Confused

[Kasha]

Hi Tasha,
I’ve been reading your blog and ask Tasha forum like crazy the last few weeks. I’m 41, have four children the youngest being thirteen. I’ve lead a very active life growing up on a farm and now farming myself. So, lots of heavy lifting, etc. I’ve also been doing p90x3 with my husband all winter and feeling the best ever… Until three weeks ago when I felt something shift in my pelvic floor. I immediately felt a weakness and slight bulge that I hadn’t felt before, like a tampon falling out. Lifting anything and even walking made it feel worse!

I just saw a physician who examined me lying down and said there’s nothing out of place. Slight bulge from the rectal side but not from the bladder (which is where it feels like it changed). He referred me to a PT who specializes in pelvic floor health. She also said there is not much going on, MAYBE a grade 1 cystocele. So no prolapse. I have good strength on a kegal but no endurance. She’s optimistic that she can help me and I’ll be as good as new in a few weeks.

It is just so frustrating to now even be able to cook or grocery shop without feeling like my bottom is falling out. What the heck happened to my strength? And how can my organs still be in place without any support?

[Tasha]

Kasha,
I am glad you found us! Did you know that some Women’s Health specialists say that EVERY woman will experience some type of pelvic floor disorder in their lifetime. The good news is that your pelvis does not just have your bowel, bladder, and uterus floating around supported only by muscles and ligaments. There is also the spider web of connective tissue in our highly vascular pelvis that helps to cradle and support our organs. The better our posture, the more supportive the spider web of connective tissue will be. And just the opposite is true. If we sit and stand all day in a flexed posture and bear down with a short breath with every heavy lift, push or pull, then our organs will slowly descend through this web to sit lower near our vaginal opening.

Never fear though – because of the high vascularity, our bodies, especially our pelvic area is constantly remodeling. So let all your Hab its and exercises be directd to better support your pelvic organs and you will give a slight lift to your bladder that is giving you that “tampon falling out” feeling.

Glad you are reading – keep it up!

TAsha

[Kasha]

An update on me and some more questions. I’ve been doing your hab it exercises 5 days a week now for 4 1/2 months. Levels 3 & 4 for only a couple of weeks now. At my two month appointment with my PT, she said my cyctocele was gone, I was 5/5 on kegal strength and endurance and she didn’t understand why I was still feeling symptoms. I asked her to examine me standing up which she did and then she said it’s a grade 1 still and to expect 2-3 more months of rehab before feeling better.
I have been reading like crazy on your site. I’ve read through 104 pages of questions and answers! And learned so much! I have been working on posture and walking with extension. I have been a bun tucker and think it’s partly because of low back problems with gardening and lifting (improperly) my whole life.
So, my issues:
1) I continue to have a burning/stinging/swollen feeling on my inner labia and at the edges or underneath the ribbed part of my vaginal wall. Those were the symptoms, along with a low, heavy feeling that I started with. The low heavy feeling is gone most of the time now but the burning is intermittent. I quit doing the kegals because that seemed to exacerbate things. I also follow the exercises with some of Brianne’s stretching and that does seem to help. It feels worse when sitting and especially sitting on my tripod! That soft tissue is exactly where it hurts. I find myself pressing up on my crotch when standing occasionally (when no one is looking) because it relieves pressure and feels better. I think compression shorts might help (except that I hate restrictive clothing normally!)
2)I also cannot lift more than about ten pounds without feeling too much pressure in this same place. It feels like my interior walls want to turn inside out. I’m now wondering if what I thought was prolapse symptoms is actually something else. Torn muscles? Ligaments? The PT was very surprised that I was having such intense symptoms with so little prolapse. Now I’m wondering if the prolapse was there all along after having babies and it’s actually something else going on.

Please help me if you can. I garden, do canning, milk a couple of cows and not being able to carry more than ten pounds is really cramping my style! I want to move on to the advanced exercises also but have been nervous to.

Thank you so much for what you do! You have been the only light of hope in a pretty dark place for me this summer.

[Tasha]

Kasha,
You are dedicated…I dig that! It sounds like you may have some nerve and/or vascualar issues. We need to give some compression to your perineum. Get online and look for low rise triathalon shorts. The lite chamois pad will give a gentle support and pressure to your perineum that it sounds like you need.

If we have some nerve entrapment, this compression to your perineum can make all the difference in the world. I will also refer you to https://www.pelvicpainrehab.com

These therapists treat nerve entrapment that often has men/women unable to sit on their tripod. Your’s doesn’t sound like an extreme case but if you happened to live near one of their clinics, they may have good advice on desensitizing your perineum.

Regarding your inability to lift more than 10 pounds – we have to fix that. I would like you to evaluate 2 things. Can you get to your power position when lifting (slight knee bend, tail bone lifted, chest up, shoulder blades set back and down). Be sure you don’t allow your ribs to draw forward toward your pelvis – this would activate your Rectus Abdominus and blow pressure down on your pelvic floor. Any amount of breath hold, no matter how short with activate your RA as well.

I would strongly encourage you to move on to the Hab It Cardio program to begin to work on this power position with your larger muscle activation AND it will highlight your chest expansion and breathing with advanced moves. Should highlight any area that you are still having difficulty with. Note which exercises increase your symptoms and lets evaluate.

Tasha

[Kasha]

Another update on me:
I started doing the cardio program after my last post, often alternating days with the lower levels. I live in the Midwest, so not close to the clinics mentioned. However, I’ve done a lot of reading about vulvodynia and nerve issues since then and think that is exactly what I am dealing with. I think I probably strained something, maybe even slight prolapse originally, but then all of my anxiety and muscle work to improve caused too much tension. I feel better and almost normal most of the time, but then I have the tampon feeling several days in a row (especially leading up to ovulation, then gone the day after). Upon self examining, my bladder is high and in place and from what I can tell it’s my posterior wall tightening against my anterior wall that is causing this sensation. Then all the rubbing is causing irritation and swelling and discomfort. Sitting for long periods also is contributing to this swelling. It’s almost like I have too much blood flow to this area and it can’t leave.

So, exercising also causes this swelling issue. No one exercise in particular, just throughout the half hour it gets worse. I follow exercise with a lot of stretching and belly breathing while on my back and that helps some. Currently my plan is to do hab it cardio every other day and waking and stretching the other days.

I’m able to lift 25 pounds at a time now, but if I do it too often in a day, I feel the swelling come back.

So, lots of improvement, but still trying to figure out how to feel normal all the time.

[Author]

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