Is Surgery Necessary? (via DryDiapersPlus)

Your pelvic floor is an amazing part of your body.  Think of all the functions it controls – it maintains bladder and bowel continence, puts the "oomph" in orgasm, prevents pelvic organ prolapse and plays a vital role in spinal stability. Yet many women, including myself, don't know how to improve or prevent problems, where to go to for advice, or what treatment options are available. Recently I read Hold It Sister, by Mary O'Dwyer.  Mary is a 'D … Read More

via DryDiapersPlus

NEW PROLAPSE ORGANISATION LAUNCHES

APOPS, The Association for Pelvic Organ Prolapse Support Inc, is an international nonprofit support network that provides education, guidance, support, and assistance for women in all stages of pelvic organ prolapse. As the paths of APOPS grow and evolve, we hope to provide funds for research as well as aid to women in developing countries who have little access to health care.

Pelvic organ prolapse is a GLOBAL women’s health issue; millions of women around the world suffer in silence with the physical, emotional, social, sexual, and financial impacts of POP. Awareness of pelvic organ prolapse can only occur when we share what we know with others. Knowledge is power. It is my hope that as we continue to do what women do best-network, guide, and provide support for each other-POP will soon become common knowledge.

Sherrie Palm, APOPS Founder/President

NO ONE CAN HELP US AS MUCH AS WE CAN HELP OURSELVES

Welcome to APOPS, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit global advocacy to assist women in all aspects of pelvic organ prolapse awareness. I invite you to share your path with ours and hope that as you learn more about what helps you treat your individual POP concerns, you’ll spread the word to assist other women trying to find their way.

 

Sherrie Palm, APOPS Founder/President

 

Video information on APOPS and POP lectures and support is  viewable on the youtubes at the link below or contact

Sherrie Palm.

Youtube 

Monday thru Friday POP tips are dislayed on Sherrie’s social media sites. To access these POP feeds, click on the links below.

Twitter

Facebook

LinkedIn

 

If you have questions about POP you’d like a direct answer to, I’ll do my best to guide you with POP basics at the MedHelp.org Urogynecology Forum link below.

Medhelp.org

 

 

**Disclaimer**The data on this website is for informational purposes only. It does not constitute professional medical advice, diagnosis, or individual treatment suggestions. Always consult a health care professional or organization for proper diagnosis and treatment of any health condition before initiating any treatment plan.

 

 

Related Articles

• Sherrie Palm Reveals Pelvic Organ Prolapse Symptoms Often Misdiagnosed as Other Serious Female Health Problems (prweb.com)

Incostress maintenant disponible

Incostress

 

Incostress maintenant disponible
en France,

distribué par HEDONEO MEDICAL
SARL

En devenant partenaire de C&G
Medicare Ltd et distributeur du dispositif Incostress en France,
hedoneo contribuera à diffuser l’innovation médicale au service des
femmes atteintes d’incontinence d’effort.

Vous pourrez accéder à la fiche produit
du dispositif Incostress sur le site hedoneo.com et également sur
incostress.fr (à partir du 23/09/2010) ou prendre contact par mail à
l’adresse info@incostress.fr.

A propos de HEDONEO MEDICAL

HEDONEO MEDICAL est une SARL dont le siège social est à Boulogne
Billancourt, spécialisée dans les dispositifs médicaux, notamment
concernant la rééducation personnelle du périnée, et dédiés à la santé
intime au travers de l’édition du site hedoneo.com.

La santé intime a maintenant sa boutique

HEDONEO MEDICAL mettra en ligne fin
septembre un site consacré à la santé sexuelle. En effet, au travers de
dossiers thématiques en libre accès, d’un blog et d’une boutique,
Hedoneo.com s’intéressera à la santé et au bien-être de la sexualité.
Parce que prendre soin de sa santé, c’est aussi prendre soin de sa
sexualité, hedoneo.com adopte une approche inédite en sélectionnant les
produits avec une grille de lecture médicale pour composer son offre de
produits cosmétiques, para-pharmaceutiques ou pour proposer des
dispositifs médicaux concernant des indications précises ayant trait à
la santé sexuelle.

