Visit to Docs this morning

How long have you been inserting them Sus? No problems as a result? Do you find they help you stop getting UTI's? I'm testing out Replens at the moment. Well I just got it this afternoon so we'll see how I get on with it.

How r u today Shirley?

Hi Sus, Thanks for asking. My water infection discomfort isn't too bad today and I think the antibiotics are starting to work so the pain on weeing is going. The soreness from the atrophy isn't too bad at the moment either but of course that can change at any moment. Waiting to get an email from Amarant Trust.

That's better news. Lets hope you continue to improve

8.30am Tuesday.

Just getting up. All OK down below. I'm on the antibiotics till Sunday. But I'm 99% sure that at some point I will be back to square 1 if I don't start using the Ovestin, the water infection will return if I don't use it. Still waiting to get a reply from Amarant Trust.

I stopped having my oestrogen ring 6 weeks ago as had them in for nearly two years. So far so good

Fingers crossed you will be OK for as long as possible without your Oestrogen ring. :-)

Thank you

There is another number Linda, an 01 normal number that they say is charged at standard rate. It's that one that I can't get through on. I know it sounds awful expensive but it was actually Denise Robertson who told me about them so she must have thought they had a phone line that wasn't too expensive. And if that 01 number was up and running, she would have been right. Anyway I have emailed them instead. I have since told Denise R that I am unable to get through to them other than sending an email. Will see what she says.

Have you got through Shirley?  I even wondered if they were still in existance because when I clicked on one link it said something about 'enquire about this domain' as though the name were free, but maybe it meant something else.

I saw my prolapse specialist today and was fitted with a prolopse ring which is such a huge relief!  I asked about the E pessaries and the hyalaronic acid pessaries and she said either of those were absolutely fine to use nightly.  She was going to use estrogen cream to put the prolapse support pessary in but I asked for something different, which she was happy to do and it all went well:-)  Actually there's not much room up there to stick a pessary now LOL!, so not sure I'll need it!

Email was sent back to me today Chris! I've told Denise R. Will see what she says about it. I have since been reading up about D Mannose for UTI'S and have spoken to the girl in the near by Health Food Store and she says its very popular for sorting out water infections and that she has loads of regular customers who have bought it for years. I may try it and if it works, I won't be using the Ovestin.

Glad to hear you have got your prolapse ring fitted. Must say I've not heard of those before but glad you are so relieved anyway. :-)

Oh that's so good Shirley that you've heard back.  Yes, it will be brilliant if the D Mannose works for you!  It's certainly worth trying these things!  They do seem to work for lots of people and I hope you're one of them:-))))

Thank you - I am just SO happy with my prolapse pessary.  I told the doctor I could have hugged her but restrained myself and shook her hand LOL!

Sorry Chris, I meant my email was sent back because it failed to reach its destination! So no contact with Amarant Trust

Yes its worth trying the D Mannose isn't it. There is a medical explanation for it working too and although I can't remember it exactly, it does make sense. So yes I am living in hope. Anyway to avoid HRT.

Great to hear you are so happy with your pessary. I hope I'm equally as happy with the D Mannose. :-)

Oh, that's a shame!  I reckon they've closed down then.

Yes, I hope too that the D Mannose works for you.  When you get a group like this you really find out about so many possibilities that you'd never have heard about otherwise - it's brilliant, but I just hope that works.  I think those of us who have experienced repetitive cystitus have nothing but sympathy for you and I'm sure I'm not the only one who will be overjoyed to hear you've got a solution!

Yes they must have closed down. I agree, the Internet and these groups are brilliant aren't they. I've found out many things I would have otherwise never heard of. I've also had cystitis (Though not recently) as well as UTI's. I know how painful they can be too. Can't believe I have been suffering like this for so long. I will hopefully be back soon with good news :-)

Hi Shirley:  Hope you are having some relief. I tried the D Mannose, didn't work for me.  no UTI but woke up this morning and feeling something starting, almost like the opening is stretching causing pain.  don't know from day to day but hoping this will pass.  This exchange of ideas is so helpful.  

Well that was the good news.  The bad news is that it's just dropped out!:-(((((

You musy be very fustrated, but don't give up hope. Can you be fitted with another size or type soon? I am totally unfamiliar with them, but from what I just read it doesn't sound uncommon to have to try different ones before hitting upon the right one for you. Best of luck.

