possible prolapse, feeling very sad and panicky, can pelvic floor exercises help?

[kittywise]

oK I'm pretty sure I've got some sort of prolapse and I think it's in the back wall of my vagina.

I have 6 kids, they are all young, the youngest 9 months.

I have been fine up until a couple of days ago, no leaking etc, but for the last month I've had a really hacking cough and I thinkt that that is what has 'done it'.

I must confess though that I haven't been good with the old PFE , I reckoned that because I wasn't leaking then I didn't need to do them although now I'm doing them all the time, to late .

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE tell me that mild prolapses can be 'cured' with diligent exercising.

I'm feeling very scared. I've booked an appt with the dr next week.

If anyone has had one how long ddid it take for exercises to take effect?

Don't worry - MOST importantly, a cough makes any prolapse MUCH worse, and this is temporary and will improve. Also, yes, mild prolapses can definitely improve with diligent exercising. I saw the gynaecologist yesterday for a review (have a moderate bladder prolapse) and they said at my age, 35, exercises nearly always help immensely and fix the problem, as the muscles are very responsive. I have been seeing a physio and saw improvements in only a few weeks. It always worsens when I have a cough/stomach bug, then goes back to how it was, the physio said this was normal. Hope this helps!

Oh thank you SO much, I could weep

kitty I find it really hard to do PFEs too. I don't know why. I guess it's hard to 'see' the results.

I think this sort of thing is very, very common. I've had four vaginal births, two of them big heads and was left quite draggy down below. I went to the doctor who booked me in for surgery (NHS!). It wasn't a very big deal but the back wall of the vagina was loose and I could feel, ahem, solid matter bulging on the wall.

So they did a posterior vaginal repair and basically stitched up the back of my vag. The healing was dreadful because it became infected and was just awful, but now I feel quite good about it. I've moved down a size in Mooncups, sex is nice again as there's more friction and the whole area is neater and seems to have been pulled up.

What really made me opt for the surgery option (normally I'm not into this sort of thing) was a chat with my mum who said that after the menopause you can get really dry and her gapey fanny was rubbing on trousers and causing pain. She advised me to go and have the op' for that reason.

Of course, you may well find pelvic floor excersises do the trick, but I just wanted to let you know about another option in case you want to pursue it.

Thanks spidermama, I quite like the idea of being stitched up 'nice and tight', something to think about. I'll have to see what the dr says. I can't face endless physio appointments. It's nigh on impossible with all the children.

I have a fairly serious uterine prolapse, I see gynae every 6 months and I use a ring pessary to hold it in. My gynae wants me to have the corrective surgery and I will do so in time but not yet. When sneezing or coughing I always squeeze the prolapse in . You can also support it with tissue when having a poo. It is nearly 6 years since mine was diagnosed at 26 and following one vaginal delivery. Let me know if I can help further.

suwoo can I ask why you want to wait and have the surgery at a later time?

They are not keen to do surgery if you want to have any more children as the results are all completely undone by pregnancy, I have been told! Also I only see the physio every 6 weeks.

Well I don't want anymore children.

I just can't believe that after all these pregnancies I was ignorant enough to think that all pf muscles did were hold in your wee.

If someone had said "actually all your pelvic organs might fall out of place unless you do them " then I would have!!!

suwoo, do exercises help you?

I think exercises are more helpful for milder prolapses!

I think I'd be tempted by the surgery too, if I didn't want more children. I am lucky that my prolapse is fairly mild though. It must be hard for you, Suwoo.

I've ordered one of those tens type electrical impulse things your stick up your fanjo, it's supposed to do all the work for you here

The reason I don't want it yet, is because it is mainly manageable with the ring pessary. For me it would be quite a 'serious' (obviously not really serious ie heart bypass) operation and would involve up to 6 weeks recovery time similar to a section and even as serious as a hysterectomy. They can't guarantee the success rate, say its only 50/50 and then I am susceptible to other things prolapsing such as my bladder. I am also self employed and my job involves lifting, which doesn't help the prolapse and might therefore hinder my recovery time. My Kids are only young, DS is 1. I am not 100% convinced that my family is complete and at this time in my life age 32, I can't afford to lose 6 weeks. So as you can tell, there are lots of reasons NOT to as yet. I will have to look at those electrical doo-dahs, I am still too lazy to do pelvic floors, but thats because they do fuck all, I am way too far gone for that .

I saw a gynaecologist about this last week and he told me that I have mild prolapses of front vaginal wall and uterus and a moderate prolapse of my back vaginal wall.

He said that before I contemplate surgery I need to see a physio for 6 months to learn exercises to improve my pelvic floor which will, hopefully, dramatically improve the problem although it won't cure it.

