Practicing gynecologists quite often make a diagnosis of genital prolapse. Uterine prolapse , prolapse of the uterus, prolapse of the vagina - all these are the names of one disease. Starting with small, yet invisible changes, it progresses and can lead to serious, sometimes irreversible, consequences.
Silent disease
According to statistics, every second woman in the menopause and about 30% of giving birth to young people suffer from a disease such as uterine prolapse. What to do in these cases, can tell any gynecologist. Faced with unusual sensations in the pelvic area, repeated repeatedly, or immediately with the loss of part of the uterus or vagina from the perineum, do not postpone the visit to the gynecologist until later. You can’t miss even one day!
Unfortunately, the problem of the disease is complicated by the modern mentality, the reluctance to admit oneself to one's family, and first of all to oneself, that not everything is in order. For some reason, many believe that they can cope on their own when the prolapse of the uterus has just begun. They don’t know what to do, but they don’t want to go to the doctor.
How does the disease develop? Risk groups
Initially, a healthy uterus is located in the center of the small pelvis and is held by the ligaments that attach it to the sacrum and pelvic bones, and from below it is supported by the muscular apparatus of the perineum.
During pregnancy, an inevitable increase in the uterus occurs, and if labor is proceeding normally, after a while (individual process) all organs return to their place.
- With rapid childbirth, with their incorrect (rough) stimulation, with significant ruptures of the genital tract, ligaments can outgrow or tear. It almost always provides prolapse of the uterus. What should a young woman do in this case? Do not have sex and refuse to wear in the arms of the baby?
- In the case of uncontrolled large physical exertion (lifting weights in the first place), muscles that support the internal organs can overstrain.
- Women with asthma or other severe pulmonary diseases are also at risk: severe straining when coughing strains the muscles of the pelvis.
- With significant obesity or the presence of tumors (fibroids), it must be assumed that genital prolapse may progress in patients.
- With a change in estrogen levels (before menopause and during), tissue elasticity is lost, and, of course, ligaments can be stretched.
- When a woman is constantly tormented by constipation, and there is already hemorrhoids (when instead of taking laxatives during bowel movements, internal organs are squeezed out under high pressure), female diseases cannot be avoided.
Representatives of all groups should urgently begin treatment of uterine prolapse. The prolapse of the walls of the vagina as a concomitant disease with the progression of prolapse also requires an urgent solution.
Stages of Genital Prolapse
Depending on the symptoms, a different treatment is prescribed: either conservative (gymnastics, massage), or surgical (surgical intervention and even removal of the uterus).
• The first stage is characterized by a changed position of the uterus, when the cervix is already in the vagina, but has not yet reached the genital fissure and beyond.
• In the second stage, part of the uterus is outside the genital gap.
• The third stage is the hardest. Genital prolapse progresses to the complete loss of the uterus from the genital gap.
Signs of genital prolapse
While there are no visible manifestations of loss, a woman should be concerned about the following negative points:
- discharge with pain and irritation in the vagina;
- aching pain radiating to the groin, in the lumbar region;
- a feeling of constant heaviness in the vaginal area;
- discomfort in the perineum when standing up or sitting for a long time, turning into pain;
- pain during intercourse;
- episodic appearance of the cervix from the perineum;
- urinary incontinence during emotional (laughter) and physical (cough) stresses;
- urinary retention, difficulty and low pressure.
Depending on the indications, a conservative treatment is offered at the first stage of the disease: Kegel gymnastics, massage, estrogen treatment and, in addition, herbal medicine.
In the second and third stages, a woman herself can make a diagnosis of uterine prolapse. What to do? Treatment, surgery, removal? Can modern medicine offer something in these cases?
A set of physical exercises for genital prolapse
The gynecologist, when handling and after the examination, gives recommendations on what to do if the prolapse of the uterus has begun. Genital prolapse, even in the initial stages, cannot be completely cured; it can only progress without treatment. Conservative receptions can suspend it, and at the second stage facilitate surgical intervention.
If a woman has already noticed symptoms such as a change in the pressure of urine, especially her incontinence, or episodic pulling pains in her lower back began to visit her, even before going to the gynecologist, you can do special exercises. Some of them can be done even at work or in transport.
1. It is necessary to tighten the knees so much as to feel muscle tension. It is sometimes advised to insert a fist between the knees. Do this up to ten times.
2. Sitting, tighten the pelvic muscles so as to raise the perineum. Do up to ten times.
3. Twist your legs, lying on your back, for up to five minutes, simulating riding a bicycle. The subtlety of this exercise is not to strain the abs, but to load the thigh muscles more.
4. Lying on its side, put the right foot back behind the left, which should be lifted up as high as possible without bending it. Exercise to do twenty to thirty times on each leg.
Do exercises (especially the first two) as often as possible. Common practice is up to ten times a day.
Gymnastic exercises give a positive result, manifested already from the first twenty days, sometimes you need to do more than two months (then it will become a habit) up to a year.
Cervical prolapse. What to do, how to do without surgery? Conservative treatment
• One of the modern promising methods is recognized as electrical stimulation for the muscles of the perineum and pelvic floor.
• Some patients are encouraged to work with vaginal simulators (weights of various weights), they must be kept for a long time in the vagina.
• The most gentle method is herbal medicine. The group of medicinal plants that help relieve pain and establish the menstrual cycle is quite large: lemon balm, dope, gentian, pine nut (needles), echinacea, evening primrose, dandelion, lily root. The herbal complex for oral administration is prepared on the basis of alcohol tinctures and water decoctions. Warm herbal baths are also helpful.
• The attending physician can offer treatment with the method of orthopedic correction - this is the wearing of special supportive rings - pessaries. The technique of putting on, the time of removal, the period of wearing - everything is determined only by the observing gynecologist.
• In some cases, a bandage is prescribed to support the organs in position.
• Gynecological massage using estrogen-based creams can be both part of hormone replacement therapy and an independent procedure.
What to do with a prolapse of the uterus: surgery
The natural fear of surgery causes any person to delay the moment they come to the doctor. When conservative methods have not yielded results, and cervical prolapse is already progressing , what should be done in this situation? Surgery chosen by the attending physician is inevitable.
Today, gynecologists have developed many types of surgical treatment to eliminate anatomical abnormalities in the position of the uterus with correction of adjacent organs such as the bladder and intestines.
As a result of the operation, the structure of the pelvic floor is recreated, all organs are correctly located, and sufficient elasticity of the vagina is achieved at the required length.
Each operation includes a basic one (vaginal wall fixation - vaginopexy) and is supplemented by correction of existing disorders (urethropexy for urinary incontinence, sphincteroplasty for pelvic muscle weakness).
To date, more than fifty types of operations are known with such a diagnosis as uterine prolapse. What to do in each case (operation and method) - the surgeon chooses.
Why is uterine prolapse dangerous?
Most women, especially in the menopause, do not understand the dangers of diagnosis, the increasing signs of the disease do not bother them at all. Bringing the situation to critical, in fear they resort to a gynecologist with the question: "How to choose a fallen uterus?"
Genital prolapse is characterized by prolapse of organs, and the organs themselves and important neurovascular bundles are compressed - all this is extremely dangerous. In the resulting hernia, both the bladder and the intestines, and the front of the rectum, descend.
With the progression of prolapse, it becomes much more difficult to restore the normal anatomy of the organs, and the second and third stages require urgent surgical intervention. Otherwise, changes in the functioning of the urinary organs and intestines can cause a threat not only to health but also to life.