Le bien-être sans faire l’impasse sur sa sexualité

En matière de bien-être, la quête du «
mieux vivre », notamment plus longtemps et en bonne santé, ou encore
bien manger et avoir une activité physique sont souvent évoqués. En
s’inscrivant dans une tendance forte pour une sexualité récréative et
en suivant les dernières préconisations médicales en faveur du soin du
périnée, Hedoneo.com propose de mettre toutes les chances de son côté
en prenant soin aussi de sa sexualité. Hedoneo.com apporte un concept
“home care” et une interface neutre qui manquaient à l’offre actuelle.

Des soins pour de vrais besoins et des indications tabous

Par exemple, le soin du périnée est
souvent en question dans des indications telles que l’incontinence
(près de 4 millions de femmes en France en souffrent), à laquelle
s’ajoutent les suites de grossesse (plus de 830000 naissances en
France) souvent responsables de faiblesse du périnée.

Découvrez Incostress et plein d’autres
choses sur hedoneo.com !

Sherrie Palm author and pioneer for APOPS

Sherrie Palm has dedicated  her life to  helping women who experience prolapse. Pelvic organ prolapse can affect any woman at any time. Find out how, why and how to deal with it if this happens to you.

If you are heading for surgery to correct a pelvic organ prolapse, then you need to read this book first. Sherrie explains in an easy language, what to expect and how to deal with the emotional side. (something doctors don’t tell you).

View this document on Scribd

Thank you to all those who attended the workshops

For those who attended Mary’Odwyer’s workshop and Craig Allingham’s workshop in the United Kingdom. Mary and Craig are Australia’s leading physiotherapists in their field of work and visit the UK once a year. The feedback from other physiotherapists has been amazing. C&G Medicare Ltd are distributors of Mary’s book Hold it Sister ” A book which every woman needs to read”.

The girls new best friend

 Hold it Sister is available at WH Smith, Waterstones, www.incostress.com and please contact physiotherapist Amanda Marsh amanda.x.marsh@gstt.nhs.uk  Book now for next year!! The courses will certainly be of benefit without a doubt.

Consider training to be a phyiotherapist

Physiotherapists play a huge part of rehabilitating people from sports injuries to pelvic floor problems. They are the least praised in the medical world yet without physiotherapists and their specialist skills patients would be left to suffer in silence as the hospitals would not be able to cope with the burden.

Physiotherapists are an integral part of the medical system. They have time to listen to the patient and to explain exactly the what’s and why’s to you in a comfortable and relaxed manner. Their knowledge is extensive and expertise invaluable.

Consider a career in physiotherapy. Contact the chartered society of phyiotherapy for more information www.csp.org.uk

View this document on Scribd

Healing can be fun, Sex & Female Urinary Incontinence?

With all the focus on embarrassment or pads or the location of the nearest toilet it is easy to forget that women with urinary incontinence enjoy sex just as much as those without. 

According to Everydayhealth.com’s Dr. Kevin O Hwang studies have shown the women have the same levels of enjoyment and of activity…with or without urinary incontinence.

So, for the moment, let’s look at the benefits of sex for urinary incontinence.

Firstly, sexual activity is enjoyable and therefore might be easier to remember doing than all those exercises to strengthen your pelvic floor. 

Secondly, according to Louanne Cole Weston, PhD, women report that the most orgasm-inducing muscle contractions are in their lower pelvis.

Should we be surprised to learn that these are the same muscles you squeeze to stop the flow of urine midstream?

If you imagine you are doing so then you are consciously contracting your pelvic floor muscles. You are doing your Kegel exercises.

So sex, apart from being an enjoyable activity, is a great way to do you Kegel’s which in the long run will help you control your urinary incontinence.

In addition, sex is a wonderful workout for your body and has the added benefit of relaxing you.

To conclude, why don’t you try to forget all the worry & stress of UI for a moment? Enjoy a moment or two of sex and reap the benefits. Healing need not be boring.

Written by Peter Nolan of Rubicon Healthcare www.incostress.ie

IncoStress is a medical device proven to control female incontinence and helps women strengthen the pelvic floor naturally.