Oh no! I'm really sorry Chris. Hope you can get fitted out with another really soon. :-)

Thanks Beverley:-)  Yes, very frustrated, but you are right - and she did explain that they start with the smallest possible size to avoid ulcers etc., so it may well be that the next size up will be OK.  The worst of it is we have to pay quite a lot for the visit today which didn't achieve anything, so I don't know if she will charge again for a return visit or fit me in on the NHS list now, but I'll find out more tomorrow.  I think it's probably the fact that I had one so successfully for so many years that is encouraging me now but if this was my first experience of them I'd be a bit shaken in my faith in them:-)

Thanks Shirley!  I'm hoping I'll hear tomorrow what the plan is.  Husband left a message with the secretary, so hopefully it won't be long:-)

Brilliant. My fingers are crossed for you that it won't be long. :-)

Do you think the new one was a different size than the one you had before? I thought if anything our vaginas are shrinking with the atrophy. Maybe the weight of the bladder has increased? As I said before I am totally unfamiliar with the rings, but I'm sure this is solvable. Can't see why you'd be charged a 2nd time if the 1st wasn't successful. Keep calm and carry on!

I have never wanted a pessary because of what happened to my mother with it falling out. I heard that pessaries eventually stretch the tissue so much up there that they can no longer stay in. Well think about it, how long can something stay in and be held up there without finally stretching and holding things in place for as long as they can. For those who do have success with pessaries , unfortunately it is not a permanent solution. In my heart, I really, really think there is no permanent solution for a prolapse. My friend just had surgery 5 weeks ago and things have already started to drop. Thats not good news. I am very happy that some of us are successfully living with our prolapse by conducting pelvic floor exercises and wearing prolapse support. I also pray for those who are going into surgery that they have success with the right surgeon.

                                     Blessings to you

                                     Lynn

                          Lynn

Absolutely Beverly - it was MUCH smaller, but she said because it was a different type and also because I'd had surgery, I wouldn't necessarily need the same size.  I'll do exactly as you said and keep calm and carry on LOL!  I suspect part of this might be simply finding the right type and the right size:-)  But a pessary is certainly my best option, I've no doubt, and I'll try everything under the sun to find the right one.  I WANT ONE!  (Stamps feet! LOL!)

That's always interesting to hear a different side of things Lynn because I've heard that pessaries more often prevent a prolapse from getting worse and I did just check studies for that.  As for the stretching side of things - with the connective tissue disorder I have, if that had been the case you'd have expected my ring size that I had for so many years to have changed but it didn't at all.  And I've no doubt that having that ring for all those years meant it didn't get to the point where when the ring was out it was protruding below the vagina.  We have to admit that surgery works permanently for some people - there is a 66% chance of it working permanently - they are the scientific statistics, pessaries also work permanently for some people but a large cause of discontinuation is the discomfort of having the pessary removed and put back every four months.  I just don't want people to rule out options that might work wonderfully for them.  Yes, there are various types of support garments that will help once the prolapse protrudes below the vagina, and I've seen advice about all sorts  and some saying that 'shapewear' type knickers that you can buy from any high street that also support the abdomen as well as everywhere else around the lower truck, can be useful, but for me I'd go to the ends of the earth to find a pessary that will work, to stop the problem getting worse, and to avoid that feeling of it squashing as I bend over and sit down, or the weight that I can feel standing.  This is all about encouraging people to explore options so they can find what works best for them, I feel.

Did you or anyone else see the feature on good morning today about the benefits of vitamin e capsules for the skin?

obviously they did not mention the vagina on the show!!

but they were piercing the capsule and rubbing on the skin.

No but that sounds interesting.  When my husband had his carpal tunnel ops done I'd ordered some Vitamin E cream that a hospital was raising funds by making and selling and the consultant said they'd healed very fast and very well.

Am fed up now.  Secretary of the prolapse specialist phoned just now and is saying I either have to pay again to see her at the private hospital or wait until February to see her at the NHS hospital or she can ask my GP to fit a larger one.  My GP's are absolutely useless and apart from that it would be weeks and weeks before I could get an appointment, so I'm between the devil and the deep blue sea now!  Husband has told her he's not happy to have paid our hundreds of £'s yesterday to achieve nothing and I could have gone to the GP in the first place if that's where I wanted to go, and not paid anything!  It's a bit much!

