Pelvic health

I had seen the ad several times before I decided to act on it. I must remember this point when trying to market my book. One might be interested with the first and second viewing of a product, but like me, not actually do anything about it until the third or fourth time they’d seen it.

The ad in question was for a physio advertising her services for pelvic health, which also included women’s health and incontinence. A plus to this was the fact that no referral was needed, one simply needed to phone and make an appointment.

Which I did.

I had been feeling for a while that things weren’t quite right down there. There was always a dragging feeling when I had been on my feet for too long and I knew I fitted the picture of someone who could easily suffer from pelvic issues. I have birthed six children, one nearly 9lb, am overweight and unfit.

I received an extensive run down of what would be required before I arrived at the clinic. That was useful, no surprises, and being a woman who has birthed six children, not really a problem. I am used to people examining that area of my body. I’m not sure how well the examination would sit with men though. They don’t generally have their dignity thrown away with their first child, that is of course, unless they faint at the birth.

Even the questioning was quite intense and intrusive. One is required to describe their bowel motions, frequency and type, for example, but again not a problem for me. Bowels and bladders and everything that came from them became common place in my years as a nurse. I do feel sorry for the former patients though when I think back to some of our practises. Afternoon temperature round coincided with visiting hours. We needed to take the patient’s temperature, pulse, and respiration, before asking them, in front of any visitors, if their bowels had opened that day. As if that wasn’t bad enough, in one particular ward, if one’s bowels had not opened for more than two days in a row, they would receive an enema. And there were varying degrees of enema, starting from the humble suppository, to a disposable enema bag, to a full-blown tank complete with funnel, rubber hose and insertion tube! The latter I might add, was always successful.

Anyway, back to my examination. I was instructed to carry out several bouts of squeezing my pelvic floor muscles and holding them for as long as I could, then for 10 seconds, and then releasing quickly. Another exercise involved simulating blowing up a balloon while holding these muscles. The verdict, while I had strong pelvic floor muscles, was that I did have two small prolapses. I was instructed to continue with the exercises I was shown and seek a referral through my doctor to a gynaecologist. However, even 24 hours later I am already feeling that things are better down there. I was impressed with today’s technology as well. The physiotherapist pulled out an app on her phone, punched in some numbers and I was able to see exactly what was happening to my body. There is not much we can’t be shown these days.

I felt uplifted after the visit. The physio was excellent in all aspects of her care and to already have results is amazing. I am not sure if I will seek that referral just yet; I think I will wait to see how these exercises go, but I do recommend anyone who thinks they may have a problem with their pelvic floor, to seek the expertise of a trained physio. After all, what is there to lose?