Women’s explanations for urinary incontinence, their management strategies, and their quality of life during the postpartum period

Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, The Regional Hospital Viborg, Viborg, Denmark.

Although pregnancy is a risk factor for urinary incontinence (UI), minimal information is available to help clinicians understand postpartum women’s experiences of UI. Our aim was to explore postnatal women’s explanations for UI, strategies for managing and dealing with UI, rationale for not doing anything about UI, and its influence on their quality of life. Design: Cross-sectional survey. The participants were 75 women who had given birth to live children at Viborg Hospital in Denmark during a 3-month period from November 2002 to January 2003 and who had experienced UI since giving birth. UI questionnaires were mailed to women who had given birth at Viborg Hospital during a 3-month period. The questionnaire included the Urogenital Distress Inventory, the Incontinence Impact Questionnaire, and the General Continence Questionnaire. A follow-up letter was sent to potential participants 2 weeks after the initial mailing. The most frequently reported lower urinary tract symptoms were small amounts of urine leakage (59%) and leakage related to physical activity, coughing, or sneezing (55%). Half the women reporting these symptoms indicated that they were moderately or greatly bothered by them. Living with UI affected the willingness of some women to go to places where they were unsure about the availability of toilets (27%), as well as the way in which they dressed (31%). Some women reported diminished ability to have sexual relations (23%) and reduced involvement in physical and recreational activities (23%). UI was associated with feelings of frustration (25%) and embarrassment (25%). Most participants (76%) perceived that they had become incontinent due to weakened pelvic floor muscles and because they had not performed sufficient pelvic floor muscle exercises. The most common management strategies for UI were more frequent toileting (64%) and pad use (56%). Some women (24%) reported that they had done nothing about their UI. Given the profound impact UI usually exerts on the lives of postpartum women and the common use of ineffective management strategies, healthcare clinicians need to actively screen for and treat this condition.

Written by: Hermansen IL, O’Connell BO, Gaskin CJ. 

Reference: J Wound Ostomy Continence Nurs. 2010 Mar-Apr;37(2):187-92. doi:10.1097/WON.0b013e3181cf7946

A medical device to control femal incontinence.

Incostress is a medical device which supports the urethra and bladder neck, gently lifts the pelvic floor to allow ease of kegal exercises. It controls the involuntary loss of urine.

This class IIa medical device is easy to use, reusalble and recommended by physiotherapists,urologists and urogyaecologists worldwide.

For more information go to www.incostress.com

Help I can’t empty my bladder!

Unable to fully empty the bladder

Millions of women suffer with incontinence (around 20% recorded in each country), this is still a ‘taboo’ subject and one of failure and shame for many women, but there is another kind of misery which goes undetected or not reported until it’s time for desperate measures. I am speaking about not incontinence as such but not being able to fully empty your bladder.

Why is it so important to make sure your bladder is empty?

Residual urine left inside the bladder could increase your chances of carrying E coli. Your doctor may tell you that you have coliforms or E coli, which the treatment is anti biotics

Main Species	Escherichia coliKlebsiella pneumoniaeEnterobacter speciesProteus mirabilisShigella speciesSalmonella species
Where	Normal flora of the intestine
Cause	UTI and intra-abdominal sepsis and septicaemia
Treatment	Gram negative Antibiotic

 

Any bladder problems you are experience we urge you to seek medical advice sooner rather than later. www.incostress.com has a free 24hr help line to help you with any bladder or pelvic floor issues you may have. We work with physiotherapists, doctors and nurses to ensure you get the correct information. All information is strictly confident. Note we will not make a diagnosis, that’s the job for your doctor, we will only be able to give general information. email info@incostress.com

Incostress is a medical device to control female incontinence and help strengthen the pelvic floor muslces.