Oh Sus never saw this but will watch later on catchup tv, if we can comfort our vaginas and look more youthfull with it the other end thats got to be an added bonus!

Sue

Chris i was told ive got a slight prolapse but no wheres bad enough for an operation, no wonder. ive pushed out five kids! wonder why she never mentioned inserting a ring to stop things getting worse. i was told years ago though never to do sit ups as this would cause the prolapse to protrude so 20 years later im guesse im lucky im still being tols not bad enough for surgery. MInd you had to have surgery in pulling my womb back after having my second child as pulling him in pushchair and shopping up 7 flights of stairs  caused it all to drop and i got the continous urge to empty the bladder. Awfull thing to have and very painfull and slow recovery, they told me after id had the op no lifting and i had a nine month baby boy, mum had to have him for a week or two.

Sue

Yes Chris, I understand what you are saying, but each individual is different up inside when it comes to wearing a pessary. Of course it will hold up a bladder if it fits inside properly, but what are the consequences in some cases? I have read tons of things about infections caused by pessaries, rubbing, inflamation, bleeding etc. If you google does a pessary cause stretching you will also be very surprised what you find. Again, I am not saying not to wear a pessary, I am saying for the ladies to check things out thoroughly before they decide what they need to do to help them. There are also very good pelvic floor exercises to stop the prolaspe from getting worse. Anything natural is worth investigating vs, unnatural. Anything that goes into our body that doesn't belong there is eventually going to tell us it doesn't belong there for some ladies. Others may feel absolutely nothing or no side affects. Again, each person is going to be different and will have to see how their body excepts or rejects what you put in it or do to it. I wish all these solutions available would work for everyone, but unfortunateley they don't.

                                    Blessings to all the ladies who are trying to

                                    find what works for them

                                    Lynn

Hello Sus28. I do that all the time with Vitimin E, by piercing a hole in one end and applying it. Vitimin E has been around forever and it is healing to the skin, including inside the Vagina. Even a little tiny bit squeezed out and applied inside the vagina does wonders. 

                                                   Lynn

Susan, you're right and sit ups are the worst possible thing because of the pressure put on the abdomen.  That must have been difficult with the 7 flights of stairs, for sure!  It must have been difficult having the op with such a young baby as well, but I'm glad your Mum could support you and it all worked! 

I'm well fed up now.  The specialist I saw yesterday has given me three options - pay for it all again to go again this week, or wait until the appointment in February, or get my GP to try a bigger pessary.  If I'd wanted to go to the GP I'd have gone there in the first place but in any case just looking online at booking, there are no available bookings for the next three weeks and they're not taking any bookings for after that!  I don't know why she didn't try the size I had so successfully before!  But husband has told her secretary that we're not happy with having paid out yesterday and no follow up after it fails a few hours later, so we'll see what happens......

Chris i really think its very un reasonable that you should be expected to pay all over again, You didnt get what you paid for and im glad your husband has complained to her secetary.

Is it because your in the USA or a country where you have to pay or was it because you opted to go private to get seen to quicker and have better treatment.! What ever its just not right at all, very unfair that.

Im sending you a link what Lynn on hear sent me by pm, what you make of these then!

Sue x

 

Thanks Sue!  I'm in the UK and it's because I opted to go privately rather than wait until February at the earliest with the NHS.  I'm not impressed though.  I'm hoping the secretary will phone back and come up with something this afternoon because at the moment I might as well have thrown the money straight in the bin!  All I've got to show for it is a second hand pessary that's no good!

Good news - the secretary has just phoned back and they're seeing me next week at the private hospital again and all I have to pay for is the new pessary, £30 or thereabouts.  Hopefully this one might fit:-)  I'm quite happy to wait until then because I'm slightly sore from yesterday, so that aspect is fine:-)

I don't know if anyone can make sense of this but I did mention to the prolapse specialist about using a soothing 'feminine' wash rather than soap and she told me not to use those because they all strip the oil out of the skin but said to use something called dermawash.  But I can only find dermawash for horses LOL!  Anyone else heard of a dermawash that might be suitable?

