
I've had an anterior prolapse ever since ds was born 3.25 years ago. My GP referred me to the gynae consultant at the hospital when ds was a baby but I cancelled the appointment .

I've still got stress incontinence problems and really should get this sorted - I'm only 30 and the fact that I pee myself almost daily when coughing or lifting something heavy really gets me down.

Unfortunately all the treatment options seem to require quite a long period of rest afterwards, which is my main problem - I have three small children and no family support nearby at all, dh works v. long hours and I simply need to be able to do heavy work around the house. On the other hand, It's not like I can just go on like this and not get it sorted until the children have grown up .

Poor you, blumpblump. If I were you I would go back to the GP and ask for a re-referral. Bite the bullet and see what the specialist suggests. Perhaps you could call upon homestart or employ a cleaner if you need post-op help.
Hopefully, someone on here has a similar experience to share and will boost your confidence to sort out your problems. Good luck.

Get it sorted. My friend has just had an op like this and she is on her own with 2 young children. Her dh died 18 months ago so he wasn't around to help but all her friends rallied round to help her with shopping/ cleaning/ school etc.

Have you tried one of the electic pelvic floor excercisers? I have heard good things about them and keep meaning to get one. There's no point if too much of the muscle is torn, but a physio could tell you if that's the case, or just try it and see if it helps. Have you seen a physio?

Put yourself first - seriously, you need to get this done.

Have a word with your Health Visitor or GP - see if they can arrange someone from Homestart or any other charity near you to come round and help after the op. Perhaps you could employ someone at a childcare college or a temporary nanny or even if you could get a mother's help for a bit?

A friend of mine was in the same position as you. She was referred to a physio first & given some exercises to do to see if that would improve it before surgery was considered.

thank you for all the messages - I've not seen a physio, the GP said that it was such a bad prolapse exercises alone wouldn't sort it but I have tried anyway and also have one of those electric exercisers, but it just doesn't seem to make any difference.
The problem with dh's work is that he's an IT contractor so he doesn't get paid time off, and he can't take 6 weeks off in the middle of a contract.

I think I'll go back to the GP and then sort it out one way or another with paid help. Am terrified of this getting worse as I get older and it then not being so easily sorted.

I'm sorry to say this - I'm in the same position though - but I think it's better not to go in for major surgery thinking it'll be amiracle sure when it may not be. The sooner you have the surgery, the more chances of you needing more surgery later as these repairs generally last about 10-15 years - and if you don't want it to 'go' again, you can't do heavy work and lifing anyway afterwards, although you can be lucky and do better than that, you're likely to have more problems in future, especially after the menopause. Get the best surgeon you possibly can. The more times you have it done, the harder it gets for them to do a good job and a bad job can really screw up your sex life as well as fail to fix incontinence problems. I agree that you need to find a way of getting it done and prioritising your own health if the surgery's right for you - but see a physio first. The prolapse is very unlikely to fix through physio, but it's possible you could do something about improving the incontinence.