u/wild-archives

Hi! I’m currently on a long journey of trying to figure out what’s going on with my body, and I‘m pretty sure I have a cystocele and maybe a rectocele too. Symptoms include pelvic heaviness/fullness, pain, difficulty urinating, not being able to fully empty my bladder or bowels, occasional incontinence, etc. I can feel distinct bulges both on the anterior and posterior vaginal walls when standing/sitting. There’s nothing actually protruding from my vagina, but sometimes when I’m standing I can see what looks kind of like a pinkish purple walnut in the vaginal opening. The extent of what I can see and feel seems to depend a lot on position (lying down things look pretty normal) and how much time I’ve spent upright that day.

A few days ago I saw nurse practitioner at an urgent care clinic because a medication I started for what my doctor assumed was IBS had the unfortunate side effect of making peeing extremely difficult, causing painful retention. She did a pelvic exam, and I mentioned I was concerned about possible bladder prolapse, so she had a look and said “that’s not a prolapse, that’s a cystocele.” But I’m a bit confused, because I thought they were the same thing?

I saw a pelvic floor physio today who only did the internal exam with me lying down, and then just had a brief look while I was standing up. She said it just looks like tissue laxity and my bladder sagging, and wouldn’t call it a prolapse since “nothing is falling out.”

So I‘m just confused about the difference between all of these different terms, and what it means for seeking treatment and care going forward. I’ve been referred to a gyno, but there‘s a long wait list.

I’m 32, never been pregnant/given birth, and am hypermobile (very likely hEDS, but waiting to see a specialist to confirm).

Hello! I’ve been recently diagnosed with POTS (after suspecting it for a while) and the cardiologist recommended to my GP that I could try some medications if I wanted. He suggested either Midodrine or a steroid (?) that I forget the name of. I said I wanted to hold off on the medication at the time, and just try the whole compression + electrolytes + salt combo first. I’ve been doing that for a couple months now and I do feel quite a bit better—my heart rate only jumps up to around 130 standing now (compared to 150-170 before) and I haven’t had any major pre-syncope/fainting episodes in a while (whereas they were almost daily before). However I’m still really struggling with things like heat intolerance/temperature dysregulation, nausea, debilitating gut dysfunction (maybe IBS that flares when my POTS symptoms are bad), fatigue/brain fog, and bad “coat hanger” pain, along with chronic migraines.

I also recently learned from a rheumatologist that I have a connective tissue disorder/hypermobility spectrum disorder (likely hEDS, but waiting to see a specialist to confirm). He also suggested I could have Long COVID, as my health started rapidly declining more and more after each of the three infections I had, with minor lifelong issues becoming increasingly debilitating.

I’ve started learning about how interconnected all these bodily systems and issues are, and so I wonder if taking medication for POTS has helped improve any of your similar symptoms/comorbidities? Do you wish you’d gone on medication sooner?

I’m kind of hesitant to try medications at this point just because I’ve had so many bad experiences with trialing meds (for chronic pain/migraines) that gave me bad side effects or that treated one symptom while making others worse. But if treating the POTS could actually help improve some of these other things I’ve got going on, then I think it would probably be worth a try!