I had no idea such a thing was possible.
Ruffian, I so sorry that:
A) You have to deal with such an issue. It’s freaky enough reading about it, but to actually through it, wow.
B) The doctor was so unfeeling. That’s just really poor patient interaction. I hope the next one you see is more understanding.
Me too, man. Me too.
Ruffian, I’m sorry that you’re going through this. I can assure you that a trip to the ER is not overreacting. I don’t know a single person who wouldn’t go to the ER if they found one of their organs had somehow escaped.
If you guys need me, I’ll be over here in the corner Kegeling my ass off.
I just can’t figure out the logistics of it. How does she walk? Or sit down? What if she sits on it!? :eek:
Holy SHIT! I didn’t know that was possible either!
Please help me try to understand this… So does this mean that there is a hole or a tear in the vaginal walls, and the bladder traveled through the opening into the vagina? I mean, isn’t the vaginal canal closed off from the rest of the abdominal cavity? I am sure it is, otherwise sex would be a real problem, right?
So is the bladder actually resting inside your vaginal canal? Or is it hanging outside of your vagina? If so, can you hold it and touch? I am having a very hard time picturing this. Is it just resting inside of your underwear? 
How would you go about sex? How would a man, ahem, get in there without barrelling into your bladder?
And if the bladder is in the vagina, wouldn’t you have to pee like every 10 minutes since the vagina is a constricted space, and it would be pressuring the bladder, especially if you are crossing your legs.
I just can’t understand how an internal organ can survive outside of the body. It doesn’t have skin. It’s membraneous (is that a word?) and not protected with skin, right?
Okay, I felt daring and did google images. Not as bad as I feared but not particularly work safe. Sorry, I would get the surgery. No way I’d try to exercise that back to where it belongs.
A close friend of mine had this and it caused me to research the situation. There is actually an interesting message board dealing with prolapse. I post it because it doesn’t really come up with google and I happened to stumble upon it. http://prolapse.hyperboards.com/
I found it fascinating how common this is (50% of women who’ve given birth eventually get it), while at the same time how little press it gets. Everyone knows that men’s prostates enlarge freakishly with old age, but who talks about how women’s abdominal organs drop through their vagina? And I personally had no idea that Kegel exercises were actually an important preventative health measure and not just some new age love-your-body fad. Who knew?
Some advice: yes, conservative approaches are better because surgery has a relatively high failure rate, combined with a paucity of good documentation on what works – if you can avoid it, it’s all for the best. The “if” here would depend on how uncomfortable you are, I imagine. That said, surgery was a godsend for my friend, who did walk around with it for years as a mainly cosmetic problem until one day it suddenly became very painful.
Whatever you do you should go to to a specialist in prolapse for evaluation. NOT a general gynecologic surgeon. At the very least they should be a urogynecologist. Yes, it’s actually a specialty. See the American Urogynecology Society.
This has good information (and a very good diagram… probably safe for work since it’s just a medical diagram)
This is definitely NSFW. It’s an illustration of the external view of a uterine prolapse.
This may be the funniest line of the day.
Okay…here’s the deal. She rarely goes out, so she rarely gets dressed. She wears a housecoat and no underwear probably 90% of the time. I asked my SIL and she says it is completely on the outside of her body. I think she just works around it as far as sitting goes. I’m not sure if it can be (god…I can’t believe I’m saying this) “tucked in” so that it’s not in the way.
The uterus was partially exposed for a very long time before she had it looked at. I guess when it completely fell out, she decided it was worth going to the doctor. Not the ER, mind you…she waited a couple weeks for a normal appointment. She does not appear to be incapacitated or even inconvenienced by it.
Oh my god…that illustration…THE INTESTINES ARE NEXT! Please, won’t someone just bleach my brain?
See, if this happened me, major badness would ensue. The rational part of me would be saying “this is a vital organ, don’t mess with, it belongs inside your body, you don’t want it to get infected” while the crazy scientist part of me would be trying to yank it out so that I could dissect it.
I’ve always wondered what my uterus looks like, especially when I’m on my period. Maybe if I bear down hard enough, it’ll pop out and I can play with it.
Apparently, I’m mentally ill since I’m the only person in this thread saying stuff like this.
If you turn it inside out, you can see what a period looks like before it falls out!
The pictures just made it worse, thanks.
Can you imagine being a guy, looking for some hot sex, and seeing that instead?
!SURPRISE!
Looks like one of those spice worms from Dune.
OMG. O M G. Oh Mien Got Im Himmel!!!
Just wanted to say that I was watching Dune last night, and al I could think of was… “It IS the Kwizatch Haderach!” 
:eek:
Gaaah! This is all terribly wrong. I’m afraid to pee or do anything else with my vagina today, and probably will be for the next few weeks.
I mean, doesn’t it hurt? Is it really that simple, to look down and notice a big thing coming out? I always assumed they were, y’know, too big to come out. And covered/filled with blood.
Hey! Quit peeing out of your vagina, young lady!
I don’t recall anyone mentioning blood for the MIL. I haven’t heard her complain at all, except that we laugh about it in front of her whenever the subject comes up. The whole thing defies the laws of…uterine suspension, I guess.
I love the Dope. You are my people. 
I love that there are so many responses here that are rooted in genuine curiosity. IGNORANCE BE DAMNED!
First of all, I, too, want to know the mechanics behind all this. How does a bladder fall through? I orginally assumed there was a tear in the vaginal wall, but my OB said “What tear? No, this is just from the ligaments loosening and the wall collapsing.”
I have a mild prolapse, so it isn’t external. Basically I have a small kiwi-size bulge in my vagina. It isn’t a bloody kind of situation, and oddly, isn’t painful. More than anything, it’s just occasionally uncomfortable–ladies, it’s reminescent of a tampon that has dropped and you can feel resting at the vaginal opening. Some days it’s worse than others; a few days ago, I couldn’t feel it at all. The day I went to ER, I could see it bulging out–it looked like a pink kiwi (wonder how many people are never eating that fruit again…). I was able to push it back in some, which wasn’t painful at all. Maybe there’s not a ton of nerve endings in the bladder.
As far as sex–we were afraid to try for two weeks, but we were needing some nookie and tried the other day. Nooooooooooooo problem. Apparently, DeathLlama’s giant throbbing member ( :biggrin: ) just pushes the bladder up and out of the way. A few hours ago we retested that hypothesis–all was well. Neither of us noticed any discomfort or change in sensation, and again, I am mercifully free of the whole incontinence side effect.
I was even able to ride my horse the other day. It was uncomfortable–again with the dropped tampon feeling–and there was a slight chafing feeling, but eventually it went away. I’m actually hoping riding will help me tone up; it’s great for my abs, trunk, and thighs…maybe it’ll help with the pelvic problems, too.