Oooooo ha ha

Sorry not heard of this

Yes it's good stuff eh?

Thats good news Chris, hope all goes well for you

Sue

Doesn't sound very good

Have u told your GP?

Thanks Sue:-)  She can't have meant horse wash, so I'm going to keep using the stuff I'm using but I do make sure non goes 'up there' so it's more water going there:-)  If I remember I'll ask her if she really wants me to use horse wash LOL!

I don't get to tell my GP anything because you can't get an appointment for the next three weeks and they aren't booking any appointments further away than that LOL!

That is good news ,chris. Proves my squeaky wheel theory. Unless women complain in unison things will just go on as they are. Takes a lot of energy, but feels good in the end not to be taken advantage of, doesn't it?  Precedents need to be set. Think women's suffrage. Good luck with the new one!

Googled dermawash and it seems to be an antibacterial face cleaner that is PH neutral. Don't see how this is different from what I use which is a store brand version of Cetaphil cleanser. It is not drying and does not sting at all.I have also just purchased a store brand "Cleansing Wash" intimate cleanser. Guess they have to make it sound fancier than it is. Says PH balanced and gynocolgist tested. Bought this one only because it's a more travel friendly container. It cost $4.39 for 9 ounces.

I'm a bit of a whimp really and do feel a bit uncomfortable about it really - I feel slightly embarassed that we had to ask for there not to be a fee apart from the cost of another pessary, even though it felt wrong that they were going to charge again!  But hopefully it will work out well this time!  And I have to admit, it was my husband who was the squeaky wheel LOL! Thank you though!:-)

Is that the 'pore cleansing one' you found Beverley?  I've just looked at what I'm currently using and there is such a long list of ingredients that I haven't begun to look them up.  I looked up a high street feminine wash but that, although it said it contained witch hazel, it didn't list the ingredients.  It was interesting looking online at what's recommended.  Some sites said use plain soap, others said never use any form of soap because it strips off moisture (and I think that's right) and others said use a suitable 'wash' but others said use plain water.  But generally the opinion says only to use any product around the edges, from what I've gathered. 

There were several different Dermawashes listed with pictures of different looking containers. They all seemd to be face cleaners, some mentioned pores. Didn't see anything for horses. I no longer have the Cetaphil, but online info says non-alkaline, gentle, fragrance free, which is basically what the store brand one I have been using says. I haven't yet tried the "intimate ph balanced" one, but if it stings at all I haven't paid much and can just use it to clean the rest of me. I think the ph is the most impirtant aspect.

chris, it is the doctor who should have felt embarrassed about charging you for something that didn't work and expecting you to pay again. My guess is she she was embarrassed as you will now be treated fairly as a result of your husband speaking up. People, especially women, have to get over beong embarrassed about speaking up. Your doc probably is more well paid than you so don't worry about it. As patients we all deserve proper treatment.

You are right Beverley, and this is just what my husband said too:-)  Thank you:-)

Oh dear.

That's not a good service!

Sorry - I'm losing the plot after a chaotic day today - were you meaning re the feminine wash or the appointment with the specialist?:-))))  It's absolutely crazy - I found I had another appointment at a nearby NHS hospital on the same day (only routine eye test) and when we asked appointments  if we could change it for the morning, they informed us that it WAS in the morning but they'd told us afternoon, so we then checked with the actual department and they've got us down for the afternoon.  I give up!

I meant th appt!

Ah right - my brain is fried after today!  No, it's not impressive, is it.  I just hope this pessary is the right size because if we've got to pay for each one and it goes on to three or four, at £30+ a go it starts to get expensive, and I don't even know if they'd do another appointment free if the next one isn't the right size!  I dread that happening.  I found that I could buy them on line today and was almost tempted to do a 'do it yourself' effort but don't want to damage anything!  My husband didn't fancy doing it either LOL!

Good luck

Thanks Sue.  What I'm going to do this time is when she's fitted it, feel exactly where it is, because she sent me off to do a wee last time and I've got a feeling it was already on it's way down then, so if I know it's coming down at that point she can sort it there and then!  So I have a plan:-)))))

It's always good to have a plan Chris.

I always feel more in control of a situation if I've got a plan LOL!  It remains to be seen if it will help though LOL!

Me too.