Pubic Symphasis Disfunction and a Prolapse Uterus

[VTmamadownsouth]

I'll try to be quick.

I had pubic symphisis (spelling) disfuntion when I was pregnant with DS (born 1/25/08) and thus pretty terrible pain on my pubic bone throughout most of my pregnancy. The birth was very normal and uncomplicated, I tore just a little, but other than that everything was great. I took a little longer than some to get my strength/energy back, but it was even longer before my pelvis and pubic bone felt normal again. This past winter I actually started physicial therapy and CST because I still wasn't able to hold chiropractic adjustments in my sacrum (spelling?) and sometimes my pubic bone at 24 months post partum.

Things got much better and I even was able to start running again without dealing with much lower back pain (due to misalignment of my sacrum and pubic bone) then . . .

I moved into a summer housesitting gig 2 weeks ago and the mattress is REALLY hard . I have always had a problem (even before pregnancy) where I will get a sore pubic bone when I go camping or sleep on other hard-ish surfaces. Totally weird, right?

About a week ago my pubic bone started feeling sore, the next day it was worse, and by friday it was really sore and it wasn't going away. Then I hopped out of the car and ran up a little hill (I do have a toddler, after all) and I suddenly had the sensation that my uterus felt a lot like it did shortly after I had my son ie. like it was rattling around too much. I checked myself and sure enough, I could feel my cervix, which I cannot normally feel because it's too far up and I have short fingers. I went to my Dr. (General Practitioner) and she confirmed I have moderate-mild prolapse.

WHAT!!??!? how? why? related to my pubic bone pain? how to fix this? will i be able to have kids again? these are all of my burning questions. She downplayed it a bit (I think to keep me calm) and asked me to come in tomorrow. We'll talk more in detail about my options then, but I need to hear from others who may have had similar experiences.

Does anyone know anything about any of this!?

[happy2bamama]

This is so strange that you posted this. I was just coming in this section to ask other mamas who had had prolapses to tell me how they prepared (or are preparing) for getting pregnant again (which I will post after this, but...).

Here is my experience with uterine prolapse - my DS was born January of 2007 (so he's 3.5 years old). After his birth, I had (and have) a mild uterine prolapse. For a few months, I saw a physical therapist about it and was doing exercises, but I ended up not being able to afford to keep going, so there went that. I did kegel exercises but I always noticed that my prolapse felt WORSE afterwards and I knew I was doing them right because my PT actually had her finger in me while I did them to make sure I was doing them correctly (sorry TMI).

Basically, I have been so busy with DS (he is so active and constantly wants me to play with him) that I haven't had the time to fully deal with it. It is better now that it was the first year, but I before I pick up DS, cough, sneeze or blow my nose, I have to engage my transverse abdominal muscle and kegel so that I can keep everything from falling further down. It's just instinctual now that I do that. I feel it more when I'm on my period too.

I just started seeing a woman who does Maya Massage. I've only been one time, but it was great. She showed me some helpful pictures of how uteruses can get out of place (mine happens to tilted forward, so it's like the top part of it is flopping forward over itself causing my cervix to push down and causing my bladder to be pushed forward too). My massage therapist is also intuitive so she not only felt that this was the position my palpating my abdomen, but she intuitively thought it was as well (and it does make logical sense with how I'm feeling). She only worked on it for about 5 minutes and already felt it shift back to where it should be. I continue to do the self-massage as well and have noticed a difference.

In terms of what you can do about it - there are physical therapists out there who specialize in this type of thing and can give you exercises and work with you to strengthen your pelvic floor (which is what holds those organs in place).

A friend of mine who is a doula gave me this link and I found the article really really helpful...

http://mamasweat.blogspot.com/2010/0...s-are-not.html

Also, I think that in this month's Mothering issue, there is a section about that Maya Massage (I moved so I haven't been getting my issues).

As far as if you can have more kids - from what I know, yes and many people do. I think I remember reading that during pregnancy (after the second trimester) the uterus goes up inside the body higher so it's not like you feel like you're gonna give birth the entire time! There is a really long thread here on Mothering about prolapse - I would imagine that it would have a lot of helpful info for you. Some people talk about surgery - lots say it doesn't work. I think it depends on how severe your prolapse is and your viewpoint on modern medicine. I will get that link for you after I post this

I am also wondering what things I can do to get ready to be pregnant again in a few months (or however long it takes). I don't know that I want to get my pelvic floor all tight just to have it blown out again - you know? But I want to do whatever I can to be in the best shape for pregnancy, birth and post-partum.

Hope this helps and that link to the other thread is coming... Good luck

[happy2bamama]

Here ya go - I might even review it too to see if answers any of my questions...

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=713732

[fertilemyrtle]

I'm a yoga teacher specializing in prenatal and postnatal yoga. Yoga inversions are VERY helpful for prolapse, but you need to have a regular practice to learn them and practice them correctly. If you can check out some Iyengar books from the library, many have "routines" listed for certain ailments - including prolapse. IF you can commit to a regular class once a week in any style that you like, that can help you build the strength and suppleness needed to reset your midsection. It really works, but you need to spend some time on yourself to do that.

PS - there are also postures for Pubic Symphysis misalignment.

Good luck!