Want to discuss prolapse bladder or any kind of prolapse

@harper7745

Hi,
When you return to get the pessary, and assuming it is comfortable, tell the Doctor you would prefer to insert and remove yourself on your own schedule and have him or her show you how and do it yourself in the office. You will develop your own way of doing that. I sometimes just put one leg up on the toilet seat. And you need a lubricant on one side . Have them show you the procedure. And they should have you walk around a bit and visit the restroom to make sure you don’t feel it and also to make sure it doesn’t fall out when urinating. No need to revisit every few months and you can remove it when you want to. And tell them…depending on the style of the pessary, yes you can have intercourse if it is a narrow ring with an opening. Mine is a closed ring with a little knob in the middle that acts like a handle lol.

You can private message me if you need any specifics.

FL Mary

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@harper7745

I tried the pessary and it did not work for me and I had surgery to correct the prolapse last August. All went well.

ZeeGee

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I had some vaginal/vulva surgery done last week, and during this they found that I had a prolapsed bladder. This condition caused my urethra to be a bit obstructed, and this obstruction was the reason for some voiding problems I had. They fixed the prolapse and I had to have a Foley catheter for 10 days to allow the urethra to heal again. The catheter was pulled yesterday, and I can pee like a normal person again. I am glad that they did this surgery.

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Hi, @mary1234 - so, I will try my best to differentiate how the rectal prolapse surgery went from the bladder prolapse repair (hysterectomy plus stitching my bladder back in the correct position), as they were done simultaneously.

What I recall is that at first I did have pain - quite a bit - and that pain management was very important. I really made the wrong decision, in retrospect, telling my nurses and physician the day of my surgery that I did not want any more opioids. I did so because after taking them initially, I saw that look in my husband's eye of "she is babbling nonsense" on the opioids (in kindness, but still that I was not making sense and acting a bit odd), and I didn't like that. So, I asked for other pain meds. That took me on a journey of the medical team trying a host of other options and none of them working well at all. I'm pretty sure that this kept me in the hospital another day, as I believe that pain control is a key factor in being dismissed from the hospital, and I was there more at the outer end of the projected hospital stay time. In my opinion, the pain did merit opioids to properly manage the initial pain.

Once at home, it was key for me to keep up with my alternating schedule I'd been told to follow of taking ibuprofen and acetaminophen. When I set a timer (my husband did this for me initially, even all night) and took those meds on time, my pain was there but tolerable. If I got behind in taking them and was playing catch-up with the pain, it was not a great scenario.

I recall a distinct feeling of being tied up too tight in my rectal area. I don't think so, now, as this did eventually loosen to a normal feeling there. I had to use a lot hemorrhoidal cooling pads, and that helped provide some relief. They have you take a lot of stool softeners after this surgery, and I was thankful for it. Honestly, I was terrified to have my first BM. After surgery in that area, you just feel like that much pressure is going to blow your stitches right out. That was not terribly fun. I did finally get through that hurdle, stitches intact. It didn't feel great, but doable. Having a BM continued to be a concern for another 1-2 weeks, but then was fine.

My recovery from the whole surgery (not just the rectal prolapse) was fairly challenging, cause of pain at first and then the fact that I felt weak and tired for a long time. I had my surgery the end of January, and it was not till May till I didn't have to take a nap every day and I had normal energy again. That was discouraging, and made me question my own strength somewhat. I also had a UTI after surgery (I believe this is fairly common), and then I developed lots of rashing from the medication given to me for it and they had to use other medication.

One thing I learned, in addition to what I've mentioned, was that my expectations were not realistic. I think I expected a perfect surgery and that the "perfect" state I was in down there after my surgery would stay that way forever. Well, seven years later, I know that my bladder has moved back down somewhat (from a urogyn appointment where they measured the bladder's position), though not nearly to where I was at surgery time. I don't know about the rectal area, as that was not measured. I'm sure it's not 100 percent perfect anymore. I think if I'd expected to be, say, at least 75% better post-surgery, I'd have been more realistic.

@mary1234 - what are your major concerns with having the rectal prolapse surgery?

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Was it a difficult surgery, and were they able to do it laproscopy?

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@slavmauve what type of pain are you having? Mine was mostly a pulling feeling and irritation from my bladder hanging out of my body. Moisturizer can help with the badder irritation.
ZeeGee

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Thank you for your input. Did you have a gyn doctor do the surgery? Louise Harper

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I have the pulling feeling as well but a heaviness on my legs. I can hardly walk and standing for a long time is very painful! I am not sure what is hanging out of my body. I assumed it was my uterus. Not being able to see a doctor for so long of a time hasn’t help the situation.

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