You go your entire life without symptoms and boom, PROLAPSE. Pelvic organ prolapse or POP.

You start to google with god-awful pictures on the black hole interwebs, you take a mirror to check things out down there and YOWZAS, you feel trapped by the constant worry of “how will this impact my prolapse?”

I get it. I too have the ‘lapse. It’s not fun. It’s a constant dance with having mischief managed to feelings of my vagina falling out and dropping to the floor. I feel like I pushed for far too long with my first baby and didn’t have the opportunity to wait for ‘laboring down’, but I know others who have pushed for 3-4 hours. Although our bodies are amazing and do amazing things, excessive pushing with possible use of medical tools is no bueno for the pelvic region.

I don’t want surgery. I want to workout when I want to. I want to maybe maybe maybe have one more baby (crazy, my editing husband will punch me while reading this). All of these wants and desires, without the worry of bulging organs.

The mental-emotional side of prolapse is the biggest factor in treating prolapse in my option. It messes with you head like nobody’s business, dilly dallying with your quality of life. You can feel stuck with a merry-go-round of worry whether you’ll choose the surgery route someday or just learn to live with the suckiness. What does all that stress do to your body and your ahem prolapse symptoms? Welp, it definitely doesn’t help them. Sometimes just knowing it and naming it provides the validation our heart needs.

What is prolapse? When you have a shift, usually downwards, but can also be side-to-side, of internal organs. Bladder, uterus, rectum, intestines, vaginal wall and urethra can all be drivers of POP. It can be caused by tissue laxity, facial restrictions, scar tissue, hyper/hypotonic pelvic floors (NOT always a weak or stretch out pelvic floor).

What are the symptoms? Some people don’t even notice the symptoms. But usually they are: pelvic heaviness, bulging, feeling like something is stuck in the vagina, incontinence, difficult with bowel movements, pelvic pain and discomfort, difficult with insertion of menstrual products and penile/toy insertion. Approximately 50% of vagina owners will have some type of prolapse. Even non-childbearing people get POP!

What puts us at risk for prolapse?

-Childbirth and/or tissue injury, belly birthers I am sorry you aren’t deemed safe! Tearing, episiotomies, use of forceps or vacuum during delivery.

-genetics HUGE factor

-collagen production change during aging

-chronic effort/straining with bowel movements or heavy lifting

-menopause

-obesity

-previous hysterectomy, yep even taking the uterus out to ‘fix’ the uterine prolapse can result in other POP

What can I do? Obvs what I tell everyone. Work closely with a pelvic floor therapist. And if you don’t get warm and fuzzies, date another one! But know that it takes time. Patience is a virtue and downright stinks sometimes!

Awareness and pressure management strategies. Bringing awareness to your pelvis, pelvic floor, perineum, and core canister. Do you feel like you bear down when you poop? Or lift heavy weights or toddlers? Is there pelvic pressure around your cycle, more than usual lately? Feeling like a tampon is permanently stuck?

Addressing your bowel movements. I’m talking NO CONSTIPATION. Say it with me, no constipation. No effort or strain during poops. If you have rabbit turds or runny stools, we need to do a hard look at why the poop isn’t a soft serve ice cream consistency, which is what we want!

Pessaries. I think this topic deserves a blog post in itself, but a pessary is like a “sports bra for your pelvic floor.” The support you didn’t even know existed! Supportive garments like SRC shorts or femme jock can be great tools.

Options. Options. Options. Know that there are options and you have all my support!