I had two vaginal births, with big babies and quick final stages of labour. The gynae told me that the prolapse tends to happen if you have these things and already naturally have weak connective tissue (which is genetic). He said that the pregnancy and birth makes the prolapse happen if you are predisposed to it because of your connective tissue, but he said that it could have happened anyway in later life, even if I'd never had children.

Apparently surgery is very effective BUT you do need to be sure that you don't want more children because a further pregnancy will not only undo the effect of the surgery but put you in a worse position than if you hadn't had it at all, and surgery a second time is less effective. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to have the surgery.

He told me to avoid lifting anything that I don't have to as that can make the prolapse worse, and to avoid constipation for the same reason.

I'd definitely recommend seeing your gp who could refer you to a gynae and then on to a specialist physio.

Fairyfay, it sounds like our gynaecologists are saying the same thing, thankfully . I have had a further pregnancy and birth since my prolapse and it didn't worsen at all, although I kept my weight gain down and had a c section at my gynaes request, to ensure the least amount of danger.

hi everyone
I had similar prolapse questions on here before xmas (Hi suwoo!). It has since worsened after a pretty hard day - dd's party and a spot of decorating, resulting in a very visible prolapse! Had a ring pessary fitted the next day which is mostly great. Just wondering if any of you know if I can have corrective surgery at the same time as a c-section? Sorry for hijack kitty.

gengis, don't worry! I'm just so pleased that I've got people here I can 'listen' to, it doesn't matter if they're talking to me. I'm keen to hear about anyone's experiences.

Why oh why doesn't anyone talk about this BEFORE you've had children.

Can you 'cure' a mild prolapse with PF exercises alone does anyone know?

I found PFEs pretty ineffective thought I can't say I did as much as I was supposed to.

So, and this is a question I really ought to have asked BEFORE having the surgery, is it pregnancy that would mess up the surgery? I always assumed it was the birth which would undo a posterior vaginal repair rather that pregnancy. My thinking was that if I were to get pregnant again (you never know for sure)I could get round this by having and elective C-section.

I have four kids and DH is adamant that's enough. I am too. Kind of. Sort of. But you know how it is .... I'd have loved another girl.

I can't help thinking that if every birth were like DS3's (small head, nice and easy, smooth and slow), I'd be a whole lot perter down there.

Kittywise, are you still breastfeeding your lo? Things can improve after you stop bf. Something to do with hormones beng similar to pregnancy ones and encouraging slackening of connective tissue.

I have a cystocele and vaginal prolapse but now past the menopause so everything slackening off! The physio told me it was definitely worth doing the pelvic floors. I have always been v flexible (can do splits etc). This runs in my family. My sister has a prolapse also and she has no children.

Todays fascinating fact: the physio said 90% of Olypmic gymnasts go on to develop prolapses because the very flexibility which makes them good at gymnastics is due to loose connective tissue and which in turn makes them prone to prolapse.

I am hoping to put off having a hysterectomy for as long as possible. Can I hijack to ask gengis and suwoo how you find the ring pessaries? Is it possible to have sex with one in?

I'd like to know about ring pessaries as well. What are they?

This is great kittywise. You've started a little prolapsers coffee morning thread.

Spidermama . I hope we all keep on chatting for a long time. This is something women don't feel comfortable talking about, but we should!!

Yes I am still BF although it is tailing off a bit now.
I used to be pretty bendy in my younger years, so perhaps that has something to do with it.

I must say I have been squeezing like my life depended on it these last couple of days and taking cough medicine to stop the relentless tickly cough and I think things are improving just a little. I don't feel quite so like everything is heavy, low and about to drop out.

I have no problem with holding in wee or having a poo so perhaps it is a uterine sag?

I have stated some heavy weight exercises which I'm sure didn't help, I don't want to stop as I was really enjoy having shapely arms at last. I also have a 2 year old who weighe the same as a baby elephant and I can't NOT pick her up. What I do is pull up my pf when I lift, is this helpful?

kitty im a fellow prolapser am sorry to say but lifting weights is a BIG no no, my prolapse started when i was pregnant with dd and i had a very nasty cough, i thought my cervix was falling out and was in a right state, id never heard of a prolpase before . anyway your prolpase has been brought on by the coucghing i would say, it WILL improve once the cough stops, but will come down again when u get another cough or get constipated, so swig on the lactulose try not to cough violently and stop weight lifting lol, tyr strapping some tins of beans to ya arms instead

oh loopy, can't I do the weights as long as I engage my pf at the same time? You know so that is pulled up nice and high? Please say I can , pleeaase!!!

I am keenly awaiting the arrival of my vibrator electrical impulse exerciser