For further information about the bladder and pelvic floor we recommend Mary O’Dwyer’s book Hold it Sister 

Paperback: 128 pages

Publisher: Redsok

ISBN-10: 0980399971

ISBN-13: 978-0-9803999-7-4

Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 14.7 x 0.8 cm

Painful intercourse (dyspareunia)

Painful intercourse can be soul destroying and have devastating consequences on relationships. This is one of those ‘taboo’ subjects that isn’t spoken about due to embarrassment, and the feeling like you are the only one it happens to. Well stop right there. You are not. Dyspareunia is more common than you think, and luckily can be resolved. Mainly it happens to women but it can also happen to men.

What is the feeling of dyspareunia?

Some women say it is like hot needles, others say it feels like their genitals are being ripped apart. Some have a stabbing sensation.

What is the cause?

This is a difficult one to pin down as there can be several reasons. When you visit your doctor he/she will probably ask if the pain is deep or superficial. This may be difficult for you to determine.

Vaginismus can be deep and superficial pain. It is not uncommon for women to be diagnosed this. During or just before penetration the psychological side of things take over and due to the fear of being hurt the vaginal muscles involuntarily contract and spasm making sex very  painful. Many women put up with the pain for years and thing they can’t be cured. It can get so bad with some women that they do not use tampons, can not have full penetration and even more reason to go and see a doctor about this is that some women refuse to have a smear test because of the fear of pain.

The psychological side of causes

• Women who have been raped.
• Childhood sexual abuse.
• Women who have had STD’s
• Continuous vaginal or urinal infections
• Women who are from backgrounds where sex was viewed as something dirty.
• Women who don’t feel relaxed with their partner 

Other factors which may cause dyspareunia

• Pelvic inflammatory Disease (PID) is an infection which is increasing due to women contracting chlamydia. This causes the soft tissue inside the vagina to become irritated and inflamed, causing deep pain during intercourse.
• childbirth, after delivery especially if it was a particularly difficult child-birth, the last thing a woman wants is to be ‘banged’ inside, and therefore the woman tenses up, the longer it is left untreated the more chance dyspareunia becomes a part of life.
• surgery which involves penetration of the vagina, such as urology surgery (TVT) prolapse. Many women feel that even though they have had a sling fitted to lift the bladder and support the urethra they are afraid of damaging any part of the surgery. Being incontinent is bad enough, and many women think that if they have sex they may become incontinent again. Don’t be afraid, this won’t happen, relax with your partner and take it one step at a time.
• Cervical problems. If there is an infection on the cervix, and the cervix is low baring, the tip of the penis will actually touch the cervix during deep penetration and cause tenderness to the cervix, causing pain.
• Fibroids
• Endometriosis. Endometriosis is a condition where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus (the endometrial stroma and glands, which should only be located inside the uterus) is found elsewhere in the body. Endometriosis lesions can be found anywhere in the pelvic cavity: on the ovaries, the fallopian tubes, and on the pelvic sidewall. Other common sites include the uterosacral ligaments, the cul-de-sac, the Pouch of Douglas, and in the rectal-vaginal septum. This can cause immense pain during intercourse.
• Ovarian cysts.
• Dry Vagina. This could be due to hormone changes.

Many women who are able to speak to their partner are able to still enjoy a fully enjoyable ‘sex life’ without the ‘sex’. Orgasms can be reached without penetration and women who suffer dyspareunia usually enjoy a longer fully satisfying foreplay.

Specialists at the Institute of Psychosexual Medicine have a lot of experience in treating vaginismus.

Regardless of the cause, it is important to realise you are not alone, it is far more common than you can imagine. More importantly is for you to seek medical assistance. You do need to speak to a doctor who is qualified in this area of medicine.

Pfilates

About Pfilates

These exercises can improve your health

Pfilates was created to provide a widely accessible method of recovering or enhancing pelvic floor strength.  Pelvic floor fitness is essential for normal bladder and sexual function. Common problems such as urinary incontinence, vaginal prolapse, and poor sexual satisfaction are all associated with pelvic floor muscle weakness.

The pfilAtes program was created by a Board Certified Gynecologist and pelvic floor specialist to help people, women and men, improve pelvic floor fitness. These basic fitness and mat Pilates movements have been selected based on EMG recordings of the pelvic floor. The three 10 minute routines available on this DVD are a progressive program of pelvic floor fitness training.

For further information please go to http://www.pfilates.com