Is it too late to rescue my pelvic floor?

[EyeballsintheSky]

Only I wee myself rather a lot when I cough, and I have a very bad cough at the moment. I won't go into detail but I did have to delve into my spare pants/tights bag at work this morning

DD is 13 months and I am lazy as hell and did no exercises. Is there any hope?

Go & see your GP

Get referred to a physio

Be prepared for some hard work rehabilitating your poor overworked or damaged muscles like if you had a sports injury

OR have surgery

Seriously the physio should sort it

Yes, get referred to a physio. Mucho embarrassment but worth it for the technique that you learn.

Do the pelvic floor exercises now and keep at it and you can regain some of the strength - even if you didn't do them right after the birth. If that doesn't work enough to feel confident having a coughing fit in a public place, then the phsio will help, as KatyMac says.

Oh dear. I didn't expect GPs to come into it. Luckily I have a very nice one so I guess I'll add it to the long list of things to ask her next time!

They never warn you about this stuff BEFORE yoy have tha baby though do they? Is that because it would frighten everyone?

You can get reusable incont. pads they are very good

The biggest issue for me was the smell

Get it sorted - the sooner the better

Hmm that did occur to me today actually. It's fine usually but I've had a cough a couple of times over the last few months, and I tend to get long lasting violent coughs and it has been an issue. Then the cough goes and I forget about it for a bit.

Will start squeezing and speak to gp on next visit soon. No point putting it off for it to get worse. Thanks all

Good luck.

I'm having physio at the minute after several Little Britain episodes after the birth of DS2 15 weeks ago.

The physical exam that the physio did was cringingly embarrassing but worth it. I was told not to try and overwork the muscles or it's counter productive and started doing four clenches held for four seconds and then building up to ten for ten.

Physio also told me whether I was doing the exercises correctly or not.

but do go as there are things they can do if the pelvic floor exercises aren't helping; a friend of mine ended up needing a wee (pardon the pun ) operation to tighten up the neck of her bladder.

Oh no, they stick their hand up while you squeeze, don't they?

No! Might be a finger or 2, or a machine that looks like a vibrator, nothing bigger though.

Not sure how many fingers, hands or otherwise she had up there.....couldn't feel a thing, so mangled is my undercarriage!

(I think it was one or two fingers though)

It wasn't that bit as such, but the fact that she was chatting away to me whilst doing it that was a bit surreal!!!

Hmm, I had a physio referral when DD was about 14 months old. So about a year ago in fact. The nearest she got to examining me was a hand on my stomach muscles as I did a pelvic floor contraction to check that I was doing the contractions properly. Then some advice to do Pilates (never found a local class that wasn't full).

So not cringeworthy at all. But not terribly effective either I guess...

I'm generally OK now - but can't cough and walk at the same time

Ok - you can do exercise, which may well help. In my case they didn't, and five weeks ago I had surgery (transobturator tape to bladder neck) to fix my problem. It's a minor op (takes about 20 mins, is day surgery), but you do have to be careful about doing anything strenuous for a few weeks afterwards (and expect to be fairly well wiped out for the first few days!)

So far, results are good (no leaking on sneezing/coughing, but haven't tried running/jumping yet!)

However, I think they would only offer you this surgery if you are fairly sure your family is complete. If you are planning more children, then you would need to make do with exercises etc until after you had had all your children IYSWIM.

Hope this helps, but I am very happy so far with my surgery

SoMuchToBits - is that like a TVT?

I've had mine for about 5 yrs & am very happy with it - do take it easy though, far longer than you think you need to - I can twang mine even now..... esp if I lift something heavy or my ambitions get the better of me (like when I tried going on a trampoline)

It's a bit like a TVT, but a more modern version, apparently the insertion technique is safer, but basically it's a sling which supports the bladder neck in the same way.

Yes, I was surprised how long I had to take it easy for. I am doing a fair amount now (5 weeks post-op) but still not anything really strenuous like lifting anything really heavy, running and jumping etc.

I'm very pleased with it so far though

I like mine it makes me very happy

I saw my GP yesterday after a 2 month chest infection made me a daily Tena lady. It's better now but as others have said I can't cough and walk at the same time.
My youngest is 10 and my pelvic floor went to pot after he was born. I later found out it was probably inevitable as I had all the high risk factors; hayfever during 2 months of the pregnancy, a chronic cough for all 9 months and a super fast delivery.
The GP was very supportive and has referred me to a gynacologist. This transorbitor tape sounds like a simple solution?