What's a Bladder Prolapse?

Bladder Prolapse - A slight decent of the bladder

I don’t believe it. I have a bladder prolapse, a slight descent of the bladder the doctor called it. What next? I have survived the menopause and I thought, naively, that I could relax. The hot flushes, low mood, irritability, lack of energy, have all improved; I even have the sleep under control. But no, now there is something else to deal with. Minor I know. But the reason I want to talk about it is that if you find out early then you can prevent further deterioration of the situation. Like me, you may not even know that you have a prolapse.

Get regular check ups with your doctor

You might be wondering how I found out that I had a prolapse and what symptoms I had. Well, it came on suddenly. I woke up one morning and it felt different down there. It wasn’t painful, it was just uncomfortable, I noticed that I was pulling my clothes away from myself. And I needed to go to the loo more often than normal. That was about it. I was due a routine NCT with the doctor anyway so I decided that I should go, in case I had a kidney infection or something like that. I go to the doctor every year for a check up, I feel this is important. I go in the hope that if anything goes wrong it will be noticed quickly. Then I can do something about it. I was totally shocked when after taking a look, the doctor said that I had a prolapse - a slight descent of the bladder. I had no idea, and I had no previous symptoms. Finding out what was wrong meant I could do something about it.

What to do next

The doctor referred me to a physiotherapist for pelvic floor exercises; she confirmed that I have a mild prolapse and showed me some exercises to do. She said not to lift anything heavy as this would put pressure on the pelvic floor. Standing for long periods of time or running outside on concrete would not be wise either. She said it was a pity that more women didn’t find out at this stage. Some women have to push the prolapse back inside, and that this can be very uncomfortable and irritating for some women.

The pelvic floor muscles are supposed to be strong enough to hold up the bladder and the womb. Childbirth, low oestrogen levels, long hours standing, and heavy lifting are common contributing factors to prolapse.

You can have a prolapsed womb, urethra or bladder. If you’re concerned why not book yourself in for a well woman check-up. Better to find out sooner rather than later.