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[libby1]

Hi girls

Has anyone had any improvement of their prolapse through pelvic floor exercises with or without electical stimulation? I'm concerned that mine is getting slightly worse and I want to do everything I can to avoid surgery 

Libby
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[Taz2]

I'm afraid that they didn't improve mine at all - I think it can stop things from getting worse though. Were you given proper exercises to try by a pelvic floor specialist? If you have a prolapse it's really important that you get referred to a specialist nurse in pelvic floor management. There should be one in a hospital near you. It sometimes is shown under Continence Services. What has prolapsed if you don't mind me asking?

Taz x

[libby1]

Hi Taz

I have uterine, cystocle and rectocele. I've had them for the past 10 years and I don't want them to get worse. I've made an appt with a specialist physio for advice. So any advice from anyone would be greatly received 

Libby
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[Taz2]

It's great that you have an appointment for specialist advice. I found the thing that really helped mine was being on HRT. When I came off it things took a rapid slide southwards and I had no choice but to have a hysterectomy and repair.

Taz x

[libby1]

Did you try a kegal 8 thing? Has anyone had any improvement with them? I know Trey used to be the expert i all things prolapse 

x

[Goosieloosie]

I too have a prolapse, front vaginal wall/bladder & went to see a specialist nurse 3 years ago, tbh I thought it was a waste of time, I trailed into town once a month for a 10 min appointment where she told me what exercises  to do next...she could've told me these over the phone & unfortunately I never did them regularly and I gave up going in the end  . Every now and then I have a little squeeze, I too would like to avoid surgery for as long as possible 

[Taz2]

I was advised against it by the pelvic floor specialist. She said that it's far better to do the exercises yourself but I can't remember her reasoning.

Goosieloosie - did she check you digitally while you "squeezed"? She should have done and you should also have been given bio-feedback where tiny electrodes are attached inside your vagina and as you perform the exercises they appear on a computer screen so that you can see how strong they are and how much duration you have. You should have been given a proper programme to follow i.e. so many long holds and so many quick squeezes - also called winks - in order to exercise both sets of muscles. These should have been increased over time. You should have seen a slow improvement over six months.

Taz x 

[scriv]

I feel that exercises have helped me feel stronger since my repair surgery and in conjunction with vaginal HRT ie Vagifem.

My prolapses were severe and the exercises did not help me at all before I had the surgery I'm afraid and using the electrical probes actually caused me harm.  I had serious undiagnosed VA and the skin was so thin and dry that the procedure  broke the skin and caused infection, which took months to get rid of.

If you do use these electric probes, stop them immediately if you start to feel sore or bleed.

Good luck.

[Goosieloosie]

I was advised against it by the pelvic floor specialist. She said that it's far better to do the exercises yourself but I can't remember her reasoning.

Goosieloosie - did she check you digitally while you "squeezed"? She should have done and you should also have been given bio-feedback where tiny electrodes are attached inside your vagina and as you perform the exercises they appear on a computer screen so that you can see how strong they are and how much duration you have. You should have been given a proper programme to follow i.e. so many long holds and so many quick squeezes - also called winks - in order to exercise both sets of muscles. These should have been increased over time. You should have seen a slow improvement over six months.

Taz x 

Oh my word Taz no she never did anything at all like that, that's why I felt it was a complete waste of my time  She was the proper pelvic nurse at the hospital aswell, I was referred to her by the consultant when I said I didn't want surgery. I went to her for 7 or 8 months aswell and never once was examined 

[Taz2]

That's scandalous Goosieloosie!!

You should have been given a proper assessment and urodynamics http://www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/resources/patient-information/urology/procedures/having-a-urodynamics-test.pdf  before anything else which would help show up any other problems and then been put onto a proper programme to help!

Taz x

[libby1]

I have got and an electrical thingy but I never know if I'm using it properly or doing the squeezes right, hence the appt 

I have a feeling that it's not going to make any difference but I want to try because I'm scared of having to have surgery in the future and making things worse 

Libby
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[scriv]

I can understand your worry about surgery making things worse, libby, but for me it was the best thing I ever did.

But I think it is very sensible to try everything beforehand.

[libby1]

Hi Scriv

What type of surgery did you have? I guess we only hear about the bad ones 

Libby
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[scriv]

Cystocele and rectocele repair the first time in my thirties, but leaving in the uterus. The prolapses were caused by childbirth.

Then about 15 years later after a lot of heavy lifting and a very early menopause and generally life, it had all come down, helped by the uterus which was now on its way down and out. .. literally.

So I then had a vaginal hysterectomy about 12 years ago together with prolapsed bladder repair and then 2 years after that I needed a rectocele repair.  Job then complete, lol.

Admittedly it was never a comfortable experience and you do have to be very careful afterwards to follow instructions. I had a few issues after surgery with healing of stitches because of vaginal atrophy, but nothing more serious than that.

I had and have no horror stories to report and I am so grateful that I had it done as my prolapses were so bad that they really affected my quality of life.

PS On the other hand, a friend of mine with similar issues with cystocele and rectocele prolapses at the same time has used a ring all this time to avoid surgery and seems to have been taking all that in her stride. Now, that is something that I just could not cope with! We are all different...

[libby1]

Ah, so you didn't have the dreaded mesh stuff then?

Nice to hear that your surgery went well, thank you for sharing 

No, I couldn't cope with a ring, seems too 'alian' to me 

Libby
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