I am looking to discuss prolapse bladder or any kind of prolapse that other ladies have experienced as well. I would also like to comment on incontinence as well. There is a lot to talk about when it comes to prolapse bladder etc and it seems to be a silent epidemic among women. If there are others out there like me, lets talk about it and I have some solutions. I am surviving prolapse bladder without surgery and I have been living with it for over ten years. I wear a support garment that is light and easy weight and fits right under my existing underwear. Don’t know what you are doing or wearing, but I would like to hear from you. Thanks.
Tanglefoot
***NOTE FROM THE COMMUNITY DIRECTOR***
February, 2017.
Thanks to a Connect member, it was brought to our attention that @tanglefoot may have a vested interest in promoting the support garment “hideaway” mentioned in this discussion. Further investigation revealed that @tanglefoot is the designer and inventor of this product, and that she routinely posts on discussion forums using pseudonyms. Posting solicitations or advertisements of any kind violates Mayo Clinic Connect’s Terms of Use. We have decided to leave @tanglefoot‘s past messages as to not interrupt the flow of conversation, but she will no longer be able to post to the community.
Colleen Young
Community Director, Mayo Clinic Connect
Liked by maisie2, JK, Alumna Mentor, imallears
Thank you so very much for your support I am so happy that I found you and your posts….I am doing more and am thinking of trying the hideaway it may be the bra for downstairs lol….as I said before I just do not have a good feeling about the surgery so we will see but no I am not rushing off into it…thank you again and I will keep you posted take care and again thank you so very much
Liked by Colleen Young, Connect Director
Good for you Pizon. Take your time and listen to your GYN. He or she is working with you to help you so give him or her a chance to see what he or she can do to make you feel comfortable. Sometimes ladies cannot accept their prolapse because they don’t give pelvic floor exercises and other options a chance first. Not everything works for everyone but we owe it to ourselves and our bodies to at least try alternatives. Whatever you decide to do Hideaway support or no Hideaway support, good luck with your decisions. Check in with me here and let me know how you are doing. You may be able to help another lady with the same decisions you are trying to make. Best Wishes.
Tanglefoot
Hello Always Hopeful. You have a nice user name and that is the first step to a good attitude regarding cystocele (prolapse bladder). I have had a prolapse bladder for over 8 years so I am pretty much experienced with all the aspects of it. I have researched a lot about prolapse and have learned what to expect and not expect. I have also learned to live with it by not worrying about. Instead I learned how to eat better, no do any heavy lifting, good exercises, lots of walking and finding the right support to wear so I could do all the things I wanted to do. I am not sure what stage your prolapse is but mine is stage 3 and its been stage 3 for several years. If you need to talk or ask any questions go ahead and ask. I am walking in your shoes when it comes to prolapse. Please do not feel alone as 1 out of 5 woman will experience some type of prolapse in their lifetime. It is not life threatening, it is just life altering. I hope to hear back from you so I can maybe help you with any issues you may have. Tanglefoot
Liked by Jamie Olson
I had told my doctor that I always have to wear a feminine pad to keep me dry. She told me to start doing some kegal exercises but unfortunately they are not doing any good. I had told this to my oldest sister and she said that I may have to have my bladder pulled up. But I was thinking maybe I’d buy Ben-wa balls. Maybe they would help. What is your input on these?
I was wondering if you could put me in touch with other women that have had the surgery to sew up the bladder looking for all good and bad experiences trying to make up my mind on what to do thank you
Liked by Colleen Young, Connect Director
Certainly, Pizon. @maxann @Restless67 @badluck and @uschi have all discussed having surgery for uterine or bladder prolapse. I invite them to join this discussion to share their experiences.
You may also wish to review these older discussions on Connect:
– Uterine/Bladder prolapse http://mayocl.in/2jNkQEu
– Uterine Prolapse Surgery http://mayocl.in/2jlPdPd
Welcome to Connect, Littlesnowflake.
I hope you had a chance to read the messages in this discussion as @upartist and @tanglefoot have shared some information and experiences that I think you’ll find useful.
Here’s a refresher on “Kegel exercises: A how-to guide for women” http://mayocl.in/2kgTibr It doesn’t mention Ben-wa balls, so I hope someone else has experience to share with you.
How long have you been doing the kegel exercises?
Hello Tanglefoot, I just wrote a reply to one of your earlier posts. Thank you for all the posts you write – you have a very realistic approach to this condition. My understanding is that my bladder prolapse started gradually 10 years ago and has now progressed to a stage 3 (nurse practitioner) or a stage 2 (doctor). By the end of the day, I would call it a stage 12. I also have a prolapsed vagina. The doctor suggested a wait and see strategy and if things got “worse”. I could have surgery which would involve “sewing up the bladder and doing a hysterectomy through the vagina. He also suggested having a pessary consultation which I have scheduled in March. He never mentioned the Hideaway, but I’m definitely going to look into that. He assured me that “sewing up the bladder” would not involve mesh, but gave little details past that. I am not in favor of surgery, unless conditions got “worse”. I like your attitude – I have never had friends talk about this condition – which is surprising because of the high incident.
Thank you Colleen for your kind response. I have been busy and finally am able to connect up with the community. I especially like Tanglefoots’ altitude and advice. I now have several approaches that I’m going to try – the hideaway support garment , Vitamin E to moisturize the cystocle, and I have an appointment scheduled about a pessary.Thank heavens for Mayo Clinic Connect.
