The National Continence Helpline is a resource that allows people to call in
if they have bladder or bowel issues.
The helpline is a free, anonymous and confidential service
and it is staffed by continence nurse advisors -
nurses who have special expertise in the management of bladder and bowel issues.
4.8 million Australians suffer from some bladder or bowel health issue -
that's one in four Australians.
The nurses on the helpline can provide people with instruction and advice on the telephone.
They can also provide them with leaflets and other education material
that can be posted to them.
These materials are all free and they are readily available.
Prolapse is very common.
Most women who have had a baby have some sort of prolapse,
but fortunately, most women who have a prolapse don't have any symptoms
and therefore don't even know that they have a prolapse.
There are three main types of prolapse.
There is the front wall of the vagina prolapse
that gives women bladder symptoms.
There is the back wall of the vagina prolapse which gives women bowel symptoms
and there's also the uterine prolapse.
Even if a woman has had a hysterectomy, where the uterus has been removed,
she can still have a prolapse.
Women report prolapse in lots of different ways.
Generally though they will come to us reporting a lump or a bulge in the vagina
that's causing them some discomfort.
They know that that's not normal and that they usually come to tell their doctor or nurse about that.
Prolapse often affect people's bladder.
They will often come to us because they have difficulty passing their urine,
they may feel they haven't emptied their bladder well,
they may have recurrently urinary tract infections.
Sometimes women come to us and they say they have urinary urgency and frequency -
they need to go to the toilet in a big hurry and sometimes don't make it
and have an accident in their pants.
They are the most common bladder symptoms.
Women tell us that they have bowel problems as well.
They may have trouble emptying their bowel
and sometimes even have to apply pressure down below to help empty their bowel
if they have a large bowel prolapse.
They may experience pain with intercourse.
They may experience reduced vaginal sensation
and this may cause them to avoid sexual intercourse all together.
If you experience any of the symptoms that we've talked about
either bladder symptoms, bowel symptoms or symptoms that you encounter with sexual intercourse,
you should talk to your doctor about these things.
In the first instance we would recommend that you see a specialist physiotherapist
or a continence nurse advisor
for a series of pelvic floor exercises.
These exercises can really help to manage the symptoms of prolapse.
The helpline nurses have a directory of services
that allows them to link women with local clinicians,
such as physiotherapists or continence nurse advisors.
Another way of managing vaginal prolapse is to use an inter-vaginal pessary.
A silicon pessary can be placed into the vagina to manage the symptoms that the prolapse is causing.
Pessaries can be used as a short term treatment, for instance while the woman waits for surgery,
or as a long term alternative to surgery.
Pessaries are simple devices but they might not suit every woman that has a prolapse.
There are many different types of surgery for prolapse.
The operation done will depend on which part of the vagina is prolapsing
and which symptoms that's causing.
If a woman does choose to have surgery,
the time that she requires to have off work will depend a lot on
what kind of surgery she's had and what sort of job she does.
Time that the woman has off work is very important because it's the time that allows the tissues to heal.
Any pressure caused by lifting, high impact exercise or straining
can affect the newly repaired tissues.
If a woman is prone to constipation, she should make sure that her stools are soft,
and that she's not straining on the toilet.
If you feel you have any concerns about anything we have discussed here today,
you should discuss these concerns with your GP.