Pelvic floor

[cuckoosinging]

I am 44 and have been suffering with a slight bladder and bowel weakness for several years now. I had my son 20 years ago and had an episiotomy and forceps delivery.

I really noticed a problme when I took up running. I have seen the doctor and been referred to a special incontinence nurse. I have been religiously doing my pelvic floor exercises for years now (3 sets of ten per day holding for 10 seconds and 3 sets of quick squeezes, 10 each time). I also use the vaginal cones everyday I don't have a period and can easily hold in the largest weights for over half an hour most days.

Most days when I run or exercise, it is fine and I don't leak. However, there are some days when it is just awful, both bladder and bowel. Coughing and sneezing are also problems on those days. The nurse told me it is hormonal and it's not uncommon for it to vary due to changes in oestrogen levels during the month. I assume this is only going to get worse as I approach the menopause?

The nurse tested to make sure that I am doing the exercises correctly and she confirmed that my strength was good (although she said it wasn't the absolute highest level of strength).

She discharged me and basically told me the only other option is surgery (I assume this is the mesh, which I am keen to avoid).

Is there any other option for me now other than surgery and just using incontinence pads when I run and making sure my bladder is as empty as possible for running? I've also noticed things are bad when I've had a few glasses of alcohol.

The running is really not helping, and is likely making it worse. Because you are pounding your organs up and down and they are already slightly out of position.
Ask your GP for a referral to a gynae. There may be other simple surgery without using mesh. I had a prolapse (no incontinence though) and had a 'simple' stitched repair. I too had a forceps delivery.
I can't do running though or any exercise which pushes down the stomach muscles/pelvic floor, like sit ups or lifting or pushing. It does get worse at/after menopause as the hormones make the ligaments soften or tighten, that's why you differences.
Yours may also be bad the day after exercising not actually while exercising, or evening times.

I fixed mine by trampolining, might not work for everybody but I thought I’d give it a go. After a week of trampolining I didn’t need to leap off in a rush. I did focus really hard on pulling
Myself in though

I really don't think the running has made it better or worse - it's just made me more aware.

When I started the pelvic floor exercises and cones, things were really slack. Now they're not, but I still have the exact same issues.

Maybe I will ask my doctor for a referral to a gynaecologist then. I just got the impression from the doctor and the incontinence nurse that there wasn't much hope if the exercises weren't working.

There are non -mesh surgery options so you could talk to a gynae about that.

I have found in my experiences with gynae and pelvic floor nurse that advice given varies a lot depending on who you see!!
So I saw one rather unhelpful person who told me to never run, and another who said maybe we could work up to running if we worked hard on pelvic floor exercises.

Whatever you do, don’t give up and stop your exercises in despair!

Practically, can you track symptoms and not run on the worse days?

There was an article in the daily mail about this last Saturday and the lady was having a procedure to encourage collagen. I think it was called femilift.