Liked by Jamie Olson
Hello Always Hopeful
It sounds like you have had a prolapse like me for many years now. I am the same stage as you a stage 3. At night when I go to bed it goes right back up, so that is good. As far as estrogen cream goes and a pessary. I cannot take estrogen cream because my mother had breast cancer from it. She took hormone replacement for 10 years straight and unfortunately developed breast cancer. She is breast cancer free now for the last 20 years so not estrogen for me. A pessary is not an option for me either. I cannot tolerate anything that doesn’t belong up there as I am more of a natural remedy person. A pessary may be okay for those who can tolerate it but the odds are that at some point it will cause infections, rubbing, discharge etc. A friend of mine just had her pessary removed because of these problems. Again, it is personal choice to make and some people try it to see how it works and others like me are not interested in internal supports. I do find the Hideaway outside support for prolapse to be very comfortable and easy to wear. In the morning when I get up my prolapse is not protruding out until I start to walk around for a few minutes. So right after I get up and go to the bathroom I put on the Hideaway to prevent my prolapse from falling out of my vagina area. I am comfortable for the entire day and can do the activities I need to do, like walking, bending to do chores, bike riding, whatever I want to do.
The Hideaway prolapse support is there to allow me to live a normal life without worrying about it anymore. As I mentioned before I have no other pain or bathroom issues, so why would I put myself through painful surgery. I do my pelvic floor exercises and eat a good diet so I do not become constipated. Never become constipated as this is really bad for prolapse. Always try to eat well so you have easy bowel movements. Don’t do any heavy lifting and try to curb a cough if you have one. These are all factors that make a prolapse worse.
The Vitamin E Capsuls work very well to moisturize the inside of the vagina area. As I said before, poke a hole in one end of the capsul and squeeze the gel out and apply up inside. Make sure you are not allergic to natural Vitamin E. Coconut oil is another internal moisturizer that works as well (use the organic coconut oil). Again, make sure you are not allergic.
You mention you have a uterus prolapse as well. The Hideaway works for any kind of prolapse to support it. I think you need to go to the web site and read the testimonials from women like me who are wearing it. They are the ladies that will tell you what type of prolapse they have and how the Hideaway is helping them. One thing to keep in mind is the lady that is on the web site who invented the Hideaway has a prolapse too. She will answer any questions about this for you. She is very helpful and she answered all my questions. She told me point blank that she is not just there to sell a Hideaway, she is wearing the Hideaway and she said she is there to answer questions if need be. So you don’t have to buy a Hideaway to talk to her.
If you have anymore questions Always Hopeful, just email me on this site. I would be more then happy to answer them. I am surviving prolapse without surgery and I hope to keep doing that for the rest of my life. I am now 65 and its been over 8 years so I think I am doing well. Hope others can find what works for them as well. We all need to help each other when it comes to prolapse which is not an easy journey when your insides start to fall out. There are alternatives and we should all have those choices and not be pushed into something we do not want to do. Do your research as it is your body we are talking about. The uterus, the rectocele and the bladder are very important organs and we must be careful how we take care of them.
Tanglefoot
Tanglewood – thank you for the prompt reply. I’m going to visit the Hideaway site today. My pessary appointment isn’t until March. Until then, I’ll do research on the estrogen cream(no breast cancer in the family) and if the hideaway works, I will not go for the pessary. Lastly, will definitely use the Vitamin E. Once again, thank you for all of your information.
@tanglefoot
Hello Pizon
I think you are doing really well by doing those exercises and seeing how you feel. You Gyn suggests you wait a couple of months and lose some weight and either try the pessary again or try a support garment like the Hideaway. I think your GYN is very good by not rushing you into surgery. The Hideaway has supportive material inside the sling of the Hideaway that gives pressure up against the vagina area so that you feel the support and stops the prolapse from coming out. It is not a cure, it does reduce the feeling that one has a prolapse. For instance, when I put the Hideaway on in the morning I am good to go for the day. I forget about my prolapse as I said until I take my Hideaway off at night. My granddaughter even wears the Hideaway for her Kotex pad because she says she needs to do this when she is participating in gymnastics. She says the pressure of the Hideaway with the pad on the sling of the Hideaway keeps everything in place and there is no leaking or movement from the Hideaway when when she is upside down and all over the place doing gymnastics. The lady who created the Hideaway made sure that it would accommodate a light day panty liner for little urine leaks as well as a regular incontinence pad for those who have urine leakage. So that is a plus to me if I start having any urine leakage I can just put a pad on the Hideaway and not have to wear those pull ups or anything else that is cumbersome.
Each woman has to make up her mind if she is able to live with the prolapse and not have surgery. For instance, for me and others like me wearing the Hideaway, we have no pain from the prolapse, we are able to have bowel movements, we are able to urinate. We are also able to still have sex because when you lay down the prolapse goes back up to where it belongs. Gravity is what pulls our prolapse back down when we stand up on our feet. So for ladies like me, we are okay with support garments like the Hideaway and we can live our lives just fine. We continue to do our pelvic floor exercise, we ride bikes, we play tennis. Hey, think of it this way, we wear a bra upstairs and now we wear a bra downstairs for those of us who can manage our prolapse without complications.
By all means if one has complications and too much pain they need to see a specialist and see what can be done regarding necessary surgery or whatever suggestions the doctor may have. Pizon it is up to you to either wait a few months and see how you feel. You have nothing to lose by waiting a few months and trying other alternatives. You have already been suggested by your GYN to wait a couple of months. Nobody can really guarantee you that because their surgery went well that yours will too. Just like no one can tell you that their surgery went badly so yours will too. Surgery is not one size fits all. Any surgery is a risk and you have to do your homework both regarding the type of surgery and who is conducting that surgery? I hope this helps you take your time and think about your decision.Tanglefoot