Right Suzie. And I have a tractor and FEL. Now to start a thread about creativity navigating lifting heavy objects. I’ll bet you have some ideas.
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A pessary worked for my mom.
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this is for ALL women, no children here. Men get this too
My previous long post is still sitting as unapproved / spam. so here it is again
I went through Pelvic floor therapy with a therapist I was referred to by the Urogynocologist
Some people might consider the therapy I had “unpleasant” or embarrassing but it took me from barely able to stand up to back pulling my 30 pound bow in 2 months. For your particular situation I dont know what they would offer you. Mine was tight muscles in spasm. Therapy was pressure release technique combined with proper breathing. Pressure was exerted vaginally by a qualified female therapist . At home there were simple exercises to engage the core and lower abdomen while maintaining a correct and relaxed form of core breathing , very simple.
there is no reason to be embarrassed by any of this and no need to go through it with bad advice. I am sorry your doctor did not recommend a UG consultation.
You will likely find a UG attached to a local medical center. I was referred by my GP after an US screening which ruled out ovarian cancer, which was the first consideration considering the local and onset of the pain
www . augs dot org for information
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From what my daughter told me, the therapist has to physically manipulate the vaginal area. As she was dealing with a tear and scar tissue as well it may have been more difficult for her. I believe another poster who actually went through it describes it well. It was worth it for my daughter though. She loves to run and went from being convinced she would never be able to run again, to being back to her old routine.
Pressure is applied via the vagina to the muscles and ligaments in the pelvic floor. Both doctor and therapist could identify each muscle by touch and location. The therapy was very targeted to the specific group of muscles in trouble.
@hoopoe thank you for sharing your story. What made your body go into muscle spasm? It sounds horribly painful and that is amazing they figured it out and you are 100%? And thanks for that link. I’m so grateful for this board on every topic and of course knew this community would share and talk.
@kayray thank you for sharing. It’s inspirational and helpful. Were her original symptoms pain and not a prolapse? And thanks @carolprudm - that is good to hear about your Mom.
She had multiple issues due to the tear, but as I recall she went to the PT due to the prolapse. For her it actually got progressively worse (stage 3 I believe) before it improved. The hormones produced by childbirth and breastfeeding contributed to the problem.
As mentioned above, lifting can really compound the problem. If you find the right specialist, make sure you explain your typical barn activities so they can guide you to the best way to do them. Those hay bales can be heavy! A pessary might be an interim solution while undergoing therapy.
I do hope you can find a non-surgical solution to your problem!
I think it should be talked about too. I meant that it is probably something most women don’t talk about because it is something that would be difficult to bring up in most ordinary conversations!!
In the late Fall of 2018 I had a partial tear of the deep flexors in my left arm. It was an adverse event from a medication . I am a left handed archer and this was my draw arm. Slow rehab and I was back shooting but not at my full draw weight and I started having pain in my lower right abdomen. It was excruciating. After screening for kidney infection and ovarian cancer ( trans vaginal US.) referred to UG by my very good internist. She worked me up and said it was not unusual to see women rehabbing shoulder / upper body issues have events on the opposite lower abdomen. Like horses who , when sore on a hind leg will often develop secondary signs in the opposite diagonal.
It is better to lift something and put it down. It is the carrying that kills. So use trolleys, wheelbarrows, carryalls on tractors or a trailer.
For furniture you can get sliders that go under the corners of a fridge, washing machine, book cases etc.
For a ute you can get forklift straps that you put on your arms.
If you can you can walk something even up a ramp. So you only push or lift one side at at a time. You can move things too heavy to lift.
For pulling out star pickets, I drive the FEL to the picket and lower. Hubby wraps a chain around the bottom of the star picket. He pulls the chain and leans back. I lift the FEL and voila.
Farm machinery we lift with a chain on the FEL.
We took away a shed that fell down with telegraph poles that the insurance wanted to charge us over $7,000.00 nearly 2 decades ago.
The tractor feeds out round bales with no lifting from me. We no longer feed square bales.
The next time he calls me to help him lift something, I am going to ask him if he is willing to risk one of his favourite body parts!:yes::rolleyes:
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I truly was drinking water and just about spit it out. Yes, no man wants to risk this ugly monster. Tell him that. What’s a ute again? Star pickets? Thanks for the other great ideas too.
What a crazy story. In horses it makes sense but I’d never considered it could happen like in your situation. Want to thank you and everyone else for their input. I have two appointments scheduled with two of the BEST (Fellows and Board Certified) Urogynos in Columbus OH and will report back so we all learn together. Planning to get two opinions and get a pessary ASAP.
Appts are on the 21st and 24th of Sept.
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After the birth of my second child my bladder dropped. I did PFT for several months but it didn’t help. to be blunt, why it is unpleasant is that the therapist will stick fingers in there to figure out what is going on (for me scar tissue) and to make sure you are doing your exercises correctly. Pick a female.
After the PFT, I had a urethral sling surgery and they secured the bladder from doing what it was doing. I highly recommend just getting the repair done if the therapy doesn’t work. I couldn’t lift for a couple of weeks but despite fudging on that a bit, had an event-free recovery and LOVE not having to deal with the issue any longer (it made me stress incontinent).
Thank you for sharing and your advice. Makes sense - all of it.
A ute, you call a truck. We dont call it a truck until it is much bigger. It is short for utility. They can come with a tray. This one I just bought squeeeeee and has a tub with a hard canopy.
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Star pickets we use with electric fencing for the cattle where it floods. The stronger the fence the further the flood water will take it. The star pickets just seem to get swallowed deeper!
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@SuzieQNutter Thank you for clarifying!! There is just something special about all things Aussie - and notably your country’s gifted nature for horse training.
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LOL I heard the other day that some people believe that Australia is a hoax and doesn’t exist. I swear we do. Black swans, koalas. Kangaroos, platypus and all.
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Seriously? You heard that?
@PaddockWood, thank you for raising a difficult subject.
Color me concerned. I had a child a few month’s prior to my 40th bday and had a terrible time - high forceps delivery, 4th degree tear. Intermittent bladder incontinence for 4 - 6 weeks after delivery. (NO ONE talks about this stuff either, someone needs to - wish I had known I was not the only one.) Time and lotsa lotsa kegel exercise more or less fixed the problem.
22 years later, I have a weird sort of bladder issue where it takes me a long time and several attempts to empty my bladder; however, I only experience leaks if I wait way too long to visit the rest room. So a very managable issue.
I have considered the bladder sling surgery, but when I actually talked to my OB/GYN about how often I experience problems, as opposed to women with more signifigant problems, decided against it.
BUT, I recently retired and am working out as much as I can manage; and we have a farmette and I sling feed bags and hay bales like a good 'un and do all sorts of other physical labor. The really good news is that my increased level of activity has really helped my chronic back issues but I’m not sure trading them for a prolapse is a great idea.
We have an FEL and forks and are pretty clever about using it to avoid lifting. (DH also has back and neck issues and has gotten really smart about lifting.) Please let me know what else I need to be aware of/watch out for.
